Chef Revelations – Claude Bosi

What was your first job?
Cleaning up at Brasserie de TGV in Lyon, aged 15

What do you do to relax?
Spend quality time with Paige, my daughter

What is your favourite drink?
Vodka, ice and lime juice

What's your favourite restaurant?
Bistro Paul Bert in Paris; and Arbutus in London

What's your favourite hotel?
Babington House

What's your favourite cuisine?
Vietnamese

Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Rosemary

Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with?
Bluefin tuna

What flavour combinations do you detest?
Lamb and rosemary

What do you always carry with you?
An "I love you daddy" bracelet from my daughter

Which person in catering have you most admired?
Alain Passard

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
My father

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Robin Hood

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you'd be now?
I'd be a carpenter

When and where was your last holiday?
Skiing in Val Thorens

What irritates you most about the industry?
Chefs who forget they are cooks

What is your favourite prepared food product?
Heinz ketchup

When did you last eat a hamburger?
At Minetta Tavern in New York, in April

Who would play you in a film about your life?
Gérard Depardieu or Brad Pitt

What would be your last supper?
My mum's gnocchi or chicken quenelle with mushroom sauce

Who'd be in your fantasy brigade?
Meat - Alain Passard; fish - Olivier Roellinger; veg - Freddy Girardet; larder - Joël Robuchon; the pass - Fernand Point; dessert - Pierre Hermé

Claude Bosi, chef-patron, Hibiscu