You know I told you I had lunch the other day with the bloke off MasterChef.
Well here's why.
If you want to read a few additional nuggets of info and gossip about John, scroll down.
I was expecting, if I'm entirely honest, not to like the bloke. Celebrity chefs seem to think they've got a bit of a reputation to live up to: all aggressive bluster and the great I-am.
In fact, he was a really nice guy (and I'm not just saying that because I got a free lunch out of him). He sounds more Australian in person than he does on the telly.
There certainly seems to be no love lost between the celeb chefs. He made a sideswipe at Gordon Ramsay (basically suggesting the bloke only swears so much because he isn't clever enough to have a bigger vocabulary) and was cynical about Delia's latest protestations on organic food (suggesting it was no coincidence she made her controversial comments at the time her new book was released!)
Fans of MasterChef will be pleased to know he's signed up to do at least one more series. If you haven't watched it, try - it's strangely addictive.
I even resisted the temptation to use the MasterChef catchphrase on him: Because cooking doesn't get tougher than this!
The photo of him, incidentally, was taken on the terrace of the top floor (the fourth storey) of his Smiths of Smithfield restaurant. Basically, the higher you go, the posher it gets.
The grey tiles are the roof of Smithfield market, and the building in the distance to the immediate left of John's head is The Old Bailey.
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