Australia's First University Press

Simon Hopkinson


Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories and Second Helpings of Roast Chicken, his books include Gammon & Spinach, The Prawn Cocktail Years (written jointly with Lindsey Bareham), Week In, Week Out and The Vegetarian Option. The Good Cook won the Food and Drink Book of the Year in 2011 and he has also won the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times. Simon's new tv series, Simon Hopkinson Cooks, will be broadcast on More 4 in June 2013.

Books

Related News

Extract: Nation, Memory, Myth by Steve Vizard

Posted on 11 Jun 2025

How does myth generate meaning for a nation and its citizens? How does a national myth transform into symbolic performances of cultural memory and kinship?  

Extract: Beyond Green by Lesley Head

Posted on 11 Jun 2025

Culture, society and human behaviour have forever been linked to nature. In her thought-provoking book, Lesley Head, geographer and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus at…

Letter From the Publisher

Posted on

We started the year by moving tens of thousands of physical books across state lines, swam through oceans of metadata and updated our back-end systems…

Related Events

Dymocks Luncheon with Chris Hammer (NSW)

Fri 27 June at 12:00PM

Four Seasons Hotel, 199 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Join Chris Hammer in conversation with ABC's Fran Kelly to discuss the updated edition of The River.

Author Talk: Chris Hammer on The River (SA)

Thu 10 July at 6:30PM

Burnside Library, 401 Greenhill Road Tusmore, SA 5065

Learn more about author Chris Hammer's prize-winning non-fiction book about the Murray Darling Basin.