Five-minute chef: Skye Gyngell - Telegraph The Australian chef Skye Gyngell, 49, trained in Paris at La Varenne and Dodin-Bouffant before moving to London. There she took up a post at The French House, the long-standing Soho favourite, before moving to the Dorchester Hotel. She rose to prominince, however, after taking over the kitchen at Petersham Nurseries, in Richmond, in 2004. She won a MIchelin star in 2011, but became frustrated by diners' preconceptions of what a starred restaurant should be like, and left earlier this year. Next year she will begin her role as Culinary Director of Heckfield Place, a new country house hotel opening in Hampshire, in March. Alongside her career in the kitchen she has also written a number of books, and for five years was the food writer for the Independent on Sunday. Sea salt (without it, nothing is possible) extra virgin olive oil (an elixir of life) and lemons - their juice and zest bring so many dishes to life. Everyone's taste and palette is so individual - can there really be one best restaurant? The world is so full of beautiful cooks - many unrecognised - and many of my favourite and most memorable meals have been off the beaten track. Noma has certainly made people sit up and think. I admire what they do enormously, but I don't really think I am in the position to properly answer the question. It's such an objective thing I studied cooking in France and greatly admire the precision and technique of French cooking. Italian ingredients always inspire me: Italians" commitment to produce and some of their regional cooking is almost completely perfect. But the food of Sri Lanka is what i have fallen in love with in the last few years. I find it beautiful and elegant. I Iove their use of vegetables and spices, and the almost complete absence of meat - it fascinates me. MK Fisher, Geoffrey Steingarten, Simon Hopkinson, Elizabeth David and Richard Olney. But Judy Rogers" Zuni Cafe cookbook is the book I turn to for inspiration time and time again. I couldn't live without my knives - without them I have no confidence. But I find a pestle and mortar invaluable and I use a food processor a lot - I make all my pastries, mayonaises and pasta dough in one. I would abolish chicken Caesar salad - it makes me cringe whenever I see it.. When I'm tired and just need to eat something that feels good for me, I roast a sweet potato in the oven. Soften it and season it with unsalted butter, marjoram and dried chilli and eat it with ripe tomatoes, dressed with olive oil, a little more marjoram and a dollop of goats curd - really satisfying.