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Favourite brand of olive oil?
Waitrose Extra Virgin for cooking; for dressings, Spanish producer Vandelvira is exceptional.
Food/drink item you always pack when you go abroad?
Tabasco. It’s essential first aid for rubbish BA aeroplane food.
Restaurant(s) you want to go back to?
Da Adolfo and Lo Scoglio, both just outside Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Simple, seasonal and utterly sensational.
Tom Parker Bowles reveals his kitchen secrets in our new new fortnightly column
Top spot for drinks with a view?
New York Bar at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo is a place where the drinks match the view.
Preferred brand of tinned fish?
Rockfish and Sea Sisters, while Ortiz is ever excellent, and Waitrose does a good cheap tin with extra chillies. For purists, Pinhais sells exceptional sardines (often aged), while Serrats and La Lata tin the fattest, sweetest anchovies you’ll ever taste. I buy all mine from thetinnedfishmarket.com.
Toast topping of choice?
Marmite. Obviously.
Condiment that improves any meal?
Salt is not exactly a condiment, but it always makes life taste better. Maldon is my favourite.
Go-to ready meal?
I usually hate ready meals, but you can’t go too wrong with Charlie Bigham’s Lasagne.
Tom will be back: Lo Scoglio, Positano.
Best fish and chips in the UK?
You’ll never find them in London. Sea Salt + Sole in Aberdeen, Shakies in Fleetwood, near Blackpool, The Cod Father in Kingsbridge and Rockfish in Brixham, both Devon, are all excellent.
And the best Sunday roast?
Nowhere is better than home. But if I had to choose, it would be the Harwood Arms in Fulham or any Hawksmoor.
Coffee brand you rate?
Dark Arts Coffee in Hackney is my favourite. The quality is exceptional, the provenance peerless, and the boxes beautiful, with names like Barbarians At The Gate and The Devil Looks After His Own.
Top spot for a takeaway coffee?
Debbie Jo in Brook Green, West London. Their long black is as good as anything I’ve drunk in Melbourne, the coffee capital of the world. Starbucks, on the other hand, is vile.
Bougiest thing in your store cupboard?
I pick up strange and wonderful things whenever I travel. There’s the garum (Roman fish sauce) in the beautiful bottle from Naples, the Malaysian dried anchovies, Poon’s exceptional premium soy sauce, Korean prawn powder, limited-edition Tabasco bottles and far too many rare hot sauces.
Favourite UK restaurant?
It’s impossible to choose as it changes depending on what I crave at that moment. There are just so many… Hospitality is the business of happiness, the currency of pleasure and delight, the eternal joy of the shared (or solo) table. It doesn’t matter if it’s your local caff or The Ritz, all restaurants need our support more than ever.
Secret ingredient?
Good-quality anchovies, adding extra depth and umami to gravies, dressings and stews.
His meal in minutes? Dippy eggs
You can only eat one kind of potato for the rest of your life – what is it?
Roast potatoes cooked in goose fat.
Repeat Deliveroo order?
A chicken vindaloo (‘extra, extra hot please’) from The Raj of Kensington with two garlic naans, chana masala and Punjabi salad. Or an extra-hot Nando’s double chicken wrap, hold the chilli jam and yogurt.
Choice of butter?
The best brands are Abernethy, Bungay or Quicke’s; all British, handmade and tasting of meadows, wildflowers and lots of cream.
Best bread for toasting?
Good old-fashioned brown or white farmhouse. That, or Mothers Pride. I’m growing bored of the cult of sourdough.
Most useful kitchen utensil or gadget?
Two wooden spoons that I’ve had for years. They’re like old friends.
Go-to for cheap eats?
Nothing beats a McDonald’s cheeseburger. A magical melange of the sweet and salty, the soft and crunchy, the sacred and the profane, it’s a modern food masterpiece.
Favourite corner-shop chocolate?
The best chocolate on earth is Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. Nothing else comes close.
Ten-minute meal that always delivers?
Boiled eggs and soldiers.
Holiday destination you’d go back to just for the food?
I return to Italy, Thailand and Mexico again and again, purely for the food.
