'My experience with Jamie Oliver totally transformed everything in my life'

A chef and restaurant owner has revealed how his appearance on one of Jamie Oliver's shows proved to be a life-changing experience.

Tim Siadatan was one of the lucky 15 youngsters to be given the chance to temporarily work under Jamie's watch on the programme Jamie's Kitchen. But before appearing on the show, Tim said he hadn't even planned to become a chef.

In an episode of the The Go To Food Podcast, Tim told the hosts that he was originally inspired to appear on the show after watching an interview with the celebrity chef as well as reading his mum's copies of Jamie's cookery books at home.

Looking back to the time that helped set him on a path to where he is today, Tim recalled his thought process at the time: "When I get home from work later, I'm going to do it (apply for the show). So I did. And then I got called to come for an interview and then got on it (the show) eventually.

Tim explained how the experience has totally "transformed" his life. He said: "It totally transformed everything because it was the firs time in my young life where, because I was a classic chef story of leaving school after GCSE's, dyslexic, didn't get many GCSEs and didn't really know what I was going to be doing."

The show, which aired from November to December of 2002 on Channel 4, saw the unemployed 16 to 24 year-olds train to be a chef under Jamie's careful guidance.

While the youngsters didn't have any prior experience in a kitchen like his, Jamie tasked himself with training them to the point where they would be fit to work at his new restaurant, Fifteen. After opening its doors in 2002, the London restaurant closed for the last time in 2019.

Since appearing on the Channel 4 show 23 years ago, Tim has gone on to forge an impressive career in the hospitality sector. He owns his own Italian restaurant named Trullo in Islington, London.

After seeing his first location go from strength to strength, he has since opened his second restaurant, Padella, at the famous Borough Market in London in 2016.

Meanwhile, four years later, he met the demand for his first spot by opening its second site, based in the trendy area of Shoreditch.