AA Gill's best lines

Sunday Times restaurant reviewer AA Gill, who has died of cancer at the age of 62, was an acerbic critic and controversialist. We round up some of his best quotes:

On breakfast: "Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life."

On chefs: "The reason that chefs become chefs is that they're not allowed into rooms with windows."

On haute cuisine: "Proof that God has an odd sense of humour - after inventing haute cuisine he gave it to the French."

On lasagne: "There's only so much you can do for lasagne in the looks department. The only garnish that would improve it would be a power cut."

On lobster bisque: "A lobster bisque ought to be the crowning glory of the potager. And this one was excellent. Silky as a gigolo's compliment and fishy as a chancellor's promise."

On pasta and noodles: "Pasta is eaten by happy, smiley people having fun with people they love or fancy and are about to shag. Noodles are eaten by people who have no friends."

On PizzaExpress: "PizzaExpress is a sort of gastronomic post-modern version of the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. We've all been here and done that… Only Hannibal Lecter would conceivably have a favourite Café Rouge or All Bar One, but everyone has a favourite PizzaExpress."

On PR people: "I have never acted on a press release or gone out to dinner with a PR. I think PR is a ridiculous job. They are the headlice of civilisation."

On spinach: "Spinach is the Kate Moss of vegetables. Goes with everything, boils down to nothing."