A river of tributes for London chef Rose Gray

Tributes continue to pour in for Rose Gray (above right), one half of the partnership behind London's River Café restaurant, who died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. With Ruth Rogers (left), she was responsible for transforming the image of Italian cuisine in London.

Spaghetti Bolognese, tiramisu and other cliched dishes made way for fresh ingredients and authentic rural fare. The restaurant became one of the most talked-about in the capital while their River Café Cookbook and its many follow-ups now adorn the shelves of amateur cooks across the world.

Jamie Oliver, one of the best-known chefs to have started in the River Café kitchens, said: "I'm so saddened by the death of Rose. She really was one of life's very very special, natural, genius chefs; a true pioneer of delicious simple cooking.

"It was my honour to have worked with her - a really great boss, a wonderful person who gave me some of my fondest cooking memories and great funny times."

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, another graduate of the River Café kitchens at Thames Wharf in Hammersmith, west London, says he learned more in eight months from Rose than from anyone he has ever cooked with. "She had an amazing knack for explaining, simply and exactly, how she felt a particular dish should be made, or a particular ingredient handled. You had only to hear it once and you understood."

Jeremy King, owner of The Wolseley, now popular with the same showbiz, media and politics crowd that was drawn to the River Café, said Rogers's and Gray's restaurant became an extension of the two women themselves. "It was the embodiment of their soul and spirit," he said.

"I came to know Rose through my love of Ruthie...  and I soon realised that the two of them were inextricably conjoined. She taught me much about restaurateuring but also about life. Here was someone principled, fearless and forthright. She neither suffered fools gladly nor kow-towed to pretension. I adored her and feared her."

Ruth Rogers, wife of the architect Lord [Richard] Rogers, said it was as if she had lost a part of herself. "She was my sister, my friend, my colleague. We spoke the same language. Right to the end, she remained incredibly positive and alert and involved with the restaurant. We sent her the menu every day. The last time we spoke, she asked: 'Who's on tonight?"

"I know her spirit and her knowledge will live on. She was a great teacher, with an uncompromising way of working. Her legacy lies in all those skilled chefs she has taught. You just cannot measure her influence."

Both women were self-taught cooks. Rose Gray learned to love Italian home cooking while living in Lucca. Her first professional job was in New York where she ran the kitchen at Nell's, a Manhattan club, in 1986.

Two years later, in London, after a short stint cooking at Carluccio's, she met Ruth Rogers - or Ruthie as she is better known. They teamed up to create a place Richard Rogers and his team could eat when he opened his new architectural practice in Thames Wharf.

It wasn't long before it became one of the hottest restaurants in London - famous not least for its 'chocolate nemesis' cake. The recipe appears on the final page of the original River Café Cookbook where it is labelled "The best chocolate cake ever". Few have disagreed. ·