Always a keen cook, Merrilees’s enthusiasm turned into a passion when, aged 17, she took a job as a chalet girl in France. Back home she worked at the Eagle in Farringdon – London’s first gastropub and The Lansdowne, famous for it’s no-nonsense seasonal British food before she became a Food Stylist on Ready Steady Cook.
Since then, Merrilees’s series Planet Food has taken her all over the world and has been aired on the American Food Network and repeated on BBC2. Her most recent TV show was as a Judge on “Foodistan”, a 27 part show which aired earlier in the year in India and due to be shown in the UK soon.
She also runs her own Event Catering Company – Pink Food Ltd – listing amongst her clients the Guards Polo Club and is responsible for large events such as the Cartier Queens Cup Polo where the Queen and Prince Philip are regular guests.
Merrilees lives in Notting Hill with her husband and baby daughter.
Where are you right now?
At my desk/dining room table!
What do you do for ‘me-time’?
Funnily enough, cooking. Despite my job I actually end up doing very little cooking these days. I am mainly writing menus, dealing with marketing and meeting new clients. So cooking at home for friends and family I love.
Where is your favourite place to eat in West London?
Hereford Road on Hereford Road W2. It’s Chef owned and Tom is nearly always in the kitchen. The focus is on really well sourced food. There is nothing poncy about the restaurant, the tables are linen free and the service is good but not over the top. He uses really interesting cuts of meat which are incredibly tasty and half the price of more popular cuts so it’s incredibly good value (£13 for a two course lunch)
Career and children – top tip on how do you do it?
I’m still a beginner when it comes to working and being a mother. India is only 7 months old. At the moment I am just scaling back what I do outside of my family and my work so my social life is much less social these days!
If you had to make a quick escape where would you go?
We are really lucky and have a cottage in Wiltshire. We have a bed big enough for all of us (including Jack the cat). Spending a morning in it with Martin, India and Jack is my idea of escaping. That will all change when India can climb out of it. If we were baby free I would to go back to Burgh Island. It gets totally cut off from the mainland twice a day due to the tide. The building is classic Arc Deco design made famous by the Agatha Christie film “Evil Under the Sun”. It feels like going back in time, you dress for dinner and there are no mod cons.
What’s on your bedside table?
My first ever mother’s day card, a humidifier, “Baby sees spots and dots”, cuticle oil and hand cream (totally pointless my hand are so wrecked), The Week (thank god for The Week I never get to read a newspaper anymore), Tennis Head, Rescue Remedy, “All that I am” by Anna Funder (I’m on chapter one and have been for weeks!).
Three things you’d take with you to a desert island?
A knife that was made for me in Japan by a samurai sword maker – it’s amazingly sharp, a bath with an endless bubble bath attachment, Martin, India and Jack “My Family” (can that count as one?!)
Who would you most like to meet for a drink?
My Grandmother, if she was still alive, just to be able to tell her everything that has happened in the last 15 years. I hope she would be proud of most of what I have achieved. If it was somebody alive today then I’d like to meet Nick Clegg again. We did the Arctic Westminster Challenge for charity together along with a number of other MP’s, before he was leader of the Liberal Democrats. He was great fun and everybody on the trip from all parties really liked him – I’d love to quiz him now about the reality of being a leader in a coalition government.
What’s your greatest extravagance?
It used to be clothes but not anymore. Now it’s probably food. I am not afraid of spending money on good quality produce. One of my biggest pleasures is eating something yummy with Martin in the evening or cooking for friends at the weekend with a good bottle of wine. Also I spend a lot on training at “W10 Performance” in St Marks’s Road. It allows me to eat more and at the moment they are working hard to get me back in shape after having a baby.
What’s your favourite thing to do as a family?
I could never tire of Hyde Park. As a family we love to go for a walk and then go for a quick drink or Dim Sum at Royal China. Or Sunday lunch at the Ladbroke Arms on Hereford Road.
Merrilees was talking to Annabelle King.
