What was your best subject at school?
Believe it or not, home economics!
What was your first job?
Donkey boy on Skeggy beach, taking kids for donkey rides
What was your first job in catering?
Cooking at the County Hotel in Skegness
What do you normally have for breakfast?
Coffee and pain au chocolat
What do you do to relax?
Play golf and read cookbooks
What is your favourite restaurant?
London's Ledbury for fine dining and Barrafina for tapas
What is your favourite drink?
Mojito
What is your favourite food/cuisine?
Asian cuisine - it's so varied and colourful
Who in catering have you most admired?
Ferran Adrià
Who gave you the greatest inspiration?
The whole El Bulli team and Spain in general - I get a lot of pleasure from that country
If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Antonin Carême
Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
I would take some books, I can't live without them, and some Spam
What daily newspaper/website do you read?
Caterersearch.com, haha!
What irritates you most about the industry?
I hate people moaning about things. Get off your arse and do something about it!
| What's your favourite film?
The Beach If you had not gone into catering, where would you be now?
I would have liked to have been a banker, but I didn't listen at school |  |
Tell us a secret...
I used to bunk off school to go fishing
What is your favourite prepared product?
Pizza Express pizzas from the supermarket
Describe your ultimate nightmare
Failure to fulfil my burning ambitions
Name your fantasy brigade
Jason Atherton on pass with Sat Bains; Simon Rogan with Claude Bosi in the development kitchen - some crazy stuff would come out of that; Steve Terry on cold larder (love his food); meat section, Pierre "the Bear" (Koffmann); fish section, Nathan Outlaw; pastry section, Pierre Hermé; hot larder, Tom Kitchin