Interview - Marco Pierre White: Marco to add his own flavour to the place where it all began

"It is a magical place," says the chef known for his lyrical prose as much as his frightening glare.

"It is so much more than bricks and mortar. It is a place where dreams come true and romances blossom."

The man once dubbed the enfant terrible of the culinary world is on form. As he sits drinking tea and eating hot buttered toast in the bar of the Michelin-starred Box Tree, he looks like a man with his feet under the table, back in the place he calls his spiritual home.

He has just announced a partnership with his old friend and Box Tree owner Simon Gueller and his wife Rena.

"We have talked constantly for years about doing something together but the timing just wasn't right. Then we were just having one of our conversations and we said, 'Why not, let's do it'," says Simon who took over the Box Tree with Rena five years ago. Within months of opening he gained a Michelin star. He admits that if it hadn't been for Marco he may never have had the affection for the Box Tree that he has.

"Over the years, he had gone on about the Box Tree and the influence it has had on his life. We have always got on, although at times we do lock horns as we are both stubborn. But I am really looking forward to working with him again."

It was while working as a teenager at the Box Tree that Marco, from a tough Leeds council estate, could dream about the great French restaurants, the other chefs and the owners, Malcolm Reid and Colin Long, talked about.

"I would sit like a child being read a bedtime story. They would tell me stories about these amazing restaurants. They didn't realise just how much they were inspiring me to have my own restaurant with three Michelin stars and five red knives and forks."

"He was always so passionate about what he did and had massive knowledge about the great French restaurants," says Simon, who has

known Marco since the pair grew up in rough parts of Leeds.

"He had masses of books about French cuisine and as teenagers would get so excited about them."

The pair also share a passion for fishing, which they do whenever they get a rare moment off, but more importantly, it is their shared ideals in relation to running a restaurant that is key.

"Even when I was doing Hell's Kitchen I made sure that everyone was fed to the best of my ability. That is how I have been taught. Simon and I share that belief. That you must always do your best and give the customer a very special experience from the moment they walk in the

door to the moment they leave. It is not just about a plate of food. Everyone can make mistakes, but it's how you deal with them that matters."

Simon is more than aware that Marco has many other commitments,

including television work, books and other restaurants interests.

"But Marco works better that way," he assures me. "He would get bored otherwise. The one way to ensure he keeps focused on a project is to make sure that he has a lot of other things going on."

One of those other projects is an idea for a new television series inspired during his filming of Hell's Kitchen when he had to deal with troubled actor Jody Latham.

"I saw some of myself in him," says Marco, who was labelled an angry young man after he was deeply affected by the death of his beloved mother when he was six.

He now wants to use that experience for a new series, taking school leavers to work full time with him for five weeks in one of his restaurants, experiencing all aspects of the restaurant business, from the kitchen to front of house.

"At the end I will get them a job where I think they are most suited. Of course, they might not want to, but that is up to them."

Both men assure me that the "Marco effect" won't change the Box Tree overnight.

"Marco won't change anything," says Simon strongly. "He is full of incredible ideas, but any ideas he has will be discussed between us all before deciding to go ahead. Any change will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary."

Marco seems to agree: "Nothing will happen unless it is meant to happen and it will happen slowly. What Simon and Rena have achieved here is special."

One of his ideas is writing a book about the history of the Box Tree and also the possibility of opening a small hotel with Simon and Rena to allow guests to stay the night. He will also work with them on their outside catering business.

Marco also wants to look at reintroducing some of the original

classical dishes he remembers helping to prepare as a teenager.

But visitors to the Box Tree expecting to see Marco in the kitchen on a nightly basis may be disappointed, although he says he does intend to cook "from time to time".

His influence will be more subtle. "Marco is a big inspiration to the staff," says Simon. "Just having him here lifts the place. Even if Marco doesn't do anything, it will be a better restaurant."