Growing up, I knew we had different food, put it like that. We were brought up with a big Italian influence. So my mum would make torta di patate (potato pie) or torta di spinaci, (spinach pie), and no one really had that as a kid. And my grandmother made bread and no one really did that. But, of course, we knew what a McDonald’s was and we knew what fizzy drinks were. We just didn’t buy them.
I’m proud to be British, but I support Italy over England in the World Cup – to the disgust of all my football friends. When we won the Euros – listen to me, “we” – when the Italians won the Euros a couple of years ago [2021], I was in the local pub with my Italian shirt on. And even one of my godchildren says: “I’ve still never forgiven you for that.” So, in that respect, I probably feel more Italian than British.
I’ve realised I’ve got to stop inviting people for lunch, because they are normally still there at midnight. You think with lunch they’ll be gone by 6pm, but not the people I invite. Fuck me, you can’t get rid of them! So I’ve decided I’ve got to start doing dinners rather than lunches because otherwise they’re inevitably there for ever.
From Gordon Ramsay, I learned consistency. People may look back and think you were working with some lunatic, but no, I think Gordon’s brilliant. I worked with him for years and he’s a great mentor and an incredibly talented chef. And he absolutely nailed the fact that you’ve got to make sure that every meal is as good as the last one. Everyone talks about Michelin, and how it’s about tablecloths and lighting and tables and all that, but it really isn’t: it’s about consistency.
I don’t have a sweet tooth. But I love anything savoury, especially crisps. I can’t buy crisps because, if I buy crisps, I’ll eat them. Only salted crisps. I don’t like all these fancy flavours – none of that nonsense. One of the great things in life is a crisps sandwich: white bread, butter and crisps.
If it was down to me, we’d just have a cheese course in my restaurants, there wouldn’t be any dessert. But, you know, I can’t do that. As a chef, you cook food you want to eat, of course you do, and that’s how it should be. But you’ve also got to listen to what your customers want.
I started watching The Menu [the 2022 Ralph Fiennes film], but I couldn’t get the whole way through: it was too much, all the murders. I haven’t watched The Bear purely because I won’t subscribe to another streaming service. But if I ever want to watch anything cooking, I’ll watch Come Dine With Me. That’s genius TV, I find it hysterical.
We don’t have bad meals at home, but we’re not sitting there having steak and lobster every night either. If it’s pasta, I tend to make it. And Neil [Borthwick, Hartnett’s husband] is very good at looking in the fridge and the cupboards and making something. Or we might go round to St John Bread and Wine, which is our local restaurant [in London’s Spitalfields], and have welsh rarebit and a bit of salad, because we can’t be arsed to cook, if I’m honest, and our dishwasher is broken.
I love a good disco. Like when you go to a wedding and the music is so good you just want to dance. And Neil and I will have a little boogie every now and again in the kitchen.
I love my career. I’d say it’s got harder: not the cooking, the management side of it. Running businesses and everything else that comes with it. But the cooking side is the bit we all love, doing the service and cooking for customers. And I love cooking at home: the other week we had loads of onions so I thought, “Oh, I’m going to make an onion quiche.” So I looked up Delia’s recipe and it was lovely. We all get that same thrill of cooking something great.
My favourite things
Food
Roast chicken: it’s warm; it’s very comforting. And I love all the accompaniments: sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, the gravy and the chicken skin.
Drink
Campari and soda. It just reminds you of sitting on a beach, or that twilight time of 5pm to 7pm, where you’re watching the world go round sitting in a bar. Good times. To me, it feels like summer. It feels like Italy.
Place to eat
Oh Jesus, mother. That’s a hard one. But I’m going to be biased and say the French House [in Soho] where my husband cooks. Neil’s a phenomenal cook and I always have a great meal there.
Dish to make
Thin spaghetti – dried not fresh – in a tomato sauce. Good tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic slow-cooked for as long as you can. And then some slightly crushed peperoncini so it’s got a big kick.
Angela Hartnett is chef-patron of Murano, in Mayfair, and Café Murano, in Bermondsey, Covent Garden and St James’s, London
