The minute you start compromising for the sake of massaging somebody's ego, that's it, game over.

One thing I can't afford to get sucked up in is the trend formation of restaurants here. I've invested heavily. We have a ten-year lease. More importantly, the style, the feel and the décor of the dining room is vibrant.

You don't come into cooking to get rich.

When you have the arrogance, the confidence and you can't cook, then you're only going to look stupid.

Making pasta, cooking pasta and baking bread are two essential ideas to create a little bit of excitement, and you learn the basic, and then evolve it. Flavor the bread, flavor the pasta, go to a fish, go to a meat sauce and take it to another level.

I think reality TV now needs a big kick up the a - to get creative and be meaningful, I think. Otherwise, people are becoming famous for having no talent, based on pure exposure. That's the grating part.

It's quite weird knocking that out of them and telling them to forget cooking for chefs; forget what chefs say about your food.