Chef of the Week: Daniele Ciniglio, Sous Chef at Royal Garden Hotel in London
How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I have been at Royal Garden Hotel for two and a half years.
Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
I developed a passion for cooking at an early age, both cooking with my mum and spending time growing food on my grandparents land.
What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
At my current position, I really enjoy helping younger chefs to develop their skills. I also love the creativity that comes when thinking of a dish and the story you can tell through your food.
Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Butter, herbs and a love for food.
Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
Thermomix.
What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
I’m not sure if you would class it as a trend, but I am seeing more and more restaurants starting to treat fish as if it was meat, like Josh Niland does in Australia.
What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
I love autumn as it offers a great variety of vegetables and root veg. Food starts to be richer with sauces and buttery purees.
Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
I love my very recent venison dish at Origin.
How do you come up with new dishes?
I think of seasonality first and then I think of how to use every part of the ingredients I chose to minimise waste.
Who was your greatest influence?
I am very attached to my first head chef in Italy who taught me how to use knives and instilled a passion for this job.
Tell us three chefs you admire.
Josh Niland, Antonino Cannavacciuolo and Jeremy Chan.
What is your favourite cookbook?
Ikoyi.
Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
April Lily Partridge and also Kelly Cullen for pastry.
What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
I haven’t been to a restaurant yet that opened in the last year, but I will definitely be going to Knave of Club and One Club Row from Patrick Powell which will open soon. I loved his two previous restaurants.
