I pick my topics weeks ahead and, frankly, sometimes when the time comes to get my theories on paper, I get the same result as the last time I tried to touch my toes. But I have realised that it's important to record my own experiences. When I look at hugely accomplished writers writing about dishes they had while travelling for a month along the rugged coast of northern Sardinia I become frustrated and jealous. Our priority is feeding our customers, followed by experimentation whenever we can make time. Every day we hope to create new dishes with new twists.
Simplicity is always central.
I say this because I get most pleasure from one ingredient, perfectly cooked, full-flavoured and paired harmoniously with a couple of other ingredients to create a sublime, visually stunning dish. This, in a way, is my travel. I know I could be searching out some mystical way of pairing spinach with kumquats and gold leaf to recreate some dish that was served by the palace chef to the Sun King at his coronation banquet, but hell, what do I know about that. God, I probably sound like A.A. Gill with all this waffle, so let's get down to it. I use two types of spinach - large leaf and baby spinach.