Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 253: Sophie Willan

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

The Dream Restaurant is taking bookings for its 12th series, and our first diner is ‘Taskmaster’ and ‘Alma’s Not Normal’ star Sophie Willan. Woo! Watch series one of ‘Alma’s Not Normal�� on BBC iPlayer. Series two is coming soon. Follow Sophie on Instagram @sophiewillan Tickets for ‘Off Menu: Live in London’ go on sale this Friday 12th July at 10am. Visit offmenupodcast.co.uk for details. Recorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design).Follow Off Menu on Twitter and Instagram: @offmenuofficial.And go to our website www.offmenupodcast.co.uk for a list of restaurants recommended on the show.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, hello, just before we start with this episode of Off Menu, we want to let you, the loyal listeners of Off Menu, know that we have merch available, James. It's good stuff, man. Hello, hello, there is new merch. If you go to offmenupodcast.co.uk, you can find a scarf, James, just like a football scarf. It says poppadoms or bread on one side and still or sparkling on the other. You could go to the footy and cheer on your favourite poddy. What more could you ask for? Well, a Great Benito t-shirt. Honestly, I think it's my favourite, a lot of the new merch. Beautiful t-shirt with I am the Great Benito written on it so you can fool your friends into thinking that you're the Great Benito. It's so cool and you'll be cool and your friends will think you're cool.

Brand new merch for the podcast available on offmenupodcast.co.uk. Wendy's in Canada, Taxes Extra. Welcome to the Off Menu Podcast, taking the hard shell tacos of conversation, adding in the seasoned mints of humor, the shredded lettuce of having a great time with your friends, the salsa of the internet, the guacamole of content, and have I done grated cheese? No, a bit of the grated cheese of just being such nice chaps, and then whatever else you like, maybe some sour cream, but that doesn't represent anything It's just sour cream. It's the off-menu podcast but taco hardshell taco taco night It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life and a new series of off-menu That is a gamble. My name is James a casa together. We own a dream restaurant. We buy a guest in every single week

We are some their favorite ever start a main course, dessert, side dish and drink. Not in that order. And this week our guest is Sophie Willen. Sophie Willen, we couldn't think of a better guest to be the first episode of the series. And I mean that in that we really want Sophie to be the first guest of the series, not simply that we couldn't think of anyone better. Sophie Willen is absolutely fantastic. The whole nation has fallen in love with her.

Everyone loves Alma's Not Normal, her sitcom, and she was incredible on Taskmaster. And there's a new series of Alma's Not Normal coming out soon as well. The second series, very much looking forward to that. And the first series is available on iPlayer now, so you can go and catch up, re-watch it if you've seen it already, or go back, watch it,

and you'll be ready for the second series to come out soon. That's a good idea Ed. We've got some exciting stuff as well coming up James. We have. Do you know, have you ever heard of the Palladium? I have James, we've done the Palladium live haven't we? Yes, the London Palladium. And we loved it so much that we are coming back to the London Palladium in March next year. 2025, which doesn't sound like a real year. No, well, we don't know if it will be yet. Who knows what will happen on New Year's Eve. Yeah. Maybe they'll change all the dates and stuff.

They could do. Maybe the clocks will go back. The clocks, the clocks of time. The clocks of time. I don't know any other clocks, mate. The 21st and 22nd of March, off menu live in London at the London Palladium, tickets go on sale this Friday. If you're listening to this on the day it comes out.

But there is a pre sale. If you go and sign up to our mailing list off menu podcast.co.uk, you will get the pre sale details 10 a.m. on Thursday, general sale on Friday. Got to be quick with those tickets. Wow. You delivered that information brilliantly. Thank you so much I admire you a lot. We will have a different special guest for each show. Yes, we would love you to be there It's gonna be a lot of fun

Also, what's gonna be a lot of fun is this episode but listen if Sophie says the secret ingredient an ingredient which we deem to be unacceptable We will have to kick Sophie out of the dream restaurant. We will we always do that. We will we always do that And the secret ingredient this week is trifle. Trifle is something that Sophie picked to put in a hamper for Nick Mohammed in the later series of Taskmaster. And look, we always scour for foods related to the guests. I think this could be a tricky one because if Sophie picked trifle in Taskmaster, that normally means it's something right at the front of your brain. Maybe she was thinking about trifle that day because she loves it so much yeah will it be her dream dessert or even her dream starter

I feel bad checking someone out for such a lovely thing I love trifle especially chucking out we've only ever chucked one person out before Jade Adams who's in Alma's not normal yeah so this could be a running thing but make us look bad it will make us look really bad, yeah. But I mean, I would say hopefully that doesn't happen. It'd be funny if it did. Yeah. Hey, we know what's funny. This is the off-menu menu. I'm Sophie Willan.

Sophie Willan. Welcome, Sophie, to the Dream Restaurant. Hello. Welcome, Sophie Willan, to the Dream Restaurant. We've Welcome Sophie Willard to the dream restaurant. We've been expecting you for some time. Yes, I'm glad to be here. We're very glad to have you here. That was a particularly loud genie today, I'd say.

Pretty happy with that. Yeah, very good. Took over the whole room. Yeah, yeah. It felt like appropriate. I didn't feel like I was like overstepping. No. No.

On the edge. Yeah. Genie wise, if you did Rob a Lamp and a Genie came out and they were slightly over the edge in terms of volume, would you let the Genie know straight away? I think it'd be good to let him know. You definitely said to Robin Williams, wouldn't you? Just chill out a bit. It's a bit much. It is a bit much. It changes the whole tone of the film. Yeah, clearly, it's like a genie on drugs, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Well, did you like that film when you were a kid? I loved it.

That film was like, that was massive. Me too. It's the music, isn't it? If there's a good soundtrack, what would you want? I still revisit that film quite a lot. I absolutely love it. I still think it's top, probably my top Disney film. Fair to say. Yes, definitely up there. I like Arista Cats. Oh yeah, yeah, that's good.

I was very into that. Again, the music's good. You know, if there's a good song. If you're just listening to this, Sophie mimed being an Arista cat. Yeah, yeah, little dance. It's like a jazzy kind of, you know, everybody wants to be a cat. It's a bit of scatting going on. Bit of scatting.

Would you describe yourself, I mean, you seem to get into the cat mode quite there. If you imagine yourself as an animal, are you a cat? No, I mean, everyone says it to me, but I would be a poodle. Yeah. I don't think everyone says that. Everyone goes for a dog though, don't they? I always feel myself as a meerkat. Oh, well done. I know that feels very accurate. Yeah, I think that's very accurate. You nailed yourself very well. Thank you.

Yeah. What about you Ed? Well, the other day, I think I had this discussion with my wife and because I was like, I feel like a cat because I just want to curl up and Yeah. like in a big ball all day. But she said, no, I'm an Elabrador. Oh, right. Yeah.

Yeah. So you don't know yourself then? No, but I don't feel I have the I'm a Labrador. Oh, right. Yeah. So you don't know yourself then? No, but I don't feel I have the energy of a Labrador. So maybe like a very old Labrador, one on death's door basically. That's been through a lot. Been through a lot, broken his leg. Probably if I was working on a farm, I'd be put down. Yeah.

That's how I feel. Yeah, I'd like to be a poodle who's been looked after by like a Duchess or, you know, like in aristocats actually, you know, that lady who looks after them, that'd be fantastic. The sort of poodle who gets left something in a will. Yes, everything. Yeah, everything. Yeah, that's very nice.

And it's veal. Yeah. Do you eat veal? I mean, now we're getting onto food. Do you eat, it's veal? I actually don't, I've never had it, but I thought it sounds great. Yeah. Yeah. So if you were a poodle, you'd eat it, but not as a human. No, I don't want to take the Mickey, you know. As a poodle of a duchess, it feels right to eat veal. You can take the Mickey if you're the poodle of a duchess. Yeah, definitely.

I might change my answer to poodle of a duchess. Yeah, we could do it together. Me and Kat sound stupid now. It's not a nice life. We're very excited that Amos Not Normal is on iPlayer now, this first series and the second series is on its way. Yes. Are you as excited as we are? No, you're just terrified, aren't you? When something's coming out.

You wake up in a hot sweat going, shit! You know, and it'll be fine when it's out, but you don't know. And I'm in the edit for three months every day so you get so close to it you've no idea what's actually happened do you know what I mean but I think once it's out and if it's been a positive response I'll I'll feel a bit better but I've done my best that's all you can do isn't it yeah yeah pretty good press release yeah yeah yeah yeah I forgot it's press isn't it yeah yeah I have no idea if it's good or not but I've done my best. Yeah, I forgot it's press isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have no idea if it's good or not, but I've done my best and that's all you can do. It's great. I'm too close to it.

No, I am pleased with that and we've got new characters now. Yeah. We've got Steve Pemberton, he's playing Uncle Dickie. We get to know Lorraine Ashbourne's character's family, so grandma in it. We get to meet her siblings, which obviously is chaos and loads of jokes firing at each other and loads of like mean jokes and you know, trauma, but then also a lot of love and humour. So that's quite nice to see where she came from, grandma Jo. So Steve Pemberton, what was first, filming Alma's Not Normal or doing Taskmaster? Well, Steve had actually said before, oh, I'd love to be in Alma, to Shiv, because they've worked together. And then on Taskmaster, it came up again and I

was like, I'd love him to play this role. So there he was. Nick Mohammed's also in it. Wow. I'd actually already approached Nick before Taskmaster and then I was like, Oh yes, you didn't get back to us. But he was stuck with me then. So I think he did it out of politeness, but it's great. So you can always guarantee that with Nick that you can bully him into something through politeness because he's the nicest man. If you, if you corner him, you can probably get him in anything. I reckon. Yeah. No parts for McNally and Robbins. No, I didn't. Yeah. Because well, Joanne and me were drinking at the bar afterwards, obviously, which we did quite a lot during the process. But I said to you, I said, no, I'm shit. I'm shit. I'm shit.

I thought, great. Well, I won't be putting you in. And I don't think John's into acting, is he? No, I don't get the vibe. He's certainly never, I don't think he's acted or given any interest, any vocalized that he likes. I think think he's into stand-up and spreadsheets. Yeah. And Queen. And Queen, yeah. We can only have three things. Yeah. And those are his things, yeah, definitely.

How was series two different to series one? I think it's better because, well, I don't know. I've gone a bit further with it, I think, from the first series. It's got a lot of comedy and drama. This one is comedy drama, but I think I the first series, it's got a lot of comedy and drama. This one is comedy, drama, but I think I've pushed it a bit further. And also in my head, I'm not doing a third series. I've decided, so I feel I've wrapped everything up here. Wow, do they know that?

Yes, I've said it. You've said it to them? Like, fuck off, I'm not doing it. Yeah, yeah. I would love to do a Christmas special, because I think Kerr experience at Christmas, we don't see it on our screens. I mean, you do, you know, Oliver Twist

and all these bleak stories, but you know, actually a modern care experience where an adult reclaims Christmas for themselves, I think would be a great story. So I'd love to do that, but, and then that would be it. So in a way I've been able to push it as far as I can, because I know that this is finito. But then what if you get convinced into another one and you've pushed it so far,

you're going to have to push it even further for another series. Oh, it sounds knackering, I'll say no. So did you know that when you started writing the first series, were you like, I want to do two and then out? No, I didn't know really, but I kind of knew roughly where I wanted to go. But a lot of what happens in the second series has happened because it's drawn from personal experiences. It's fictional just to be clear but it's drawn from personal experiences so a lot of the things that happen in this second

series are closer to what's happened to me over the past few years because that was very retrospective the first series. Alma's very, you know, basically a bit like me in my 20s even though she's in her 30s so I didn't know I was going to write what I've written in this second series, but I thought maybe I would have done three series. Right, yeah. But evidently not. We always thought we still love sparkling water, Sophie. Do you have a preference? Sparkling.

Sparkling. Love it. Said definitively. Yeah. Absolutely. No, you're not wavering on that whatsoever. Not wavering on that whatsoever. Not wavering. I actually find still water horrible.

I only drink it because you have to, but I just, my grandma used to have a bit of water and go, oh, I feel like I'm drowning. And I really relate to her. And she always used to carry a little bottle of Tizer or some little bottle of Dandelion and Burdock in her back. And that's me. They're pretty extreme flavors of the pop. Yeah.

Tizer. Oh yeah, she loves Tizer. In fact, in DnB. Yeah. What flavor is, I don't think we've ever talked about Tizer on the podcast. No, I don't think we have really. I don't think it's really come up.

I love Tizer, yeah. For people who've never tried it, how would you describe it? It's a bit like a Lucas head, like a Lucas head original. Yeah. And Dandelion and Burdock is like licorice. And they're both really cheap from Quality Save,

which is why grandma and you can get little ones. Yeah. They're sort of quite close to medicine, I think. Yeah, they feel like medicine. Taste-wise and the old bottles make them feel like medicine as well. Exactly, yeah. Which is why it makes sense for grandma to have one in a handbag. Yeah.

Like cough syrup. It is like cough syrup. Yeah. Or if you, you're on a night out and you've got a bad tummy, I think you can have a shot of tequila rose because it's very like Gaviscombe. It's literally the same with tequila in. It tastes the same, but it does the same thing for you. But I feel it's helped me.

It does help you. If I've got a bad tummy and I've got to have a drink, it's, you know, someone's butthead, I have one of those, feel instantly better. Tequila Rose is the pink, like it's quite creamy, is that right? Yeah, it looks like Gaviscon. Like Gaviscon or Pepto Bismol, Americans would say. Yeah. So, and is that available at most bars? Available at most bars. It's like Yazoo, but but with tequila in it. I feel like now I'm sponsoring them, you know? Or they're sponsoring me.

Well, they'll definitely send you some after this. This is the first time tequila rose has been mentioned on the podcast. It's not the first time Benito. Oh, she's beat me to it. Anne-Marie did it. Okay, fine. But we don't know if Anne-Marie was sent any, so maybe this will be the... Yeah. And what way want do you want to be sponsored by them or do you want to sponsor them I don't know I think I really I should want to be sponsored by them because I don't know what I'd offer

if I was well you'd have to give them money I don't want to be doing that no no I guess you do that anywhere when you buy it right yeah because I've already given yeah I've already been sponsoring them yeah really yeah how often would you say on the night out you have a poorly tummy? Well, sometimes, you know, alcohol doesn't work for me. Gives me acid reflux. So I do often need a tequila rose just to get going. A tequila rose and an amoprazole.

A what? Together. You know amoprazole, like a nexium acid reflux tablet. I've got you. It's something that happens when you're over 30, isn't it? When you drink, there's certain things you need, like Gaviscom, I never had in my 20s. So how did you discover this? So in your 20s, it wasn't a thing?

Never a thing, never a problem. But then in your 30s, did you just come up with the idea one night? Just suddenly felt a burning through my chest. That, you know, it's like I turned 30 and suddenly my chest started to burn. Yeah. Yeah, it's like a sign, you know. But I love the thought process of alcohol is making my chest burn.

I'll tell you what, I'll have this particular alcohol and that's going to sort me out. Wisdom. Yeah. Very wise. What types of alcohol do you find don't agree with you then? I mean all alcohol really. Okay, that's the problem. Yeah, it is, but apart from tequila rose, it's fine.

I still carry on drinking. I'm a trooper. I always say that about you Sophie. She's a trooper. Yeah. So you've got sparkling water, which you love. I love sparkling water. In fact, that's what I always have instead of a water.

I would never, I mean, I know it's there now. I'm thinking, oh, I should drink that. We don't want you to feel like you're drowning. Yeah. That's the last thing we want to drown our guests. So when your nan drank like a Tizer, she didn't feel like she was drowning. You was going to say why,

why when your grandma was drinking Tizer, did that, she didn't feel like she was drowning in Tizer then? Cause she could drown in Tizer. She could do, I don't know, I think she just likes things that were sugary and sort of fizzy. I don't think she drank water really ever. Yeah, I feel like I'm going into a Northern story like some sort of Ken Loach film here. No, we've got people, plenty of people on here that don't drink water, Claudia Winkleman, Florence Pugh.

Yeah. You know. I mean, Florence Pugh's not drinking water. I mean, that's quite glamorous, isn't it? I was worried when she said it because I was like, I think a lot of people listen to this and now they're going to not drink water because Florence Pugh doesn't and that's not good. I feel inspired not to drink water now. You've got to take your lead from Pugh really, haven't you? Yeah. Yeah. When you hear that sort of stuff, go and do what she does then. Yeah, she looks great.

POPPADOMS OR BREAD! POPPADOMS OR BREAD! SOPHIE WALLEN! POPPADOMS OR BREAD! Bread! Very clear. Yeah. Because POPPADOMS make you feel like you're drowning. No, they're just not as fun. Good luck drowning in a POPPADOM. Yeah. If anything, that might come in handy if you're drowning.

Yeah, it would actually. You could float for a bit, couldn't you? Yeah. Get enough of them. Get enough of them. Make a door. And then it starts to sog and then you'd be fucked. Oh no. Yeah, you would be fucked. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be a very different end to the film Titanic. Oh yeah. Yeah. If she was on a massive poppadom. Yeah, if she was on a big poppadom, he probably would have gone on it with her, wouldn't he? Yeah. She could have given him some room, you know. But if it was a poppadom, she could have snapped off a bit and then he could have got on that bit. Or eaten a bit whilst you're there. Yeah. Yeah. Why not? While you're waiting for the live folks or whatever.

So bread is more fun than poppadoms? I think so. And more practical. Practical. Practical. What are you using it for? Well, no, I don't mean I'm going to make a boat out of everything, but I think it just keeps you going longer, doesn't it, than a poppadom? I guess it fills you up more. Fills you up, yes. It does. Yeah, yeah.

Which is often people's main fear when they come to this podcast. Oh, I hate bread, I'm going to fill up for the main, but you're like, no, this is great. No, no. Enjoy yourself, treat yourself to a nice slice of bread. They make crumpet bread. Yeah. Here we go. Green Olshire's Bolton, a pastry shop. They make crumpet bread.

So it's a loaf of crumpet and slice crumpet. Oh my God. Yes. That's a great idea. It's very good. Very, very good. If you're a bit ill, run down a slice of crumpet bread. I'm noticing a bit of a theme here, Sophie. A lot of the things you're picking so far or you're talking about, you're always feeling a bit ill and then you get something to make yourself feel better. Maybe it's just, I eat for medicinal purposes. I don't know. I think it's because, you know, the North is cold. You need fattening up, don't you?

At the moment, the way you're talking about the North, I'm imagining Game of Thrones. Yeah, I think you should. People say, oh, cosmopolitan or whatever, but really, they're lying. Everyone's still trying to make fire, speaking in only vowels. This crumpet bread sounds amazing. It's the size of a normal loaf of bread. So they slice it for you? You slice it? They slice it for you. And then you can put that in the toaster? Pop it in the toaster. And it's got a lovely texture to it. Yeah. Because it's obviously like a crumpet. Yeah.

But it's also a loaf. I mean, it's just brilliant really. Would you ever use it to make a sandwich? So do you get two slices of crumpet loaf and put stuff in between? You can't have it as a sandwich because it has to be toasted. It's like a crumpet. It's weird. You could have a toasted toasted sandwich. I've never done that. You could toast them and then have a nice filling. But that's a toasty, isn't it? Do you say toasted sandwich? I would say for me, toasty is short for toasted sandwich. Right.

I wouldn't say that. What would you say? I would say a toasty is one of those things that's made with proper toastie make. So like you want it like so it's almost sealed around the outside. For me it's a toastie. A toasted sandwich is just the two bits of toast with filling. I think you're right actually and it's good to clarify. I've done it before.

I remember I used to have one of them brevels and the triangle. Yeah, yeah. We got one a couple of years ago. Still got one knocking around our house. It is a treat and you do use it more often than you'd think if you've got it in the house. Cause why not? Just, you know, cheese, put a bit of cheese in there and you get that pocket of, I mean, unmanageably hot filling once you've done that. But I don't think you could do that with the crumpet bread. Could you? Cause of holes.

Yeah. You'd get a lot. It'd be quite a wouldn't it? Yeah. It'd be a messy business actually. It wouldn't work in the Breville. No. You couldn't Breville a crumpet? No. No no. Yeah you need to do it in the toaster it's a whole procedure in turn. When you had the Breville did you have some signatures? Do you have some go-tos that you would make? Just cheese and ham. That was often my cheese and ham. Classic. Really good but But now you've said about the toast, I think I would invest in one. Cause it's just great for lunch that, isn't it? It's so good. Or just like a little snack

when you get in after a night out. That's really fun as well. I feel like we're on QVC. Yeah. This is what a Breville can do. We've gone quite QVC on this episode. I think we've advertised a few things. Order now and you get a free palette knife. Oh yeah.

Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, it's good for with the bravel sometimes if any cheese escapes, you have to leave it to cool down and then you can just chip away what's left on. Because otherwise it's a nightmare to clean. Yeah. You don't want to be cleaning it while it's still hot. No. Oh, Polito is showing us a crumpet loaf. Crumpet loaf, yeah, that's it. That is good. It's more loaf like than I imagined it would be because when you said the crumpet loaf and you take slices off,

I was like, so essentially that's just a long crumpet. Big wobbly loaf. Yeah, so you've just got- It's very different, isn't it? But it is different, but it's got the properties of a crumpet, but very much in a loaf format. Yeah, so you get in the best of both. Yeah, you really are, B-O-B-W.

The bread best of both, they should have that instead. Yeah. Yeah. So is that the dream bread that you want for your dream meal, the crumpet loaf? Or is there any other bread that supersedes it? I think everyone wants you to pick that. The listeners are all hoping you pick it. All right, I'll go with crumpet bread. Yeah, I'll have crumpet loaf. Fantastic. And butter on it? Has to be. Yeah. No margarine. Was it in your house growing up, was it margarine

or butter? Always butter. Yeah, never had any margarine. You had margar house growing up, was it margarine or butter? Always butter, yeah, never any margarine. Yeah, margarine growing up. Did you? Yeah, we had marge as well. Did you? Horrible taste. Horrible taste, but I didn't know any different. And then when you discover you can just have butter in the fridge and keep going back for it, what a joy that is. What a joy to work out you're a grown-up and you can just have butter whenever you like. So good.

Fabulous, yeah. It's just nice to discover things, isn't it, when you get older, that you can do yourself. Yeah. And then you go absolutely crazy on it for about five years and then realise you do have to hold back and the people restraining you from that initially were actually doing you good. Yeah. It's like learning. What other things that you discovered when you're older that you can just have whenever you want that you just went for? Nutella. Yeah. Yeah, I used to love it when I was a kid actually, but you were only allowed one spoon. Yeah.

Because now no one can stop you, you can have a whole jar. Yeah. It's quite nice, isn't it, being an adult? Yeah. You can do what you want. Have you seen that? Have you seen the video online of the guy who eats the whole jar of Nutella? No. Yeah, he just like, you know, they speed it up so you're not watching it in real time. Yeah. But he just sits down, eats the whole jar of Nutella. Then at the

end says, I just ate a whole jar of Nutella. What did you do today? And then that's the end of the video. How far do you think you could get through a jar of Nutella if you were eating it like a big yogurt? Probably half an hour. Well, you could get through the whole, oh, my question was how far could you get through the jar? And you've gone with half an hour. That's a different question. Yeah. Yeah. I guess, I guess it still answers the question. The whole jar. I'm talking that middle one, not the big one. The one that you get a free glass at the end of it. Yeah. It's always a bonus. You can rinse that, use it again. Yeah, I could definitely, whatever it is, I could eat all of it.

I'm just not doing that because I've been made to feel like I shouldn't. Pre-conditioned. But yeah, I mean, there was a time, you know, when you're talking about like realizing you can do whatever you want. Absolutely. When I realized I can just go buy a Ben and Jerry's whenever I like and eat the whole thing, that was very liberating. But now I'm having to really make sure I don't eat the whole tub of Ben and Jerry's.

Because I could do. Then you become your own parent finally, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't love that. You don't have to do it. The problem with Ben and Jerry's is, or any ice cream carton, you think, oh, I've only

had half that carton, but you're doing it on the measurement of down to the bottom. And what you're not taking into account is it gets wider. So what you've actually probably done is three quarters because you've only left that much at the bottom. Yeah. And then you're like, fuck it, I'll just eat the rest of it. Yeah, may as well. What's the point? Yeah.

You just leave it there. Yeah, it's almost offensive, isn't it, to leave a little bit. Leave a little bit. And then you've got to remember, you're going to come back to that in the future. Oh, I'll have some ice cream. And you realize that past you has just left a spoonful. Absolutely livid. You'd be furious with past you. I am like, Oh, I forgot I got that ice cream. See it. What the, what was I thinking? I've packed myself on the back in the past for being such a good boy. Well done for not eating the whole tub. There's literally a pebble in there left.

Well, you get to your like proper menu now. So your dream starter. And by the way, it's off to a lovely start. The crumpet bread. I already want crumpets. Yes. Oh, that's good. Now. So like that's nice. Good start to the menu. Well, I have gone down in Northern stereotype here with all of it really. I think, but it's because I do think Lancashire have some really great car based things, potato cakes. Yeah. But you know, not the ones you get in a supermarket, the packet with fresh homemade potato cakes

you get from your old pasty shop, green Olshers, they're absolutely beautiful. And you put them in the toaster and they're nice and crispy on top, very soft in the middle with loads of butter and then you stab little holes in it and it melts through. And it's just fabulous. And then I put a little bit of salt and pepper on top. Now, that sounds absolutely delicious. To me, it seems like you've created another crumpet. Yeah, it's not a crumpet. Yeah, but you've put holes in it. It's like a potato crumpet.

You've given it the property. You've toasted it. You've toasted it as well. It's two things. I think you got it from the same place. No, it's from Lancashire. Get up and potato it. But you got it from whatever it was called, Green something.

Oh, well, that's because they do the best ones. Yeah. A year pass. I know I feel like a lot of mine are at this base. But that's great. This is your dream menu. You know, this is what we want to hear about. I mean, it does sound absolutely delicious.

They are delicious. That's great. Let's read about the potato cake. It'll sound better. Sounds good. It sounds similar to what... I love potato cakes, but I don't think I've ever had them like proper fresh before. It's like a, it's almost like suet pastry.

It's that soft. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's lovely. It's almost like a dumpling. It's proper hearty and filling. So we appear to be on the potato cake Wikipedia, which has been past this. It's a name given to various shaped potato dishes around the world, including a patty of hashed potatoes, a fried patty of mashed

potato, a fried and battered slice. I mean, there's a lot of different types. In Northern England and some states in Australia, a thin slice of potato that is battered and deep fried may be called a potato scallop. Oh yeah, scallops are alright, but that's not what that is. I feel I need to get on this page and correct them. It's going on about hash browns as well. It's really not being... Who is this guy? Let's find his name.

I feel he's chaotic. Yeah. I feel let's tell him now. You're chaotic. You need to go back to the drawing board and do some corrections. Who is it who's written it? I don't know who's written it. You thought that's what I was about to say. I found the

person who wrote the Wikipedia. It says Scottish tatties scones and Lancashire potato cakes are made from mashed or reconstituted potato and flour and baked on a griddle. They are typically served fried with a full Scottish or English breakfast. That's it. Yeah, that's a proper one. Yeah. So you want one of those from this bakery that you also got the crumpet bread from? Well, either that or Ye Olde Pasty shop. Ye Olde Pasty. Yep. Which again do the best pasties in the world. Right. I really feel strongly about this. Yeah. It's been going this business for hundreds of years. You'd hope so if it's called Ye Olde Pasty, right? Ye Olde. Yeah. Well, it's in an old Tudor

building. It's a listed building in Bolton, so obviously that's been there a long time. And then this pastry business has been going like 200 and something years, it's called Ye Olde Pasty Shop. The queue goes round the road. It's run at the moment by a woman in her 80s called Mary, she's fabulous. And she's actually got a sculpture of Alma in the window the window of it. Oh really? She tried to give me and I was like, oh no it's great here because what do you do with the sculpture of yourself? It's weird.

Anyway, she's brilliant, Mary. She's been there years. She's had all sorts. Every time you go in she goes, oh Ringo Starr's daughter has been ordering pastas. That's true. She gets them shipped over to Paris, I think she's in. Wow. PTK obviously comes in, he parks outside,

he won't come out. She comes out for him and brings him loads of pasties. Every time I go she makes me a pasty with my name on it, it says Sophie on it, it's a really big one. But then she insists that we do a photo shoot. So she gets out this little red carpet and the banner and I have to hold the pasty like I would a BAFTA. Which you have. But the pasta is more impressive. It's brilliant. But you're qualified to say that it's like winning a BAFTA. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Do you have to queue now? I always queue anyway. But even though there's a sculptor of you in the front window, you're still queuing. If you don't queue, you end up stuck chatting to her for like 50 minutes. Sophie, come round the back, come round the back. And then I sit there with a cup of tea and we go through every ailment. Yeah. Yours by the sound of it. What food remedies each one.

But she's quite wild. We went to this charity gig together. She was the first one up to suggest a conga, you know, last one on the dance floor. But anyway, the pastries are brilliant. I'll just tell you about the cheese one. Yes. Very thin pastry. You've never known anything like it.

It's soft and thin. And then the middle is pureed, is it? When you, potato, onion and cheese. And then it's just, it's a delicacy. There's no pasties like it. I really want a pasty now. I've not had pasty in ages. I'm not've not eaten today. That's why I'm realizing every food that you describe, I'm going to have that after the record.

I'd love to send you some down ye olds. No, we'll make the trip. I'll walk there. I'll walk there. I won't pull a Peter Kay and stay in my car. Probably not in Bolton now he's probably more popular in Bolton than you are. Peter Kay? Yeah yeah probably. Possibly. He ain't been on task so all that sounds great as well but you want the potato cake from there or from a different from the other place? Well do you know what I think I'll just say in general we've got a year old pasty shop we'd get a potato cake and a pasta. Look, you could have a little a potato cake and a and a pasty for the starter, I think.

Yeah, if you want a year old pasty shop. It's going to be very carby this, isn't it? We're going to be knackered, actually. We're eating it as well. Yeah, I thought so. Are we with you at the dream meal? Well, yeah, I thought that's what we're doing now. Very, very happy to come with you. But sometimes people don't want us to be there, you know, they were, some people want to be alone. Some people want to have like family members there, loved ones.

No, you've just said two things I don't want. Alone or with family. All right, we'll come along because I do want to try that pasty desperately. Fabulous. It's always nice to take people who've not had one. So on Alma, when we were filming the second series, I know that at 11 o'clock I get hungry because you set off at 5 a.m., they feed you at like what, 8 a.m.? And then often you don't get food till like 3 p.m. And you don't wanna be the difficult diva

asking when lunch is, but you can feel that you just... So I thought what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna make sure what I've got, me 11s is. So I thought, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna make sure I've got me 11s's. So I have my driver, Chris, who I had a specific one, so he's my one, and I gave him a kitty for the two months we were filming. And every day in his little bag, he had a special warming bag for me.

He would bring me two pastas, a meat and potato and a cheese potato from your pasta shop. But then all the crew were like, oh, that looks good. So I was like, what do you want one next? Before I knew it, I was getting 60 pasties a day, costing me an absolute fortune. We'd stop at 11, go, cheese and potato this side, meat and potato, and it was just mad, you know, chaos.

Everyone had a pasta by the end. We were all put on loads of weight together. I absolutely love that you're like, well, you don't want to seem like a diva. So I send my driver with a special woman bag. I know you see mixed messages, but you have to do these things. But then if you're buying them for everyone else then as well, you've nailed that. You bring it back around then, don't you? But then surely just surely that's taken up so much time sorting all the pasties out

that you may as well just move lunch earlier. Well, no, because Chris is on it. Chris. Chris is on it. Chris fucking knackered by the end of it dragging sacks of pasties behind him. Chris loves it though. Is he filling the car with them? Well he's not just, he came on as, what did they call him? Cause he got a good fee don't worry about it Chris. He got a really good fee. In fact I've sent a lot of emails making sure he got paid for going above and beyond. He's not just a driver, he's more like my therapist. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's lovely. And he got a new kitchen. Yeah. So he did all right. He did all right, yeah. Unfortunately, he can't use it because it's just full of fucking pasties. So we're doing the Yieldy Pasty Shop tasting menu as your start. That's good, yeah, I like that. Tasting menu. And one of each pasty. Yeah. Tasting menu. Yeah. As your, um, as your start. That's good. Yeah. Like that. Tasting menu. And one of each pasty. Yeah. One of one of a meat and potato with cheese and potato.

Yeah. Or kind of, you know, pastry tapas. Yeah. Tapestry. Yeah. Lovely. I'm Sarah Milroy, director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg. If you love impressionism, you'll love what we have on view this summer at the Gallery. River of Dreams Impressionism on the St. Lawrence features more than 150 sublime works by some of Quebec's most beloved artists. Join us for a journey down the St. Lawrence and see how Impressionism flourished in this country

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Available for a limited time at Participating Wendy's in Canada. Taxes Extra. You drink mangoes? Well, obviously I'm going to go steak pudding, chips, peas and gravy. Yeah, obviously. Yeah, I think so, because I've gone down this northern story tonight, just to come with it. It is my favourite meal. Yeah.

It's delicious. You know, a steak pudding. Yes. Yeah. You've had one? The dome. Yeah. It's like a, you know, not a pie, a suet pastry steamed with steak and kidney and gravy in the middle. Tip it out. And you tip it over and you, yeah, love them. It's so good. It's proper like warming, hearty comfort food. Yeah. Delicious. Yeah. Full of gravy. Full of gravy. And then you had gravy on top and then your mushy peas as you side with a go with it. Your mushy peas and your red cabbage. Lovely. Yeah, that sounds good. I mean, I really should have eaten before coming here. This is like, this is way too much. But like I find delicious every now and again you go to a pub normally like a chain pub and you really want one or you get some bad ones don't you? Yeah I would never order it from somewhere that's not a chippy. But in Bolton you get the best of

both because they've got a place called Olympus Chippy which has a restaurant and it's a chip shop but a proper chippy chippy. But the restaurant's really weird because it's got a piano and a pianist. And he's in his eighties and everyone else is in their eighties. You can order beers as well. A bit like something out of cocoon slash David Lynch film. It's really.

Can I ask you a question? Is everyone in Bolton in their eighties? Well, just maybe where I went as a child. I don't know. I mean, I lived with my grandmother for a while. So maybe. She was in her eighties? Well, just maybe where I went as a child. I don't know. I mean, I lived with my grandmother for a while. So maybe she was in her eighties. I take it. No, she wasn't in her eighties then, but I suppose she would be in her seventies now.

Yeah. But I suppose it's because it's a daytime restaurant. I like the sound of this place though. Everyone's in their eighties and there's an 80 year old pianist. Yeah. What's he playing? Well, he plays all sorts. When I was last day, he was playing

from Brief Encounter. You know, the, what's that? Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do,

do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do was playing at the chip shop. Yeah, just because it's a bloody great film, Noel Coward. Would you sit in quite often to have the Olympus chip or do you mainly take out? I sit in, I took my driver Chris, there's a treat on one of our lunches, we went there, it was a nice treat. We had a Prosecco at lunch as well, we thought, sod it, we're coming to the end of the filming, let's have a a chip in a Prosecco. And it was around Christmas at that point. So playing some Christmas tunes. And there was actually a big staff do, I forgot about that in the corner, which was quite intense. A lot of women were, you play this for me. It ruined the ambience. What were they, what were they requesting from the

peonies? It Christmas songs, nothing too. They weren't requesting Snoop Dogg or anything like that? No, that would have been good. So would it be from that, Olympus Chippy? I think it would, yeah. It's the pudding, mushy peas, chips, red cabbage. And do they do red cabbage at Olympus Chippy? Yeah. Do they? I love red cabbage red cabbage and they do red cabbage at Olympus Chippy. Yeah today I love red cabbage. I see that doesn't feel like a normal thing to have on a Chippy menu. Yeah, I think

Because it's quite the top northern thing, isn't it? We have bonfire nights. You have read come have you ever a black peas? No, I have that delicious salty They like in a kind of you get them on bonfire night in a cup and they're quite liquidy so you can sip it. It's a bit like a cup of soup but it's black peas and it's really salty, it's delicious. What do you mean it's black peas? So it's like mushy peas? No, it's not peas. They're called black peas. They're a different type of pea. But they are peas because you just said they're not peas there. No, but they're not like green peas.

They're not garden peas. They're not garden peas. They're black-eyed peas. Let's find out because I don't know. Okay, so maybe black-eyed peas, pigeon peas. You would have a cup of these and drink it like a coffee. There's a carrot in there, a stick of celery in there, an onion in there. Wow. They're lovely as well. Yeah. I've gone off now. No, it's good to know. Because look, I'll be honest, I'm quite envious a lot of the time of like Northern identity. And like that because I'm from Cameron where we don't really have much of an idea. No, I actually met someone who knows you. This is weird. I was having a massage. Okay. It's already weird. Oh, right. So what do you do? I said, Oh, did combination. Oh, yes. I went

to school with James, but he went on for ages. I was stuck then for 50 minutes. I've been listening to all these anecdotes whilst having a massage. Yeah. Yeah. Not really. No, he seems like you were in high school. Yeah. It was all positive stories. Yeah. Yeah. What was that? Can you remember who it was? Don't fucking remember. I can't really remember her face. I mean, I said, mainly saw her feet and heard about you. So can you describe her feet? Maybe James will remember. She had nice pumps on. Do you think of anyone who might have nice pumps on and who maybe showed signs at school of liking going around rubbing people's shoulders and stuff.

Well, that's good. Where was this? London? No, Kettering. You went to Kettering and had a massage? Yeah, it's near Nantwich, isn't it? Or where was that? It was definitely near Kettering. Okay, well, you were near Kettering and went to a spa and got a massage. I think if you go to anywhere near Kettering or in Kettering, most people will have been to school with James. Yeah. Or at least know him. He's a local character. Yeah. Have you got a sculpture in your local Chippy though? No, actually. I used to live around the back of a Chippy. So Nick's Fish and Chip shop

in Katmim, which I've shouted out on the podcast before. And I've been there, I went there maybe last year and they were like telling me loads of stories about me as a kid, which I don't know if it was me. I think they got me confused with another local child and now they've made it me in the head maybe. But like, yeah, I would have thought there's something. Yeah, I used to go there quite a bit. I'd demand it next time you get back. Where's my sculpture? Where's my sculpture?

Or go and sit outside in your car and make them bring you fish and chips. Oh yeah, I haven't tried that yet. Yeah. That's a good one. Nick and make them bring you fish and chips. Oh yeah, I've enjoyed that. Yeah. That's a good one. Nick himself to bring me the fish and chips. You are the Peter Kay of catering, I would say. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, this, this sounds great. And what I was saying is I just like, I think when I meet people from the North who have such a strong identity that's connected to the North, I just think I wish I had that. Can you clearly enjoy it as well that you've got this like... I do and then I also find it irritating with myself. Like, oh, here we go again. Oh, Sophie, come on, you know. But then at the same time, I just do feel really passionately about Lancashire food. So it was quite tricky thinking, be nice to step away from the Mike Lee anecdotes. But it's quite hard sometimes. Maybe in a few years, you know, I'll have more food to talk about.

Yeah, but I think if the more you're not home, when you have a strong connection to it, the more that food draws you back. It's the only thing that draws me back. It just gives you a strong connection to where you're from, right? Whereas I grew up in London, so when I'm traveling, I'm like, what am I going to have? You could have anything. That's the great thing about London, isn't it? Yeah. When I'm away from London, I just love connecting with my hometown by having a series of small plates.

Your dream side dish. Because obviously you've got things all included in the main that could be considered side dishes, but this is good because now you can have a little bonus thing on the side. Yeah. You know, if you wanted to, you seem quite annoyed that you're sticking to the Northern cuisine. You could throw in a curve ball. Bob in as a cheeky curve.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. But aren't you going to like, if you do throw something in that isn't language shit, isn't that going to annoy you on the way home? You'll be like that. Is it not thematic with the viciousness? You might not have even wanted it. You might not have just doing that to seem more sophisticated. Yeah, to seem more sophisticated.

But I didn't want that really. Yeah. What would I want on the side with all that that's going on? Because there's a lot in there. Shot of tequila rose. That might help settle the stomach. Yeah. I'll have that to settle my stomach, if I'm yeah of course you're allowed yeah you're going to settle your stomach with a little bottle of little shot of tequila rose absolutely yeah a shot not a bottle a shot yeah not a full bottle of it yeah how long do you think it would take you to drink a bottle of tequila rose I think three hours and death probably longer than a nutella yeah and just to be clear black peas aren't on this menu even though you said no

I just threw them at you. So you wouldn't just like chuck them in as the side dish I will to come in as a side dish because they are lovely. Yeah, because I think the tequila rose Doesn't seem like I think that's just a given that you're gonna need that. Yeah. Yeah Anyway, yeah, I think the black peas should be your side. You that yeah yeah yeah I think the black P should be your side you clearly really liked him yeah you have him on when Bonfire night Bonfire night is that like your way of sticking it to Guy Fawkes yeah maybe I do love Bonfire night though it's a lovely celebratory it's my favorite time of year that what do you think of Guy Fawkes well he did alright didn't he not really

don't know I don't know much about him really. He got caught and then they tore him apart. But he tried something didn't he? You can't knock him for trying. You know he tried to be rebellious, he put it out there. He gave it a go. He gave it a really good whirl and then it didn't work but got other people thinking. He very much took the approach that you're taking to the press for Alma's not normal, which is we've caught and you went, I tried my best. You can't get me for that. Yeah. I tried my best.

Gave it all I had. And you got other people thinking about what? Well, rebelling against feudalism. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so it was, was it? Well, he tried to blow up the houses of parliament. Oh, that was it. Yeah. Yeah know, it's always, was it? Well, he tried to blow up the houses of parliament. Oh, that was it. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it was, yeah. Then they chopped his dick off. They chopped his dick off. That was the first thing they did. Oh, that's horrible. That's mean. Yeah, it's mean, isn't it? Yeah. Brutal and painful. Unnecessary. It seems unnecessary to immediately chop his dick off.

It's a horrible way to die, I'd imagine that. Not nice. Not nice. Yeah. Poor thing. At least he stood for something. Yeah. Even though you're not quite sure what it was. I know I feel awful because I should know, but I know it's a rebellious, he did something rebellious. He was saying, you know, the sex pistols of the time. Yeah. That sex pistols gig wasn't there in Manchester where like not many people showed up to it. Free trade hall. I don't know. Yeah. That sex pistols gig wasn't there in Manchester where like not many people showed up to it. Free trade hall.

Oh, I don't know. Yeah. But everyone who was there went on to form a band and do something. So I guess he was like that. Yeah. Everyone who liked Guy Fawkes at the time maybe went on to do something. I don't think they did. I think they probably went, well, I'm not doing that. They chopped his dick off. Yeah. That's a shame, isn't it? It is a shame, yeah. Well, your dream drink then? I always find this a tricky one because I like most things for different moods. Yeah. If it's a hot day, I love a beer or a gin and tonic.

If it's a wintery day, you want a lovely red wine. You know, if it's a celebration, a champagne. Yeah. But I suppose if, you know, this is the biggest celebration, I'd go champagne. Nice. Cause this doesn't feel, you say on a hot day or on a cold winter's day,

the meal to me doesn't scream hot day. No. I don't think I could eat that on a hot day. A fizzy vimto goes perfectly. Does it? Yeah, with that thing. If you go into the trippy, that's normally what you'd order, isn't it?

State pudding. Dandelion and burdock or a Fizzy Vimto. And I've never been a Dandelion and Burdock fan, so maybe it'd be Fizzy Vimto slash champagne. Yeah. Well, you know, we let people do various hacks on this podcast before, including like choosing drinks for each course. So you can still have the Fizzy Vimto with that main course. And your dream drink can be champagne. Yeah. Or a Margarita. No, I'm going Margarita. I love a Margarita. Yep. Tequila Margarita.

Yeah, just the normal one with the salt around the rim. Not Tommy, not the one on the rocks. I don't want that. I want a proper, lovely glass. And then I would need a Tequila Rose just for the acid reflux that comes afterwards. That's funny, isn't it? Tequila is going to give you acid reflux. So you have a different sort of tequila to sort it out. Exactly. Yeah. So if you're having a margarita, is there any particular place that you love to go for a margarita that does like the best margarita? There's a place in Majorca. My granddad lives out there and it's really beautiful. It used to be a hotel for boats to come and stay but they didn't make any money out of that.

Like a Disney film? Yeah a bit, but then it was like well everyone could stay on their boat so clearly that's not going to work so they made no money. So they had to open it up as a cocktail bar. But it's set out beautifully. You can see the sunrise, they do great tequilas, margaritas. I think what James was thrown by was you saying it's a hotel that boats could come and stay. He was imagining the boats being like the film cars and they go to the hotel and they have a sleep. Oh, I missed that bit.

Yeah. You bring the boat to the hotel and then the people get off and stay in the hotel. It's a hotel with boat parking. Boat parking. I mean, I still like the thought of a boat hotel. So yeah, against it. Yeah. A hotel, a boat. Yeah. Of course. Of course. Every time someone says me or I think of Timmy Mallet every time we say Mallorca. When I was a kid, on Wackaday, there was a section of it for a while called Mallet in Mallorca and it goes Mallet in Mallorca. And it was him, he'd gone to Mallorca for a bit, Timmy Mallet.

And it was my first time ever hearing about Mallorca. So I didn't know what it was before then. So now every time I, when you said Mallor in my head, I thought Timmy Mallet straight away. Do you want to sing the tune every time? Mallet in Mallorca. Yeah, I kind of do in a way. But he's always good good in that as well now, I think, because he knows he's going to get asked to do it. So he might as well just get ahead of us. It is on the website. It is on Timmy Mallet's website. It's just no, it just won't load, but it says Mallet in Mallorca. We all trusted you. None of us thought you were lying about Mallett in Mallorca.

Yeah, but when it's like childhood memory, you start to doubt it yourself. As you're talking about it and when no one else knows about it, you're like, oh, did that happen? Yeah, true that. I think of Timmy Mallett every time I see someone wearing an itsy-witsy teeny weeny yellow polka top bikini. So yeah, which is often. Yeah, especially in Mallorca. Yeah, especially in Mallorca near the boatel. That's why he asks Spinito to Google for often. Yeah. Especially in Mallorca. Yeah, especially in Mallorca near the Botel. That's why he asks Benito to Google for him. Yeah.

Ed doesn't Google. He's like Peter Kay. He tells... I sit in my car and get Benito to Google things. Google, itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow pugga don bikini Benito. And bring me the results. Sort of Malik Wonserff festival, MacFest in Wales, he turned up. What? Yeah. I didn't know he was still alive actually. Yeah, he turned up. What? Yeah.

I didn't know he was still alive actually. Yeah, he's alive. He was and here's the thing, he wasn't like intentionally going to the festival. He was on a massive bike ride and it has happened to go past and then he saw there was a comedy festival once he decided to stop for a bit and just had a little walk around only there for about half an hour and then he went on his bike ride again. But I saw him in that time and was with Nathaniel Metcalfe, who's the perfect person. He's like into all that era of television. So as soon as I saw Timmy Mallet, I was like, Nathaniel, is that Timmy

Mallet over there putting his bike in a shed? And we were pretty sure it was. And then eventually he posted a thing on his Instagram of just him outside the sign for Mac. Wow. Thumbs up in it. Looking pretty happy with himself. Did he not fancy doing this bit? No, straight through. It's not a bike ride.

Just whizzing through. Yeah. Yeah. Imagine that. Yeah. That'd be nice to get to that point one day. Yeah. Well, people go, I saw James Hick.

I saw him riding a bike through a comedy festival. Yeah. That could happen. Rode it right through. I saw that. I was in between, I went to see Oppenheimer and then I went to see Barbie on the same day and as I was walking between cinemas I went through Trafalgar Square, there was a busker playing, there was a guitar and a circle of people around him watching him and then

right through the middle of the circle, right through the busker's patch on a bicycle, Owen Wilson just cycled right through it, head high, everyone could see it was him. Through the circle? Just through it, through the busker's patch, there's a big circle, right the way through the middle of it, Owen Wilson on a bicycle, carried on going through Trafalgar Square. Did everyone go, oh fuck that's Owen Wilson. Yeah, everyone was like stunned for a bit and the busker had to carry on playing but clearly in his eyes was like, did that just happen? You know, and we were, yeah, me and my friend were like, well that's

odd to see on Barbenheim a day. Yeah, it'd be fun to do things like that if you were really famous. Just turn up in really weird places. Just freak people out in a fun way. Where would you like? Just something like, you know, the freezer section of Iceland or something like that. Well get in the freezer and then like... Just hold it with your fish fingers. I imagine you getting into one of the freezer cabinets.

Oh good, that'd be fun. And like it all steaming over and then someone like rubs it to see what's inside and then it's just your face up in there. Yeah, that'd be great wouldn't it? You'd have to make that noise as well. Yeah, or knocking on someone's door with their post. Dressed as a post person? Dressed as a postman. Yeah. Yeah. Here you go. Nice to meet you, Alex.

I'll give them their post. That'd be creepy, that one, I think. It was a bit too much. Yeah. Yeah. Because Jason Manford did that during lockdown, didn't he? He was like delivering for Iceland. So he kind of did both of those suggestions. Yeah. He was going around delivering people shopping for Iceland. God really? Which is a nice idea. Yes. But you know, cause we're just talking like this, but in reality it would be a bit

much wouldn't it? A bit, a bit much, especially maybe during the pandemic when there's a lot of stuff going flying around your head and then you're like, I don't know how I'm supposed to react to Jason Bamford being out here holding my fish fingers. Yeah. I bet a lot of stuff flying around your head and then you're like, I don't know how I'm supposed to react to Jason Manford being out here holding my fish fingers. Yeah. I bet a lot of people loved him popping up at the door though because it'd be local in the area in Manchester, wouldn't it? But then I bet he would have been like, I can't stop and chat to all these people.

We can't do selfies, can we, in a lockdown? So he would have delivered them. And be like, don't touch me, but here's your fish fingers. Yeah, let's keep this boundary. But here's your stuff. Yeah,, don't touch me, but here's your fish fingers. Yeah. Let's keep this boundary. Yeah. But here's your stuff. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, that should have been what the pandemic was. It's just celebs delivering everyone's food. Yeah. That would have been good actually. Everyone getting their Ben and Jerry's with a pebble left in it. James delivered this one. Yeah. Your dream dessert, Sophie Willing? Well Well I'd go bread and butter pudding. Oh yeah. Because I'm sticking

with a very carb heavy theme here. Love a bread and butter pudding. My granddad is a really good cook and he used to make bread and butter puddings when I was little. Yeah. So it's a nice memory there with that. It's nice. And it's just lovely. Did he have any particular like way of doing it? Was it because of that? Signature twist. A lot of different, Some of you have willa curing, don't you? Or something. He did it like that.

But you weren't allowed to go near him in the kitchen. He's still like that now. If you go near him, get out, get out. He's quite Gordon Ramsay with the Bolton accent and no neck. You know, he's just quite an intense personality. So much respect for that though. Yeah. I'm like that when I'm cooking.

Yeah, don't come near me. I'm cooking so I don't have to talk to people. Yeah, I think it's that, isn't it? And then also if you try and help, oh my god. Everything you're doing is wrong. You've never felt more that you're a bad human being. So I just have to leave the vicinity. And then at the end I'll say like,

do you want me involved in plates? And he's like, get out! So I'm like, fine. But I think especially if it's like, that's like his signature dish, right? And that's what he's really good at. He's made it so many times before. He doesn't need help.

Doesn't need help. Well, he's good at everything, my granad, he's a really, really good cook. Oh, fantastic. He did cooking. He went down to London for six months and cooked in a restaurant in London. And then they moved back to Bolton.

But, you know, for that six months, he was a saucier. Oh, lovely. I know. Was he? Just took the sauces. Yeah. So he's very talented, but very grumpish. I just leave him to it. We get all this lovely food if you go visit him. But the price you pay is sometimes you might get shouted at if you go into the kitchen.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I feel like we've had quite a few really good butter pudding recipes on recipes on this podcast. Yeah. And now I want a bread and butter pudding as well. Here's what's going on in my head is that I remember that last time someone came on and they said their own bread and butter pudding recipe and it sounded easy and delicious and I thought to myself I'm going to do that and then I didn't do it and now I've forgotten what the recipe was. Was it the one with croissants in it? Yeah, it must have been. Yeah. Croissants, that's really good. Another one you mean, they do a really good one in Cumbria

with leftover croissants and different things. And it's like, and raisins and that's delicious. And you know what occurred to me when you said bread and butter pudding, imagine making bread and butter pudding with the crumpet bread. Oh, wow. Bread and butter pudding with crumpet,

that would be very good. Cause that's soaking up anything you pour on it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. Mama. Yeah. You've thrown something quite fabulous. That would be good. I think I'd do that then. Yeah. A bread and butter pudding, obviously, but with a crumpet bread. Made by your granddad. Made by granddad, but not in his vicinity. How's he going to react though, if you say, I want your bread and bus pudding, but can you replace it with crumpet bread? What's he going to say to that? I could do, I could get him on FaceTime. FaceTime him now. I'd pitch it to him. Yeah. I don't think he'd be going for it. No. Do you want me to phone him? You can do. Yeah, you can do. You can do it. Just see what he thinks of the

see what he thinks of the suggestions. I don't want... He might be dead confused. Like, what, where are you? Yeah. Oh, he almost certainly will be. Tell them it's off-banking. He was quite shocked to see himself pop up on Taskmaster.

Yeah. I'm glad you never answers the calls, but let's give him a call. G-Dog. Is that what he is in your phone? G-Dog. G-Dog. Yeah, cool.

He won't answer. Come on, G-Dog. Is that what he is in your phone, G-Dog? G-Dog. Yeah, cool. He won't answer. Come on, G-Dog. Come on, G-Dog. It's worth it just to find out that your granddad saved his G-Dog in your phone, to be fair. I could try Maggie May, his wife. G-Dog and Maggie May. And they. Do you dog a Maggie May?

And they live in Majorca, right? They live in Majorca. They've been there years, like 25 years now. Maggie May, try Maggie May now. Come on Maggie. Because Maggie might know if you'd be up for doing the crumpet bread. See if they remember Malit in Majorca. Yeah, I'll ask. Not going to happen.

What time is it in Mallorca? Oh, hello. Maggie? Oh, you there? Listen, I'm live on the podcast. I need to speak to Grandad. Not live. No, we're not live. To him he is. Hello, Grandad. Hi there. I just want to ask you about bread and butter pudding. Best way to make it.

Bread and butter pudding? Yeah. Err, er, let's think. Bread. Butter. Yeah. Black bread. Butter. Full cream milk. Yeah. Well how would you feel if I put crumpet bread in it? Not very, it won't work. It won't work? Why would it not work? Because it's too spongy that. You want sliced white bread.

Right. All right, thanks Grandad. I love you. Don't forget the currants and the raisins. I won't forget the currants and the raisins. This is why I couldn't cook with him, because he'd be over you shopping. I like all of this detail. I love his detail.

This is James, this is Ed, this is Ben. Hi. Hello. They're doing a food podcast, and I was telling them about your culinary skills, but you're also quite in the kitchen. I'm just doing it now, culinary skills. What are you doing? Jointed roast chicken, on peppers, potatoes, red onions, garlic.

Delicious. That sounds absolutely delicious. Yeah, they're a lot more impressed with your recipes than what I've done for the past hour. Smoked potatoes. All right. Beautiful. Yeah, he's very good. Yeah.

I better go, granddad. Love you. Love you too. See you soon. Speak to you soon, adios. I said, way to go. Right. Love that. Love him. He definitely did a lot better on this than I did.

Yeah, we'll have him on another episode. Great, we'll have him on an episode. Yeah, so I think we've got to not do the crumpet bread then. Yeah, the expert G-Dogs told us it's not a good idea. Yeah, won't work. He did seem quite already a bit pissed off. He was like, we don't do that. Yeah. My favorite bit was you saying, how'd you make your bread and butter pudding? What do you need? And you went, well, bread. Yeah. He went, let's see. Let's see, bread. Butter.

Well, that was before he knew you were on a podcast. It was absolutely trash in you. Yeah. I'm gonna read your menu back to you now, see how you feel about it. You want sparkling water. You would like the crumpet loaf with butter from? Green Alches.

Start, you want a potato cake from the old pasty shop with the cheese and potato pasty and the meat and potato pasty selection a tapas yeah main course the steak pudding and chips and mushy peas red cabbage and gravy from Olympus Chippy with a fizzy vimto side dish black peas drink you would like a margarita from Mallorca from the Boatel in Mallorca and on the side you want the tequila rose there and dessert you want bread and butter pudding made by your granddad without cramping loaf. Yeah and without being in his vicinity. Yeah, yeah, completely as far away from it as possible. That sounds great. So delicious. Fabulous. And yeah, it's also, I'd say it'd have to be a cold day for

me to eat that. Yeah. And I would have to hibernate after that for about six months. So a lot of carbs there. That's big heavy, that's big heavy serious stuff. Yeah. Yeah. You're not leaving the couch. No, no way. The tequila rose is doing a lot of work. And also, God bless, I'm going to be farting a lot after that. Yeah. Yeah. It's better to be alone actually, maybe. I think so. Yeah. But you don't want to be alone. You don't want to be alone.

But we're with you. Have a meal together and then leave. Yeah. Yeah. And the meal could be outside maybe. Yeah. Peter K. would be outside.

Brilliant. We're getting Peter K.'s car. Yeah. Now go with him. Oh, he'd be absolutely gutted if we all got in his car after eating that. Yeah. He'd hate it. Do the old, what's it, the car share?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wee. An episode of car share where everyone's's it, the car share? Yeah. Yeah, wee. An episode of car share where everyone's just farting the whole time. Yeah. That'd be good. He hasn't done that for car shares and pulled up outside the pasty shop and stayed in his car and ordered a... Is that why he stays in the car do you think?

Is he filming an episode? Maybe that's it. Maybe that's a thing. It's a whole new series. Can't get out, we're on the clock. Yeah. Come on. Sophie, thank you, we're on the clock. Yeah. Sophie, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant. Thanks for having me. It's been fabulous.

Sophie Willen there with a cameo. Is that recording? It's red when it records. I thought it was green. No. Did we record that episode? It's red when it records. Yeah, I thought it was green. No We'll record for the heart. Did we record that episode? I were you looking at it and it was green and you thought we were recording. I don't know man Oh, man, I just thought red meant stop Yeah, but it also means record doesn't it like on an old tape player. It's a red circle, isn't it? Yeah, that's just true

That's true. Yeah. Yeah, you're bang to rights. Well, look, great to speak to Sophie Willen with a wonderful guest rap from G-Dog. Loved it from G-Dog. Little feature. And Maggie May. And Maggie May. Thanks for picking up Maggie May. Thank you, Maggie May. Thank you, G-Dog. Thank you to Sophie Willen. Thank you for not saying trifle. Although we have bread and butter pudding. It's not a million miles away from Trifle. Sure. Yeah. It's layered. It's a layered dessert. It's like a traditional British dessert. And it was quite a traditional Northern menu, as Sophie said. It was very traditionally British, it felt. So Trifle would have rounded that off lovely. Oh, yeah. We could have been headed there. We could have been headed there and it would have been awful to kick out Sophie and then we never would have spoken to G-Dog and Maggie Mae. Yeah.

So, you know, thank you, Sophie. Yeah. And obviously, James, you went on a bit of a wander through your brain there when bread and butter pudding was brought up because we've had three fantastic bread and butter puddings in the past on this show. We've had C-Mats Christmas bread and butter pudding, which sounded amazing. Ainsley Harriot chose Gary Rhodes' bread and butter pudding, which sounded amazing. Ainsley Harriet chose Gary Rhodes' bread and butter pudding. And of course, Peter Capaldi chose a Panettone bread and butter pudding. Although

I think if he suggested that's your G dog, G dog is laughing in his face because I mean, if crumpets are soaking it up too much, too spongy, Panettone is definitely too spongy. Well, I'll tell you what, as we're recording this, I've got five dates left on my tour and then I'm kicking them out for the rest of the year. Yeah. I'll happily make those four bread and butter puddings. Yeah. Before New Year's Eve. And you promise? Will you take photos of them?

I promise. A little video and then Ben can put it on the off-menu social media? I promise. In the bath. Eat them in the bath. I will not eat them in the bath. I didn't agree to that when I said I promise. You've got to eat your poppadum sandwich in the bath and then I'll eat the bread and butter puddings in the bath. I'll do my pop it on sandwich in the bath when you do the bread and butter, four different

bread and butter. Forget it. You just say no again. Well, if you want to, if you want to back out the agreement, You're the one backing out the agreement. No, I'm saying I will do it if you do what you've agreed, which is that you've four different bread and butter. I know that you will back out the agreement. I will do it. And do what you've agreed, which is it before you won't do it I know that you will back out of the agreement. I will do it and then you will back out I am gonna film myself making them and I'm gonna eat them and I'm gonna say which is the best of the four

Okay, so I'm gonna make Gary Rhodes this one. Yeah, I'm gonna make C. Matt's one, which is a Nigella recipe Yeah, I'm like Peter Capaldi's panettone one. Yeah, and I'll make G dogs one. Okay, and Are you gonna make each one then have a bath for each one or are you... I'm not having a bath! All in the bath. I'm not having a bath, that's you! Dirty boy not having a bath. Gross. That is you have a bath with your poppadom sandwich.

That's what you're meant to be doing. Why don't you have baths? I do have baths. Norma, what? This is like arguing with a kid in school. I'm a pleasure to live with. So if you want to watch James have a bath live, come to the London Palladium in March next year. I'm not going to have a bath live. Like Tim Key.

There's going to be a bath on stage. James is going to have a bath. He's going to eat four different bread and butter puddings. So remember, tickets go on general sale on Friday. If you're listening to this on the day it comes out, happy new series, by the way. Or the pre-sale is tomorrow at 10am but you'll find out about that if you join the mailing list off menupodcast.co.uk for details on that. Watch how was not normal series one on iPlayer and get ready for series two coming soon. Get ready for James in the Bath. I'm not going to be

in the bath. We'll see you next week for episode two of this most recent series, which is a number. Goodbye? 12? It's series 12, of course it is, I knew that off the top of my head. Bye bye! So you want to press stop now, it's going to go green. Yeah. I'm Sarah Milroy, director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg. If you love Impressionism, you'll love what we have on view this summer at the Gallery. River of Dreams, Impressionism on the St. Lawrence, features more than 150 sublime works

by some of Quebec's most beloved artists. Join us for a journey down the St. Lawrence and see how Impressionism flourished in this country a century ago. Buy your tickets today at mcmichael.com, home to the art of Canada. Hello off-menu listener. Yes, that's right! At last, a good comedian on this podcast. It's me, Nish Kavar, and I am temporarily interrupting your lovely chat about sandwiches to tell you that I am on tour with my new show, Nish Don't Kill My Vibe. Yes, you're right, that title is a reference to Kendrick Lamar, because I'm incredibly relevant. Tickets are available right now at nishkamar.co.uk.

If you like James A. Castor and Ed Gamble, maybe you'll enjoy the humour of one of their friends. Tickets at nishkamar.co.uk.