If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that's exactly what I did.

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.

If you become a chef because you're obsessed by becoming a celebrity, getting my ass kicked and working my nuts off the way I did in France and getting pushed around those kitchens wasn't about becoming famous.

We're fragile, fragmented souls who are very sensitive to criticism.

I still love football, though, and I think cooking is like football. It's not a job, it's a passion. When you become good at it, it's a dream job and financially you need never to worry. Ever.

The problem with Yanks is they are wimps.

No one saw the recession coming. The UK businesses were solid as a rock, but the issues we had were in Paris, New York and LA. For every pound we were making here we were losing two pounds abroad.