"My dad was undeniably famous when I was a kid — he was on Wogan and Clive James and the radio every week, but as far as I was concerned he wasn’t famous enough. My best friend was Ben Brooke-Taylor. His dad Tim was in The Goodies — that was famous."

“I wanted to be a great literary novelist so that people would eventually talk about Alan Coren the scribbler and father of the great Giles.”

“Some critics think the way I write is somehow disrespectful to food. But how can you write a restaurant column without being entertaining? You might as well not get up in the morning. People complain my sense of humour is puerile but the reason I have a job is because my sense of humour is puerile.”

“The Jewish religion has it completely right in maintaining you should think very carefully about what you eat.”

“I am very snobby. My family is Orthodox so I would never go to a Reform rabbi.”

“I get so excited when I know I’m going to a good restaurant, then, when I do the review, I write myself up into such a frenzy that I have to go out and eat all over again.”