The proportion of ingredients is important, but the final result is also a matter of how you put them together. Equilibrium is key.

It is impossible to remain indifferent to Japanese culture. It is a different civilisation where all you have learnt must be forgotten. It is a great intellectual challenge and a gorgeous sensual experience.

Cuisine has become too complicated - this is about subject, verb, adjective: duck, turnips, sauce.

Nowadays, food needs to be healthy, local, sustainable and not filled with too much fat, salt or sugar. It should be slow-cooked and seasonal. That's my vision.

Failure is enriching. It's also important to accept that you'll make mistakes - it's how you build your expertise. The trick is to learn a positive lesson from all of life's negative moments.

Tasting a dish should be memorable If nothing remains in the memory of a single guest, then I have made a mistake.

Everywhere in the world there are tensions - economic, political, religious. So we need chocolate.