Now I'm writing about my original food hero's new book and even as I do, images of that night in delightfully quaint Padstow, with my wife and daughter, revelling in the atmosphere, come flooding back.
Stein admits in this book (''a memoir'') that he is always drawn back to Cornwall, no matter where in the world he is, and I can relate a little to that sentiment, even after just a brief visit to Padstow which followed a few memorable hours earlier at the breathtaking village of nearby Port Isaac (Doc Martin country) back up the coast.
When I describe Stein as my food ''hero'' I should explain that this has less to do with his cooking skills and a lot more to do with the impact his many and varied television programmes had on me, from a scenic perspective rather than their culinary content.
I'm referring specifically to the Taste of the Sea, Seafood Odyssey, Seafood Lovers and two seasons of Food Heroes, the latter especially convincing me I had to visit some of Great Britain's villages and towns he had highlighted.
What appeals most about Stein the author is that, inevitable ego aside, he writes in an uncomplicated, tell-it-like-it-is style which is easy and tasteful to digest.
I managed to sweep through all 300 pages in four sittings and found it sad, wistful, witty, evocative and, above all, entertaining.
New Zealand gets a couple of favourable mentions. Stein visited here in the late 1960s, spent the night before his 21st birthday (in 1968) in Kaikoura, where he dined out on crayfish (of course) and worked in Hawkes Bay picking asparagus.
He does not chalk up his trip to Fleur's Place, Moeraki, in October, 2006, but did name-drop another famous ''New Zealand'' cook, Graham Kerr, relating how he had worked with the Englishman when filming his Entertaining with Kerr TV show at Channel Ten in Sydney.
While Stein doesn't mention it, Kerr made his name in New Zealand, being, from the early 1960s, our first wine-supping celebrity chef and then achieving stardom with his Galloping Gourmet series in Canada from 1969.
That minor omission aside, Stein reveals much about his at times tumultuous private life in this book, pays due homage to his famous canine sidekick Chalky, and left me determined to return some day to Padstow and a pint of best bitter at his Cornish Arms pub.
• Dave Cannan is ODT day editor.
