Revelations: Mark Donald, head chef of Number One at the Balmoral hotel, Edinburgh

What was your best subject at school?
Drama was my favourite. French, history and chemistry were my strongest

 

What was your first job?
I sold flowers at a Dutch flower market in the UK

 

What was your first job in catering?
I washed dishes at a pub called the Tickled Trout

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?
Black coffee

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?
Yardbird in Hong Kong

 

What's your favourite hotel?
Fawlty Towers

 

What is your favourite food?
I love a bit of dim sum

 

What is your favourite drink?
Tanqueray No 10 gin

 

Which ingredient do you hate?
Bananas

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?
Andrew Fairlie

 

Are there any foods that you refuse to cook with?
I hate truffle oil

 

How would you describe your desk?
Two foot tall, wood, slight wobble

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Someone in intelligence, like an MI6 agent

 

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
Trying to make it as an actor

 

What is your favourite prepared product?
Soy sauce and tinned anchovies

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?
Being buried alive or an office job

 

What irritates you most about the industry?
Young chefs who think they are the finished article

 

When and where was your last holiday?
I went to the Douro Valley in Portugal with our wine supplier to taste port for two days

 

What's your favourite film?
Die Hard

 

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

 

What's your favourite book?
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh