Lawrence Keogh

The chef behind Borough Market’s Roast has worked all over the catering world and is even creating in-flight meals for BA’s New York business route. Here, he tell us about his favourite off-duty haunts

My mum was a school dinner lady,

but she started going to catering college and would bring home amazing, fancy dishes. It changed the way I thought about food, because I started learning about all these new flavours. Once, I remember she made a tart and it had apple, cinnamon and all sorts of spices, and I just thought ‘crikey, this is amazing’. Being an Irish woman, she’d also make an Irish coddle; it’s a crazy recipe with cider, bacon and chipolatas. I never used to like the smell as a kid, but I love it now. I put it on my menu on St Patrick’s Day.

Cornflakes taste different when you’re on holiday.

I don’t know why but they do, especially at Butlins, which was about as far as our holidays went when I was a kid. It was a trip to Spain in my late teens that had the biggest impact on me in terms of food. Even finding little tavernas when I went to Tenerife was food heaven, I loved pan con tomate (tomato bread) with salsa verde, and all the little plates. For Spanish food in London, I love Brindisa (http://brindisa.com).

Los Caracoles is one of my favourite restaurants.

It’s in Barcelona (http://loscaracoles.es) and they cook chickens outside on a spit and serve them with lashings of garlic in olive oil. Their gazpacho is excellent, too – I like it when you sprinkle on your own toppings. It’s got great decor and looks very ‘olde world’ inside. The kitchen is classic – there are pots boiling all over the place, and huge trays of paella on the stove, which leans slightly to one side after years of wear and tear.

I’ve put hot, crusty, sliced bread onto a plane.

That’s been one of my biggest achievements since working with BA. I’m creating the menu for the City Airport to JFK New York business flight. There’s so much to think about, we even had to pre-slice the bread because knives aren’t permitted on board – it’s nice to hear people say ‘mmm, warm bread’.

They serve massive steaks at Sparks in New York.

I had one that was about 16oz of beautiful Angus beef last time I was there, it was awesome. The sirloin was so well cooked it was like cutting through butter. The restaurant (http://sparkssteakhouse.com) spans two floors and is all wood furniture and panelling – it’s proper American dining. They also serve ketchup mixed with horseradish with the oysters – it blows your head off, I love it!

Eating fish and chips by Sydney harbour is heaven.

It was one of my favourite things to do when I lived in Australia. After work, I’d head down to Doyles (http://doyles.com.au) or the Rock Pool (http://rockpool.com) which has a great chef called Neil Perry. I remember having John Dory wrapped in Indian pastry which was just delicious. They also fry artichokes, toss them in parmesan and serve them with lamb and aïoli. It’s great food.

The best afternoon tea in London is at The Goring.

When people say they’re going to The Ritz for tea and cake, I always tell them to go to The Goring (http://thegoring.com) as it’s the best-kept secret in London – at least it was until Kate Middleton had her hen party there!