Like many people, I do enjoy my Friday night drinks and curry with my head chefs. But unlike most people, our late-night curries tend to have a Michelin edge, with our neighbourhood “Indians” being Tamarind and Benares.

We may pretend that only the best will do, but in honesty, we simply let geography decide, and most of our restaurants are around Mayfair.

What sets these restaurants apart from the average Bangladeshi takeaway is their understanding that spice should lift rather than overpower the flavour of the main ingredient.

There’s no chicken vindaloo to be found, but tender lamb chops and grilled monkfish, each swathed in a fragrant but delicate spice paste.

It is through this principle that I can apply exotic Indian spices to add a new dimension to my classically European cooking.

The best example I can offer is the ever-popular tarte tatin. I have made many variations of this classic dish, using different combinations of fruits, spices and even vegetables.

Pears and cinnamon, pineapple and star anise, apples and cardamom – all go wonderfully well together. I’ve even cooked chicory and fennel seed tatins which made sweet little accompaniments to roast game.

The idea is to use your imagination when experimenting with flavour combinations. If in doubt, take a bite of an ingredient (not raw meat, of course) and taste it together with different spices. If you’re not keen on trial and error, here are a few recipes to work with.

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