"You’ve got to kiss arse to get somewhere, to learn. Clock-watchers are no good at kissing arse."

"Addicts are selfish, the most selfish people you’ll ever meet. And self-pitying. And manipulative. Always making promises they’ll never keep. They disgust me."

"Kitchens are hard environments and they form incredibly strong characters."

"I recall when we opened in New York how the designer locks were impossible to slide shut, often leading to a difficult encounter no matter which side of the door you were on."

"Loo doors without a decent, large hook are as infuriating as a lock that doesn’t offer you full protection."

"It's very hard when you eat out every day for a living, and a new restaurant comes along and you haven't got that same vigour that you had 10 years ago."

"No one saw the recession coming."

"I shoot from the hip."

"I swim like a fish and I have an amazing kick."

"There is a level of snobbery and fickleness in L.A."

"I am a grafter."

"I hid myself in food."

"I've got nothing to hide."

"I'm not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now."

"I'd like to think I'm a great teacher."

"I came up from a difficult background."

"My father was a swim teacher. We used to swim before school, swim after school."

"They say cats have nine lives. I've had 12 already and I don't know how many more I'll have."

"I won't let people write anything they want to about me."

"It's vulgar, coming from where I do, to talk about money."

"I want my kids to see me as Dad, for God's sake, not a television personality."

"The problem with Yanks is they are wimps."

"Running started as a way of relaxing. It's the only time I have to myself. No phones or e-mails or faxes."

"I mean, families are weird."

"I'm not trying to take New York by storm. I just want to sneak in there, keep my head down, batten down the hatches and cook."

"I was a naturally aggressive left-back, a cut-throat tackler."

"I didn't get depressed, I don't get depressed."

"I grew up in a funny way."

"You know how arrogant the French are - extraordinary."

"I've never been a hands-on dad. I'm not ashamed to admit it, but you can't run a restaurant and be home for tea at 4:30 and bath and change nappies."

"We are about creating a new wave of talent. We are the Manchester United of kitchens now. Am I playing full-time in the kitchen? I am a player-coach."

"Would I swap what I have achieved as a cook if I could have been as successful as a footballer? Definitely."

"I am the most unselfish chef in Britain today."

"If I relaxed, if I took my foot off the gas, "I "would probably die."

"Chefs are nutters. They're all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them."

"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."

"I don't run restaurants that are out of control. We are about establishing phenomenal footholdings with talent."

"I am a chef who happens to appear on the telly, that's it."

"I don't think it's a good advert for any restaurant, a fat chef, and secondly, who wants to eat a dessert when the chef's a fat pig."

"I act on impulse and I go with my instincts."

"Cooking today is a young man's game, I don't give a bollocks what anyone says."

"I'm quite a chauvinistic person."

"When you find a guy who is powerful, a big father figure, you latch onto him immediately."

"There's a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family."

"I am what I am. A fighter."

"Find what's hot, find what's just opened and then look for the worst review of the week. There is so much to learn from watching a restaurant getting absolutely panned and having a bad experience. Go and see it for yourself."

"I think every chef, not just in America, but across the world, has a double-edged sword - two jackets, one that's driven, a self-confessed perfectionist, thoroughbred, hate incompetence and switch off the stove, take off the jacket and become a family man."

"I train my chefs completely different to anyone else. My young girls and guys, when they come to the kitchen, the first thing they get is a blindfold. They get blindfolded and they get sat down at the chef's table... Unless they can identify what they're tasting, they don't get to cook it."

"When you're a chef, you graze. You never get a chance to sit down and eat. They don't actually sit down and eat before you cook. So when I finish work, the first thing I'll do, and especially when I'm in New York, I'll go for a run. And I'll run 10 or 15k on my - and I run to gain my appetite."

"My wife, a schoolteacher, very disciplined. If you think I'm tough, trust me, and wait till you see when the children are on the naughty step. It's hilarious. So we decided that I'm going to work like a donkey and provide amazing support for the family."