My earliest food memory is eating macaroni cheese at our family hotel. My uncle ran the hotel, and was the chef – macaroni cheese was his speciality.

My favourite places to eat are Le Berger du Temps in Montagny-lès-Beaune in Burgundy, France, and at my home. I enjoyed my most memorable meal at Le Berger du Temps. They use only local produce and the chef is magical, and the local Burgundy wine they serve is as good as it gets. It’s quite a small restaurant, packed with an eclectic mix of antiques, ornaments, paintings and statues. There’s even a 1930s Citroen in the car park.

My ideal dinner guests are my wife, Rob and Lourdes Thompson, and Wendy Bartlett.

My cookbook inspiration is Delia Smith, because her recipes always work, and it’s good ‘down to earth’ cookery. You can tell my book is well used because the pages fall out regularly – and I just glue them back in.

The three items always kept in my fridge are white wine (preferably a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Villa Maria, especially when it’s on offer), Champagne and fresh orange juice.

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