I actually wanted to be a doctor for the longest time but had a big interest in food. My maternal grandmother, after playing her part in the French resistance during the Second World War, cooked privately for Charles De Gaulle on many occasions and owned what was at the time the best French restaurant in Rabat, Morocco, so I suppose you could say it skipped a generation.

I cooked basically all of the meals at home as my mum worked late. I was a pretty, let’s say, ‘difficult’ teenager so my mum presented me with two choices: get a job after school to keep me out of trouble or go to military school. I chose the former and got a job at a small Italian restaurant in El Raval.

Being the only person in my class who had their own money – not allowance, but my actual, hard-earned money – was an intoxicating feeling. With my mum’s blessing, I left school at 15 and she got me a stage opportunity at a restaurant that her friend, Juli Soler, managed. I didn’t really understand (nor did the rest of the world) what that restaurant would become – it was called El Bulli.

Mussels with tomatoes, white wine, and cream with crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Sunday staple.

After El Bulli, I staged at quite a few restaurants in Spain and then ended up in the States, where I took a position under Julian Serrano at his two Michelin-starred Picasso at the Bellagio. Following that, I did a stint at Noma, a few years in Japan working with all the usual suspects [three Michelin-starred RyuGin and two starred Narisawa] and then back to Europe.

Sola was a bit of a rebellious attempt to dispel the stigma associated with American food – burgers, hot dogs, grease, etc. I wanted to prove that American food could be just as elegant, conceptual, and refined as any other cuisine.

Mater1a was the restaurant I always said I’d have when I retired. After a particularly difficult year, I thought to myself: ‘Screw it – why not just do it now?’

While Sola has always used excellent ingredients, it was always more about the technique and the ethos of keeping it as American as possible. With Mater1a, I wanted to remove any and all redlines. We use obscenely expensive, hard-to-get ingredients and we are not bound by any particular cuisine or culinary codex. That being said, I find myself getting reacquainted with a lot of techniques and habits I had while cooking in Japan.

What’s in season, how best to showcase it, who produces it best, and how do we get it. The rest is just admin.

The minute I stopped trying for a Michelin star is when I got it. I suppose my advice would be ‘let your freak flag fly’. Be you and don’t compromise on your vision.

I loved Bibendum by Claude Bosi and am very sad it closed. But his bistro Josephine is pretty awesome and good value for the quality of food you’re getting.

Jugemu by Yuya Kikuchi and Kokin by Daisuke Shimoyama are simply the best Japanese restaurants in London and it’s not even close; anyone who says otherwise is either lying to you or not well informed.

I recently had a really cool meal at James Knappett’s Kitchen Table. The cooking is about as far from my style as it gets but it also really spoke to me on a flavour level.

The Ritz with Deepak Maliya as John Williams’ second-in-command is probably the best classical cooking happening in the UK at the moment.

Sino is serving some very interesting Ukrainian food and is so much better than it really needs to be at that price point. Sorry, it’s hard to pick just one.

I really like what Theo Clench is doing. I’ve followed his cooking from Portland to Cycene and I’ve got a booking coming up at his new place Igni – very excited.

I have a teenage daughter so shopping seems to now be my hobby by proxy. Same thing with anime. I guess I’ll have to find a hobby of my own in a few years once she’s out of the house.

I think our current amadai dish is phenomenal. Crispy scales with a bit of fermented chilli and citrus sauce, sake washed salmon roe, ruby prawn tortellini, and nashi pear. It hits all the right notes of umami, acidity, and richness.