SINCE the River Cafe opened in Hammersmith 22 years ago, the idea of continually changing, seasonal cooking has been widely embraced by the restaurant industry.
Much of the credit for the transition must go to the restaurant's founders, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, whose insistence on the finest, carefully sourced ingredients clearly rubbed off on their employees - soon-to-be celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall among them.
In recognition of their service to the industry, both women were made Members of the British Empire.
Lady Rogers said: "We're really delighted. Rose and I have one restaurant, and we write cookbooks and do work with charities because we want to put something back into the community - we're always working to educate our staff about sustainability and seasonal ingredients and to give our customers the best food we can in a beautiful environment.
"Our search for classic Italian food and ingredients is something that we're very proud of."
The pair have just published a new book, the River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook, and they show no sign of letting up.
A serious fire gutted the kitchen in 2008, but they bounced back with a brightly refurbished venue, a new wood oven and a completely new kitchen.
Rose said: "We always believed we were going to make an amazing restaurant. It's a marvellous location with a lovely garden, and we're lucky enough to be able to grow some of our own herbs and vegetables. That's very unusual in London.
"Ruth and I have always said we're only going to do one restaurant, unlike most restaurateurs. We reinvent ourselves every two years."
