Simon Rimmer

Simon Rimmer (born May 5, 1963) is the resident chef on BBC2's "Something for the Weekend", which first aired on Sunday 8 October, 2006. He is married with two children.

In 1990, Simon Rimmer spotted a gap in the market and used his inspiration to make his restaurant for vegans and vegetarians, Greens, in Manchester. Two years later, "The Guardian" described Greens as one of the most exciting new restaurants in UK, and it has gone on to win several awards, including "The Big Issue"'s Restaurant of the Year, and most recently North-west Restaurant of the Year. With a fresh, funky and fun approach to food, Simon believes that cooking is about exciting people. It should be sociable, straightforward and sparkling.

His television career began with Granada Breeze, hosting shows such as Livetime and Battle of the Chefs. However, he has also appeared regularly on programmes including "This Morning", "Granada Tonight", "A Taste for Travel", "Lunchtime Live" and "The Afternoon Show", Gloria’s Open House – Channel 5, "Xchange" for CBBC and a spot of co-presenting on UKTV's Great Food Live and BBC1's To Buy or Not to Buy. Simon presented This Little Farmer for BBC One and "Making a Meal of It", also for BBC Two. Simon continues to co-present Something for the Weekend.

He is often confused with his well known cousin Dominic Littlewood. The pair have both appeared on the BBC show 'to buy or not to buy'.

He is currently the mentor on the Channel 5 programme "Breaking Into Tesco". It's a show where people will get a chance to have their recipe produced by Tesco. He is also co-presenting BBC's 'To Buy Or Not To Buy'.

He is also presenting a daily BBC Two series called "Recipe for Success" in which couples take over a restaurant for a day and compete to win the week's takings against four other couples.

His first book, "The Accidental Vegetarian", was published in October 2004 to great acclaim. His second book, "The Rebel Cook", was published in October 2006. He has a third book out in spring 2008 co-written with Tim Lovejoy entitled "Lazy Brunch" which is based on the feature in "Something from the Weekend".

Simon has a degree in fashion and textile design.

Simon opened his second restaurant Earle in Hale, Cheshire in October 2006, this time for meat-eaters. It has been a success, named top celebrity restaurant to eat at in the "Observer Food Monthly".

Simon supports Liverpool Football Club, but also has an in depth knowledge of the history of Tranmere Rovers, which he chose as his specialist subject on the BBC quiz "Mastermind" in January 2008.

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5w9YFxdfcY Blue Dragon tv commercial starring Simon Rimmer]