Jay Rayner

Renowned restaurant critic, MasterChef judge and sometime jazz pianist Jay Rayner is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written extensively across the British and international media as both feature writer and columnist on everything from crime and politics, to the arts and fashion. He now writes for the Observer, where he is a feature writer and restaurant critic.

Jay has also long played the piano. In 2012 he formed The Jay Rayner Quartet and began gigging around the country, playing a repertoire from the Great American songbook, including tunes around the theme of food and drink. The quartet have been regulars at the Crazy Coqs, the highly regarded cabaret venue inside London’s Brasserie Zedel, and in November 2015 they performed at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s jazz club for the first time, to which they now return each year.