Michel Roux Jr interview: The Michelin-starred chef on Twitter, midweek boozing, and running ultra marathons

Michel Roux Jr is a chef known for his two Michelin-star London restaurant Le Gavroche and his TV appearances, including on MasterChef: The Professionals

Roux says: 'I'm very wary that I shouldn't become just a 'TV chef' - I work in the restaurant on a daily basis' (Justin Sutcliffe)

You're promoting a whisky but you don't drink in the week, is that right?

I drink in the week very little and very seldom. I purposefully avoid alcohol while at work. It's easy to be tempted and I've seen lots of people fall into that trap. You have a sip, and a sip becomes two sips, which becomes a glass which becomes a bottle. It's a slippery slope.

There's that whole "sex, drugs and haute cuisine" side of kitchens captured in Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". Is it an accurate portrayal?

Absolutely, it was bang on. Not to the point where I could see myself in it, but some of the others maybe. I suppose that book started the image of the rock'n'roll chef, the hellraiser. It's not at all like that any more though, we've moved on.

Your daughter is a chef, as are your father and your uncle. Who's the best cook in the family?

Put it this way, we're all pretty good chefs. And we all have an opinion. It can get fiery at times.

Is there a difference in style?

Yes, of course. Dad is very old school, I'm old school and my daughter is very now. My dad and I are more about the animal fats whereas she's trained in some very trendy, modern places and has a very light touch.

Is celebrity something you've ever actively sought out?

No, definitely not. All television and media work is a product of what I do on a daily basis and that's work in the restaurant. I'm very fussy about what television work I do and I'm very wary that I shouldn't become a "TV chef". There are many chefs out there who have become just that and no longer run their businesses as chefs. That's not something that I want to do.

What does your dad make of it all?

When my father started out, he certainly didn't think it was necessary to employ a PR company. It's relatively new, this idea of using a PR company to promote and get the messages out there. And then of course there's social media...

Did you find it hard to get into the habit of tweeting?

It's something that I shied away from at first. But then there was somebody on Twitter who was trying to be me. It was quite scary. They were phoning up the restaurant to find out when the menu changes were, what was on special, where I was... It felt as if it was, not someone who was following me, but maybe someone who knew me. That tipped the balance and I thought, I'll get my blue tick!

You're a marathon runner. Have you ever been tempted by any of those ultrafitness events?

Not if it involves swimming. The only swimming I do is in the Indian Ocean. I did one ultra marathon – a 100km race in just under 11 hours – which I enjoyed. But my joints have started killing me.

What's the doctor said?

I saw a specialist who said "you shouldn't really be running marathons; they're not that good for you". But I haven't hung up my running shoes just yet.

Any guilty pleasures?

Why would a pleasure be guilty?!

Ok, something people might not expect a Michelin-starred chef to eat.

Tinned fruit. Tinned peaches, tinned apricots. Especially the cherries in the tinned fruit salad.

One chef I interviewed answered that question with vanilla ice cream, which I thought summed him up.

That's a question I ask sometimes to break the ice if I have a meeting with someone I don't know. "What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?" It throws people. If somebody replies "vanilla ice cream", it does say a lot about them.

Biography

Michel Roux Jr, 55, is a chef known for his two Michelin-star London restaurant Le Gavroche and his TV appearances, including on 'MasterChef: The Professionals'. He and his wife Giselle have one daughter and live in London. Roux Jr has created a film series with The Balvenie whisky, which is available to view online from 15 March.