Heston Blumenthal
1. What is your favourite restaurant?
Alain Chapel, Mionnay, France
2. What is your favourite hotel?
Oustaó de Baumaniäre, Les Baux-de-Provence, France
3.What is your favourite food?
Free-range pork. It's fantastic when cooked well.
4. What is your favourite drink?
Tea - Darjeeling, Earl Grey, etc. Definitely not fruit teas.
5. Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with? If so, why?
I refuse to use stock cubes or eat pot noodles. They are obscene!
6. Describe an eating-out experience that turned into a nightmare
It was eight years ago. I refused to pay the service charge of £1.80 at a restaurant in Oxford (we had waited over an hour for our main course) and ended up in an argument with eight police officers in three squad cars.
7. What is your favourite holiday destination?
France - I spend most of my time in Hérault in the south of France
8. What is the best film you have seen?
GoodFellas
9. What is your favourite book?
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
10. What sort of music do you like?
South American, Spanish and French guitar music
11. Who is your favourite supplier of the moment and why?
Ascot Quality Fruits (tel: 01344 301094) and Orchard Herbs (tel: 01628 660749). They are both local and source or grow what I want.
12. What is your favourite prepared product?
Heinz tomato ketchup
13. Who would be in your ultimate "fantasy brigade"?
My current staff and anyone hard working, keen and who understands my style of cooking.
14. Which chef do you most admire?
Marco Pierre White - I admire him for his achievement in life. He is just like family to me. We spend nearly every Christmas together and he is also godfather to my daughter.
15. Describe yourself in five words?
Mild-mannered and single-minded
16. Reveal something personal about yourself?
I always flush the toilet before finishing a wee - it's a bad habit of mine!
