What's Cooking: Marcel Leydesdorff

Marcel Leydesdorff. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Marcel Leydesdorff became executive chef and a partner in the catering company Urban Gourmet last year after a stint as head chef at Ponsonby eatery Chandelier. The idea behind Urban Gourmet, started four years ago by Anne Doughty, is to blow people away with great food and service not usually associated with the word catering. They do everything from daily deliveries to corporate clients to large-scale weddings where they supervise every detail.

What's your idea of the perfect meal?

A thunderstorm, a perfectly roasted organic corn-fed chicken, mashed potato pushed through a sieve and loaded with butter, freshly picked salad greens and creme brulee. I'm so old-school sometimes.

Your favourite drink?

Anything with 42 Below feijoa vodka, although watch for gin making a comeback.

What do you always have in your fridge and cupboards?

Forum chardonnay vinegar, Maldon salt, Maille mustard, homemade aioli. Quality basics are the name of the game.

What's your favourite cookbook?

The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller. It's beautifully made and inspiring.

What three favourite foods could you not live without?

Reggiano parmesan, parma prosciutto, homemade icecream straight from being churned, Valrhona chocolate, asparagus, Dutch speculaas are the perfect biscuit, the strawberries that my partner Hannah grows in the garden. Umm, did you say three?

What's your favourite restaurant?

Comerc24 in Barcelona. It's tapas in a restaurant setting by a chef who used to work with Ferran Adria. How cool is that? Still waiting to be totally won over by a restaurant in Auckland.

Your favourite bar?

Match Lounge Bar. Those guys are serious about their cocktails and they make the best in town.

Single most useful kitchen gadget?

At work it's my calculator and at home it's the Bamix stick blender.

What do you eat when you can't be bothered cooking?

To be honest I'm very lazy when it comes to cooking at home, but luckily Hannah is an excellent cook so I eat well.

Who would you most like to make lunch for you?

Martha Stewart, Hudson and Halls, Ivana Trump and AA Gill could all do a course each while I make them mojitos. We'd have the best time if they didn't kill each other.

What are your favourite indulgences?

Taittinger, an affogato after dinner, turning the cellphone off, the Valrhona pain au chocolat I've just discovered at Sabato.