Revelations: Guy Owen, chef, St Enodoc hotel, Cornwall

We delve into the life and inner thoughts of a top chef. This week: Guy Owen, who has competed on Great British Menu

 

What was your first job in catering?

 

Working in a local fish and chip restaurant in a small fishing village called Mevagissey, where I was tumbling potatoes, making chips and washing dishes

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

This massively depends on the day. Having two young children to get ready in the mornings dictates what you have and how much time you have. But ideally it would be porridge with fresh fruit and an espresso

 

What is your favourite restaurant?

 

There are so many great restaurants I could choose. In London the meals I have eaten at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and the Harwood Arms have been incredible. More locally in Cornwall, what Jude Kereama does at Kota in Porthleven is on another level, also Ben Ambridge’s food at the Fox’s Revenge in Summercourt is incredible

 

What is your favourite drink?

 

A cold pint of Camden Hell’s, but I also love a good iced tea

 

What is your favourite cuisine?

 

Asian, primarily Japanese. It’s an incredible cuisine with so much attention to detail and skill

 

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

 

Anything that comes from poor farming practises. Very low standard meat, for instance, or poorly caught fish. We work really hard here to work with our suppliers to make sure everything we use is responsibly caught, reared or farmed

 

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

 

Probably something like working in the police. I did want to be a vet once upon a time, but you need a good grasp of academia, and that’s not really me

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Wearing a shirt and tie

 

Tell us a secret...

 

I have a stammer that only the people closest to me know about, and take the mick out of (which I love). I mask it by linking a sentence together by using swearwords... good job I’m a chef!

 

What’s your favourite film?

 

The Lion King, the original. You tell me of a better beginning to any film

 

Who would play “you” in a film about your life?

 

That’s a tough one. Jack Nicholson