Chef TERRY HOWARD owns and runs the Creek in Great Bentley with his wife Caroline. He has worked within the industry for the past 20 years and trained amongst the best at London’s Groucho Club and the Savoy before running the kitchens at the prestigious Reform Club on London’s Pall Mall for a decade. He has also appeared alongside a number of top chefs on television cookery shows.

  • What food reminds you of childhood?

I was very lucky growing up as both my parents are great cooks and always made food from scratch so I am really spoilt for choice. It would have to be macaroni cheese or apple crumble, I just loved it.

  • What’s your favourite family recipe?

My parents are from Barbados and my dad would make our national dish cou-cou. It’s corn meal and okra usually served with flying fish but my dad would serve it with either pilchards or salmon. We would have to wait till we went to Barbados for the flying fish.

  • If you were on death row what would your last meal be?

I love pork so it would have to be a big pork-based platter. I want the belly, shoulder, leg, sausage, chorizo, loin, bacon, ham with chips, mushrooms and tomato washed down with super malt and root beer.

  • Which three celebrities would be your ideal dinner party guests?

Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Kenny Dalglish.

Gazette:

  • What’s your ultimate comfort food?

Rib eye steak, chips and peppercorn sauce.

  • What is the best restaurant in the world?

I am lucky that I have been to numerous Michelin starred restaurants but my best restaurant was a quaint family run restaurant we went to while on holiday in Sorrento, in Italy.

Fresh pasta, gnocchi, pizza, bread and gelato. I like the simple things in life.

  • What ingredient do you use most at home?

Pasta. The kids like it which is most important and it’s also quick and easy to prepare, which is a good thing as we don’t have as much time as we would like while running a restaurant.

  • What is your guilty pleasure?

Crisps or old school 1p sweets like fizzy cola bottles, flying saucers and fruit salads.

  • What is the best takeaway in Essex?

There is not that much choice around where we are for takeaways but we have had Indian from The Spice in Elmstead a few times which is nice.

  • What is your signature dish and what is the secret to making it special?

Believe it or not I really don’t have one. I have a shellfish allergy and cannot eat seafood but I love working with it. I love the smell and I can just imagine what it would taste like. More often than not there will always be some form of shellfish around my menus.