The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
FRED SIRIEIX MY LIFE IN TRAVEL
The maître d’ and TV personality on sprinting up Machu Picchu, surfing in Cornwall and getting lost in Canada
YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN a new skill. I became a certified scuba diver on my recent holiday to Jamaica; I was practically running underwater as I tried to race the fish! I saw a turtle and tried to find Nemo, but could only find Dory.
BEING SPORTY RUNS IN MY FAMILY I stayed at Sandals Negril Resort in Jamaica last summer. When I wasn’t eating jerk chicken and lobster, I’d run on Negril beach, or go sailing or swimming with my family. My daughter dives for Team GB so she always shows me up in the pool.
JUST CALL ME FORREST GUMP! I’m a keen runner and when backpacking in Peru I ran all the way up Machu Picchu, right from the bottom to the Puerta del Sol trail. The hike usually takes three or four hours but I sprinted up the archaeological terraces. It was so exhilarating. As I passed people I could hear them saying to each other: “This guy is nuts!”
I HAD A PANIC ATTACK IN THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS while staying in a log cabin in Algonquin Provincial Park. I went for a run and lost my bearings. My brain was pulsating, my heart was racing, I was sweaty. All the trees suddenly looked the same and I lost phone signal: It was like a scene from The Revenant. I could have been eaten by a bear! Eventually I found the path back.
LIMOGES IS THE FRENCH COVENTRY – as in the English idiom, “to send someone to Coventry”. In France, back in the day, if you were not in favour of the king you’d be sent to my home town of Limoges. Like Coventry, it’s very green and has lots of cows. My children request all their favourite dishes of their grandma before we go, like lapin à la moutarde – rabbit in a mustard sauce – with my dad’s unbeatable fries.
THE COTE D’AZUR IS OVERRATED I find. I worked in Monte Carlo and I love the Riviera but there are simply too many people. The main road becomes one big traffic jam during the holiday season, the beaches are packed and people fight over towel space – except at the private ones, which cost an arm and a leg. NAPLES IS THE MESSIEST, MOST EXCITING PLACE in the world. It’s seriously nuts to think that there’s an active volcano, Vesuvius, right before your eyes. Gino [D’Acampo] took us there when we filmed our TV show and I ate the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life.
NOWHERE IS SEXIER THAN PARIS. When I take the Eurostar I pinch myself that I’m in France when I arrive at the Gare du Nord. I’ve been in Britain 27 years and feel British, so I see Paris through the eyes of a foreigner. I love to eat un plateau de fruits de mer at gourmet brasseries like Le Train Bleu.
THE ROME CAVALIERI WALDORF ASTORIA is the best located hotel I’ve been to. If you’re lucky enough to have a balcony on the right side, you see the whole of Rome and it’s mind-blowing. It’s also hard to beat the views from my restaurant, Galvin at Windows, on the 28th floor of the London Hilton on Park Lane. We spend a fortune on stamps because we leave postcards on tables for our guests to write.
I LOVE SURFING IN CORNWALL. If it’s cold I wear a wetsuit and warm up after with coffee and cake.
I love the smell of the sea, fish and chips and Rick Stein’s restaurants. I’m hoping to stay at one of Gordon [Ramsay]’s holiday houses this summer. He has a couple – in Padstow and Newquay – that I’ve got my eye on.
THE BASQUE COUNTRY IS THE PLACE FOR GREAT STEAK and at Casa Julián, near San Sebastian, you choose it “bleu” or medium, or you go
SUNGLASSES
FLIP FLOPS
Havaianas flip flops, ‘I like my feet to breathe, plus these have a Brazilian flag on them and that makes me feel cool’.
£24; havaianas-store.com ‘You can’t beat a stylish pair of aviator Ray-Bans. They’re simply the best of the best’. £127; ray-ban.com home. It’s served simply with potatoes or vegetables. I had a huge côte de boeuf. I know I’m slim, but I can eat for England and France put together.
I HAD THE NIGHT OF MY LIFE IN NEW YORK when I went to see the DJ Paul Oakenfold play at the Bowery Ballroom. I danced all night long but I had to work all the next day and I was so tired. New York truly never sleeps: you can go clubbing all night then straight to a diner for breakfast and coffee.
I danced all night when Paul Oakenfold played in New York – then had to work all the next day
I ENCOUNTERED THE DALAI LAMA IN RIMINI when he was giving a speech there. I struck up a friendship with a disabled chap who was also there to see him talk. Afterwards, the Dalai Lama pinched the forearm of my new friend and made a gesture as if to say: “Look how strong you are, man!” It was so beautiful; I’ll always remember that powerful moment. Fred Sirieix is general manager of Michelin-starred Galvin at Windows in London’s Mayfair.
is currently showing on BBC Two, at 8pm on Tuesdays.