James Knappett was raised by a family of pub landlords, but as a boy he harboured dreams of becoming a police officer. It wasn't until he found himself in a hotel kitchen during his school work experience that he started to seriously consider a career in cooking; the placement ended up proving pivotal, and he soon headed off to catering college. James picked up shifts at a local Italian restaurant, until an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Boiling Point encouraged him to seek out the chef at a food show, a meeting which resulted in a job at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. It was, he says, a brutal introduction to Michelin level cooking – he left after six months and headed down to Cornwall to spend three years learning from Rick Stein.  

Deciding he was ready to take on London, James returned to Gordon's kitchens, this time spending a year at Pétrus under Marcus Wareing. After, he moved to New York to join Thomas Keller's Per Se, where he met his wife Sandia Chang, before another stint at René Redzepi's Noma, at a time when the restaurant was fast on the rise. He and Sandia returned to London and in 2012 opened chef's table restaurant Kitchen Table, which earned its first star in 2014 and its second in 2018.

When he reflects on his career, James points to Thomas – and his former head chef Jonathan Benno – as the inspiration for his beliefs and mindset, René for his approach to seasonality and foraging and Gordon for his standards and stamina. He is, he says, the culmination of all those ‘priceless’ experiences, and ultimately a chef who is obsessed with ingredients. By fully embracing hyper-seasonality, he says he strives to evoke feelings and nostalgia, from the cosiness of holing up inside during winter to the joy of enjoying dinner in the garden, bringing them to life in his daily-changing menus at Kitchen Table.

The best time I’ve ever had with food and travelling was in Vietnam with my wife. I didn’t really know what to expect, but we went from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh and you just couldn’t find bad food, from fresh salads and grilled meats to noodles, everything we had was insane. I remember eating these hot and spicy little pork ribs with an ice cold beer and feeling the bustle of the city – everything you look back on is a food moment. I’ve been so lucky and have eaten all over the world, but if I could go back and live one trip again, it would definitely be Vietnam.

Being with my children is number one – nothing gives me more joy than hanging out with my kids, from doing the things I did as a kid like feeding the ducks in the country and going on dog walks to the extreme of taking them to Disneyland. It’s anything and everything in between. The ultimate joy is spending time with them. I’m also a big Gunner, I absolutely love going to the football, that’s my time, and then anything in the countryside as well.

I've got two. Firstly, The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater – how he writes was a big part of helping me get through Copenhagen when I felt really homesick. It’s so simple, how he cooks, and his writing really inspires me. It could just be him saying, ‘it’s the last of the autumn sun, so we ate outside tonight and we had this’, and you wish you were there. It’s absolutely amazing. I might not be cooking his dishes, but I’m looking for his words. And then the book that started all this off and sent me into the journey was Thomas Keller’s original The French Laundry cookbook. When that book came out, there was nothing like it. That was the start of cookbooks being pieces of art. They’re an insight into restaurants and chefs, but I think before The French Laundry, there wasn’t much like it. It’s very special.

It’s about it being as original and authentic as it can be – in The George [the Fitzrovia pub where James is culinary director], we have the original bar and wood panelling. Fireplaces are always a bonus and they have to let dogs in. And then it needs to be a proper pub, with beer taps and mixers and Scampi Fries behind the bar! Then it’s about the traditional pub food – on a Sunday it’s the roast dinner, but also prawn cocktails, pork pies, Scotch eggs. It’s just nostalgia, right?

The most special ingredient for me is damson plums, real wild damson plums – we do so much with them here. I think they're so special and so rare. Supermarkets still don’t have them, you can’t buy damson really, you can only buy damson jam. That’s a really special ingredient, I absolutely love damson.

The one that’s been on the menu the longest is our crispy chicken skin with rosemary-infused mascarpone and bacon jam. It’s gone through evolutions in shape, size and presentation but the base of it has always been the same. Every guest, every night will say about it. Who doesn’t like crispy chicken skin? I also always do a curry, a version of a seafood curry that’s been on the menu now for the longest time and that probably means a bit more to me, because there’s so much skill work and it is a little reminder of childhood.

Something that really sticks out is when my mum had my younger sister. I remember dad going to the hospital and he took her prawn cocktail sandwiches; just prawns in equal parts Heinz Ketchup and mayonnaise, Iceland prawns and bread and butter. I just remember how big the sandwiches were and how many he made and I sat there eating prawn cocktail sandwiches. Still now even, on Christmas Day I’ll go and get Iceland prawns for that so you can remember that taste and that feeling.

It was probably from Gordon, to just be willing to sacrifice everything. I did sacrifice everything; huge amounts of time, working stupidly long hours, stupid amounts of days a week, but some of the best things I have in my life are because of the career I have and what I have achieved. It all pays off now. So to the young chefs, don’t be too eager – learn the trade before you want to be the superstar. Take the time, be willing to sacrifice, learn the trade.