Do you set an alarm? No need, I wake up at every day at 7am like clockwork whether I want to or not. After 34 years of cooking that’s set in stone. I hanker for my teenage days when I could sleep forever.
A routine? I make a coffee, then spend 20 minutes checking the restaurant logs from Saturday night. I get it out the way, else my wife goes nuts. Then it’s time for a run across Wandsworth and Clapham Commons come rain or shine.
What’s for breakfast? Bacon butties week in week out – we all go nuts for them. Use the smoked stuff and make it crispy. Serving soggy bacon is a crime.
If you’re heading out? It’s straight to Milk in Balham, there’s nowhere like it – it’s off the charts. My order is the Convict: English muffin, a sausage patty, crispy bacon, spicy sauce, cheese and amazing eggs.
A Sunday smell? Clean linen. In our home we have a rule – sheets are changed every other day. There’s nothing better than the feeling of clean sheets on your skin.
What were Sundays like growing up? I grew up in Skegness, and always worked Sundays through the summer: donkey boy, cleaner, manning arcades. Then it was home for Mum’s classic northern roast of Yorkshire puddings for a starter then beef, mustard, roast potatoes. I’m not sure Mum would get a Michelin star, but she’s all right.
A Sunday treat? There’s a branch of an ice-cream shop called Venchi on the Kings Road that has a chocolate fountain running down the wall. The kids would bathe in it if they could.
Do you work? A lot of my restaurants close on Sundays, even though there’s more money to be made by opening seven days. Taking time to relax is important, it’s a day off with the family no matter what.
The Betterment restaurant is now open at The Biltmore hotel, London W1
