I have fond memories of this restaurant. It is three doors down from my agent's office and we came here when she had just taken me on. It was the first time I had one of those proper, important, scary, overwhelming, feel-like-a-teenager, need-to-go-for-a-wee kind of meetings. Quite recently, I was taken to Claridge's for a business breakfast. I couldn't concentrate because there were just so many buns. It was heaven. My companions were talking about making me an offer and all I could think about was whether they were going to bring out more buns.
I really like little portions of things, which they do fantastically well here. It could be a low boredom threshold, but I think it's always nice to have an amalgam of choices. I used to be vegetarian. Then, when I got pregnant, I began to have these dreams about pork. I would wake up in the night salivating over sausages. I suppressed it until finally my husband said he would buy me some very fine ham. I ate the lot and then for the rest of my pregnancy I couldn't get enough. I was also obsessed with salad cream. It's extraordinary that you can grow a baby out of sausages, salad cream and chocolate.
I've always been mad for bread products - it's one of my happy staples. It was pretty much all I lived on when I was a student and starting out in the business - bread, vegetables and cake. The Atkins diet would be impossible for me. I love crunchy little white rolls, which this restaurant does beautifully. Dipping them in a bit of garlic oil makes me very happy.
When you're filming, you need to be conscious that what you eat stays with you for hours, if not days. I steer clear of onions and garlic. And I might playfully assist a fellow actor in his choices at lunchtime if I know there might be some intimate contact later on.
Once a week, my husband and I will have a late supper with our three children. They aren't fussy eaters, though, annoyingly, one of them doesn't like baked beans, which is unacceptable. I mean, baked beans on toast, one of the finest meals going! When I found out that my first child no longer needed baby food, I remember thinking, oh lord, I hope he likes toast. Mercifully, all my children do. They didn't have much choice - it was toast or starve.
My father did most of the cooking when I was young. When I was in hospital with glandular fever, he used to sneak in whatever he had been cooking the night before. My mother would bring in what she called fat-free cakes, which was a total misnomer because there was about four inches of cream on each one. There is such a comfort about your mum baking something for you. I think that's why I still love cakes. I enjoy cooking if a meal can be on the table in under 10 minutes. There is a real time constraint when you're working - I would much rather be hanging out with my children.
If I am in Soho, I go to a cafe called the Blue Room. I always have granary toastie with peanut butter and banana. The peanut butter melts all over the banana - it's divine. I think I would find the whole LA thing quite hard. I'm not prepared to stop eating. Every now and then, I will have huge bursts of wanting to go for a run and then four months will go by and I won't have gone for another one. It's not just for the way I look, but also to give myself a healthy heart. I try to make that the consideration, rather than how thin I am. To be honest, I'm lucky as I don't have to think about that too much.
Eyre Brothers
70 Leonard Street, London EC2, 020 7613 5346
History
In 2001, Robert and David Eyre turned a warehouse in Shoreditch into this sleek and stylish restaurant. Previously, they were known for the Eagle in Farringdon Road. They serve Spanish and Portuguese dishes with a modern twist.
Popular dishes
Grilled pigeon breasts on truffled oven potatoes, £8; caldeirada (Portuguese fish and shellfish stew), £17; grilled Mozambique tiger prawns, £21; poached pear with sweet spiced bread and chocolate sauce, £5.50.
Famous customers
Kylie Minogue, James Gooding, Preston, Chantelle Houghton.
Open
Monday to Friday, 12pm to 3pm for lunch. Monday to Saturday, 6.30pm to 10.45pm for dinner. Closed Sunday.
