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.

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 not about what you achieve, it's actually what you do for your industry and that's what I think is important. And when people look at me and they see my achievements with the restaurants do you know what I think? I think I did more than that. What I achieved was teaching young men and young women when they were young and inspiring them.

A lot of my reputation is a product of exaggeration and ignorance.

I have no regrets in my life. If not for the mistakes that I made I would not be the man I am today.

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.

Mother Nature is the true artist and our job as cooks is to allow her to shine.