Kromberg calls a halt to long kitchen career

Peter Kromberg, executive chef at the Hotel Inter-Continental London and chef of Le Soufflé restaurant, will retire in September after more than 35 years in the industry. He has run Le Soufflé for more than a quarter of a century.

He was commis chef at the Athens Hilton when it opened in 1963 and worked as chef garde-manger at the Siam Inter-Continental hotel in Bangkok for four years before transferring to London in 1971. He opened the Portman hotel and then joined the Hotel Inter-Continental London on its launch in 1975.

Kromberg has earned many industry accolades including the Sichel Star Cup in 1982 and Cateys for Chef of the Year in 1987 and Menu of the Year in 1992. In 1994 he was voted Hotel and Restaurant Chef of the Year by the Craft Guild of Chefs. He also won gold medals at the Culinary Olympics in Germany in 1972 and 1976.

Kromberg, who is 60 this year, has had offers of consultancy work but is looking forward to time off, at least until next January.

He has suggested possible successors, but no one has been confirmed. He said: " I don't know whether they [management] will involve me. No one seems to tell me anything."

In January the Inter-Continental was considering modernising its restaurants, but plans remain stalled. Kromberg said: "If something does happen, I'm not interested, because I won't be here. I've opened four hotels in my life and I did not want to be part of it, because it's stressful. I don't want to be carried out of here, if you see what I mean."

by Ben Walker