How Neil Borthwick met Angela Hartnett: “We were in this little elevator. All you could do was end up smooching

In 2002, chef and cookbook author Angela Hartnett led the restaurant team at the Connaught Hotel in London. When fellow chef Neil Borthwick came to work for her, she was impressed with his skills, as well as his sense of humor. "I was in the meat and fish section," he says. "I used to work in Scotland but I wanted to train in London and then go to France." He quickly became good friends with Angela. “She was very pretty and cheeky; we were always laughing,” he says. Although she sensed he "might have a thing for me", they kept things professional. "Apart from the fact that I was his boss, he was also much younger than me and that wouldn't have been appropriate," says Angela.

Four years older Later, Neil followed his dreams and moved to Valence in France to work for chef Anne-Sophie Pic at Maison Pic. He and Angela stayed in touch and continued to meet several times a year. "We knew a lot of the same people and sometimes a few of us would go to France to visit Neil and try different restaurants together," she says. Around this time, Angela also opened Murano, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Mayfair.

In April 2010, after a few drinks, they shared a kiss at the wedding of a mutual friend in Argentina, but never mentioned it. "I assumed he forgot," she said. They remained friends, but it wasn't until July 2011 that their dynamic really changed. By then Neil had moved to Laguiole, Averyron, southern France, to work with Michel Bras. He and Angela decided to meet up in Paris, where they went out for dinner together. "In my mind, I felt Neil had matured," she says. “He looked older and was no longer a young child. I suddenly thought, "Let's see if something could happen." As the night went on, they became more and more seductive. “We were both in this really bad hotel with a small elevator. He was so small there was nothing to do but smooch,” laughs Neil. “There were no pretenses and stupid games. He was just very nice and funny,” says Angela.

Shortly after they met, Neil was offered a job in Japan, but turned it down for to be able to return to live in Japan. the UK and be with Angela. She told a friend he was looking for work, and he got a job at the Square restaurant. After he returned that fall, they didn't tell anyone about their relationship for six months. "I didn't want it to look like I was recommending my boyfriend," she says. "We dated a lot, but people thought it was because we were such good friends." By the time they told their friends and colleagues about it in 2012, some of them admitted they'd had an idea. The couple moved to east London together that summer.

In the fall disaster struck when Neil was involved in a serious cycling accident to push. "I wasn't wearing my helmet and hit a pothole and fell," he said. "I was taken to hospital by air ambulance." He suffered a brain injury and spent seven days in a coma, followed by months of recovery. “Angela was incredibly supportive. If it wasn't for her and her family, I don't think I would have gone back to the person I was before the accident."

Angela says that It was a "It was a scary time...I had no idea what was going to happen." Fortunately, Neil made a full recovery and was able to return to work the following year. the Merchants Tavern restaurant in Shoreditch, east London, with friends and colleagues in October 2013. After five years they left the restaurant and Neil now runs the French House, in Soho, while Angela remains chef -owner in Murano. They still live in London, with their dog, Betty.

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