Revelations – Adam Simmonds

What was your first job?
Pot washer. Those were the days

What was your first job in catering?
Cooking in a pub while at college, aged 16

What do you normally have for breakfast?
Two poached eggs on wholemeal toast (but not when the girlfriend is cooking, though - then it's a bowl of cereal)

What do you do to relax?
Spend time with the girlfriend and watch her do my ironing

Which is your favourite restaurant?
Any local country pub with my missus, as it is relaxing. I dined at Michel Bras this year - that was very special

Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with?
Pasteurised crab meat. It has no relation to the real thing

What is your favourite food/cuisine?
Japanese

Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Tinned anchovies

What flavour combinations do you detest?
Anything overcomplicated. It's nice to be able to appreciate each individual flavour in a dish, good or bad

Which person in catering have you most admired?
Raymond Blanc - a culinary genius and a true gentleman

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
Lee Evans. You have to laugh

What is your favourite drink?
Becks, of course, although while I'm working it would have to be jasmine tea. The days of alcohol in kitchens are thankfully long gone

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
The girlfriend. If not a person, then probably a laptop with all of Tottenham's FA Cup Final triumphs saved on it

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Eddie Irvine - taller than me, a hit with the ladies, and not a bad driver

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
Styling hair in London

Describe your ultimate nightmare
Losing my trusted spoon. It's been with me longer than most of my chefs have

Who would be in your fantasy brigade?
Meat, Raymond Blanc; fish, Marco Pierre White; veg, Samuel Jones, my wing man at Danesfield House; pastry, Frédéric Bau; larder, Pierre Gagnaire

Adam Simmonds is executive chef at Danesfield House