Elara Vance grew up in the kitchen of her grandmother's farmhouse in rural Burgundy, where cooking was not a vocation but a language — the way the family spoke of love, of seasons, of where they came from.

At eighteen, she left for Paris and Le Cordon Bleu, earning the Grand Diplôme with distinction. What followed was a decade of extraordinary kitchens: two years with Pierre Gagnaire, three seasons at The Fat Duck, and a defining eighteen months at Noma in Copenhagen where her obsession with fermentation and wild ingredients took root.

She returned to London in 2017, co-founded RusticFork with Marcus Vance, and spent a year converting the space, building supplier relationships, and designing the menu philosophy before opening to the public in 2018.

Today, Elara leads a team of eighteen in a kitchen she describes as "a democracy" — where every voice is heard and the best idea always wins, regardless of seniority.