The French House and Rochelle Canteen founder on her life in food.

Ms Margot Henderson is connected with some of the best-loved restaurants in Britain. She helped set up the now-legendary French House Dining Room in Soho. Her husband and career-long collaborator Mr Fergus Henderson opened St John – regarded as one of the most consistent restaurants in the capital, cooking a brand of no-nonsense nose-to-tail British food that few have replicated as successfully – in 1994. More recently, Ms Henderson founded Rochelle Canteen (which Times food critic Ms Marina O’Loughlin described as “wear[ing] its fabulousness lightly”), and Rochelle Canteen at the ICA. Below, we ask the New Zealand born chef about her life in food, the philosophy that has shaped it and her favourite restaurants.

I was always drawn to the restaurant life. This is partly because I wasn’t academic, but I also loved the buzz, hard work and family atmosphere of restaurants. I enjoyed the late nights and early mornings. It did take me a few years to fully commit to the chef life. I travelled the world, working in different restaurants before I figured out what sort of chef I wanted to be. As soon as I’d decided, that’s when it all started to happen.

I moved to London, jobs came my way, I met Fergus and everything changed. I barbecued a lobster and we started talking about opening a restaurant together. We teamed up with Jon Spiteri and his wife Melanie Arnold, and The French House Dining Room was born, in a wild, giddy moment of love and food.

Fergus and Jon opened St John with Trevor Gulliver in 1994. Melanie and I had babies and became business partners and ran the restaurant. We headed off to Rochelle and Arnold & Henderson was born, catering for events all over the world. Then James Moore, the owner of the school, suggested we open a restaurant in the bike shed, and so began Rochelle Canteen, tucked away in a courtyard in east London. Last year, we opened a restaurant and bar at the ICA and we cater for events upstairs in the beautiful Brandon and Nash rooms.

Things have changed a lot since the 1990s, and mostly for the better. Staff are better looked after, better paid, restaurant jobs are taken more seriously and there are more opportunities. When I was a young chef, there wasn’t as much variety. Now we celebrate foods from all around the world and everyone knows about food – it permeates all walks of culture.

I love to cook and feed people, and spread happiness. I cook with the seasons as that makes sense to me. We buy as locally as possible – fish from British waters, straight off the boats, vegetables and meat from suppliers we’ve worked with for years or we’ll look to our friends in Europe. I believe that less is more. Gentle, happy cooking.

Long slow-cooked braises and pies are my favourite things to eat. At home I love to cook different nationalities, Japanese to Italian, but they always gets a bit “Margot’d”.

My favourite restaurants in London are BAO, XU, Brat, Brigadiers, Ikoyi, St John (it gets better and better) and Ikeda.