The Thyme Keepers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joel Robuchon

Robuchon was a genius in the kitchen and also mentored Michelin star winners Eric Ripert and Michael Caines in addition to Ramsay. He owned a string of restaurants across the world, including "Jamin" in Paris, considered by many to be the world's best restaurant and famed for winning a Michelin star each year in its first three years of operation.

Answer: Alain Passard

Passard, famous for the fare at his "Arpčge" restaurant in Paris, is nicknamed "the gastronomic wizard of vegetables" by his peers due to his abilities to make incredible dishes from vegetables. Passard earned his first Michelin star in 1986 and by 1996, was up to three stars at "Arpčge", an establishment at which his vegetables are delivered fresh every day and which famously never see the inside of a refrigerator.

His signature dish is the "chaud-froid egg", consisting of a warm poached egg yolk, with whipped cream, chives and maple syrup, served in the egg shell.

Answer: Alain Ducasse

When Ducasse opened his restaurant in Paris in 1996, it took him just eight months to be awarded three Michelin stars. He followed that with openings in New York in 2000 and his flagship restaurant, "Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester" in London in 2007.

In 2015, Ducasse sent meals into space for the astronauts in the International Space Station, showing that his gastronomic abilities really are out of this world.

Answer: Spruce

This dish from Bang's award winning restaurant, "Maaemo" in Oslo in served on spruce branches, over a bowl of dry ice, which allows the spruce flavour to envelop the whole dish. Bang is committed to using only organic, biodynamic or wild produce in his creations which also include sour cream porridge served with shavings of reindeer heart.

Although born in Denmark, Bang made his name in Norway with the opening of "Maaemo" when he was just 29 years old and just 15 months later, earned his first Michelin star.

Incidentally, oleander is so poisonous that there are several reports of people becoming ill after eating honey which has been made from bees that have visited the flower.

Answer: Football (Soccer) Player

Frantzén was a professional football player for Swedish side AIK between 1992 and 1996 when an injury forced him to retire. He turned his hand to cooking, serving under the great Alain Passard at "Arpčge" in Paris before opening his own restaurant in 2008.

Answer: Clare Smyth

Smyth became head chef at "Restaurant Gordon Ramsay" in 2007, becoming the first female chef in UK to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars, and became the first UK female chef to be awarded three stars, when "Restaurant Gordon Ramsay" retained the stars.

In 2016, Smyth left "Restaurant Gordon Ramsay" to open "Core", her first solo venture and in 2018 "Core" was awarded two Michelin stars. Josephine Reynolds was the first female firefighter in UK and Constance Markievicz was the country's first female M.P.

Answer: Bacon

I guess any of the answers could be true when talking about Blumenthal, but it was for Waitrose supermarkets he created a banana trifle with a sachet of bacon bits to be sprinkled on top, which when compared to some of his other creations such as snail porridge or bacon and eggs ice cream, seems quite mainstream. Blumenthal is self taught in the art of French cuisine and has held six Michelin stars in his career at his restaurants, "Dinner by Heston Blumenthal" in London, "The Hind's Head" in Bray (Berkshire) and also in Bray, "The Fat Duck", which in 2005 was voted the best restaurant in the world by food critics.

Answer: The French Laundry

"The French Laundry" was named "Best Restaurant in the World" in both 2003 and 2004 and in 2006 gained its third Michelin star, equalling the highest honour of "Per Se" which had won its third star the previous year. Keller is a talented chef who won Best Chef in America in 1997 and also taught Adam Sandler how to make "the world's greatest sandwich" for the movie, "Spanglish" (2004).

Answer: Eel

Yamamoto's signature dish is his soup made from the dagger-tooth pike conger eel, known as the hamo eel in Japan and he did indeed have one undergo a CT scan in 2005 so that he could understand the bone structure of the fish. Prior to opening his three Michelin starred restaurant, "Nihonryori RyuGin" in 2003, Yamamoto spent over a decade working under master of Japanese cuisine, Hirohisa Koyama at "Aoyagi" in Tokyo.

Answer: Gordon Ramsay

Ramsay is well known to TV audiences for his expletive laden outbursts towards contestants on his shows, but is also quick with praise and employment offers to those that impress him. His flagship restaurant is "Restaurant Gordon Ramsay" in Chelsea, London which was the restaurant at which he won his third Michelin star in 2001.