Simon Leonard, head chef at Leonards Restaurant, The Seahorse Gosport Hampshire.

I began cooking at a very young age.

The first thing I made was a loaf of bread when I was 12 and it went on from there.

As I grew up in London I worked early mornings at a fruit and veg shop in South Kensington and at night I would work at the local pub washing pots and pans. I was always asking the landlady what she was cooking and why - I think she gave in at the end and I started to help her make the pies and stews. When I left school I went to West Thames catering college and really got into my cooking. At this stage I was running the kitchen at weekends at the Duke of Cambridge in Battersea. After I finished college I spent time moving from pub to pub before working at places like the Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Ascot and the Albert Hall.

After a period in the Navy - where I learnt a great deal about foreign cooking! - my mother in-law bought The Seahorse and I took over the restaurant.

My favourite dish to cook that’s a hard one for flavour it has to be beef we use beef that’s been hung for at least 28 days. Our butcher is exactly what a butcher should be and the beef is dark and marbled with beautiful fat. One of my top ten beef dishes at the restaurant is shin of beef, slow cooked in stout and real ale with a big bunch of fresh herbs and sweet cherry tomatoes. It is a labour of love. We marinade it for 12 hours and slow roast it for four to five hours, left to rest and sliced. We make a real sweet jus from the juice and it has to be served with a big spoon of fresh buttered mash and market vegetables then covered in jus. It is fantastic.

I don’t really have a least favourite dish to cook.. it’s a challenge thing I think. As a chef you must try and cook as much as you can and not let the dish beat you! I try and improve on it and enhance the flavours. But when you are standing peeling onions for an hour or so, you really start to think about who makes these much loved tear jerking little onions so powerful. I do hate peeling and dicing them with a passion.

Time away from the kitchen is the most important thing for any chef, you need time to chill out and spend time with your family or loved one. But my wife thinks I’m mad as if there is a food show or a market on, I’ve got to go and see what’s on offer - see what new toys I can play with. I am like a big kid in a toy shop. If I have a really lazy day it's not out of bed before ten and then it's coffee and morning TV shows - off to the garden if the weather's ok, then a night of films and dreaming about winning the lottery.