Paul Cunningham (born 1969) is an English chef working in Denmark. He was awarded a Michelin star at The Paul (da) and, has two stars at Henne Kirkeby Kro.
Cunningham was born and grew up in rural Essex.[1] He first worked as a cook in a country pub in Widdington and then in various restaurants and country house hotels, including Danesfield House and Lords of the Manor, before moving to Denmark in 1994.[1] [2] [3] [4]
In Denmark Cunningham started as fish cook and became head chef at Søllerød Kro, which during his time there acquired one of the first Michelin stars awarded in the country,[1] [4] then at, where he trained, and at Coquus and Plaza before becoming co-owner and chef at The Paul, located in Glassalen, the glass pavilion at Tivoli in Copenhagen.[2] [5] [6] The park had had a reputation for poor food; at The Paul, Cunningham became a celebrity chef, cooking for Margrethe II of Denmark, Helena Christensen, and for Bill Clinton, Paris Hilton and Metallica when they visited Denmark.[1] [7] The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2003,[3] nine months after opening.[8]
After the restaurant suffered from the financial crisis[4] and after being hospitalised in spring 2011 with a stress-related condition and refused reduced hours by Tivoli management,[1] [7] Cunningham closed The Paul late that year.[9] He then in 2012 succeeded Allan Poulsen as chef at Henne Kirkeby Kro, an eighteenth-century inn (kro) in, a village in Varde Municipality.[1] [2] [10] Henne Kirkeby Kro was awarded its first Michelin star in 2016[2] [4] and a second in 2017.[3] [4] [11]
Cunningham was invited to open Noma but declined, suggesting René Redzepi.[8]
At previous restaurants, Cunningham's cooking used precision techniques such as molecular cuisine; at Henne Kirkeby Kro he announced that he would make use of the restaurant's kitchen garden—the largest in Denmark—and access to the coast and fresh fish to perform "intuitive", jazz-inspired cooking.[1] He has said that his cooking is not Nordic cuisine as such: that he is "an incorrigible Francophile" and "[has] travelled too much to say no to Pakistani mangoes or galangal".[7] He decides everything about the menu, which he has called "a gastronome's Russian roulette";[7] it "may consist of anything from pig ears with oyster aioli to duck decorated with marigolds"[8] and emphasises the fresh ingredients.[12]
Cunningham is a member of a chef's collective called Gelinaz![3] He has also won the Danish hot-dog championship three times.[2]
, Cunningham has published eight cookery books.[3]
Cunningham lives in Korsør with his wife, Lene, and children,[1] currently spending half the week there because of the distance from Henne Kirkeby,[8] and is active as a photographer.[2] He says that he cannot work without music.[8]