Revelations: Padam Raj Rai, executive chef, Hot Stone, London

What was your best subject at school?

 

Geography

 

What was your first job?

 

A sushi restaurant in Nepal in the teppanyaki section

 

What do you do to relax?

 

I love yoga, I listen to music and I go for walks

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

No breakfast, only ginger water

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?

 

Liman and the Little Viet Kitchen, both in Islington, and Hoppers too – I love their spicy curries, especially the bone marrow

 

What is your favourite drink?

 

Lassi, ginger water, green tea

 

What is your favourite cuisine?

 

Nepalese, especially dhido and gundruk (fermented leafy vegetables)

 

What flavour combinations do you detest?

 

Sweet and bitter

 

How would you describe your desk?

 

Clean and organised. I have allocated spaces for my things so it’s easier. Same in the kitchen: you have to put everything back exactly where it was after using it

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

 

Mahatma Gandhi

 

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

 

I would still be back home working as a farmer

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Not being able to provide for my family

 

When and where was your last holiday?

 

Last June in Nepal for a month

 

Tell us a secret...

 

I love potatoes… a lot!

 

What irritates you most about the industry?

 

I don’t like when restaurants only focus on sales and fail to provide adequate training and growth opportunities to their staff

 

What’s your favourite film?

 

White Sun, a Nepalese movie

 

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

 

Jackie Chan please

 

What’s your favourite book?

 

Khusi, which is a Nepalese book. Khusi means happiness in Nepali

 

What is your favourite prepared product?

 

Crabstick