No baby chef Emily Roux has said her family name is a ‘burden’ because people assume she ‘hasn’t put in the hours’.

Emily, 34, who is the daughter of Michel Roux Jr and the granddaughter of Albert Roux, runs her own restaurant, Caractère in Notting Hill, Londonalongside her husband Diego Ferrari.

In the upcoming Apple TV series Knife Edge, which follows chefs who are vying for a Michelin Star, Emily discussed how she is judged ‘for her name and not her food’.

‘We currently have five Michelin stars in the family so I think the pressure’s definitely on,’ she said.

‘The Roux family name has been a blessing and a burden because people have preconceptions.

‘”Nepotism”, “she’s done nothing”, “she hasn’t proved herself”, “has she put in the hours?”‘

Emily continued: ‘I don’t want to be judged for my name. I would like to be judged solely for the food.’

The accusations of being a ‘nepo baby‘ stem from Emily’s culinary family heritage.

Her grandfather Albert, 85, founded Le Gavroche in Mayfair, London, together with his brother, Michel Roux Sr, 78, in 1967.

Under their stewardship, Le Gavroche became the first restaurant in the UK to receive a Michelin star in 1974, and later became the first to be awarded three stars, which it retained until 1993.

It lost a star after the Chef Patron formally changed from Albert to his son Michel, 65, who maintained its two-star status until Le Gavroche closed in 2024.

The family also have three stars that were awarded to The Waterside Inn in Bray, Maidenhead, which was founded by Michel Sr and is now helmed by his son, Alain Roux.

In 2010, The Waterside Inn became the first restaurant outside of France to retain three stars for 25 years.

Emily previously spoke about accusations of nepotism in her career as a chef in an interview with the Go To Food Podcast.

Hosts Freddy Close and Ben Benton asked Emily if she ever received negative comments after she returned from the UK from France, having trained in culinary school in Lyon and worked in restaurants in Paris.

Replying to their question about whether she had ever been accused of only being able to open her restaurant because of her family name, the chef said: ‘I think a lot of people think that. And I think a lot of people won’t say it to my face.

‘But a lot of people may think that. If you don’t know me, you haven’t worked with me, you probably don’t know how many hours I’ve put in – that we’ve both put into this place and how much we have worked in the past.

‘I did exactly the same hours as everybody else, was treated exactly the same as everybody else.’

She also recalled receiving some harsh feedback from a table of six customers who visited Caractère in its early days.

‘They said, “We’re quite disappointed, quite underwhelmed… Maybe because of your name and Gavroche, we expected something different,’ Emily recalled.

‘I was a bit confused, especially on the spot like that. I said, “But this isn’t Gavroche, it’s Caractère, and I am not Gavroche, I’m not my father, this is just a new restaurant opening”.

‘I don’t think they came back,’ she added.

Elsewhere in the fifth episode of Knife Edge, which focuses on UK restaurants chasing their first or second Michelin star, Emily turned to her father for advice while visiting him in France for a holiday.

‘How are you guys feeling about the Michelin this year?’ Michel asked, adding: ‘I’m biased anyway but I think you guys should have gotten it years ago.’

After Emily asked for wisdom, Michel emphasised the importance of perfection in every single dish.

‘Especially for one star, it’s all in the plate. Every plate of food that leaves your kitchen has to be perfect,’ he said.

‘Use that pressure as a positive. Maybe think about changing the menu. Find an inspiration for something fresh and delicious. It will come.’

The 2025 Michelin Awards for Great Britain and Ireland were held in February, and saw Emily and Diego winning their very first Michelin star.

The Michelin Guide described Caractère, which opened in 2018, as a ‘a convivial and really quite stylish restaurant, where sophisticated cooking combines with efficient, unstuffy service’.

Emily reflected on the significance of receiving a Michelin star in an interview with Time & Leisure magazine and how difficult the past six years were to run the business.

‘When Covid hit, we were two new young business owners. It was a complete unknown what the pandemic would mean,’ she said.

Emily added that she and Diego also welcomed their first child ‘in the middle of Covid’, which meant she had to juggle becoming a first-time mother as well as a business owner during a time where the restaurant had to be closed but still had to pay wages and bills.

However, her and Diego’s ambition carried the restaurant through to the present and she said they were ‘extremely happy’ with their Michelin star.

Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars is now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes air on Fridays.