Chef Revelations – Rowley Leigh
What was your best subject at school?
English
What was your first job in catering?
Grill chef, the Rock Garden
What's your favourite hotel?
The Park hotel, Kenmare
What is your favourite drink?
I could just manage a glass of Clos St Hune Riesling, 1983…
What is your favourite food/cuisine?
Today, white truffles on fonduta
Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Okra and truffle oil
Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with?
Who's paying?
What flavour combinations do you detest?
Too numerous to mention but chocolate and Marmite comes pretty high
What do you always carry with you?
My freedom pass
What daily newspaper/website do you read?
Cricinfo
Which person in catering have you most admired?
Jesus Christ (5,000 covers with five loaves and two fish)
Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
Dom Perignon
Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
A humidor full of Cohibas
If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
Downing Street
If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Dusty Springfield
What irritates you most about the industry?
People who call what we do an "industry". I regard it as a pastime for which I get paid
When and where was your last holiday?
July, Umbria
When did you last eat a hamburger?
A couple of weeks ago: time for another
What's your favourite film?
Duck Soup
What is your favourite prepared product?
Coopers Oxford Marmalade
Who would be in your "fantasy" brigade?
Groucho Marx (soups), Fernand Point (fish), Claudia Fleming (desserts), Keith Floyd (on the sauce)
If you had more time, what would you do?
zzzzz
Rowley Leigh, chef-proprietor, Le Café Anglais