lloyd stoll
1. What was your first job?
Assistant chef, Umberto's Restaurant, Farnborough, Hampshire
2. What made you decide to be a chef?
I preferred cooking to peeling potatoes
3. What is your favourite restaurant?
L'Ortolan, Shinfield, Berkshire, because I like the food - so much that I currently work there one night per week
4. What is your favourite wine and what would you serve it with for the perfect meal?
Anything from the Ernest & Julio Gallo range with pan-fried scallops, tomato, basil and olive oil
5. Are there any foods you refuse to eat or cook with? If so, why?
Lamb's liver, I don't like the texture or the smell
6. What is your favourite prepared food product?
Colmans' coarse grain mustard from Booker Fitch, tel: 01732 864 344
7. Have you ever had a disaster in the kitchen?
Yes. Two hours before service the chicken was put on a porter's trolley at Frimley Park Hospital and thrown away by mistake
8. What has been the highlight of your career?
Catering for the judges of the 1996 Cateys and meeting Gary Rhodes and Shaun Hill
9. What is your favourite holiday destination?
Dominican Republic, because I went there last year with my wife on our honeymoon
10. How do you relax away from work?
My wife tickles my feet
11. What would you do if you won the lottery?
Give some money to my family and spend the rest on an Aston Martin
12. Where do you see yourself in 10 years' time?
In my own restaurant. I would like a wine bistro; very lively with a jazz theme
13. Who would be in your ultimate "fantasy brigade"?
Gordon Ramsay, Robert De Niro and Keith Floyd
14. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
Nothing, I'm happy the way I am
15. What is your excuse for not inviting people around for dinner?
My wife can't cook