Romy Gill closes Romy's Kitchen after six years

Romy’s Kitchen, which was recommended in the Michelin Guide and won plaudits for its Punjabi/Bengali cooking,​​ shut its doors on 1 August.

Gill told BigHospitality​ it was the “right time” to close the restaurant, and she is now taking a break to focus on her upcoming book launch.

“I was upset [about the closure], but I'm not anymore," she says. "I had the building for 10 years and ran the restaurant for six. I don’t even know how I made it a success, it wouldn’t have been possible to sustain it for another 10 years. The restaurant industry is hard, and even more difficult when you’re working on your own and have to push yourself.”

Gill says she would eventually like to return to a restaurant kitchen in some form and has been approached by several investors. Romy’s Kitchen traded in the market town of Thornbury, which is around 12 miles outside Bristol, but the chef says she is keen to open in a city centre.

“I would like to open in central Bristol, or maybe London or Los Angeles," she says. "There are a lot of talks going on.

“I want to work in a restaurant again. I don’t know if I would own it or work for someone else. I just want somebody to believe in me and let me cook, and they can look after the other side.”

As well as overseeing Romy’s Kitchen, Gill has run pop-ups in London and at food festivals nationwide. She regularly contributes to national food publications and her TV credits include appearing as a judge on Celebrity MasterChef 2016.

Her upcoming book, Zaika: Vegan recipes from India, is released on 5 September and will focus on dishes she ate growing up.

“In India we don’t eat meat every day," she says. "When I was a child I ate mostly plant-based food. I want to show people you can cook with vegetables and it can taste much better than meat.

“The book is also in memory of my mum, who passed away five months ago. The recipes are mostly dishes my parents would cook. So it’s quite an emotional book, in a beautiful way.”

Gill received an MBE for services to hospitality in 2016.​​