Chef Revelations – Clare Smyth
What was your first job? Making club sandwiches in a hotel in the school holidays
Which is your favourite restaurant? Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse, Monaco
What flavour combinations to do you detest? Dark chocolate with passion fruit
What's your favourite hotel? Burj Al Arab, Dubai
What is your favourite drink? Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Domain Leflaive. I also love Krug Champagne
What is your favourite food/cuisine? French but I also love Japanese
What do you always carry with you? A tiny porcelain saucepan that I was given at Lasserre in Paris on my 30th
Which person in catering have you most admired? Frank Cerutti, the chef with the most passion for produce I have ever met
Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take? A massive box of Pierre Hermé macaroons
When and where was your last holiday? Last year, I went to New York
If not yourself, who would you rather have been? Brillat-Savarin because he had good taste
If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now? I would be a professional three-day-event rider
Describe your ultimate nightmare? The gas cutting out in the middle of service and having to send everyone home
Tell us a secret… I never cook at home!
What irritates you most about the industry? Youngsters who don't take it seriously enough to learn the trade properly
Who would play you in a film about your life? Cameron Diaz
What is your favourite prepared food product? Salt and vinegar crisps
What's your favourite music? Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars
What's your favourite book? Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point
Who would be in your "fantasy" brigade? Gordon Ramsay, Alain Ducasse, Joël Robuchon, Thomas Keller, Paul Bocuse, Albert Roux, Yannick Alléno, Frédéric Anton, Eric Frechon, Michel Guérard, Michel Bras, Alain Chapel, Roger Vergé, Régis Marcon
If you had more time, what would you do? Sleep
Clare Smyth is head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London
