Tom Aikens’ Loves & Hates

Dark Bitter Chocolate

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and rarely have desserts. However, I love nothing more than to indulge in a piece of dark, bitter chocolate – the higher the cocoa percentage, the better.

Homemade Pizza

I love making pizza at home with my family. I always keep it simple, using just a good quality prosciutto, Mozzarella and fresh tomatoes on freshly baked dough. Nothing beats it!

Mum’s Rhubarb Crumble

I could have chosen any crumble to be honest, as it’s my favourite dessert. But my mum’s is the best I’ve ever had, and I chose rhubarb as we used to grow it in our garden, so it brings back some great memories.

Roast Dinner

This reminds me of when I was young and we would have a traditional roast every single Sunday without fail. My favourite was always chicken or lamb shoulder.

Guilty pleasure…

Vanilla ice cream – especially Carte D’Or. I’m a vanilla freak and just love it! I can get through huge scoopfuls of the stuff.

Sushi

I don’t understand sushi at all. For me, the texture is unpleasant and the fish itself is often so tasteless. Not something I can get on board with at all I’m afraid!

Smoked Fish

I have never liked smoked fish, and always avoid it. Something about the texture never appealed to me and I find the flavour incredibly overpowering.

Caviar

I always think about that scene in Big where Tom Hanks eats that giant mouthful of caviar, and it really grosses me out. The texture of any fish egg-based food is just so strange to me and something I definitely try to avoid.

Chocolate & Orange

This is a bit of a weird one, but I don’t understand the combination of chocolate and orange. For me, they are just not natural bedfellows and I actually think grapefruit is a much better match!