Dom Taylor, Netflix’s Five Star Chef winner, dies at 44
The Good Front Room said its founder Dom Taylor, who won Netflix’s 2023 cooking contest Five Star Chef, has died suddenly.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Dom Taylor, the chef who won Netflix’s Five Star Chef and went on to found London restaurant The Good Front Room, has died at 44, according to the restaurant.
The Good Front Room announced Taylor’s “sudden passing” in a statement on its website, paying tribute to the chef as a creative force who brought the Caribbean cooking of his upbringing into London’s dining scene.
“Dom was a visionary whose bold, joyful approach to celebrating the Caribbean cuisine of his childhood brought a fresh and exciting voice to London’s restaurant scene,” the restaurant said in the statement.
The restaurant said Taylor’s “passion, talent and generosity” had affected many people, adding that his work would continue to inspire those who knew him and those who ate his food.
The Good Front Room also asked the public to give Taylor’s loved ones privacy, saying its thoughts were with his family, friends and others touched by his life.
The restaurant said it would stay open to honor Taylor’s legacy and continue the work he cared about.
A Netflix win and a restaurant legacy
Taylor became known to a wider audience through Netflix’s 2023 culinary competition Five Star Chef, which ran for one season. He won the competition with his family there to share the moment, according to Deadline.
The series followed chefs competing for a chance connected to high-end restaurant dining. Taylor’s win put a spotlight on his cooking and on the Caribbean flavors that later became central to The Good Front Room’s identity.
Judge Ravneet Gill remembered Taylor as an immediate presence on the show. In a tribute reported by Deadline, Gill said Taylor was “instantly captivating” when he appeared before the judges.
Gill described him as warm, kind and talented, saying he cooked “from the heart.” She added that Taylor had been “on the brink of so many exciting things.”
Fellow judge Mike Reid also honored Taylor after the news of his death, saying, “Dom Taylor was one of the good ones.”
Reid said The Good Front Room reflected Taylor’s background and cooking vision. “What he built with The Good Front Room wasn’t just a restaurant. It was his heritage on a plate,” Reid said, according to Deadline.
Reid also credited Taylor with taking Caribbean cuisine to a new place in Britain, saying the chef did it his own way and describing him as warm, funny and unpretentious about his skill.
No additional details about Taylor’s death were included in the restaurant’s announcement. The Good Front Room’s statement centered on his family’s privacy and the continuation of the restaurant in his name.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.