Chef-owner of Apricity in Mayfair, London, holder of a Michelin Green Star since 2023, Chantelle Nicholson leads Britain’s new-style cuisine with an inclusive, low-waste approach that has earned her honours such as the Catey Manager of the Year and wide praise from the food press.
Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, in 1980, Nicholson completed twin degrees in Law and Commerce at the University of Otago before moving to London in 2004. She spent a decade with Marcus Wareing—first at Pétrus, then opening The Gilbert Scott and finally leading Tredwells in Covent Garden—where she secured both a Bib Gourmand and one of London’s first Michelin Green Stars (2021) through near-zero-waste practices.
Managerial accolades followed: the Catey Acorn Award (2009) and Manager of the Year (2016), alongside the Shine Woman of the Year title that same year.
In 2022 she opened Apricity on Duke Street, serving seasonal menus built on regenerative produce—Hertfordshire chickpeas, Welsh seaweed—and cocktails crafted from repurposed kitchen offcuts. The restaurant’s Green Star was confirmed in the 2024 and 2025 guides, while Vogue and Resy hailed it as a benchmark of “conscious dining.”
Beyond Apricity, Nicholson consults for Graysons, curates dinners at the Lord’s Dining Club and supports charities Action Against Hunger and The Felix Project. Her book Planted (2018)—a vegetable-forward collection of desserts and dishes—was listed by Vogue among the best vegan cookbooks, and she co-authored five titles with Wareing.
Looking ahead, she will launch The Cordia Collective at Borde Hill in West Sussex in 2025: a bakery, kitchen garden and wine bar that extend her regenerative ethos beyond the city. Her guiding mantra—“people, planet, plate”—translates into on-site fermentations, underused British ingredients and ongoing staff training on inclusivity and waste reduction.
