Chef Revelations – Steve Drake
What was your best subject at school?
Physics, not home economics
What was your first job in catering?
Making bacon sandwiches in a transport café
What do you normally have for breakfast?
Four Weetabix
Which is your favourite restaurant?
I have two - Michel Bras' Bras and Pascal Barbot's l'Astrance
What's your favourite hotel?
Hostellerie Le Cèdre in Beaune (they don't mind our daughter making lots of noise)
What is your favourite drink?
Coffee, real ale
What is your favourite cuisine?
I love rediscovering British food culture
Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Baby sweetcorn
Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with?
Spam - I can't open the tins
What do you always carry with you?
My Swiss Army knife
Which person in catering have you most admired?
David Everitt-Matthias - I admire his focus
Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
Recently, René Redzepi at MAD Foodcamp in Copenhagen
Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
A notebook and pencil, oh - and a pencil sharpener
What daily newspaper/website do you read?
BBC News, The Times
If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Sir Jackie Stewart
If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be?
Running a bookshop or working in adventure travel
Describe your ultimate nightmare
Losing my iPhone
When and where was your last holiday?
Mont Blanc, Chamonix
Tell us a secret…
I am an Essex boy
When did you last eat a hamburger?
September 2007
What's your favourite film?
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (it's a girly one)
What irritates you most about the industry?
Restaurants pretending that they serve local produce
Who would play you in a film about your life?
Tom Hanks
What's your favourite music?
Kings of Leon, Razorlight, Manic Street Preachers
What's your favourite book?
The Independent Cook by Jeremy Round
What is your favourite prepared food product?
Marmite
Who would be in your fantasy brigade?
Daniel Patterson, Coi; Sat Bains (he makes me laugh so much); Michael Wall-Palmer, my brilliant head chef; Brett Graham, the Ledbury
What do you do to relax?
Sleep
If you had more time, what would you do?
Read more, run more
Steve Drake, chef-patron, Drake's
