Angela Hartnett: ‘Food waste is criminal. You’re throwing money in the bin’

Angela Hartnett, 52, who won her first Michelin star in 2004, owns and runs Murano restaurant in London, which she launched in 2008 with Gordon Ramsay. Her many accolades include 2018 Ayala SquareMeal Female Chef of the Year. She was appointed MBE for services to the hospitality industry in 2007.

What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
Anything and everything. I remember watching Seb Coe and thinking it would be great to be an athlete. Or a Wimbledon tennis star. Or a pathologist.

Where did you go to school? Where did you train?
The Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School in Upminster, a Catholic convent school. It was brilliant. It felt like an Enid Blyton book. I au-paired in Italy for a year. After that, Cambridge polytechnic — it was called CCAT at the time. I didn’t really train. I worked for a guy called Hans Schweitzer at Midsummer House restaurant and learnt on the job. I went to Barbados for a while. Then I worked for Gordon.

What was the first dish you learnt to cook?
I can’t think. Something like fairy cakes. Or a stew, some sort of soup. I definitely did my cookery badge in the Brownies.

Who was or still is your mentor?
I suppose, careerwise, Gordon. I worked for him for such a long time. He and Marcus Wareing were very influential. And family — the opinions of people like my uncle, my brother and my mum matter to me more than anything.

How physically fit are you?
I can cycle for a good couple of hours. I could run to the end of the road if I had to.

Breakfast or dinner: which?
Dinner. I don’t really have breakfast — I have coffee.

Which technique did you struggle to perfect?
Pastry is technical, it’s science-driven — and I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I’m not so interested in it.

Which flavour always pleases you?
Anything savoury. Something with chicken — is chicken a flavour? Umami — soy, parmesan — I’d always go for that.

Which flavour can’t you abide?
Coriander. It’s just not my favourite.

What equipment could you not do without?
A chopping knife that [my husband] Neil bought me. You get used to a certain knife and it feels good in my hand.

What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
A house by the sea.

What’s your biggest extravagance?
There’s this amazing jeweller in New York called Fred Leighton where I saw these old-fashioned diamond earrings. I’d never, ever spent that sort of crazy money on anything before. I’m wearing them now.

Do you consider food waste?
Oh God, yes. Food waste is criminal. You’re throwing money in the bin, apart from anything else.

What is your guilty food pleasure?
Crisps. It’s terrible, but I could eat plain crisps all day long. If you put a bowl in front of me, I demolish them.

In what place are you happiest?
With friends and family.

Who or what makes you laugh?
Neil.

What ambitions do you still have?
To have the house by the sea. Careerwise, I just want to get through this mess that is Covid.

What is the luckiest aspect of your life so far?
You make your own luck. There’s also a lot of hard work involved. I think things happen for a reason — and I go by gut instinct. If I think something’s right, I’ll go for it. I was in the right time and the right place for my cooking career — I worked with the right man.

What has been your greatest kitchen disaster?
I was working at Aubergine, on the pastry section. Because the kitchen was very intense, if you were late, your whole morning was scuppered. I was late, I was panicking. I managed to split a vanilla custard, overcook the crème brûlée, spread butter everywhere and I accidentally turned the freezer off. All in one morning!

If your 20-year-old self could see you now, what would she think?
I think she’d be quite happy. She would probably say, “Plan a bit more, procrastinate less.” She might wish I’d travelled a bit more.

Do you see yourself as an artist?
No.

If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
Eight to nine.

All I want for Christmas is . . . 
. . . to sit in bed all day watching television. At Christmas we usually cook for as many as 30 people — it’s like a full restaurant service. This year, because of all the restrictions, may be the year I don’t cook for so many.

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