The food is light, which is important if you are eating late. One of my favourite dishes is Mozzarella in Caroza, which means “fried mozzarella”. It’s small and tucked down an alleyway, so most people would not even know it was there. During the run of Manon I discovered Giovanni’s (10 Goodwin Court, 55 St Martin’s Lane, London WC2, tel: 0171 240 3303). It combines the best of eating out and eating in, and at the end the cooking water can be drunk.I always eat out when I’m performing, as I usually finish quite late and I’m always hungry. I love Japanese food, and I’ve recently discovered shabu-shabu, where you cook raw strips of beef, fish or vegetables in a pot of boiling water at your table.

If I do eat out then I choose restaurants with simple food and a good atmosphere. I’m surrounded by people who can cook well, so I get a little lazy, but I can do pasta and a cooked breakfast. It was the perfect meal – delicious, simple and pure.I am becoming more and more intrigued by cooking. It’s like getting ready for a performance: the meal is your personal creation with your own touch. It was a very simple meal of spinach fettucine with olive oil, black pepper and grated lemon zest, created by my brother. In Britain you run from the house to the restaurant through the rain and stay there.
The best meal I have ever had was at home.

We tend to eat at home, then go for a walk and maybe get an ice-cream. Dining out is not as popular in Italy as it is in Britain and I think it may have something to do with the weather. As an Italian I have a great love of eating as a social occasion. I like space, minimum clutter and people who come straight to the point, and it’s the same with food

I love eating out, but I prefer to eat at home.

I DON’T LIKE cluttered food, I like to taste ingredients by themselves Simplicity is everything I think this reflects my personality. We begged two extra for the children, paid our bill, and disappeared into the night, curiously comforted and cosseted.. I can’t say that the chocolate itself was any great shakes, but that’s hardly the point. The white chocolate relief of the Lady, against the dark chocolate oval was so deliciously kitsch that little else mattered. The sight of a Lady Katy chocolate was a suitable finale to the meal. Enclosed in its glossy freshness-sealed-in wrapper, with a coy Lady Katy emblazoned on it, the real pleasure came as the chocolate cameo inside was revealed.

William was less enthused by his raspberry cheesecake, but I did notice that it disappeared with impressive swiftness.Possibly the highlight of the whole meal, however, arrived with our coffee. I fell for it completely – that lovely marriage of slightly chewy caramelised crumb with rich frozen cream. Every bit as good as any cutesy combination conjured up by Messrs Ben and Jerry. They were a taste of the old days, which took us back two decades or so to the delights of roulades, and even nicer, brown bread ice-cream – the speciality of the house.