Revelations: Carlo Scotto, chef-owner, Xier/XR, London

What was your best subject at school?

 

Chemistry

 

What was your first job?

 

Chef apprentice

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

Avocado and scrambled egg whites with brown toast and a coffee

 

What do you do to relax?

 

Long walks

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?

 

The Clove Club

 

What’s your favourite hotel?

 

The Ritz, I love the history of it

 

What is your favourite drink?

 

I love red wine, particularly Masseto Toscana 1998

 

What is your favourite cuisine?

 

Scandinavian and Japanese

 

Which ingredient do you hate the most?

 

I’m not a big fan of wasabi

 

What flavour combinations do you detest?

 

None, I love unusual flavour combinations

 

Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with?

 

I don’t think I will ever cook or serve any insects in my kitchen

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?

 

Pierre Gagnaire

 

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?

 

Angela Hartnett

 

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

 

Bottle of water, my knife and pictures of my kids

 

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

 

I loved chemistry at school, so something to do with that

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Waking up and having no more creative ideas for my food

 

What irritates you most about the industry?

 

The perception by some that it is easy to be a chef, and to open and run a restaurant

 

What’s your favourite film?

 

I love Fast & Furious

 

What’s your favourite book?

 

Larousse Gastronomique

 

What is your favourite prepared product?

 

Nutriseed cold-pressed juices

 

Who would be in your “fantasy” brigade?

 

I love my current brigade and wouldn’t change them!