Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 36: Evelyn Mok

Episode Date: October 23, 2019

Swedish-raised, London-based comedian and podcaster Evelyn Mok has a table booked this week. Expect podcast firsts and a lot of talk of pee and poo (sorry).Recorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive Productions.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design) and Amy Browne (illustrations).Evelyn co-hosts the Rice To Meet You podcast with Nigel Ng. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Audioboom.Follow Evelyn on Twitter and Instagram: @EvelynMok.Follow Evelyn's Instagram food account: @thingsipooped.And check out Evelyn's website: www.evelynmok.com. 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.Ed Gamble is on tour, including a date at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. See his website for full details.James Acaster is on tour. See his website for full details.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, listeners of the Off Menu podcast. It is Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu podcast. I have a very exciting announcement. I have written my first ever book. I am absolutely over the moon to announce this. I'm very, very proud of it. Of course, what else could I write a book about? But food. My book is all about food. My life in food. How greedy I am. What a greedy little boy I was. What a greedy adult I am. I think it's very funny. I'm very proud of it. The book is called Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy. And it's coming out this October, but it is available to pre-order now, wherever you pre-order books from. And if you like my signature, I've done some signed copies,

which are exclusively available from Waterstones. But go and pre-order your copy of Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy, now. Please? Would you like black pepper with that, sir? No, thank you. It's the Off Menu podcast. Hello, Ed. Hello, James. Good to see you. Nice to see you too, mate. It's lovely day, isn't it, where we are?

What a genial start to the podcast, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. I had a nice day. I am a genie. Oh, that's good. Genial. Yeah. I like it. Do you want to hear my food news? Yeah.

I went to one of my favorite restaurants the other day, Spantino. And the man is just that you sit up at a bar and I ordered the food and the man went, oh, good choices. I think he was Spanish, actually. He mentioned Spanish. He went, good choices. He went, do you want me to cover that all with sugar? And I went, oh, no. I thought either he knows who I am and knows I'm a type one diabetic and that's a joke, or that's just a weird joke he makes. But you can't really say, oh, you recognize me, of course. I ate the meal and then afterwards he said, the beer's on me. I just want to let you know, I really like your podcast with James Acaster. And also, I came to this country six years ago.

I didn't speak any English and the way I learned English was through watching comedy on television and listening to podcasts. Wow. So that's pretty good. That's good. Some people will come to Britain and the first words they learn are poppadoms or bread. Yeah. It's very exciting. I find the idea of someone learning a language from watching James Acaster absolutely terrifying. Yeah. Yeah, that is not good. I mean, if I ever have a child, that will literally happen.

Just imagine like loads of people who've come to live here from mainland Europe and then suddenly someone says, hello, they go, hello, I am ready to eat apricots. Shout in no more jobs before they go to sleep. Yeah, that's a deep cut. Oh, but anyway, it's the off-menu podcast where we ask a special guest their favorite. Starter, main course, dessert, side drink. I love it. And someone I work with quite a lot said, we don't need to intro the podcast that way every week. But now, because they've said that, I want to make sure we keep doing

it and it turns into a catchphrase. Who said it? I'm not telling you that. Come on, shout out. Shout out who said it. No, I won't. But the way you do it is now become a catchphrase and I even dance to the rhythm of it. So I think we're absolutely going to keep it. The last couple of times you've danced to it.

I love it. And this week's very special guest is the wonderful comedian, Evelyn Mock. She's so funny. She's so funny, man. She makes both of us giggle. She makes us laugh a lot. I've seen her Evelyn live many times. She's amazing. And I think this is a real treat on this podcast. I just have a good feeling about it. Yeah. Whether you have seen Evelyn's work before or not, I think you're going to enjoy this one.

Yeah. She's going to get a lot of new fans off the back of this. Yeah, absolutely. And again, one of the best things about doing a food podcast, James, is we're getting sent loads of stuff. Yeah. And by stuff, we mean food. Food based stuff. Yeah. But if you want to send us anything, you want to send us really. Well, steady on.

Food based stuff is good. And ideally from the companies who make the food, we're very grateful if someone just sends us something that they like, but you don't know where it's been. Yeah. So we've been sent some lovely stuff, including this week, some honey beer from Haiva. Oh, who knew? It's got bees in it, I think. It's okay. Well, we get to open a bottle of it, but there may well be some bees bobbin' about in there, but it looks tasty, sort of like a mead ale crossover.

Lovely, lovely stuff. I've had honeybeam in the past, actually. I'm just playing the fool. And I do like it. Yes, very nice. What else have we been sent, James? We've got sent some life water, which is water in a can. Yes, water in a can. And I've already had my water in a can, and it's an odd experience for the first time when you open a can and it's something still inside, I think, but it was lovely water as water goes, but better for the environment. It's recyclable. As high as it gets. Water in a can sounds like watering can.

Yeah. And that's a completely different thing, your water plants with that. We've not been sent a watering can. You could, I suppose. Someone said there's a watering can. Water a plant with a can of life water. You could do that. But better to just drink it. That's quite a strap again.

Yeah. Yeah. And we also got sent some moju juice shots, which is another thing that's quite hard to say. I'm even meant to say that. Moju juice shots. It's actually impossible. And I've had a couple of those already, and they gave me a little boost. Where are these?

Yeah, you won't get those. Where the hell are these? Sometimes I intercept things at source and take them for myself. That's a state at your house, has it? Yes. Right. Your piece of shit, mate. Yeah, but you keep going away. You keep going on tour and stuff. Yeah.

So, you know, if you're going away, you get to go off and do all this glamorous touring. Me and Benito are back at home holding the fort. We deserve a little something, something on the side. You guys were doing juice shots when I was away, were you? Yeah. We would meet up every week, and we'd do a juice shot, and we'd have a can of life water. Oh.

Or jokes on you. Because when I was away, I got given three workers, which is chocolate, best chocolate in the world. Yeah. And I got given three L&P, which is a great drink in New Zealand, lemon and puro drink. It's delicious. Right. It's probably my favourite soft drink.

Did you bring us any back? No. No. So, you're not getting a juice shot. Oh, man. Not good. So, the secret ingredient this week, if Evelyn says the secret ingredient in her special menu, she is out of the restaurant, and the secret ingredient this week is powdered parmesan.

That's right. Powder parmesan. That horrible dust that comes in, smelly dust that comes in little pots. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. I remember, I've never liked it, but I remember once watching an episode of We Are History, which was Marcus Briggstock's fake mock history TV show, and at one point, he was doing a monologue, and he had a meal in front of him, and someone went to put parmesan on it, and

the waiter did, and he said, no, thank you, it tastes like powdered sick. Yeah. And I thought, yep, that's exactly right. That man summed up how I feel. Someone tried to put the powdered parmesan on it. Yeah. All right, OK. Why would a waiter would do that?

I don't know. It's crazy. You didn't think through the script, Briggstock. A bad waiter. So if Evelyn says that, which I'm hoping she doesn't, she will be out of the restaurant. She will be out. It will break my heart to do it, but rules and rules. Rules and rules, baby.

So this is the off menu of Evelyn Mock. Evelyn Mock. I'm trying to do, I'm trying to learn the RP accent now, and it's, oh, my housemates hate me for it. Oh, really? It sounds really bad, apparently. Yeah, it does. It sounds great to me.

Let's hear it. I think I sound absolutely wonderful. Are we recording? Yeah. Right, that's started. Then we're in. Evelyn. Evelyn, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant.

Welcome. Thank you for having me. Welcome, Evelyn Mock. Oh, my God. Jeannie. Hello. I always like it when people come in who know the Jeannie situation. It's always down to me to explain it.

James just appears and then looks at me as if to say, deal with it. I shouldn't have to explain myself. Well, you should, because all you do is just make that noise with your mouth. Yes. It is a bit frightening if you don't know what's happening. I shouldn't have to go about explaining myself. How many Jeannie's do you know? None.

Just Will Smith at the moment. Oh, and I think knows Will Smith. You know Will Smith? I don't know. You do Will Smith? I do. Yes. I follow him on Instagram.

Oh, yeah. That's the same. That's the same as Ben's friend. Does he follow you back? No. But any day now. Any day now. You are a fan of Evelyn's Instagram account, aren't you?

Evelyn has a food-based Instagram account, which is why she's quite an exciting guest for me. Cool. What's it called, Evelyn? Things I pooped out. Which I love. But I show all the things before I poop them out. That's nice of you.

Yeah. Have you ever thought of setting up a different account where you post it after you've pooped it out? That's on U-Porn. And that's something else I'm making a lot of money from. I once actually had a friend who put up like a photo of his poop on, I think it was like Facebook. Right.

And it kept taken down. Right. I applauded his daring to do it. Why did he put a picture of his poop up his poop? I think he had like some kind of stomach issue. So it was like, guys, does anyone know what's up with me? It was like a genuine question to hive mind. Exactly.

Yeah. What is the mouth? Anyone experience this? Why is it this colour? Yeah, I think he was just like a very provocative kind of guy. So he just wanted to be a bit like daring, I think. Look at this, I'm really ill. Please don't tell.

But yeah. On your Instagram account, what have been some of the most liked and successful images you've posted that people have really been spotted to and loved? I think it's been people really like desserts. So people really like ice cream and like any type of anything with cream on, which I love. I love cream. So anything that looks really spectacular, I think people really like that. And then also meat.

People really like meat on Instagram. Meat and cream. Yeah. That's the thing. I think there's certain, since Instagram has become a thing, there's places that you go to buy a thing that you then put on Instagram. Like there's, I don't know if you've been to that, there's an ice cream place where it's like an ice cream cone, but then there's, it's got like a huge collar of candy floss

around it. I've been there, yeah. It seems to have been created simply for people to put on Instagram because it's probably a pain in the ass to eat, but it just looks good. It's for likes. There's no way that's, that's worth it. It was very ordinary. Oh, you had that?

I had it. If there's anywhere that's been on Instagram, I've probably been there if I've been able to access it. It's the same with like freak shakes. You know, freak shakes? Yeah. Sure. Where they've just got like all manner of shit in them and then all the sauce is dribbling

down the side of the glass. That gets on my nerves. That's like a heart attack. It's a heart attack and you can't drink it because it's just a dirty cup. It's impractical. Yeah. The sauce on the outside of the glass is very annoying. It's just for the picture.

Just for the pic. How did you go about eating the ice cream with the collar of candy floss around it? So you have to get through the candy floss first and so you just stand there kind of like a child trying to eat it and then, and it's very, it's really unexciting candy floss. It's like fun for the first, like maybe bite, but then it's kind of like a chore, I think. And then you just eat it regularly, like the ice cream. Not very exciting. No, it's like candy floss I find, yeah, just, it's that instant guilt of it.

You just go, I'm just eating goddamn sugar and like, you could feel it like dissolving your gums. Yeah. It's not good. I've never liked candy floss. Luckily, I mean, like I say, I always say this, I'm type one diabetic, I could eat candy floss if I wanted, but it's just pointless, it's pure sugar and they made it blue as if that makes it more enticing.

We have blue candy floss, like that is so much worse, it doesn't look like it exists in real life. I've seen. It looks like a cloud. Yeah. It looks like a Smurf's hair. I've seen blue, pink, white and yellow candy floss. Yellow.

Yellow seems not, that, that gives me, that's like yellow snow. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I've seen, things I peed out, maybe a new Instagram account for just drinks, but that's not how it works. Is it? Yes.

What? Yeah. That's how it works, right? Drinks just, just go into P. Yeah, you peed. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

I second guess myself there. What were you second guessing yourself about? I thought that, oh no, it's not that drinks go into P and food goes into poo. They both go into both. That's what I convinced myself of. I just convinced myself of that and then instantly would like, no, that's not the case. I was right. What?

You think you'd be like weeing out some chicken wings or something? Yeah. Yeah. I thought it just all gets sorted into different stuff. But I suppose asparagus makes you wee stink, so. Well, I think isn't P like all the poison or something extracted from your body? It's a waste product. They're all waste products.

Yeah. That's true. Yeah. I mean, what we're doing now is the opposite of a food podcast. Kind of, but like, you know, but Benito is desperately trying to get us off this topic. Evelyn, you've brought something with you today. I did. Yes.

I got very excited when I, when you guys asked me to come because I love, I'm a feeder, I think. And that's what I think in my friends, I just want somebody with good metabolism because I, I love feeding people. So I baked a carrot cake for you guys. Yes. Thank you so much. And it's really sugary.

Yes. And I tried to find like a sugar-free alternative for you. No way. But nobody makes them. No. And it's, they'll be horrible anyway, even if it's fine. All sugar replacement. If anything like, cause I'll just, I'll do it, but if Enceal it and I'll get a lovely

bit of cake, have a little, and it's going to be fine, so you don't need to worry about it. Okay. But. Likewise here. Same here. Quite often. Quite often, you'll see like diabetic chocolate on the shelf somewhere and it means they've

replaced a sugar with something that gives you diarrhea if you eat too much of it. Oh yeah. Like sweetener. Like sweetener. Yeah. I think I did that once, but with like mints. So I have like these. Mints.

M-I-N-T-S. Yes. Rather than like beef mints. Yes. Exactly. Mints. Yes. Mintes.

Yeah. I got addicted to like fisherman friends mints and just like, all of a sudden just one day I was like, oh, okay. That's not good. Back when you were a fisherman. When I was a fisherman. Yes. That's the worst problem to have.

Catching fresh fish. If you're a fisherman. Yes. If you eat too many fisherman's friends, they stop becoming your friend because there's only very small toilet on those boats. Yes. Fisherman's enemies. Yeah.

And you have to go over the side and then all the fish will go away. Oh dear. And then many fishermen have been rolling around on the deck of their ship, catching their stomach, looking at the packet of fisherman's friends going, you're stabbing me in the back. You're meant to be my friend. You're stabbing me in the back. I'm throwing it overboard. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for bringing us the carrot cake. Oh, should I unpack it? Yeah. Why don't you unpack it and take us through it? Are you a baker? Do you bake a lot? Yes, I do.

And it's like nobody eats. Because I live with people over 30 now, so we get consequences for what we eat now. So I can't give people too much sugar. So I take any occasion to be able to bake for people. Oh, wow. That looks good. Oh, and it's iced as well. It looks nice, but it will be really funny, Evelyn, if that is disgusting.

I haven't tasted it, so it can be really funny. It looks really delicious. It'd be really great if the first person who gives us food on the podcast was like, what the fuck? Oh, my God. No, I'm like, I'm such a good baker. It looks great. Like if that's not icing, that's just like margarine.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It does look amazing. Oh, dear. It looks like this in a bit. Yes, please. It's a carrot cake with cardamom. Oh, yes.

For flavor, not the pods. Yes. Not the pods. This is a full-wearing episode. Thank you. Cinnamon, ginger, and then we have walnuts in it as well. Amazing. Yes.

And then just the cream cheese frosting with some lime. Oh. Amazing. That sounds delicious. I think we should tuck in after being, as this is, an audio medium. And the last thing we want is people listening to us munching away, straight after talking about pee and poop. Let's do something in which I believe, I'll have to google it later.

We'll be turning to pee. Would you like some still or sparkling water? Sparkling. Aha. Very cold sparkling. Very cold. Yeah. With the big bubbles.

Hold on. What? Hang on. In the wine glass. There are different bubble sizes. I've never heard this before. How are you not? Different bubble sizes.

I agree that there are different bubble sizes in general. Yeah, sure. But not with sparkling water. Yeah. No, they're different. Like, I think, is a San Peler grino has like, it's less fizzy? Or it's, the bubbles are smaller. And then, like, I think Sainsbury's own brand, the bubbles are, there's a bit more.

What's it called? The gas in it? Carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide. No. Carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, I think.

Yeah. They're different bubbles. I know that you can get fizzier, some things are fizzier than others. Yeah. But I was not aware that that was because of the size of the bubbles. Big bubbles. Because in that case, what you're saying is the fizziest bottle of sparkling water is just an empty one.

Yes, exactly. One massive bubble. One big bubble. We could check it up to my language. This is by, say, 35th language. No, I'm kidding. You can't play that card every time, Evelyn. All right?

You think there's bigger bubbles in some waters than there are in others. I won't back down. I think there's bigger bubbles in fizzier bubble water. So the fizzier is, because I would think, if it's really fizzy, the bubbles need to be smaller. Because then there's more. Oh, so they fit more. They're all big.

If we look, there's like five bubbles in there. Five big bubbles all the size of ping-pong bubbles. But I think it's because to make room them, they get together and become one bigger bubble. So several small bubbles get together and become one bigger bubble. So that's what, like the Power Rangers? Yes, exactly. Yeah. Or the Transformers.

Yeah. And they're all there. Loads of so. But you basically want it as fizzy as possible. Yes, as fizzy as possible. Big bubble water. Big bubble water. Want me to shake it up for you?

In a wine glass. And now why is it in a wine glass? You said that twice now. Because it's just fancy. I don't drink alcohol. So I find it fancy to drink fizzy water out of. I'm very, like, you'll notice my taste buds are very childish. And also my sensibilities are very childish.

So I just quite like the feeling of being fancy. Do you swirl the water around and sniff it like it's a wine? I don't sniff it, but I swirl it. You do swirl it. To join in with all the boozers. I'm picturing you with like a big feather in your hair. Oh, yeah. Like a big, big old feather in your hair while you're drinking this.

Yeah. Oh, that's lovely. Like one of those cigarrillos that ladies used to have. The cigarette holders. Exactly, yeah. Yeah, a little holder. And then look at your hair band on with the big, big feather coming out. And you've got your wine glasses.

On both sides? Two. Do you want two? Sure. Do you want two feathers? How many feathers do you want in your hair? Where's the line for cultural appropriation? Oh, where it becomes a headdress.

Yeah. Maybe two. You can have two feathers, I think. Okay. Yeah. I mean, one is fine. Definitely. One's fine, yeah.

Two. Maybe if you don't make them symmetrical, you're fine. Yeah. Okay. When symmetry starts to occur, and that's when I think it gets a bit... Can they be different sizes, maybe? Should they be different sizes? What about both of them on one side?

Different sizes. Even before it's in your science, if they touch, then they'll just become one big feather. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get an even bigger feather on your head, and then your head will fall off. Yeah, my head will fall off. What a way to go. Guys, have you heard Evelyn Mock's passed away?

What happened? She had a massive feather on her head, and her head fell off. Two feathers morphed to form one big feather, and then her head fell off. Her head fell off. She died in a South Park sketch. Yeah. Pop it up into her bread, Evelyn. Pop it up into her bread.

Love it when it still scares people. Evelyn got no scared. No, you really got scared. I got really scared. I had to hold my face. It was very scary. Neither, James. What?

Neither, I would say. I would like puri. Now, go on. It's fried bread dough. So it is bread? Yes. I just want to let you know that was covered under the choices, Evelyn. Still, I like that Evelyn's gone for this option.

Yes. I think it's a great option. Now, expect that I don't think I've heard of this. It's an Indian bread. Uh-huh. I really, I like fried dough, really. So it gets like, it's really, I usually use it in something called panipuri, which is, so the bread is just like, it's fried and it's really thin, so it blows up like a ball

when you fry it. And then you make a little hole in it and then you put like chutney and chickpeas and some kind of like tasty water, Indian water in it. And then you have it like a little snack in India. But if I can have it with the filling, I'll have it with the filling. Absolutely. You can have it with the filling. Otherwise, I'll just have the crispy bread because I like, I like it crispy.

The Indian take away where, I mean, my mum used to get her curries from. When I live with my mum, we'd always start with prawn puri. They'd have like puri with really nice, like spicy prawns on them. Good memories. Making me salivate right now, actually thinking about it. Puri's a really good choice. Although it can be so, it can be so oily. It can be really oily.

Yeah. Yeah. So you have to, you can put it in a little napkin and tap the grease off if you want to. Would you like a little napkin for the grease? Yes, please. Absolutely. If I had some non-greasy ones, but like, you know. Non-greasy ones would be the best.

But if you only have greasy ones, I'll have a little napkin. Have a little napkin so you can do a little napkin. Isn't it nice to have the option for the grease though? Because if you're feeling in a greasy mood, you might want to have something greasy. Yeah. I like it crispy. I like it greasy. I've always said that about you.

Yeah. Is there a specific place you want me to get this from? Get this puri from? India. So specific. Anywhere in India, please. No, yeah. I don't have a specific place.

My mom used to make them. Oh. Because she's Chinese, but she was born and raised in India. So I have some Indian food. Maybe I'll just have my mom's then. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Hi mom.

What's she going to be up to today? So my brother actually sent me a photo of a sign that said Gray Hill Elder Facility. And then he sent me a photo of my mom in there, eating lunch. So I thought he'd put my parents in a home. It just turns out he's a facilities manager and he manages that place. I have a discounted lunch for seniors. And my mom's a senior now, so she just went there to have some food. So she's there.

So your mom is starting to eat in senior. So if your mom gets on this podcast, she'll be asked for a lot of senior lunches. Yeah, she would. She loves a good discount. Yeah. Loves a good discount. And it was like fish balls. Oh, is that what it's called in English?

Fish balls. Yeah. Fish balls, yeah. Fish balls. What were you worried that we thought that was? Well. You worried that we thought you meant testicles of fish? Yes.

And you don't mean that, right? I do, yes. All right, okay, yeah. Exactly, I do, yeah, yeah. It happened, did it? A delicacy in the swedish. Don't they? I've never seen a fish swimming around with a lot of...

But you think you pee out your food, so... You might pee out your food. I don't think they have massive ones. I'm not saying they're swimming around like dragging a huge sack behind them. Yeah. But isn't it like, what is it? They lay the eggs first and then the dude comes and sprays it with the semen, isn't it? Yes.

On the bottom floor. Don't just say yes, let you know. I do know that. They just all spray everything in the ocean and it all mixes in the ocean. Yeah. I remember a holiday like that once. Yeah? Yeah.

Okay, do you? But yeah, that's what she's having. She's having fish balls. She's having fish balls. She's having fish balls. Sprayed all over it. Yeah. What other time at home?

You'll start, Evelyn. My starter. I quite like soup. Okay. And also, for anyone who doesn't know, I'm Chinese. And in Chinese cuisine, you often start with a soup before you eat. And I don't know really why. I think it's to get your metabolism started.

So I would love to start with a peaking soup from this Chinese restaurant in Gothenburg, where I'm from, called Henghua. Wow. Yeah. Now, why this particular soup? And take us through what it constitutes as well. Yes. It's a hot and sour soup.

Yes. So you can find it in like the Chinese restaurants here, but I've not tasted one that's as good as the one from that restaurant. I love it. Because you guys put peas here. I mean, they bung whatever in there. Yeah. I think, I love hot and sour soup.

Yeah. And I never had it until recently, because I would just go for the standard sort of Chinese stuff at a Chinese takeaway. And then I thought, one day I'm going to plump for a hot and sour soup. It's so delicious. It's so good, isn't it? And it does what it says on the tin. It's hot and sour.

But quite often, you'll find different bits in it, depending on where you go. And I feel like there's just a lot of stuff left on a chopping board sometimes. So they're like, just sweep all that in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all part of a hot and sour soup. And it's sort of gloopy, is that right? It's gloopy. Yeah.

It's gloopy. You can call it that. It's, because it's like, they thicken it with corn flour. Right, okay. So it becomes, it's soup, but it's thick. So I think, I imagine if it gets cold, it can get a bit. Or if they haven't mixed the corn flour right, there can be clumps of corn flour in there. That gets gloopy and gooey.

But it's like, it's like, they've got the balance of the sour and the hot very well. And it's also like, the ingredients they have, it's like bamboo egg. And then they have like little bits of pork and wood ear, Chinese wood ear. That's like fungus that you, that's really, really nice. And I think that like, it's, it just feels, it feels a bit classier as well. And here when I've gone to, it's like you say it, it's just like, it feels like whatever's left on the chopping board has just gone into the soup. So what is it?

It's like carrots and peas and like, it's so random. It might be chicken in there. There might be chicken, sometimes it's like the pork. Yeah. So it's a bit of rice sometimes. Sometimes a bit of rice is falling in there. Yeah. Yeah.

But I think I haven't had a as good soup here as I've had there. Yeah. I guess soup here is just the way of, yeah, using up stuff or it's like, or it's meant to just be like, this is a good way of getting a bunch of goodness in me. I'll just do it. And, and, but people don't really, not as regularly, you know, try and like pay attention to the flavor and treat as a dish in unto itself. Yeah.

Which this sounds very nice. It's really nice. And like what's special about it is also that the restaurant is, so it's been around for ages and my dad, he, he didn't used to work there, but in Gothenburg, like all basically all Chinese people know each other because they all work in the restaurant business. So he bought clay pots for that restaurant for the previous owner and those pots have like remained. Oh, wow.

So it's like every time we're there, it's like, my dad bought these pots. He took them with him from Paris back to Sweden when he was like 25 or something. So that's pretty cool. He bought the pots. He bought the pots. Yeah. So the hot pots. So what, what was the, what, why did he bring them back?

Cause they, they couldn't find any in Sweden at that time. It was like in the seventies and eighties. And so he was going to go to Paris cause he was young and like just moved to Europe. And so he drove there and they were like, oh, can you just buy some back from Chinatown there? So he bought some and then brought it back. Amazing. That's pretty cool.

Do you go back to this restaurant every time you go back to Gothenburg? Yeah. My friends make fun of me. Yeah. Cause it's like your ritual. You've got to go there. Yeah. We always go with my grandmother or my, my dad's mother cause she only eats Chinese food

and this is the only place that kind of makes it nice. Yeah. So we always just go there every time I'm back. So you get free meals? We get free tea and we get free fruit. I think everyone gets that though. I'm going to put that out there. That seems like, I reckon everyone gets that.

And I don't know how they've swung that. You think you're getting special treatment. You're breaking my heart here. Everybody else hasn't literally bought pots for the restaurant. Yeah. Free tea. That's just like a water. Really.

Next time you go in there, you should refuse to pay. Yeah. And if they're like, no, you have to pay. You should just walk into the kitchen, get all the pots and then walk out going, well, I don't think you'll be needing these anymore then. Free fruit. Yeah. They're, they're having you for a laugh, mate.

Free tea. What free fruit are they giving you? Melon. Melon. No one wants melon. There's just, no one eats melon. Honeydew. There's four melon.

There's four melons in the world and it's just people passing them round going, oh, you have a bit of this fruit. That's true. It is quite cheap melon. Yeah. Oranges. Oranges. Come on, mate.

You're kidding me? You got a cold? Yeah. Is it halftime? What's going on? Oranges. Why would you eat oranges in halftime? Oh, it's like a sport thing.

Like when you play school sports, like halftime in like football or rugby games, you get like a segment of orange for energy and hydration. And they're not paying for those. I'll tell you what. They're free. Yeah. At no point at school did I think, oh, the sports teacher really likes me. He's given me a wedge of orange.

He's given me special treatment. It must be because my father donated some football boots to them. Your main course. My main course. Oh my gosh, already. Okay. A very promising start with that. I like it when people go to the Pacific.

I will say this is going to go along the lines of Chinese food. Yes. Because I very much like it. But so there's this place in Hong Kong in the archipelago of Hong Kong. There's a place called Tai Oh, which is an island. And there is a restaurant called Ho Wan Vegetarian Restaurant, but they do chicken. And it's the best chicken I've ever had. Wow.

Exactly. No, but it's like, that's like vegetarian in Chinese terms. Okay. Because like, what was it? My uncle, he has a restaurant in Gothenburg and his son-in-law is vegetarian. Yeah. And we were having family dinner there and they were like, oh, here's vegetarian dumplings. And I had one and it was pork.

And so it's like, that's what Chinese people, that's vegetarian. It's just like, oh, we have some extra vegetables. Yeah. So it's just like, and you can't even trust that because then they will have like chicken stock or something that they prepared. So it's like, you can't really be vegetarian in East Asia, I would say. But they have like the best chicken because it's salt baked chicken. And in China or in Hong Kong, they have corn fed chicken.

So they take it and they marinate it and then they wrap it in like grease proof paper. And then they encase that in salt. And this place has, they bake it underground. So they have like, they dig a pit and then they put the chicken there. And then on top of it, they put like, what is it, coal or wood? Yeah. Just like how they treat the pharaohs. Yeah.

Do they do that to the pharaohs? They put it in a map of all the paper and put them in a big pile of salt and put them underground. Is that how they treat the pharaohs, James? I think so. In the pyramids. The pharaohs must be delicious. Yeah. Oh, slow cooked over many thousands of years.

Yeah. Just falling off the board. I've heard of salt baking before, but I've not heard of it done with chicken. I think it's always with fish. Fish, yeah. But they do it with chicken and it's the best chicken I've ever had. Super juicy. So juicy.

So juicy. And like just, I guess this is the marinade as well, but it was so juicy. And then the taste of it, I can't remember the taste, but I just remember it was so good. Yeah. And it was done in a vegetarian restaurant. Is it particularly salty? It wasn't that salty now. Right.

Because the salt is outside of this parcel. Fair enough. And so I think it's just to make it juicy. Yeah. Because it literally, from when I've seen it before when they do that, it just hardened, all the salt hardens in a crust, right? And they have to like chisel it away. Yeah.

And they actually touch the food necessarily or flavor the food. It's just to encase everything in. So why is it salted? I think it's... What it meant to be like cement. But it's harder to chisel away, I guess. I think it's for, to make it extra juicy, to contain the flavors. So juices it up?

Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't understand it, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Oh, it's true. So does it just come with that at the restaurant or is there anything else? Is that just one dish or does it come with anything? It's one dish and then, because it's family style. So you just order a bunch of dishes and then you pick and stuff.

But I would like to eat it with chicken rice, which is a Singaporean food. Is this your side dish, by the way? I think some chicken and a bed of rice will count as a main. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so. Especially if it's what you would eat with this. I guess it sounds like you get them from different places. So it's crafty.

It's crafty, but we're willing to let it slide. Yeah, yeah. Because I was thinking about it when I was like, how will I get away with most food? I'll make it Chinese style. I'll make it. But the chicken rice is from, so Singapore has like high nannies chicken rice. So first of all, this is chicken cooked in a different way. You take a chicken and you blanch it basically in a tub of water with like some spring onion and ginger.

And then you save a little bit of the fat pockets that you don't cook. So I think it's like the butt flap or something. And like the chicken neck and stuff. You save the chicken's butt flap. You save the butt flap. See how this is made on your dream menu? Carry on. You fry it in oil with some other bits that are also fatty from the chicken.

And then that's the chicken oil. And then you make the rice. So you pour the oil in. You pour some of the stock in from cooking the chicken. And then you put like, and this is because it's in Asia, but they always sell the chicken with the neck in the head. So you cut that off and you put the chicken neck into the rice. And then you cook it. And it's delicious.

And then do you take the neck out before you give it to anyone? Or is there just a neck swimming around in there? You can eat the neck if you want. You can eat the neck. You can eat the neck. I don't think people don't. If you eat it at a restaurant, they won't give you the neck. But if you eat it at home, you can have the neck.

Do you want the neck? I think I want the neck. Hold on. Ed, you are not eating this meal? Right, but everyone asked me a question. So the Ed's tricked another customer into giving him his food. Order the rice and I can have the neck. But you don't want the neck in it unless you want to throw it to old Scratty Boy gambles.

I sit like a dog in the corner of a medieval banquet. Because I want to throw the neck over. A little naked chip. I run his neck. So that's not part... That's a really good English accent. So you've got this lovely chicken rice with the vegetarian chicken on top. Yeah.

Sounds very good. Also, I'll press the chicken before we move on. Is that a whole chicken? So it's a whole chicken that they chop up. So they chop it up for you. So it's not like it. Yeah, exactly. But in Asia, they piece it out with the head.

So it looks like they've just cut the chicken. Like an autopsy. Yeah, exactly. And just put it like that. But they cut it in pieces. But then they put it together so it looks like the whole chicken. So it's very disturbing. What's your favorite bit of the chicken?

I like the leg. Yes. Is that what it's called? Correct, you're correct. The club. The drumstick. You were right with leg. And I said yes, you're correct.

And you still work with club. Drumstick was right, though. Yeah, drumstick. You landed on the right one. Yeah. It looks like a club as well. Yeah, leg, club, drumstick. It's called the club in Swedish.

Is it? Yeah, a klubba. Klubba. I'm also a fan of the klubba. The klubba. The klubba. It's the juiciest part. Yeah, it is.

It's the juiciest part. You get a little bit of... The thigh's in there as well, right? Yeah. So the thigh's the best bit of the chicken for me, really. So it's on the leg. I'm having it. James, what are you talking?

Well, I think Ed knows what my answer is. He's setting me up here. But normally I like boneless bites when it comes to chicken. I don't like to deal with any bones. I don't like to deal with chicken wings or drumsticks or anything like that. I just like the boneless bites. Made me some breast. It's nice and boneless.

Climb over there and stab you right now. You just strapped it in seamlessly. But if we're talking about eating a klub or a drumstick, that's more... You know, the best turkey I've ever had. Well, actually there's two best turkeys I've ever had. Right. But one was at Universal Studios. Yeah.

And they had the big old turkey drumstick. They do that there, yeah, yeah. Who told you about that? Ed Gamble. Oh. I had passed the knowledge on. I had an amazing turkey leg, yeah. Absolutely delicious.

I felt like properly like... The first time I felt like, you know, like I'm at a banquet in Henry VIII times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really loved it. And then one Canadian Thanksgiving. My Canadian flatmate made a turkey that she injected with stuff. I think I've talked about it on the podcast before. Delicious.

I would love to eat like a turkey Thanksgiving. Yeah. It would be because it's... Yeah, I've never eaten turkey. It's just huge. But I imagine it's like a chicken, but is it better? A lot of the time it's worse. But when...

If people know what they're doing, it's amazing. Yeah. But very few people do. It's like soup. It's like soup, yeah. Very few people bother to do it right. Yeah. They do it lazy and then you get kind of a rubbish version.

And then as soon as you have a good one, you can never go back. I've recently got into fried chicken more. I never used to eat fried chicken. Yeah. Because I think fried chicken 10 years ago used to be limited really to KFC or to like chicken cottage or places like that. I didn't want to go in there because it just... It didn't look nice.

Yes. Right. Now you can get good fried chicken in like nice places. Yeah. And honestly, I eat far too much fried chicken. It's a real issue for me. And it's so weird because apparently there are different types of fried chicken. Yeah.

Like the American and then... Bigger bubbles. Bigger bubbles. Yeah. A smaller size. But it's like Japanese fried chicken and like Korean and like... Incredible. Yeah.

It's so good. Indian fried chicken. It's one of the... Yeah. Everywhere seems to have a nice version of fried chicken. Yeah. Korean fried chicken would look like the gochujang sauce. Yeah.

Oh lord. Talk about your side dish. My side... My side dish. I have... Okay. So I think I just like a nice veg. Okay.

I would like a nice veg to accompany this. Yeah. And you can specify what type of veg you want. Green. No. It's another Chinese thing. It's something called taomiu and it's basically... It's pea shoots basically.

But these are specifically the ones that grow from garlic. And they're really like big and popular in Hong Kong. And they have it here but they don't taste as good and flavorful as the ones in Hong Kong. Like for a veg they're super flavorful. Yeah. They're quite... They are quite garlicky. But still not as intense as garlic.

Right. But you fry it up with garlic as well as some Shaoxing wine. And I would like it. I would like it from a place that's on top of a mountain. Is this a real place or are you just trying to make it as difficult as possible? Both. No. It's a place called Taimousan in Hong Kong.

So it's like a dim sum place. But it's really rustic and you basically go and serve yourself. So you just go to the people where they're cooking and you say, I want that. It's like a Vapiano. But really basic Chinese stuff. And so the pea shoots there were really, really great because apparently they come from... They're fresh because a lady just grows them right next to the restaurant. Amazing.

So after we ate it, they took my aunt, took me there. And it was just this lady. So you could complain. Yeah, exactly. So I could throw it up in front of her. Just be like, give me my money back. Be honest. Doesn't that look familiar?

It doesn't get fresher than that. Take a photo of it. Get me, get me. Straight on Instagram. Things I puked out. Things I puked out. In front of their owners. In front of the person who made it.

So you move on to your drink. My drink? Yes. I don't drink a lot. So I have an alcohol... Explain your loose knowledge of bubbles. I don't drink a lot of alcohol, but I have an alcohol version and then I have a non-alcoholic version. Okay.

Should I do that? Yes, both. And then we might make you choose. So the non-alcoholic version is a coconut milk. It's also in Hong Kong. I guess I would just want to be in Hong Kong. But it's from a stall on the street in Hong Kong and it's called Coconut King and it's like a chain. But it's fresh coconut milk mixed with condensed milk.

And then with coconut bits in it. Amazing. And then they shake it up and then with some ice. The first time you have condensed milk as a kid. You can't believe it. Your eyes are spiraling around you. That's like your superhero origin story. So they're like, can we treat this everyday please?

Absolutely not. Do you really like sweet stuff? Yeah. Big time. Didn't even flinch. I come from a family of sweet tooth. You said that with the glassy eyes of a glue sniffer. Yeah, man.

Yeah. I love it so much. My dad was secretly a... My dad loved sweet food growing up. I didn't know. He acted like he didn't. Oh, because he had to be a responsible parent. Yeah.

So he was good at towing the line and being like, no, you shouldn't have this many biscuits now. Don't go crazy. And we don't always have ice cream. We only have special cereal once a month. And all this kind of stuff. But as soon as you hit 18, you marched into your bedroom with a pot of maple syrup

and went down it. Yeah. Not in the family anymore. Condensed milk. Is that the one where you can take a tin of condensed milk and put it in simmering water and leave it for ages. And it turns into like dulce de leche,

like caramel, right? Yeah. And actually, so where we are now in this room, I got given some dulce de leche that had been made into condensed milk by somebody who works here. Huh?

Why? Who is a fan of the podcast. Oh. She's a fan of the podcast. She goes, oh, there you go. Thanks for the podcast. Here's that.

And now we're in here. And that's the first time that's ever been bought up on the podcast. You made it sound like it was like a ceremonial, like handing over of it in this very room was where I was given my dulce de leche for services to puddings. That was true.

I got a little, a little medal. It's like just the lid of the tin. Oh, the condensed milk tin. And where about my neck? It's just one that you'll open once a month and just take a spoon of. Yeah. I just have to have a spoon

and feel better about things. I don't think I can deal with sweet drinks with a meal. Really? Do you know what I mean? Like if I'm eating a savory meal, I can't have a thick, sweet drink because then I'll be transported out of the savory world.

I see. Do you know what I mean? Yes. Yeah. I can just mix and match. Yeah. I can just, I can drive on both lanes. I'm just like a drunk driving like that.

But I get like, you're very much like, oh, that is dessert. Yeah. That's dessert. So same with like a milkshake. I very rarely have a milkshake with a burger. My friends used to do like these in McDonald's, they used to buy an ice cream

and then they used to dip their fries in the ice cream. I've got no idea what these people are playing at. Like dippers, milkshake dippers. This has come up on the podcast before. Has it? I like it. I love it. I think it's great that my mom heard that episode

and was furious with me. It's a rude thing. Not furious. She's very disappointed. She's rude James. But then she said, so this is a memory. So I don't remember this.

Yeah. Because my parents have always been very anti McDonald's. I think I've said that on the show before. Yeah. They really did not like McDonald's. Once my mom bought me and my sister to McDonald's when we were little kids, we got milkshakes and fries

and we just took the initiative ourselves and started dipping the fries. No one had ever showed us this. Yeah. We started dipping the fries and milkshake in it and my mom was like, what are you doing? That is awful.

And then, yeah, I think that's why for years I just didn't do it for ages and I had to get back into it as an adult and discovered, oh, I love this. It's amazing. But I had this like buried memory, this memory that I'd buried being told, dude, that is gross.

It's shameful. And mom brought it up. When she heard the podcast, when I was saying I like it now, she was like, oh, you did that when you were a kid. And I was like, I don't remember that. Your dad sat in the back, I go, you shouldn't do that, James.

But then basically logging it in is my game. I'm going to come to McDonald's with myself. Yeah. I'm going to come here. I'm going to turn up with a full potato, a jacket potato that I've made at home in the oven. And I'm going to order a milkshake.

I just shove the potato in there. They drink it all. That'd be so funny if somebody made a sweet jacket potato or like a sweet. I mean, that's what people do it like yams in America. I don't get that. I don't get that. And I don't even get pancakes and bacon and maple syrup.

I don't get that. Oh, that's the kind of thing. Benito's loving it. Benito loves it. That's the kind of thing that I look at that and think absolutely not wouldn't want it. But when I have tried it in the past, I mean, like, oh, that's why I should never try

that kind of stuff because it is nice. And I don't want to discover that I like that level of stuff. I also had like, I had a gelato that was salt and olive oil and it worked. Oh, I actually worked. I kind of don't mind that because I like olive oil. I think that's like olive oil cake. I love as well when they make like a sweet citrus cake

with olive oil. It's really good. I can cope with that because it's the fat, but no, it's bacon and maple syrup. Absolutely not. Yeah, I saw the yams thing. Yeah, it's basically the sweet potato filled with marshmallows for the first time this year.

I was in America and I basically booked one of my flights. I had to go to Bloomington, Indiana and the flight was booked and I don't think me or the person who booked it for me knew that it was a private plane. And it was just me and the pilot and the co-pilot and we floated together and when we arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, he was like, do you want me to put my hotel in? Do you want to get a steak?

I was like, yeah, I want to get a steak with the pilot. Of course I did. We got a steak together and he ordered the yam with the marshmallow and it turned up and I was like, what is that? He was like, I love it. I took a photo of it. Did you taste it?

No, absolutely not. I was like, I don't want that. Imagine ruining a steak with a marshmallow. I couldn't believe he had done it. It's crazy. He told me his daughter was a comedian and stuff. I was like, I bet she's got material about you eating that marshmallow potato

that you just squashed down. That's as bad as putting a jacket potato in a milkshake. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing. That's so funny. Maybe it was my real dad and then that's why he asked me out for a steak because he was a bit forward

but he might have been like, you know, come on, suck. So you said you had an alcoholic one as well. I do. Maybe it's pointless bringing it up because I don't remember it but I did a wine tour in South of France with my friend in Provence and it was just me, her and a British couple

and we went and had these fantastic red wines at these wineries and I remember drinking and we weren't sure if we were going to spit it out and they were like, well, you can choose and so we didn't and so we just kept drinking and got really, really drunk

but it was really nice wine. Like any red wine that we bought in France I thought was just brilliant but I feel like we can't... You have to make effort to find it here, I guess. Any wine from France. Is your other choice? This is how bad I have a drinking alcohol.

Well, I think we'll go with the coconut. The coconut because you remember where it's from, you remember exactly what's in it as opposed to any French red. French red because I got hammered one day. So we come to your dessert. Now, I think we should cut the cake now. Oh, lovely.

Eat some dessert. I've been patient long enough. You were so patient. This isn't my choice for dessert though. This is not your choice. No, no, no. The way you said that, you were clearly so desperate to cut the cake

but also you said it's so formally I think we should cut the cake now. I've learned how to be polite about it but you know, just tortured me with dessert before this happened. Talking about condensed milk and everything. Yeah. That's great.

That's a professional cutting. Ed's biting into the cake there. Off mic. He's loving it. It's so good. Is it alright? Really good. Oh, yeah.

The lime in the frosting. The lime is so good. The lime in the frosting is ingenious. The walnuts are great. Yeah. The lime in the frosting, that's the first thing you get. It's almost like, first of all,

you eat in a key lime pie. And then you eat in a carrot cake. It's like a Willy Wonka cake. I love carrot cake. It's one of my favourite cakes anyway. Yeah, yeah. And this has definitely solidified that. Aw, thank you, Ed.

So, you just bought us a delicious dessert. But what is your dessert? Can I have an honourable munchin'? You can have an honourable munchin', yes. So, my favourite thing ever is just like a really good sundae. Uh-huh. With a lot of cream.

Yep. I like that. And if it's like, Ben and Jerry's like fish food or something. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With that. So a lot of chocolate.

What's happening? I'm giving my insulin. Ed is literally doing... I've just had a slice of cake. The much hype this is. Believe the hype, people. He's about to do it. He's carrying talking.

It's not really the first time. Yeah, but this is the first time you've actually done this during the podcast. During the podcast. Do you have... You have to do it directly after. Directly to myself. Directly into the cake.

I can't just inject it into the air. What part of the cake do you put it into? Put it into the cake and then you eat the cake. I don't put it into the cake. Although a diabetic nurse once told me that a newly diagnosed diabetic, he used to demonstrate how to inject insulin by doing it into an orange.

Right. And they'd be like, stick it in there and then do that. And then one of their newly diagnosed diabetics came back a week later. It was really sick. His blood sugar was really high. And they were like, what's the matter?

Why isn't it going well? And he was like, well, I've been injecting it into the orange every day. I just don't understand it. Sorry, done. Diabetic admin, done. Sorry, your honorable mention. You like a sundae?

Like a really great sundae. Yeah. Like with chocolate and then more chocolate sauce. Yeah. And then cream. I love cream. Yes. And then maybe nuts.

Chocolate nuts. So that's pretty like classic sundae. That's your classic sundae? Yeah. Ice cream, cream and nuts. Classic sundae. Yeah. So what is your actual dessert choice?

That's the honorable mention. Sure. That's the honorable mention. The actual dessert choice is also from Hong Kong. There was a place called One Dim Sum in Hong Kong that has a Michelin star. But it's just like a, it's just a hole in the wall. Like there's nothing fancy about it.

But they have this dessert that's, it's Alfonso Mango that's frozen, but kind of soft enough to eat. And it's wrapped in rice dough. And the rice dough is rolled in coconut. Wow. And it's amazing. It does sound very nice.

How big is this? It's very small. Yeah. It's like. Slicing the mouse. Yeah. That's like a little mouse. Like a little mouse.

What are you doing with your hands there? And you get like four mouse mice. Yes. Four mice. Yes. Meese. Mees. Meesus.

Yeah. Mouses. That's the magic Christmas Carol pronunciation of it. It's meesus. Yeah. Yeah. That you can share with your friends. Mm-hmm.

And you eat it with chopsticks. Ah. Now is there any dips or anything with this? No. So it's just as is? It's just as is. Yeah. Probably they've probably put some sugar and stuff in there.

Mm-hmm. But very, very tasty. Because it's frozen. And the mango is frozen. And then the rice dough isn't. It's room temperature. Rice dough is like quite soft, right? But also a little bit chewy.

Yeah. Like mochi? Mochi. Okay. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. Mochi dough.

Again, that's something I've only got in too recently. I feel like it's more readily available in this country now. Yeah. They do the mini mochi ice cream. Yeah. The mochi wrapped around ice cream. The green tea flavor. Yeah.

Absolutely incredible. Little balls. Little balls. Yes, please. Yeah. There's some Japanese supermarkets in London. And they've always got like a little freezer of those. Yeah.

You can just pick and choose. Yeah. Mix and match. Bubbles, they call them. They call them bubbles. They're big bubbles. They're big bubbles. They can't look like big bubbles.

They're big bubbles. Fish balls. Fish balls? Yeah. They're big bubbles by the sphere. Yes. We've been talking about bubbles. Mini mochi.

Fish balls. I thought you were going to say the episode's been very ethnic. Imagine if I'd said that. You genuinely think I was going to say that. Well, today's episode's been very ethnic, hasn't it? Once you've left it, it'll say that. It normally says that. When you've got it, it'll say.

Bloody hell, someone loves Hong Kong. So nice of her to bring a carrot cake. It's lovely that she's trying to fit in. Yeah. It's like that. That is a great menu. I think we should read it back to you. Come on, James.

Tell us what those restaurants are all called. You would like some sparkling water with big bubbles in a wine glass cold. You would like some porridge to start. Put more porridge before. To start, you would like peaking soup from Hinghua. Yeah. From Gothenburg. Hot and sour soup.

Main, you would like salt-baked chicken with chicken rice. From Hoi Wan, vegetarian restaurant. Hoi Wan, vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong. Side, you would like Hong Kong pea shoots from Taimo San. Taimo San. Yeah. From the little garden, the ladies garden.

Yeah. The drink you would like coconut milk from Hong Kong. Yeah. From the coconut king. From the coconut king. Your dessert, you would like mango custard rolls from Wondin Sum in Hong Kong. Yeah. You enjoy yourself, Ed?

Oh, yeah. I just made me feel really self-conscious. Yeah. Oh, James, it's so fun watching you. Watching you struggle. Yeah. That is a great menu. I want to try all of those things now.

Yeah. I do sound very delicious, Ed. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let's go get a Hong Kong together. Yeah. Thank you very much for coming into the dream restaurant, Evelyn. Thank you for having me.

Come back at your time. Oh, thank you. No. That was unintentionally very Chinese. Evelyn Mock there. Lovely menu. Delicious. I always like it when we have a guest in where there's dishes that I've not had or have never

even imagined. Yeah. And they describe them so well. You need a good describer. Yeah. She's up there with the best describers, I think. Yeah. That mango thing sounds great.

I've never heard of it before. Now, I think I know exactly what it tastes like. Yeah. Because of her brilliant, brilliant description. Evelyn Mock's amazing. You should go and see her live. Check out her Twitter at Evelyn Mock. That'll have more details about where you can go and see her.

And congratulations, Evelyn, on not saying the secret ingredient. She had said powdered parmesan. That would have been it. Oh, imagine taking that beautiful mango dish and covering it in powdered parmesan. No. Thank you. Even her wonderful descriptions were not of safe that. No way.

Thank you very much, Evelyn. I'm on tour, James. Are you on tour? Yeah, but it's all right. It's all right. I'm good. You don't want people to come. Oh, they're all ready.

You sold out. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a shame because the people who listen to this are really nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And they'd be great audience members. Yeah, some of them.

But it's already sold out. Some of them have already got tickets. The early worms. The early dweebs. Yeah. All the early dweebs are coming. Yeah. Well, you can come and see my show.

I'm sure I've extended my tour into autumn 2019. And, you know, we're going to a lot of places where... Bold move. I'm not sure. It's not a bold move, man. Bold move extended it. Look, it's not bold. And check out my website, edgambel.co.uk.

Oh, I've recorded a special as well, which is available on Amazon. Thank you. I have a new book out called Perfect Sound Whatever. It's about all the albums I bought from 2016 and why 2016 is the greatest year for music of all time. And also why 2017 was the worst year for life of my life. That's a very potted little thing there. That's perfect.

Is that what the publisher's been telling you to say? Oh, yeah. Make it snappy, James. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast. Tell your friends about it. Leave it a five-star review. You have been, as always, wonderful listeners, and we will see you next time in the Dream Restaurants.

Goodbye. Hello, it's me, Amy Gladhill. You might remember me from the best ever episode of Off Menu, where I spoke to my mum and asked her about seaweed on mashed potato, and our relationship's never been the same since. And I am joined by... Me, Ian Smith. I would probably go bread. I'm not going to spoil it in case...

Get him on, James and Ed. But we're here sneaking into your podcast experience to tell you about a new podcast that we're doing. It's called Northern News. It's about all the new stories that we've missed out from the North because, look, we're two Northerners. Sure, but we've been living in London for a long time. The new stories are funny.

Quite a lot of them crimes. It's all kicking off. And that's a new podcast called Northern News we'd love you to listen to. Maybe we'll get my mum on. Get Glill's mum on every episode. That's Northern News. When's it out, Ian? It's already out now, Amy!

Is it? Yeah, get listening. There's probably a backlog you've left it so late.