Born? 14 November 1968 in Paris.

 

Education - modern or classic trained? Classic training.

 

Membership of Culinary Association? None.

 

Best kitchens worked? Twenty-one years in France and Australia. Carlton Hotel in Cannes, the Hotel Windsor in Melbourne, The Treasury at Hotel InterContinental Sydney, La Fontaine at Hayman Island and Master Chef at Sydney's famed restaurant, Gekko. For the last five years I've had a passion for offering Australians exciting food at my Bitton Gourmet Café in Alexandria, Sydney where I have combined the best elements of French and Australian cuisine.

 

What keeps you going? Hard work.

 

Advice to future chefs? Put your head down. It's hard work but extremely rewarding.

 

Favourite kitchen tool? Fish slicer.

 

Favourite thing about Sydney? Variety of the restaurants and Australian wines. Fourteen years ago I arrived in Australia on Anzac Day with just $1,000 and had never visited here before, I knew it was home.

 

Most useful cookbook? Larousse.

 

Early influences? In France Francis Chevau and in Australia Tetsuya.

 

Career you would have pursued if you didn't become a chef? Soccer player.

 

Cooking experience for celebrities? Janet Jackson, Annie Lennox, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Mikhail Gorbachev, Gough Whitlam, Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes.

 

How we can keep attracting new chefs into the food world? Better pay and more recognition.

 

Career turning point? Opening my own restaurant.

 

Favourite sport? Soccer.

 

Ingredient obsession? Coriander.

 

Suppliers tip? Highest quality at the best price.

 

As a chef you are inspiring to other chefs as far as your special projects go, what are they? Daring to be different being creative and innovative, using a variety of cuisine to create an individual flavour, that is BITTON.