Revelations: Arnaud Stevens, owner and chef-director, Plate, London

What was your best subject at school?

 

Being half-French, unsurprisingly it was French

 

What was your first job?

 

I started out at the Imperial hotel in Torquay

 

What was your first job in catering?

 

Luckily, I got straight into catering at the Imperial. It was a brilliant place to learn my craft and has been crucial to getting where I am today

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

My everyday breakfast would be a quick lemon, ginger and manuka honey Pukka tea, but if I have more time on a weekend it would have to be duck eggs, sausage and bacon from a local source

 

What's your favourite hotel?

 

The QC Terme Bagni Di Bormio hotel in Italy. I stayed there while skiing last year and it had the best five-star service and the spa facilities were incredible

 

What is your favourite drink?

 

A good-quality sloe berry gin and tonic by Warner Edwards

 

Which ingredient do you hate the most?

 

Bananas

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?

 

That has to be Ollie Dabbous, what he's done with Hide is another level. It's fantastic to achieve that at such young age

 

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?

 

Richard Corrigan. Although his food is somewhat traditional, he has a very innovative brain. He uses simple ingredients but in a way that makes them shine

 

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

 

A non-stick pan

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

 

Probably a footballer. Aside from food, it's my other biggest passion

 

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

 

I'd be a French teacher

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Tell us a secret…

 

I love fizzy cola bottle sweets and can't go a week without them