Executive chef of Bistrode CBD, Jeremy Strode, has died.

The news that Strode, 53, is believed to have ended his life on Monday was confirmed by a representative of Merivale.

Strode, a chef's chef, spent 27 years working at the pass and inspired generations of young cooks.

Strode, who started his career at 14 washing dishes in rural England, worked for some of the world's greatest chefs, including Michel Roux at the Waterside Inn and Pierre Koffmann at La Tante Claire, before moving to Melbourne in 1992.

He was head chef at the George Hotel in St Kilda with the visionary Donlevy Fitzpatrick, and at the Adelphi before opening his own restaurant, Pomme, in South Yarra, with Christopher Young.

After moving to Sydney in 2002 to work at MG Garage, Strode then opened Bistrode in 2005 in a century-old butcher's shop in Surry Hills with his pastry chef wife Jane Strode in 2005, winning a chef's hat award in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 – and has received a chef's hat in every Good Food Guide since.