Anna Hansen

Culinary career

Anna Hansen was born in Canada to parents originally from New Zealand with European heritages; her mother's family came from Denmark, and her father's from Switzerland and Belgium. After completing a degree in business management and having two applications for teaching training college turned down, she decided to travel. At age 22, she arrived in London, England. She gained a weekend job in a New Zealand deli, but her first introduction to professional kitchens came as a kitchen porter at The French House in Soho, a restaurant run by the sister of her housemate, chef Margot Henderson.

Margot's husband Fergus Henderson became one of Hansen's mentors, alongside New Zealand chef Peter Gordon. At The French House, she rose through kitchen positions to become head chef. She then moved to be sous chef at Gordon's Green Street restaurant, and later pastry chef with him at the private-members club the Sugar Club. There they sought a fusion cuisine menu, but owners disliked it and changed the restaurant to something less high end.

In response, Hansen and Gordon opened the Providores restaurant after time working in Australia and New Zealand. She left the Providores in 2005, and opened her own restaurant, The Modern Pantry, in 2008. Her cookbook based on the restaurant's work was published in 2011, and she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire the following year. She has since opened a second Modern Pantry site and a bar in Finsbury Square.