Daniel Clifford was first employed in a restaurant in 1989 as a commis chef at the Howfield Manor Hotel in his home town of Canterbury, Kent. He moved on to become the first commis chef at The Bell Inn in 1992, and became a demi-chef de partie at Marco Pierre White's Box Tree through 1993. He gradually moved up in responsibility through a variety of restaurants including working in France until becoming a senior sous chef at Rascasse in Leeds in 1996, where he worked until being named head chef of his current restaurant, Midsummer House, in 1998. Clifford was awarded his second Michelin star at Midsummer House in the 2005 list. It was the only new restaurant to earn a second Michelin star that year, and became one of eleven restaurants in the UK and Ireland to be at that level of the Michelin Guide's scheme. He opened a gastropub called "The Headley" in Great Warley, Essex, in May 2007. He acted as chef patron to the new venture, and hired Scott Wade as head chef to take charge of the day-to-day running of the pub in order to enable Clifford to continue working at Midsummer House. It went bankrupt in 2011. His main course of chicken and a sweetcorn egg accompanied by spinach with bacon and peas was the winning main course for the banquet in the 2012 series of the BBC television show the Great British Menu. He sees his television work as a good source of publicity, but prefers to concentrate on working in the kitchen. He was also one of a number of chefs scheduled to cook at a pop-up restaurant entitled "The Cube" on London's South Bank during the summer in 2012. On 5 October 2015 Daniel Clifford was awarded the prestigious award of Chefs Chef of the Year at the 2015/16 AA awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel. Daniel Clifford was praised for turning Midsummer House into one of the country's finest restaurants, while being an "inspiration to so many chefs at all levels"
Influences
He credits Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià as influences, and experiments with molecular gastronomy, leading to his restaurant Midsummer House being nicknamed "The Fat Duckling" after Blumenthal's The Fat Duck. He also forages for ingredients. He also credits his time spent in France with chef Jean Bardet as teaching him the value of quality ingredients, and seeing foie gras in a different light.
Personal life
He enjoys a full English breakfast on a Sunday, which he follows by going for a walk with his children and dogs. He has five children, all girls. Daniel Clifford owns two British Bulldogs and is a keen carp fisherman.
