That’s a hard question! In 2016, my husband, son and I visited Singapore, which I hadn’t been back to for a few years. Within hours of landing we were sitting in a large family group outside, in the warmth of the tropical night, in a down-to-earth, bustling seafood restaurant called Chin Huat – located not by the sea but in the ground floor of a block of flats. We feasted on chilli crab – one of Singapore’s many national dishes – glorious sweet-fleshed crab, tossed in a tangy-sweet chilli-ginger-garlic sauce. My cousin Angela also ordered salted egg crab, a dish I’d never tried before and which was addictively tasty. Sitting there in that big, relaxed family group, chatting and eating wonderful seafood took me back to my childhood days in Singapore.
I started cooking for myself as a hungry student in York, repelled by the awful bland food on campus that sat all day drying out under hot lamps. I was desperate for flavour and spice and my quest to find it took me to cookbooks. I still have what is now a very messy copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, a BBC paperback. I remember that the first dish I cooked from the book was chhote kofte (cocktail koftas) and being amazed at how using spices had transformed my cheap mince into these tasty meatballs.
I love good smoked salmon, but low-grade smoked salmon – with that unpleasant greasy fattiness, fake smoked flavour and a smell that lingers far too long – is not for me.
A cappuccino and a brioche, eaten standing at the marble-topped bar in Robiglio in Florence – the simplicity, the expertise, the excellence all make me happy.
Cervejaria Ramiro in Lisbon – fond memories of eating the best ever garlic prawns while enjoying ice cold beer with my husband on a trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
BBC Radio 3 and 4 and the World Service keep me company when I cook. Thanks to iPlayer I can catch up with programmes I enjoy – In Our Time, The Food Programme, Private Passions and A Good Read among them.
Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncini – nicknamed spaghetti AOP by my father: spaghetti strands tossed with piquant, garlicky olive oil which you can cook in 10 minutes. Perfect for late-night eating.
A beautifully made cup of Yimu Oolong from Postcard Teas.
My perfect breakfast is a cappuccino and a brioche, eaten standing at the marble-topped bar in Robiglio in Florence – the simplicity, the expertise, the excellence all make me happy
The stuffed pancakes my mother made for me for birthdays and special occasions. A dish that still makes me smile.
Randolph Hodgson of Neal’s Yard Dairy. He’s done so much to support and nurture farmhouse cheesemakers in Britain and Ireland, much of it behind the scenes. Over the decades, Randolph helped create a community of British cheesemakers, who are willing to share information and help each other. He has also made good cheese available and accessible to so many people. The excellent, genuinely friendly, knowledgeable service at the two Neal’s Yard Dairy shops, where you are offered tastings of the cheese to help you choose, reflects his whole straightforward ethos. He wants customers to know what they were buying and be happy with it.
Little Bread Pedlar’s porter sourdough – rich, tangy, satisfying.
Singapore – that way I get Chinese cooking (in all its regional glory), Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian and Nonya food.
Pushy, insincere service that “recommends” the most expensive dish or wine on the menu.
The Missing Ingredient is published by Particular Books
The Gannet Q&A: Ben Reade – The co-founder of Edinburgh Food Studio on his cravings for fruit, memorable Christmas dinners at his granny's house and his most blissful meal
The Gannet Q&A: Will Goldfarb – The Bali-based dessert specialist on his favourite ever restaurant meal (which he had three times), a fascination with chickpeas and his ongoing struggle to avoid a particular fruit
The Gannet Q&A: Laura Freeman – The author of The Reading Cure on her greatest hits recipe compilation, the secret ingredient for the perfect breakfast and her restaurant pet hate
The Gannet Q&A: Stephen Toman – The chef at Ox in Belfast on "mindblowing" meals in Copenhagen, his grandmother's vegetable broth and the tune that gets things going in the kitchen