Eric Chavot: My life in food It's actually the same piece of equipment. At work my Kitchen Aid stand mixer is my most used piece of equipment, but in my flat it's the least. I can't be without it at work, we use it constantly. My one at home is a beautiful grey graphite one. It's a work of art and I wouldn't ever get rid of it, but I never use it. It takes forever to get it out of the cupboard, so there it stays. If you only had £10 to spend on food, where would you spend it and on what? That's an easy one. I know a place where I could eat and still have change. I'd go to Cinnamon Soho, it's part of Vivek Singh's Cinnamon Club. I go there at least once a week (it would be my third time this week). Can a Frenchman say baked beans on toast? The first time I ever tried baked beans, I thought they tasted like a mixture of beans and jam and I wondered what was wrong with you people. But now with a dash of Worcester sauce and some chilli flakes, you can transform them into something brilliant. Put them on some hot buttered toast - now that's perfect comfort food. You can't do that to me, that's not fair! It's just too hard to decide. If you really insist then I suppose I'm not coeliac so I'd keep the bread. I'd make it something exotic. Perhaps some deep-fried soft-shell crab with mango salsa. It would need a bit of coriander and chilli, so it would be a sweet and spicy dish. What is your favourite restaurant? There are so many, but I suppose I'd choose Le Champignon Sauvage, owned by David Everitt-Matthias. I've known David since I was 21 and we still try to meet once a year. We've really been through thick and thin together and it's great to see the evolution of both him and the restaurant. The Complete Robuchon. It's a bit like Larousse Gastronomique. It's very good because for a good chef this is like a lexicon. It's a great reminder if you forget something. There have been quite a few people who influenced me. I suppose the cooking gene came from both my mother and ­grandmother because the heart of our family was in the kitchen - you couldn't get away from it. That's where it all started.Later in life, it was Pierre Koffmann, who I worked with at a pop-up restaurant at Selfridges.