LIKE many chefs, the Michelin-starred Jason Atherton has war wounds from his time in the kitchen. Worst of which is the big scar on his leg, the scene of a skin graft “many moons” ago.

“I dropped a pan of reduced veal stock and it stuck to my feet. I was only young, it was 1999, and I got rushed to hospital,” explains Atherton, who appeared as a judge in Sky Living series My Kitchen Rules, alongside model-turned-chef Lorraine Pascale last year.

After six months off work, he went back to the kitchen on crutches and has since then, avoided staff changing hot pans of oil “like the plague”. But as painful as the injury was and as much as it gave him nightmares afterwards, the 43-year-old also missed being in the throng of the restaurant.

Born in Sheffield, Atherton’s foodie journey began after he moved to London when he was 16, and landed a job at a Michelin-starred restaurant as a pot washer. He worked his way up, eventually becoming a pastry chef, then head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze, and has since set up the popular Pollen Street Social in London’s swanky Mayfair and a string of other restaurants all over the world.

His workload shows no sign of stopping either, with a newly-launched eatery in New York and his latest book Social Sweets all coming out in the space of a few months earlier this spring.

Putting out a book about desserts was a “logical step” for the chef, being as “99.9 per cent of people have a sweet tooth and like to finish off a meal with a dessert”, he notes.

Clearly Atherton is in that number.

“Even though they’re really cheesy to look at, one of my favourite things as a child was a Mr Kipling Bakewell Tart,” he explains. “I used to love having those, so being able to make a grown-up version of it is cool.”

Committed as he is to perfecting his pudding recipes and bettering the service he offers in his restaurants, he admits his ambitions are only feasible thanks to the support of his wife, Irha, who works in the restaurant’s head office.

“Without my wife, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” says Atherton, who lives in London with Irha and their two daughters. “Her support and understanding of the journey we’re on together and as a family is unbelievable.

“Everything in life is a compromise. Running a successful restaurant business is time consuming and on top of all that, pushing Pollen Street Social to be one of the best restaurants, not just in the UK but hopefully in the world, takes time and dedication.

“With the travel, and being a father and writing cookbooks... you’ve got to be super dedicated, so her support is massive. I couldn’t live without her.”