Ed Baines - Celebrity Chef
Ed Baines is the chef and co-owner of Randall & Aubin champagne and oyster bar in London's Soho. The tall, dark and handsome restaurateur is fast becoming one of the hottest chefs in town. His first TV series Lunch With Ed Baines, which aired on Carlton Food Network, featured him cooking for, and then lunching with, his famous friends at Randall & Aubin. On the show he cooked for a string of glamorous women, including Darcey Bussell, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Mariella Frostrup and Meg Mathews.
In 1999 he completed the six-part series Ed Baines Entertains, filmed at Randall & Aubin, broadcast on ITV. He recorded two further series which were broadcast during 2000 and 2001. He has also appeared as one of the chefs for the BBC daytime lifestyle show Housecall.
Ed Baines fell into catering. After a two-year apprenticeship with Anton Mosimann at The Dorchester in London, he spent a few years cooking on one an exclusive yacht and at hotels in Juan-les-Pins in France and Queensland in Australia, then back home at Bibendum and the River Café, both in London.
At this point he was 'headhunted' and became the official Armani chef. He entered a happy time of dressing entirely in Armani and "having a few girlfriends who knew I could get them a discount". He also dabbled in modelling. At the age of 25, Ed was contracted by restaurateur Mogens Tholstrup to open the Daphne’s restaurant in London's South Kensington, where he remained as head chef for three years.
In 1996 he opened Randall & Aubin as chef-patron with his friend James Poulton, following this with the Ifield in Chelsea. He also opened another restaurant bearing the Randall & Aubin name in Fulham Road. In November 2002 Ed and James opened the fourth in the chain, The Belsize, a pub/dining room on the site of the old Belsize Tavern.
Ed filmed Cupid's Dinners for broadcast on UKTV Food and is one of the resident chefs on Great Food Live. He has regularly appeared on programmes for Granada Livetime, Central Television and Carlton Food Network. Ed was a regular chef on the BBC daytime series Step Up to the Plate in autumn 2008.
His first book, Entertain, was published by Kyle Cathie in 2001 and he has been profiled by publications such as The Sunday Times, Evening Standard and Time Out.