Revelations: Great British Menu's Tom Spenceley, head chef, Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs

21 April 2021
Revelations: Great British Menu's Tom Spenceley, head chef, Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs

What was your best subject at school?

Electronics and technology

What was your first job?

Paperboy

What was your first job in catering?

Kitchen porter at a local bistro, aged 14

What do you normally have for breakfast?

A cup of Yorkshire tea and a banana

What do you do to relax?

Go for long walks, spend time with family and friends, forage

Which is your favourite restaurant?

Gaggan, Bangkok

What's your favourite hotel?

The Swinton Park hotel, in Masham, North Yorkshire

What is your favourite drink?

Guinness

What is your favourite food/cuisine?

An Indian curry

Which ingredient do you hate the most?

Dragon fruit

Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with? If so, why?

Japanese otoro [tuna belly] – the way this is farmed/fished is inhumane, mass produced and exploited as a whole industry

What flavour combinations do you detest?

Chocolate and cherry

What do you always carry with you?

Foraging knife

Which person in catering have you most admired?

Sat Bains – he comes from a humble background, is self-taught and constantly believed in what he was trying to create

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?

Gordon Ramsay, the chef who I watched on TV and whose books I read in my early teens

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?

Music

What daily newspaper/website do you read?

Sky Sports football

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

Liam Gallagher

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?

RAF pilot

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

Constantly being in the shit and not being able to get out of it

When and where was your last holiday?

Marbella

What irritates you most about the industry?

Cowboys

When did you last eat a hamburger?

Last week

What's your favourite film?

Gladiator

Who would play "you" in a film about your life?

Tom Hardy

What's your favourite book?

On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee

What is your favourite prepared product?

Black garlic

Who would be in your "fantasy" brigade?

James Knappett of Kitchen Table on meat; Tom Brown, Cornerstone, on fish; Alex Bond, Alchemilla, on garnish; Gareth Ward, Ynyshir, on snacks and larder; and John Freeman, Restaurant Sat Bains, on pastry

If you had more time, what would you do?

Work out and play football

Photo credit: BBC/Optomen Television Limited/Ashleigh Brown

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