Recipes from Polpetto restaurant in London At 26, Florence Knight is already the head chef of one of London's coolest restaurants, Polpetto. 'I think about food all the time,' she says, to explain how she comes up with some delicious and unexpected combinations, like the chocolate sorbet and candied fennel recipe she has devised for The Sunday Telegraph. 'I tend to eat a little bit of many ingredients and imagine putting them together,' she says, describing a recent quartet of kohlrabi, golden raisins, apple and walnut. The second youngest of a family of five, Knight was 'ridiculously competitive' at school, though she was held back by dyslexia until she discovered she could excel at art and home economics. After the false start of a year at the London College of Fashion, she turned to food at 19, following the death of her father; he left her a small legacy, which she used to train as a chef. She learnt the hard way: one head chef 'picked me up in the middle of service, swung me over his shoulder and bit my bum', she says, describing the way female trainees are treated in some sexist kitchens. You have to take it or you would never survive. She treats her own staff very differently: 'It's like a big family - you have to guide your team and work with them to produce the best food,' she says. 'It's a tough job, but not many people can say they jump out of bed in the morning and can't wait to get to work.'