"Not necessarily. I feel that if you have a niche for yourself like your service is good, you still have your client base. I would say people don’t have the desire to eat the same thing 365 days a year. As human beings, we are not static to be eating the same things."

"If I am doing something that I love it has to serve me and pay my bills."

"Diners seek in each bite, the flavor that takes them back to their childhood and the dishes that, with the passage of time, they stopped consuming."

"Great chefs have three things in common. The first is the understanding that mother nature is the true artist and they are the cook. The second is that everything they do becomes an extension of them as a person. Third, they give you insight into the world they came from, the world that inspired them. They show that off on their plates."

"Apply the cook's brain and visualize that fried egg on the plate. Do you want it to be burned around the edges? Do you want to see craters on the egg white? Should the yolk look as if you’d need a hammer to break into it? The answer to all three questions should be no. Yet the majority of people still crack an egg and drop it into searingly hot oil or fat and continue to cook it on high heat. You need to insert earplugs to reduce the horrific volume of the sizzle. And the result, once served up in a pool of oil, is an inedible destruction of that great ingredient—the egg. Maybe that’s how you like it, in which case carry on serving your disgusting food."

"Success is born out of luck. Luck is being given the opportunity, but it's awareness of mind that takes advantage of that opportunity."

"As far as I'm concerned, if someone is paying a huge amount of money to come to your restaurant and eat your food, then you have a duty to be in the kitchen."

"Cooking should be a way of life—an extension of oneself—never a job."

"It is only by growing to know yourself that you do things for the right reasons and maybe have a chance to be really happy and realise your true potential as a person."

"Most cooks when they are young tend to overwork their food to hide their lack of confidence and appreciation for Mother Nature. In time they learn that she is the true artist—we're just the the cooks."

"Success is born out of arrogance."

"When I made the decision to retire, I had three options. The first option was, I don't retire, I stay in the kitchen, I continue to work six or seven days a week, I kiss my children goodbye in their beds while they're sleeping in the morning and I kiss them goodnight when they're sleeping in their beds, but I retain my status and my position within my industry. My second option was to live a lie, to pretend I cook when I don't cook, question my integrity and everything I've worked for these 22 years, continue to charge high prices. My third option was to pluck up the courage, give back my stars and abdicate my position and reinvent myself as a person. Those were my options, and one Sunday morning I was fishing and it came to me. I was being judged by people who knew less than me. So what was it all worth?"

"Most chefs, unfortunately, cook by numbers. It doesn't come from within. Molecular cuisine is basically branding food. There's nothing new to it. Its foundation is still classical."

"No, I didn't make Gordon Ramsay cry. He made himself cry. That was his choice to cry."

"Cooking is a philosophy, it's not a recipe. Unless it's pastry, then it's chemistry."

"It's very important to me that I share my story, and my knowledge and my philosophy. A story is more important than a recipe. A recipe can confuse you, but a story can inspire you."

"Rudeness is not "having fun", and if it is, it's at the expense of another person."

"To start giving three stars straight away from year one makes you question Michelin and its value – they dish out stars like confetti now."

"Most of my reputation is a product of exaggeration and ignorance."

"I believe that cuisine is the most important link between nature and culture."

"Behind every dish there is death, and people only close their own eyes to it."

"When you cook it should be an act of love. To put a frozen bag in the microwave for your child is an act of hate."

"It's not the microwave that's the problem, it's what people put into them. I know people lead busy lives but they should try to sit their children down at the table once a week and cook them simple food."

"Whether you’re a vegan or not, there are endless reasons why we should all be delighted that the movement has grown so fast in the last few years. … Through adapting their diets to make sure they get all the vitamins they need, to pressuring big corporations and governments for more ethical products, vegans are giving food the focus it deserves. They are also doing their bit to reduce food miles and emissions … They’re teaching us a thing or two as well. My vegan and vegetarian friends have cooked me some fantastic meals, many of which I now make regularly. It’s saving me money, encouraging me to eat more vegetables, and reducing my meat intake. While I have no plans to give up meat, I recognise that it shouldn’t be the focus of my diet. I am now vegetarian every other day – not consciously, but because lots of my favourite meals are meat-free. I have also learnt lots of new techniques as I work around the limits of reducing dairy and meat products. I make cakes without eggs, burgers without beef, and pastry without butter. I … refuse to buy any animal product that doesn’t have a guarantee of quality such as Freedom Food, free range or organic status."