Revelations: Matthew Ryle, MasterChef: The Professionals 2018 finalist

What was your first job?

 

What was your first job in catering?
Local Michelin-starred L'Ortolan in Reading, Berkshire

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?
I'm a sucker for Marmite on toast. I love a bowl of porridge and blueberries in the colder months

 

What do you do to relax?
When it's not too cold, I love a day or two fishing

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?
Very tough, there are so many great restaurants in London. It has to be Sabor, Cornerstone a close second

 

What's your favourite hotel?
I love staying at Coworth Park. Me and my girlfriend have a yearly birthday tradition of going there

 

What is your favourite cuisine?
I love eating all cuisines, it would be a toss-up between Italian/Spanish/Japanese

 

How would you describe your desk?
Super-clean and organised, borderline OCD

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?
My college lecturer, David Boland. The knowledge and understanding he had about food was infectious. Along with food he taught discipline, punctuality and hard work - all the things you need to be a great chef

 

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
It would have to be a speaker - I love a bit of music. The right tune can always perk me up

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
I'm happy being myself, life's good

 

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
I think I would have gone to uni, completed a degree in something I didn't 100% believe in, and be off travelling somewhere now

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?
Being trapped in a room that slowly starts filling up with water would be pretty horrible

 

Tell us a secret…
I enjoy the odd packet of Super Noodles

 

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