It's quite hard to put into words what a staggering achievement The Waterside Inn has realised – but we'll try anyway. For any restaurant to remain open and thriving for 40 years is impressive. This is a difficult industry and one with constantly changing tastes and trends; staying relevant and popular is an achievement in itself. Now consider what enormous skill, dedication and passion it takes to win Three MICHELIN Stars. Combine those two feats together and you have The Waterside Inn.
This is a restaurant that has not only helped to define British dining as we know it, but which has maintained those levels for a whopping four decades. It is an institution and a one-of-a-kind marvel that began as just a dream in the minds of Michel and Albert Roux. To celebrate its continued place at the UK's gastronomic top table, we spoke to Alain Roux, son of Michel and overseer of The Waterside Inn for the last 25 years, about what this truly special place means to him.
Humble Beginnings
“To me, The Waterside Inn is home,” says Alain Roux. “It’s the heart and soul of the family and I am its custodian.” Indeed, since the day it opened in 1972 to the day it first won Three MICHELIN Stars and all the way up to today, The Waterside Inn has been a family affair. “My wife Laura has joined the business, a creative force overseeing the interior design and so much more, similar to my father’s wife Robyn before her,” says Alain, his remarks reminding us that to discuss the history of The Waterside Inn is to discuss the history of the Roux family itself.Regarded by many as the godfathers of high-end dining in Britain, Michel and Albert Roux were largely responsible for bringing French gastronomy to British shores with Le Gavroche in the late 1960s. A few years later, the brothers turned their attentions to what Alain calls “a shabby pub with a damp, muddy kitchen floor” – decades of hard work later and it’s one of the most successful restaurants in British history.
“In 1982, they scaled back to focus solely on their flagship restaurants,” Alain explains. “Thus splitting their interests so that The Waterside Inn became dad’s home whilst uncle Albert took sole responsibility for Le Gavroche. We have never diversified; there is only one Waterside Inn, just as there was only one Le Gavroche.”
40 Years of Excellence
Alain is certainly right that there’s only one Waterside Inn. Especially since Le Gavroche closed its doors in 2024, there are few places left with the kind of overtly French, traditional elegance that you find here at The Waterside Inn. It is a restaurant where the classics have always been shown due respect, yet infused with just the right amount of modernism. But more than that, it’s the sheer consistency that marks it out as a one-of-a-kind phenomenon.“Each service is a new adventure and challenge,” explains Alain, when asked how he has maintained such high levels for so many years. “There’s no secret formula or luck involved. It’s more than just hard work or holding down a job – it’s a way of life and we love it. To maintain extreme consistency is the minimum; the aim is to do even better than yesterday, to exceed our guests’ expectations – close is not good enough.
“On a daily basis, our biggest reward is to see happy, relaxed guests, whether it’s someone visiting for a once-in-a-lifetime special celebration, or some of our many regulars for whom The Waterside Inn is home-from-home. Everyone is welcomed and treated as if they’re visiting and staying in our own home and made to feel like a million dollars.”
The Menu of Your Dreams
As smooth and perfectly pitched as the dining experience is at The Waterside Inn, and as gorgeous as its setting is, it’s the food on the plate that has been the anchor of its brilliance for so long. “If you want to know what makes it great, just try one of the impeccable sauces,” offers a MICHELIN Guide Inspector on the cooking. “They’re the kind which chefs around the world study, that carry such intensity and depth of flavour, while retaining immaculate balance. Add to this the finest ingredients money can buy and you have quite the meal.”There have been many dishes come and go on the restaurant’s menus over the years, but it’s the classics that pull people in. When we ask Alain Roux for his dream Waterside Inn meal, he chooses three dishes that have been on the menu for decades:
Tronçonnettes de homard poêlées minute au porto blanc
Pan-fried lobster medallions and ginger-flavoured vegetable julienne with white port sauce
Filets tendres de lapereau grillés sur un fondant de céleri-rave, sauce à l’armagnac et aux marrons glacés
Grilled tender rabbit fillets, served on a celeriac fondant, with glazed chestnuts and armagnac sauce
Soufflé chaud aux framboises
Warm raspberry soufflé
Building a Legacy
As you can tell from Alain’s choice of dishes, The Waterside Inn has always been about evolution, not revolution. It is a place where you know what you’re getting, yet are still amazed at how skilfully it’s done. That’s not to say the restaurant hasn’t changed in the last 40 years, just that its development has been gentle and measured. “Like the river that runs alongside, nothing stands still,” Alain says. “It’s a constant, quiet evolution. But the heart of The Waterside Inn is the same as the day it opened. We’re always ready to reach beyond expectations, whilst remaining true to our roots and simple, founding principles.”
One major development in the last few years has been Alain’s commitment to continuing the Roux legacy. After Michel Roux passed away in 2020, Alain decided it was only fitting that a man who gave so much to the British restaurant industry in his life would continue to do so for years to come – and so Michel’s former home was converted into a state-of-the-art Culinary School. “Along with the Michel Roux Library, it honours my father, representing a fantastic facility for in-house training and educating guests who share our passion for food – embedding and elevating the family legacy,” says Alain.
As the restaurant enters its fifth decade at UK gastronomy’s top table, Alain is looking to the future, with a focus on increasing the kitchen’s use of local ingredients and reducing waste. “Beyond this, like so many businesses at the moment, we are unable to look far beyond surviving the economic and political challenges and uncertainties that continue to reshape the hospitality world,” he tells us. “But as we progress through our next half-century, The Waterside Inn continues to flourish. This is one tradition that will never falter. The best is yet to come!”
A Special Place
If you have never had the good fortune to have visited The Waterside Inn yourself, then it’s surely now at the top of your dream-destination list. But when you cut through all the history and the accolades and the cultural significance, what’s it really like at this hallowed restaurant? “It’s pure class,” says an Inspector. “Coming here is an unforgettable experience. The bucolic setting and sense of being cossetted just make you feel special, while the cooking consistently delivers classical brilliance.”Yet despite our Inspectors’ continued admiration for the place, perhaps the enduring appeal of The Waterside Inn is best summed up by Alain Roux himself: “At the heart of what we offer is pleasure, happiness, quality and simplicity. There is no rush, no airs and graces or snooty waiters, just delicious French cuisine and wines to savour, served in an atmosphere of relaxed enjoyment. The riverside setting is timeless, calm and so beautiful we don’t need paintings on the walls. The welcome is warm and the service is fun, discreet, prescient and attentive. We may not have the lowest prices, but even if someone visits just once in a lifetime, they never regret it.”
Hero Image: The Waterside Inn as viewed from the River Thames. © Jamie Lau
