Jeff Fernandez, head chef at Japanese restaurant Wasabi Teppanyaki in Stockton Heath, shares his secrets

The essential ingredients in my kitchen are...

Japanese (short grain) rice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin (sweet cooking wine), sake (rice wine), salt and sugar.

With these basic ingredients, you can make the very basic sushi rice mix, tempura sauce, dipping sauces and even teriyaki sauce.

The first kitchen I worked in was...

I started off as a trainee at a restaurant called ‘Tachibana’, a small authentic Japanese restaurant but jam packed with customers all the time.

My head chef was a very old stubborn Japanese guy which I called Master Hiro who assigned me to the pot washing area for the first month without any explanation.

I was a bit confused but just followed his order and after the first month ended, he sat me down and said: ‘I was just testing your patience and your perseverance.

‘Without them, you cannot work in here...you passed’. I never looked back since.

My first professional job was...

By day I used to work at ROHM Electronics Philippines as a senior production foreman.

We were producing the basic components of electronic equipment such as microchip resistors.

And during the night, I worked in the Japanese restaurant.

I was having the best of both worlds basically. Then I moved to England and started off in Shogun Teppanyaki and worked my way up as head chef in Yoyo Bar and Fusion Restaurant. Now, I run a great team in Wasabi Teppanyaki.

The first dish I prepared for service was...

Gindara which is oven cooked black cod marinated in sweet miso paste on a bed of steamed spinach dressed with sweet balsamic vinegar reduction .

Being a teppanyaki chef is a really a different ball game though.

The first time I had to cook for a couple was nerve wrecking because you have to make sure you cook the food to their liking.

You cannot over or undercook the food and season it without tasting.

In short you have to make it look easy and be funny and cheeky at the same time.

My signature dish which people associate with me...

Friends, family and colleagues love my noodle dishes (beef ho fun and yakisoba).

I know it is a simple dish but if you don't know the ‘wok chi’ technique (similar to tai chi) you won’t be able to bring out the true flavours of the dish that has been cooked on the wok.

My biggest kitchen disaster was...

When I was working as a sous chef there was a day when the rest of my colleagues didn’t turn up for work!

I was left with my kitchen porter to run the service.I was lucky as he had a bit of experience and we just about managed.

My favourite chefs are...

Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay and James Martin Away from the restaurant, my favourite meal is...

I always love a big piece of grilled rib eye steak (medium rare), oven baked chunky chips, homemade peppercorn sauce and a big glass of red wine. Heaven.