Should you find yourself walking east along Shad Thames, the narrow, cobbled walkway running the length of Butler’s Wharf, pause a moment behind Le Pont de la Tour. Beyond the entrance, but before the stained glass door for Pont’s wine cellar is the window into Tom Cook’s kitchen.

Peer through it and you’ll see the counters and hobs manned by Tom’s team of 20 chefs. Out the swinging silver doors at its far side waiters transport sole meunière, pithiviers and crêpes suzette. It’s the classic French food that Pont became famous for on opening in the early 90s.

Last autumn, as the restaurant celebrated its 20^th anniversary, Tom, 35, moved from being head chef at Restaurant Tom Aikens, to take the reins at Le Pont. Having spent years in the Michelin-starred kitchens of Gary Rhodes, Michel Roux Jr and Eric Chavot, he brings to the restaurant his experience in both classic and modern French food.

This morning, Tom’s pork supplier has delivered a whole side of Middle White pork, and as he busies himself with it in the kitchen he’s constantly pausing to talk with his chefs – offering advice or answering questions. In person, he’s very laid back, with an easy-going, relaxed manner, but I can’t help asking about his attitude in the kitchen.

“I’m fair, but if people are doing something stupid or being lazy they will be told,” he says. He likes programmes like MasterChef, but thinks that type of TV can give young wannabe chefs ambition to train simply in order to become famous. Being a chef in a busy kitchen involves long hours and hard work, he explains, and keeping his team motivated is therefore really important.

Getting famous wasn’t what got Tom in the kitchen; in fact it was a summer job as washer-up. “I got into cooking after I started washing up at a Rocco Forte holiday with one of my friends in the summer holidays. After a while the guy doing the vegetable section didn’t turn up and I started doing it. I loved it. Loved cooking all the time.”

Later this week he’ll visit some of his vegetable suppliers at New Covent Garden market and see if he’s “missing anything”. Championing small producers and seasonal produce and coming up with new ideas are all important to Tom, who discovered a love of fish in his time at Pier Restaurant in Sydney. When asked, he replies that his favourite section is fish, although he also spent a year working for MOF pastry chef Laurent Duchêne at his pastry shop in Paris (see Tom’s chocolate fondant, above).

On-the-job learning is really important for young chefs, he explains. “I like teaching people and seeing my guys progress.” Each month he gives his chefs the chance to win a £150 voucher to dine in the restaurant at Pont – whoever has the best day gets a tick (there can be more than one) and the person with the most ticks gets the voucher. There are crosses too – for lateness for example.

Back to the pork on his counter-top, and Tom explains his plan is to come up with a range of dishes that will make use of the whole animal. In fact, it’s what he was looking forward to doing when he got up this morning, so, with that The Artful Diner leaves him and his kitchen behind the window to get on with the day’s work.

Watch Tom Cook share his recipe for Loch Var Salmon & Morteau sausage below: