I can't imagine anything worse than trying to impress a girl with dinner. To be honest, I'm always impressing myself, not other people.

How many chefs when I was a young boy shouted at me during service? All I ever said was "Yes, chef." The customer is the most important. If the chef overreacts, fine. At the end of service, you apologize.

I've paid my price, a high price, I watched my mother die. I look at everything I've been given now as a form of compensation. A person who has regrets is a person who casts anchors.

It's extraordinary these obsessions. You conquer one but then you move onto another.

I came from the old world of gastronomy. Many years ago I walked into the kitchens of the Hotel St George and I feel very fortunate that I worked for chefs that were behind their stoves. I saw that world of gastronomy. I can sit here today and say that I saw the golden age of gastronomy. It's gone, it's gone. It's never going to have that anymore, once the accountants get involved the romance fades. That's the reality.

Today there are very few chefs at that high level who are behind their stoves. You don't feel their presence within the room. Where's the romance? Where's the show? Where's the theater? The modern day restaurant - it's like dining in a chapel. It's boring.

The more I invested in myself, the kinder I was to myself and the more I understood myself.