It’s been a busy year for Raymond Blanc. Besides writing another book, hosting a new cooking show and playing host to the Prince of Wales during his visit to Raymond’s Oxford restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, he’s found the time to open a new restaurant in the heart of Old Beaconsfield.

A year on, Raymond, arguably one of Britain’s most respected chefs, is glowing with pride about the success of the newest branch of the popular French eatery.  

“It’s doing extremely well; we’ve had an extraordinary year. It seems Beaconsfield needed exactly a nice restaurant like the Brasserie.

“It’s a fantastic building; it has great architecture in a beautiful town. We have been very lucky and very blessed with this restaurant.

“It’s very casual and fun, it works very well because it has a warm and happy environment. It’s a place where families come together, where business people come to meet and where lovers say I love you. Restaurants are such an important place.”

And Raymond can’t help but gush about Beaconsfield Brasserie Blanc’s manager, Claudia Reiter and head chef Shantibushan Shantilal.

“Claudia is just wonderful. She did a fantastic job looking after our first ever branch in Oxford and she’s done a fantastic job in Beaconsfield as well.

 “My head chef has worked with me for 38 years and he runs the restaurant according to how I tell him. There’s a tremendous amount of knowledge in the restaurant.

“I live thirty minutes from Beaconsfield, so I do spend some time at the restaurant but you can’t write new books and do television and create new restaurants and be everywhere at the same time. I'm very pleased with how it’s being looked after.”

Alongside his new book, Kew on a Plate with Raymond Blanc, BBC Two is currently airing the popular television show of the same name, which sees Raymond spending a year at Kew Gardens growing fresh produce and cooking seasonal recipes while discovering the history behind the nation’s favourite fruits and vegetables.

“I'm co-presenting with Kate Humble. It’s magical because I have a wonderful garden with 250 varieties of vegetables.

“It’s fantastic and so much fun. Imagine – a French man growing vegetables over Queen Victoria’s garden!”

Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the length of time he has spent growing and cooking produce at the Royal Botanical Garden, Raymond’s current favourite recipes were discovered on the new show.

“I think my current favourite dishes are from Kew on a Plate and they’re both vegetable dishes. Grilled asparagus with vegetable crumble is absolutely delicious and spring pea risotto is wonderful. They’re a celebration of vegetables, which is really important.”

Despite living in the media spotlight and being responsible for training world class chefs like Marco Pierre White and Heston Blumenthal, the 65-year-old chef is adamant that he’s never been interested in being a celebrity and that he hasn’t forgotten his working class roots.  

“I started as a cleaner and I will never forget where I came from. I will never forget the hardships I have been through and I will always respect others because of it. I have so much empathy for young people and I always try to help them and support them to learn and grow and feel confident.

“I never cared about being a celebrity. The first celebrity I ever saw was the Queen mum. I thought she was a lovely person, rather than a celebrity. It will never go to my head and I try to teach people that.

“It only gives me the right to feel very privileged.”

So how does the busy chef relax when he isn’t creating new restaurants, appearing on television or penning new cookery books?

“I do enjoy cooking when I'm not working, I cook for my friends but I try to sit down and read a good book or my newspapers and I like to spend time with my family who I'm not often with.

“I usually only cook when we have friends over, otherwise my wife does all the cooking for me, which I'm very happy with.”

Despite his busy schedule, it’s clear that Raymond has no plans to ease his workload anytime soon.

 “We’re going to grow Brasserie Blanc quietly, maybe one a year. There’s so many interesting things coming up and I'm enjoying life right now.

“I love people, I love my team and I love my life. Life is very exciting right now.”