Charlotte Rampling
The actress loves eating al fresco in Paris and the beach restaurants on the Riviera
'I like to keep things simple when I eat out. My main course rarely varies and is the bane of chefs everywhere. I almost always order a grilled sole served with green beans or spinach. To the great dismay of grand chefs, keeping it straightforward is a habit of mine.
In Paris, I steer clear of fancy restaurants and stick to the traditional brasseries like Balzar near the Sorbonne. It was recently taken over by a chain, which caused an uproar, but I have found that it has remained pretty good. Otherwise there is the Brasserie Lipp on Boulevard St Germain where I sometimes break my no-starters rule and have a mixed salad or a mâche [lamb's lettuce] and beetroot salad which they serve with a soft boiled egg. Or I go upstairs at the Café de Flore for coffee or a morning or afternoon snack. These are all famous St Germain haunts which I did not visit in the Seventies and Eighties because I was bringing up my children at the family home just outside Paris. Now I have a pied à terre in St Germain and am discovering all these places for the first time.
The routine does vary when I go on holiday to the South of France each year and eat most days on the beach [Charlotte is pictured at the Majestic Beach restaurant, Cannes]. I like Pampelonne and my usual place is Club 55 which I have been going to for years and has stayed à la mode. There I eat either a grilled dorade or sea bass. And in St Tropez I break the no-starter rule. Mostly I take goats' cheese and tomato garnished with mint. My latest film is Lemming in which I play a dinner-party guest from hell. I end up throwing a glass of red wine over my husband in front of our hosts before insulting the lady of the house. Someone called it "Who's afraid of Virginia Lemming?"'
Brasserie Balzar, Rue des Ecoles, 5e (01 4354 1367)
Brasserie Lipp Bvd St Germain (01 4548 7293)
Café de Flore, Bvd St Germain
Pampelonne and Club 55, St Tropez
Norman Cook
The DJ at Okinami in Brighton
'I first came here with some friends 11 years ago after a particularly heavy weekend. I remember Mike Dodd, the owner, laughing at the state of us. We became regular Sunday night customers. The food is as good as anything I've tasted in Japan and because rice soaks up a multitude of sins, it's also great for hangovers. The bonus is that because it's walking distance from my house on the seafront, I can walk off a good lunch or dinner. Through my work I've been to Japan 15 times and I'm a big fan of Japanese food. I remember in Tokyo I ate live lobster. You don't kill it but cut the tail off , scoop all the meat out, sashimi it and then put it back inside the lobster. When it's served, the lobster usually gets up and walks across the table. To be honest I found it a little disturbing. But hey, you know it's fresh.
Over the years, Mike's become a close friend. Together with some mates we all go out fishing off the coast of Hove where we catch sea bass and mackerel. Once we caught so much that Mike cooked our catch while we went and got our wives and returned to the restaurant for a banquet. He's also showed me how to fillet and pickle mackerel, Japanese style. Returning the favour, Mike often turns up at my gigs, takes his shirt off on stage and gets the audience going with his crazy kung-fu dancing. I like to think of him as my own personal Bez.
Since my son Woody was born, I've become a real foodie. I took some time off, started cooking and got hooked. I cook a pretty mean risotto. It's a real labour of love and as a result there's always plenty of homemade stock knocking about in my house. Jamie Oliver is a big mate of my wife's, Zoe, and so he's encouraged me a lot. I'm forever phoning him up if I don't understand certain things. He once rang me back from Australia to tell me exactly how much a glug of olive oil was! Unfortunately, if I'm doing a live gig I don't usually go on till 1am so I have to eat at about 7pm. That means, wherever I am in the world, I'm forever turning down offers to eat at the finest restaurants in town. But some friends and I did once dine at the chef's table in Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in London. Ever since I read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential I've been intrigued by these mad working kitchens. And they are as frantic and as packed with adrenalin-fuelled maniacs as the book suggests. If you're at the chef's table in the kitchen, they get you preparing courses: I ended up plating the dishes. Which was great until they decided to let Zoe loose with a blowtorch.'
Okinami, Church Road, Hove, Sussex 01273 773777, www.okinami.com
Graham Wray
Adam Cooper
The dancer at Canyon, Richmond, Surrey
Canyon is one of the best restaurants to go to for Sunday brunch near London because it has a lovely atmosphere and serves great food. And it's right on the river, which is fantastic! Usually I go with family and friends. My wife [dancer Sarah Wildor] is in the business but I don't normally go with people from work - some ballerinas are great dinner companions, but others just push their food round their plate. I try to eat as much fruit, veg, meat and fish as I can, along with a good dose of carbohydrates for energy as I dance for between one and 10 hours a day.
Adam Cooper is in Les Liasons Dangereuses at Sadler's Wells, London 21 July-14 August
Canyon, Riverside, Richmond 020 8948 2944
Emily Mathieson
Jamie Theakston
The radio and TV presenter at the Belvedere, Holland Park, London
'One of the reasons I love the Belvedere is because it's in Holland Park which is so beautiful and allows you to feel that you aren't really in a city. The building is like being in an Italian folly and it's such a lovely place to eat outside. I like the braised snails, and the duck rillettes are also good. The smoked haddock is pretty special, because I like the mustard butter. I have to have their asparagus too. The chef Billy Reid is fantastic, and nowadays, Michael Winner doesn't come here, and he used to all the time, so that's also a bonus.
Wine is the most important part of the meal and the Belvedere's wine list is pretty impressive. I actually have my own cellar at my house in Sussex where I am laying down lots of Bordeaux, among other things. I recently discovered the pleasures and dangers of buying at auction, usually at Christies - it can get terribly expensive. My days have sort of been skewed on their axis since I started doing the breakfast radio show, because I have to get up at 4am and I'm in bed by 9.30pm. Any desire I might have to party is curtailed in the week which is no bad thing, and I can enjoy my weekends a lot more. But it does mean I eat breakfast quite early, a light lunch and supper by 7pm.'
Jamie Theakston's breakfast show is on Heart 106.2 from 6am weekdays.
The Belvedere, Holland Park, London 020 7602 1238
Rebecca Seal
Kirsty Young
The Channel 5 newsreader at Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles, Perthshire
It's very unusual for me to like this kind of place, because the thought of 'fine dining' really isn't my idea of a good time. I think it's something which is terribly difficult to get right and Andrew Fairlie really has: he cooks like a dream but without pretention, and the restaurant itself is beautiful. I know quite a bit about restaurants since my husband, Nick Jones [owner of Soho House and the Electric], is in the business. I always make an excuse to come here when we have our Scottish holidays. I love the local produce Andrew uses like Skye scallops, served in their shell with this little pistachio crust. His brother is a shepherd so Andrew is also very good at getting his hands on fantastic lamb. He doesn't arse about with his food - if Andrew was in London he'd be the toast of the town.
I have two other favourite places to eat in summer, both in the south of France: on the terrace at the Colombe d'Or and the Grand Hotel du Cap where there's great theatre to be had watching the starlets.
Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles, Auchterader, Perthshire, 0800 704 705; Colombe d'Or, St Paul de Vence, 00 3393 32 8002; Grand Hotel du Cap, Cap Ferrat, 00 33 493 765050
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