Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Phil Wang

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

Food meets comedy this week as we have comedian and Great British Menu judge Phil Wang joining us! Born and raised in Malaysia, Phil is now a local south London resident and he took a break from judging Michelin star chefs to join us for lunch. A real foodie, we heard all about the delicious dishes Phil ate growing up in Asia, his thoughts on a Yorkshire pudding & chip shop curry sauce, the ‘Slurpies’ awards he created on Twitter (rating the best noodle spots), his go to ice breaker of ranking favourite carbs, how he navigated moving from engineering to comedy and we discover Phil will eat absolutely anything in the world - yet refuses to eat cooked salmon! Thank you for joining us for Phil, good luck on the tour! Phil’s brand new comedy tour ‘Uh Oh’ will be travelling across the UK from September-November 2026.Listen & watch Table Manners here - https://tablemanners.komi.io/Follow Table Manners on:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tablemannerspodcast/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tablemannerspodcastFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/tablemannerspodcastYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TableMannersPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware. We're in my kitchen today. Hi Mum, how are you? You look fab. A little polka. What is it? I don't know. It's something very expensive. Oh. I bought a long time ago and never wore. But I thought I'd wear it today. You didn't design a garms today. No, not really. I'm on food duty today. You are very excited about this guest. You've been asking for this guest for many years. About six years. Why do you love Phil Wang so much? Because he's clever. He's very funny. Do you fancy him? No. Okay. Quitwitted. I mean, not that he's unattracting. No.

Lovely smile, very warm. Quitwitted. The one-liners just below. I'm waiting for them. And he's just got the best gig in town. Phil Wang is a comedian, a very clever comedian. Yeah. And he's newly appointed judge on Great British menus.

Taking Ed Gamble's spot, I think. And they are friends, I think. I'm sure. How are you enjoying him on Great British menu? I think he's really good because I like kind people when people are judging. When people have done a lot of hard work, I don't like miserable people. And I think he's very kind and he's very enthusiastic and he's fun. And I mean, you can see he's got two Netflix specials, Philly Filly Whangang and Whang in there, baby.

God, it's a perfect surname for a comedian, isn't it? Yeah. The possibilities are endless. So yeah, and he's coming on to talk about his new tour and Great British Menu, which is going to be thrilling for you. I've never watched one episode. I've watched every episode I ever could because my cousin Elizabeth and Dennis, that was their very favourite programmes. And so I've watched it and I love it. It's proper chefs making the most extraordinary food.

And this year, the theme is film. Speaking of extraordinary food, I'm on the menu today. Oh, is it? extraordinary. Well, I don't know if it's extraordinary, but it's Andy Baragani again, who I've done before. He's a New York Times writer. Did she find it on the New York Times recipe? The app, yeah. I've done his recipes before. I couldn't think we've had quite a busy week. I wanted something quite straightforward and I know his recipes work. So I've done three of his recipes that I think feels very much like something you would get maybe at Kismet. Do you know that place in L.A?

The one in L.A. So it's a one pot, Zatar, chicken thigh. rice dish. Yeah. It's really simple. It's only got chicken thighs that you brown off to make it really nice the skin.

Rice, garlic, onion, Zatar and seasoning. So it's really straightforward but it smells beautiful, really cozy. And then I've done this green herb feta dip

that he's got where you put dill, mint and parsley in it's kind of like a whipped feta. And then you have that as a dip that you can put a bit chili on with some sachios. And then I've done,

I've done a really beautiful salad with all the bitter leaves that are all kind of in season, I think. Radicchio, Castellarero, or something it's called Franca Castellarrette. Anyway, and I've got Andeve in there and you make this turmeric, honey, lemon dressing and then some candied walnuts on top. Nice. So I feel like everything's quite working well together. There's no pressure, darling, because he's just been judging Michelin Star Chefs all week. Well, I just didn't want to do anything. It's not fancy pants.

It's all just quite like delicious and get stuck in. And then for pudding, I didn't make it because you know I don't really give a shit about puddings. So sweet Rosie, I did exec it. I chose it. Sweet Rosie, is that her name? Sweet Rosie. Sweet Rosie has done me another New York Times recipe, which is called a rhubarb crisp. So instead of a crumble, it's a bit more chunky the little crisps.

And so that's what we're going to have for put. With some custard, I thought, because rhubarb and custard. or I've got double cream or ice cream. Phil Wang coming up on tape moments. Phil Wang. Hi. Hi, how are you? It's so good to be here where it's a pleasure.

I'm surprised I've never seen you about. We live very close to each other. Yeah, when I got in the cab to come here today, the taxi driver said this was walking distance. That is quite rude, though. I don't think he meant it in that way. Yeah, but you're keeping him in a job. Fuck off.

Yeah, I felt distance-shamed. A new, that's a new category of shame has been discovered. Distant-shamed. How are you? I'm good. I'm not nervous. Why are you nervous? Very famous people.

Oh, shut up. I think I'm only here because I'm down the road. No, you're not. Oh, my God, shut up! And you're here because I've been desperately to be on because I'm a huge fan. Oh, wow. Thanks, Lenny. Lenny's going to kill you so that she can get the great-bishop menu guest slots.

So that's really why you're here. You're about to get misery. Bit jealous. jealous. Look, I admire the planning. I admire the strategy. Go for it. How did you get the gig? Well, a few series ago, the one that was just at the end of COVID, I was a guest judge for the science series. And then Ed Gamble became a permanent judge. and he he finished on the last series and they got they got touch with me and asked if I wanted to do it

I mean that's kind of it I'm a foodie I like my food a lot I have sort of judged food unofficially where at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival yeah and Melbourne Comedy Festival yeah the Phil Wang noodle Awards yeah can we talk about the Phil Wang Nudal Awards please

they're called them the slurpees and I'd won Edinburgh fringe. There was a fantastic noodle and dumpling shop in Edinburgh called Noodles and Dumplings. Okay. And it's handmade noodles and wantons. And I was blown away about how good it was. And I just tweeted this thing, five balls out of five.

Everyone has to go here. And I thought, I'm just going to keep doing this all month. And at the end of the month, when the Edinburgh Comedy Festival awards are handed out, I thought, well, I'll hand it out, I'll hand out East Asian Restaurant Awards as well to kind of mirror them. So when the award was split, I had to split the awards between East Asian restaurants as well. And people started actually going to the places I was treating about. And then in 2019, before COVID, which the last proper one I did in Edinburgh, proper quotation marks. The restaurant I gave it to one called Macau Kitchen, which is a mechanese restaurant, small mechanese, newer mechanese restaurant in Edinburgh.

And then I found out that they printed out my little online review and they put stuck it, framed it put in the corner. Oh, how sweet. And since then they've won proper actual restaurant awards, but mine is still there as the first one in the corner, which is very, very sweet. Very sweet. But that is the extent of my sort of culinary judging. So have you not done that anywhere else whilst on tour?

Melbourne, the Melbourne Comedy Festival, because I'm also there for a month. And so, you know, I did it there too. So it has to be a comedy festival that, like, is... I need to be there long enough and I can try loads and loads of places. Would you not just like... You're going on tour soon, aren't you? I'm going on tour in September, yeah.

So will you not do a kind of travelling food review? Yeah, but the problem is Twitter's dead. And that was the platform for it. So since Twitter died, I've not really been able to do it. About Instagram? Yeah, I kind of do stories and that, but I need to be somewhere for a long time to actually build it. So how many times were you going back to like the Macau kitchen?

Or like when I was judging. Yeah. No, it's just the one and done. Oh, you're like Michelin. Okay, fine. Yeah, that's what to make a very good impression. if you're only going once. Yeah, absolutely.

And I go once and I write out my little, take my little, took my little photos, and I write up my little review and then tweet it. And that'll be it. And I would not, I wouldn't go back. Have you reviewed South London? Because you do live here. I do. There are some great places here.

I went to a very sweet place last night. Where? In Peckham on Balladden Road. Yeah. Called lovely house dim sum. Oh. It's a little dim sum place. Is it new?

I don't think so. Jesse would have heard of it. No, no, no. No, no. I love, my kids love dim sum. Oh, great. This place is very sweet. Lovely house.

Lovely house dimsum. Okay. And we just had some haqao and sumai and, uh, and Xiaoleng Bao, the Shanghai dumplings. It's just simple, nice, cute little family, question mark, run restaurant. It's really nice. Like the ideal neighborhood Chinese. Did you walk there? Yeah, I did actually.

Oh, wow. Good. Were you, who were you out with? My girlfriend. What's your girlfriend do? She makes cookbooks. Oh. Yeah.

Wow. You're like a food powerhouse. Yeah. I've always wanted to be in a power couple. And I'm in a culinary power couple now. It's great. Yeah. So she makes food cook books, but does she cook?

Does she cook? No, because she's so busy working on the cookbook. Oh, she's like a publisher. She'll have like toast as a meal. She'll like, I'll say, what do you have for lunch? She's saying Marmite on toast. delicious. Yeah, I love it.

No, really. Why? Because, okay, do we need to, I mean, I was going to save this a bit, but we know about your icebreaker. Oh, yeah. Carb rating. Rank your carbs. Yeah, I mean, it really is divisive. It's conversation.

First people go, oh, come on, now really. And then they get into it. Yeah. Families are torn apart. So explain for the listener that doesn't know what rank your carbs is. I mean, it's very much where it says on the Tim really. Give the carbs that you're ranking. Oh, so you have, you've got potatoes, bread, rice.

rice, noodles, pasta. You can if you want, group noodles and pasta, but people rarely do. Oh, you could. Okay, give us yours. You couldn't, but some people are like... Well, that's very...

For me, at the moment, it's... Does it change then? For me, the top two change. Okay. Rice noodles. For most of my life has been noodles at the top, but I'm in my rice era right now, I think. I'm really enjoying my rice.

Do you eat noodles every day? If you're very keen on them? I could. I could. And can you cook? I cook all pretty well. I cook all right. Yeah.

For me now's rice and the noodles And then pasta And then potatoes And bread is a lot of Wow Well you see bread is our top Bread is my top It's a lot for a lot of people

And then mine's rice Interesting Then pasta Then noodles Potato Could do without it Really interesting yeah Things you love some fries

You love some chips Otherwise you're like I'm gonna have potato right now When did you decide to do like rank your carbs Was it because you're on a really bad day? Or were you trying to make friends? Well, I'm always trying to make friends. I'm always trying to devise any ways to trick people and different friends.

When was it? I don't know, really. I can't remember. I think it just spawned out of a conversation. It was like, well, noodles are the best carb. And someone went, I disagree. And it came out of there. Like many great inventions do, just out of the month.

How did you cook at Cambridge with the food? I shouldn't imagine noodles were top of their carb list. No, there were a couple of, of East Asian places around. No, but when you were in the... In halls. Yeah. Yeah.

It was, yeah, it was most like random bits, random stuff, cafeteria food. But great fry-up. I love a fry-up. Do you? I was having a fry-up every day, I think. What's your fry-up, like, dream fry-up? Fried eggs. Yeah.

Yeah. How, like, over-easy, sunny-side-up? Over-easy. I love it over-easy. It's beautiful. Well, I fry an egg. I've started frying an egg in a stainless steel pan. Oh, do you wait for the little balls of water?

The little balls of water. It's crazy. It's very cool. They're very space aid. And then throw the egg in and it gets all crispy on the bottom. And then I just kind of spoon the hot oil onto the top just so that it's not raw but not good. It's not salty. Exactly.

And then what you're having with that? In beans, love baked beans. Oh, you like David Bediel. Does he love baked beans? Only always has to have them on his breakfast. I love baked beans. I like them all over. I think they combine the meal.

They make it one. They're the cement. Okay. And sausage. One sausage, one bacon, I think. I actually don't need that much. And fried bread. Fried.

That's gone out of fashion a bit. It really has. It's very hard. You don't really get that anymore. You don't like black pudding or... No, too grisly, actually, even for me. I like it. Too grisly.

I like a little white pudding. You ever go to, like, Ireland or Scotland? Yes. What is the difference? It just doesn't have blood in it? I think so? I don't know. It's just...

But isn't it like boudangang? They're French. Yeah. Oh, Boudan law, yeah. Yeah, Boudan for you. Your title made. Do you see how she just, like, rolled out the boudang? I didn't understand a single word of that.

I'm finished. I'm screwed. Can I ask you, how happy were your parents that you changed from engineering to being a... To comedy? Yeah. Well, they were very supportive, to be honest. My mom is like an old, like a sort of 70s hippie. Okay, good.

Like in temperament, she's like very, you know, she's very smart. She was an archaeologist, anthropologist, and then she became a doctor. But politically, she was always, you know, do what you want, darling, as long as you're happy. And dad was like, just go to school and pay attention. And so we tried to combine the two. And so I finished my engineering degree, which made dad happy, and then I found interesting. And then I went straight to comedy. It was actually weirdly, then mom who kept saying, maybe you should get a business degree just in case.

Maybe you get an MBA, maybe. And it wasn't really until I did Have I Got News for you for the first time That mum stopped suggesting I do an MBA Because you are good on that Thanks, I do love that show And that was like When I was doing in Malaysia

Mum would bring sort of tapes of it You know, back to Malaysia And some of the first British satire and comedy I watched was that show So beyond that show was like a full circle moment Is it intimidating or are you kind of so The first couple of times, yeah Now I feel quite at home

Right Because I've done it a good few times now. Do you, I mean, do you follow the news pretty religiously anyway? Too much, actually. And one of my news resolutions this year was stop listening to news podcasts. Because I was just listening to, I just became addicted to them. And I would fill every silent moment of my life with another take on a global event. And it was just ruining my brain.

It actually got me really down. And it made me quite bad at my job, because you know this thing, cognitive, offloading. No. So if you become over-reliant on technology with a mental task, your brain stops doing it. So like, for example, putting... Chat GPT? Or ICAL.

For me, the first one was ICAL. When I started putting all my appointments onto my ICAL, and I stopped remembering them. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't know anything yesterday. And so your brain just goes, I don't have to think about that at some way. So I was finding with podcasts. So you were using, you weren't having an opinion anymore. Yeah.

I wasn't forming sentences in my head. Like, I actually started to find it hard to form sentences. because my brain had fallen out of practice, and all these sentences are just being placed into my head, ready. Have you ever done a digital detox? No, I would love to, but I can't. Currently, I'm being forced to do an hour of it every day. So I got tinnitus a couple of years ago from a gig.

From one gig? Jesse Ware, very worth it. It was a dead mouse gig. Why are you at a dead mouse gig? because you're a fan? No, a friend got tickets. That's so annoying. Yeah, yeah.

And then we were just too close and the next morning my ears just ringing like bad and it just wouldn't stop. And it took ages. It got much, much, much, much better. And it's way, way better now. It never goes completely, does it? No, so I started doing a treatment, a new treatment. It's kind of wacky, but you have to put on these headphones and you play. It's a little electrocuting thing on your tongue, and it buzzes your tongue.

And you're like... It doesn't sound real, is it? But therefore, and I'm not allowed to look at any screens while I do it. I can't do emails. I can't do work. I can't watch TV. I can't... I can only read.

And so for an hour a day... Yeah, it's quite nice. For an hour a day, I have to electrocute my tongue and read. Can we take it back to the beginning? Growing up, who is around the dinner table, and what's a very memorable dish from your childhood? And where were you? Growing up was in Kotikina Balu in Malaysia, Saba, Borneo.

And you're making a face. Well, I'm trying to work out where it is in relation to Kuala Lumpur. Oh, Kuala Lumpur is down the peninsula. And we've been to Penang. Penang is, yeah, the little island to the west of that. And then East Malaysia, Borneo is the island, the big island east. Yeah. That's where I grew up in the northern part.

And how did your mum and dad get together? My mum was an archaeologist and she went out in the 70s. God, it sounds so romantic. In 70s? I don't know, I can't remember. But she went out to volunteer for the Saba Museum, the State Museum. And one day, a friend of her said, I've started taking these martial arts lessons. It learns himself to fancy going to come.

And she said, yeah, she joined. And my father was her instructor. Oh, she sounds like a good novel. Yeah. Instructor syndrome. Yeah, it's fatal, isn't it, when someone's good at what they're doing? Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, so that's how they met, and then my mum re-trained as a doctor.

But that's where I grew up. She retrained as a doctor? Yeah. From being an archaeologist, she just thought, you know what, I'm going to go back to school. She's a huge nerd man. My mom, she's very smart, big dog. Just love studying. Just love studying.

What kind of doctor was she? She did a lot, dermatology, but mostly rheumatology, so joint. Oh, that's very interesting. Yeah, yeah. She's retired now, but she still keeps going back because you can't. So you grew up there until you were 15, was it? 16, yeah. And then moved to Bath.

And your dad, besides being an instructor? He's an engineer. He's an engineer. Civil engineer. Which is where I caught the bug. Yeah. And what was a memorable dish from your childhood that was getting kicked? A memorable dish.

Like classics, like just like simple fried fish and just oyster sauce a green vegetable. It's just simple stir-fried green vegetables. But that's like at home. But you eat out a lot in Southeast Asia, the hawker food culture. Yeah, yeah. Because everything's so cheap. And most people do that at the end of the day.

I remember when we were in Penang, we used to go to the night market. Oh, yeah. Panang's amazing. Yeah. Although the hawker culture in Penang is dying now because the children of all the hawkers... Don't want to do it.

Well, yeah, they're doctors and lawyers. and, you know, they studied abroad, and, you know, they're professionals, which is exactly what their parents wanted. But now there's no one to take over the stall. So the hawker thing's kind of dying in the language. It's really sad. Do you remember that lovely dish we had there?

Steamboat, was it? Oh, yeah, with the bubbling pot. Yeah, the pot and you put things in. And all the fish goes in all different parts. Do you remember? Yeah. I went to the pro, am I saying it right, the Perentian Islands or Perthian.

Oh, yeah. With my husband, when we were really young, and we went. went to this place before and we had that blue rice that's quite famous in Malaysia. Oh, I don't know this. Oh, yeah, I've heard of this. Yeah, it might be a West Malaysian thing.

Oh, maybe. Okay, well, it was delicious. Malaysian food's really good. It's the best. And it's sort of, it's really getting big in the UK, which is great. I mean, the food scene. Yes, we've got some in South London, haven't we? Oh, Malaysian deli.

Janda, isn't it? Well, Malaysian deli is in Crofton Park. Malaysian deli. Janda. Dada. Duda. Dada diner. Is that Malaysian?

Yeah. Hakimberg chef, I know him. That's literally around the corner from me, and he's just opened up there. Fantastic. He does Kalantan food, Kalantan's a state in West Malaysia, and I've never had Galantan food, but it's really unique, delicious stuff. So what makes it unique? The combinations of flavors, I mean, he's, one of his signature dishes is, I mean, it's

actually crackers. It's an oyster with a fermented durian topping. You know durian? No. Durian is this love it or hated fruit from Southeast Asia. It's covered in spikes. Oh, I've seen them. And the flesh, you break it open with a cleaver,

and the flesh comes in these segments, these little bundles of creamy gooey flesh. Oh, it's like the custard thing. The custody flesh, yeah. And the flavor is most accurately described as onion custard. Oh, wow. Some people really don't like it. You're not used to it.

Is it smelly? Yeah, it's got a real pungency to it. It's really, really stumpy. But I guess if you kind of don't think it's going to be sweet and you accept it's going to have a same. savory taste, then it's kind of... It's delicious. I love it. I love it. But I don't know if that's just because I grew up with it.

Oh, I need to go and try this. Yeah, you're going to try some. Really, really good. But he's got this sort of topping, which is fermented that on top of an oyster. Do you like oysters? I do like oysters, yeah. You don't like him. Too sloppy. Can't have it. Jesse's betrayed me. She used to hate him and now you like him.

Yeah, but like, Phil does talk about this a lot that, like, he'll eat anything. I eat, apart from baked salmon. Cook salmon. Why? I don't know. I don't like it. It's the smell, the flavor, the color. I like raw salmon, but cooked salmon.

Do you like smoked salmon? I don't mind smoke salmon. Basically, the closer it gets to cook, the more I'm out. Most people don't get this, but I met someone recently, weirdly, also Eurasian, who said, yes, I think cook salmon is gross. Oh, isn't that fun? And in particular, we took issue with the, I call smegma, between the flesh, that kind of creamy thing. You make me feel a bit funny.

Exactly. Well, now you get it. Why does that, where's that creole cream come from? I don't like it at all. Isn't it like fat? No, it's overcooked then. I mean, you tell yourself that if you need to. Oh, the cream, the bit that like oozes out.

Yeah, like the forms between the layers of flesh. That's because it's overcooked. Is it? Yeah, and it's oozing out. Okay. But I don't like it. But I love raw salmon. Rossam's still.

So, yeah, let's talk about the things that you've eaten over your years. Your years. Like the weird, weirder ones? Well, yeah. Well, Malaysia, the Chinese love to eat weird shit, man. We love it. It's a favorite. It's a pastime.

The weirder, the better. I grew up, we did these, you know, you go to banquet and you have these like sea snails, you know, and I remember that it would be these little curly shells with a very sharp sort of claw. There's a single sharp claw poking out at the bottom of the shell. You have to grab onto the sharp claw and you, and this wobbly kind of floppy thing will come out. Like a corkscrew? Yeah, kind of. And you can't eat salmon? Bloody.

Would it be like, a lie? No, no, they'd be steamed or boiled or something. And what do they taste like? Well, like with regular snails, sort of nothing. They taste of the sauce they have with them. The Chinese are so textual. They love a variety of textures over a course of a dish. Well, I'd grab eating a lot of pig guts.

Like, we call it to tap. What's that? What's that taste like? Rubbery. It kind of stinky, kind of pooey, actually. Oh. But it's like tripe or something. It's like tripe.

Why don't eat tripe either? Right, yeah. Would you? Jesse? I find out too much. The texture of tripe is too kind of frilly. Frilly. Yeah.

Yeah, like grainy. What about it? It's right. Sweet bread's all right. Well, the pig guts we'd have would be like intestines. So it'd just be segments of intestines. Why would? And you have it in a soup.

You know what, though? Like, the thing is, I feel like a prap because obviously it's a delicacy and it's enough people think it's delish. Yeah. And we should try it. It's classic poor people food. I mean, it was just been like from a time when you can waste any part of a pig. And he doesn't like Yorkshire puddings.

I don't mind Yorkshire puddings. It says that you're not very keen on them. They're overrated. Who says that? My God, yeah. You better get that. I don't want to say that this is tantamount to slander. Yeah.

In this country, this is like I could get stoned in the street. I like a Yorkshire. I like a Yorkshire pudding. But it is just better. It is kind of. That's all the point. People do kind of go mad for it and it's just a bit of battery air. Yeah.

I'm with you on that. Yeah, you've got to have the gravy in it too. I know what it is, it's British patriotism is coloured with so much kind of embarrassment and shame that it has to come out in these pockets, right, in these sort of innocent pockets. So it's something like a Yorkshire pudding is the receptacle for so many people's suppress patriotism. And so people get really passionate about it when it comes up. So all the taxi drivers are eating Yorkshire pudding every Sunday.

Well, they don't need to. They're getting it all out in the car. It's other people who are like shy about the St. George's Cross who are like, oh no, I don't know about that. But yeah, don't say anything mean about a Yorkshire pudding, you know. Yeah, yeah. But I get it. It's nice.

The thing about British food is like, it's all the little bits in it. It's about collections of little bits, full English, which is a collection of random bits. A roast is kind of a collection of random bit. Yeah, but so I love a roast dinner. Yeah, me too. So what would be your very, very best dinner? For a roast?

Yeah. A roast lambshank. Finest piece of meat on any animal. I love a lambshank. Do you remember when lambshank was so trendy? Always. It was like the prawn cocktail of our time. Yeah.

And it's really died of death. It really has. I'm the last person flying the flag for the lamb shank. With a little reduction, Zhu. Beautiful. A little grizzle on the end. A little bit of college. Melting.

Roast potatoes. I like a roastie, sure. Roast potatoes, some cabbage, buttered greens, a Yorkshire. I'll take it. Even with lamb? Oh yeah, Yorkshire's meant to be

with beef, in it? That's a classic one. I don't subscribe to these rules, I guess. Yeah, people have them with chicken. I'm a bit of a maverick language. I know that. You can, I didn't need to tell you. You can tell you.

No, no. When you moved over here, you moved to bath, did you love the food? Was it so exciting? Or were you like, what the fuck is it? It's tasteless, I would have thought.

Where's my cease now? Yeah, it all was a bit orange. You got like what's it? What's it? Batch, fish and chips. Yes. There's a lot of orange and beige. Chicken nuggets.

Yeah, that's right. But I love... You're generous saying orange. I love... I love... takeaways. I love fishing chips. I love mushy peas. Curry sauce was a completely new thing. Going to like a Chinese takeaway and they're like, first of all, why is the Chinese place got curry? That was our first thought. And then the curry sauce. Well, there's a thing Chinese curry

isn't there. You can buy a jar in the shot. I don't think it's actually a thing. I think it's a thing that we've created. It might be a thing that was created to you. But I love Chinese, I love the curry sauce. Me too. It's completely unique. It's not like any other car. You don't get curry sauce in chip shops here. Where is you do in Manchester? Oh, it's in down south? Yeah. Dan Sars, you can't get curry sauce. Have you been to Broccoli's Rock? No, it's great. Did they do curry sauce? They do a really nice sauce. Do they? Yeah.

Oh, I didn't know. Broccoli's rock's great. Delish, Broccoli's rock. Is it near the ice cream place? Yes, next door pretty much. It's opposite the wine bar. Joyce, have you been there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's nice. I love a wine. I love a wine. Do you want a wine? Yeah. I brought a wine based on actually what you said.

Oh, God. Did you bring me a chardonnay? I brought you a chardonnay, but I know Lenny doesn't like shardinet. Oh my God, Phil. I won't drink, but Lenny doesn't like Shadne because they're too rich. This is a Shabbly, which is not old. Oh, my God, I love Shabbly. So this should be nice and crisp. Oh, fabulous.

Oh, fabulous. Do you like shabbling? I love, yeah. I love it. Should we open it? Yes, shall we? Shabbly? Shabbly.

Shably? Shably. She bought this little... You are the most considerate. This is so handy. You got to get one of these. They just freeze, put them in the freezer. And if you need to bring a white wine to dinner party,

you put them in there, it's cold by the time you get to... It's a very thoughtful. thoughtful guest. Thank you. Of course. Thank you. Well, for one, I know you like Chardonnay and also I want to I want to turn me. I want to turn me. No, but I do love Shabbling. Oh, okay. Well, that's Shadernet. Oh, bugger off.

Cheers. Cheers. What do you say in Chinese? Oh, Jiangbei. Oh, shangbei. Jiangpe? Jiangpe. What's it mean? Collide glasses.

Oh, it's not like good health. Or Yamseng. Yamseng's a fun right. Yamseng's, you go, yeah. Everyone says ya for as long as possible. Okay. before you say sing. Yeah. The professional sin of one.

That's a good yamsin, everyone. Was it? Well done. What does it mean that we're going to have like a long life and good sex and well? Yeah, I guess all of that. Yeah, it depends on how much shabler. I mean, that's when you is your mom.

It depends how much Shabli. Okay, nice. What do you think of that, Shabli? Do you like that? Delicious. Okay, great. Absolutely. So I think the thing is with chardonnay is it can be expressed, as I say, in many different ways of being out of maids.

I know that it. Everyone tells me, oh, you'd really do because you like Shabli's, so you must like chardonnay. But I don't like the ones that she calls Chardonnay. Okay, sure, sure. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, the kind of oaky-a-brival. Do you get wine at the great British menu? Do you ever get a glass of wine to go with it? Sometimes the chef will pair the meal with like a glass of champagne.

It's a bit of a bribe, to be honest. I'm sure it is. Take it. I'll take it. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, but I love a bit of wine with you. Are you enjoying it? Grubbish money, yeah, man.

It's such a pleasure, such a privilege. And, I mean, what a jammy gig. Jammy gig. Can you imagine? Jammy gig. I know. Absolutely. Whilst I'm over here prepping,

um... Yeah, your last supper. Your last supper, please, Bill. Oh, sure. Have you... Starter, Maine, Pud, drink of choice. Okay, great. Starter.

I... Like scallops. Pan-fried scallops. I just... When I see scallops, on a menu. Is there anything more exciting? Nothing? I agree.

Yeah. Do you like them? Do you like them with anything? Or just fried in butter? Like some people like them with bacon or some people like mona pee kind of bed? I think with bacon's lovely. And actually, in this case, black pudding is a classic combo. Is it?

Like pan-fried scallop on a little puck of black pudding. Really chic, really nice. Very chic. But bacon is also really good. Just some little salty, greasyy. accompaniment to the scallop. Beautiful. Can you cook scallops?

I've tried, but it's always very wet. This is the thing, when you try and cook something you've had in the restaurant, most of the time it's wet. You ever find that? It's just wetter than it was in the restaurant. I think they're just drying things down a lot of restaurants. I don't know whether I've found it wet, really. I think they pat things down a lot of restaurants. I think you're meant to like pat them down for ages.

Yeah, I think you're supposed to dry them off maybe a little bit. But I'll try again. Yeah. But yeah, when you get the little golden crisp on the side of a scallop, Nothing better. So that's your starter. That's my starter. Are you drinking with that?

Yeah, with that. I mean, this Shabli would go really nice. That would be delicious. That would be perfect. And for Maine, I'd have to go Malaysia. Laksa. Oh, I love Laksa. Yeah.

I haven't had a Laksa in so long. They were huge for a couple of years. I was going to mate one from the Sugar Club cookbooks. Got a great Laksar in. Oh, yeah. But what would you have in your laxia? Well, so every... Fish?

Every part of Malaysia has its own laxia. Oh, really? And if you go to some... If you go to Laksamania, just off Oxford Street... Lachomania. They have lachsh... Is it good? It's really good.

And you pick laksas from different parts of the country. Oh, wow. So what's your laxer in your part of your country? Ours is very unique. There's a Kotikina Balu Laksa at a place called Yifong, which is a little hawker, well, a little Chinese restaurant on Gaya Street, the main strip in Kotikinabalu. And for years and years and years,

they were known as the Laksa Place in Kotikina Baloo. And it's kind of like a gritty, earthy, base soup with thin vegetable vermicelli noodles, a bit of shrimp, some fried egg, some shredded chicken. Oh, wow. And a little bit of lime. And it's just delicious. It's earthy, it's spicy, it's comforting, it's rich,

and it's such a lovely breakfast as well. You go to the first thing in day, heavy with like a sweet coffee. Marvelous. So is that your main course? Is that your fish course? That'd be my main course. Am I allowed a fish course as well?

Yeah, you can have that as well. Although you're on fish-fish at the minute, aren't you? I'm on fish-fish. Well, maybe Scalus will be my fish course. Yeah. And then for starters, I would have, oh God. Well, maybe just like a load of crackling. Can I have like...

Crackling? Yeah, but crackling of every animal. Poor crackling, chicken crackling. Oh my goodness. Have you had like chicken skin? You're like, you winced. Well, the thing is that everyone used to, if you're always on a diet, you always take your chicken skin off.

But of course, now everyone's eating it because of collagen. It's very nutritious. And it's very nutritious. So we're now back on chicken skin. I'm suddenly to think there is no food science. No, there is. Every year there's different. Yeah, they tell you not to eat certain things.

And the things that we're going to kill you last year are now absolutely essential. Do you remember when eggs when we couldn't eat eggs? We couldn't eat eggs. And they were like, if you eat an egg, you'll die tomorrow. Yeah. Oh, God. I thought they were okay. And now it's like, if you don't eat an egg.

your head will follow. The truth must be somewhere between these two. So chicken skin, pork skin. Now that you list it like that, I sound crazy. To pick that as a starter. But it's only pork that really crackling. Or maybe like a papaya salad. You have like a Thai papaya salad.

Oh, a type of papaya salad. That gets the saliva glands going. With the side of crackling. With a side of cracking. Why not? Tell me, do you like puddings? I don't have much of a sweet tooth. Okay.

I don't know. And I'd rather have more of starters mains than mains dessert, you know. Would you have cheese? You're not a cheese person. I'd have cheese if there's red wine to finish. That's really what the cheese was for. Is cheese big in Malaysia? No.

No. Dairy's not big in Malaysia because it's just impossible to keep because it's so hot. Yeah. And also cheese is so claggy. Yeah. Like you wouldn't even have cheese in the summer here, would you? Because you wouldn't have, would you? I would, yeah.

I love cheese. Okay, fair enough. There is fridges. There are fridges, yeah. That's kind of changed it all. But like getting good cheese to Malaysia and keeping it is just too difficult. So what's about milk? You don't have milky things?

Yeah, but it's like a lot of condensed milk, powdered milk. It's like milk that can keep. Okay. You know, so if you go to a coffee shop in Malaysia and you ask for milk in your coffee or tea, it'll be condensed milk evaporated. Oh, really? So it's always sweet and creamy and delicious, but not very good for you. But we'd get milk, we'd get fresh milk and put it in the freezer. And what's your cocktail of choice?

Ooh, cocktail. I love a nagroney. Love a margarita. Do you? I think maybe margarita To start off with Margarita The start

Nogroni at the end I would say Oh right But you know It was Depends on Maybe margarita And the summer

Nogoni in the winter Yeah So we have here Lots of Andy Baragani Reci recipes From the New York Times app This is his Zatar One Pot chicken and rice

Very easy Haven't made it before So I don't know Look about skin Look like cracking Yeah I think it's a bit soggy though It doesn't look it

It was browned But now I think I think because it's been steamed with the, anyway. These are homemade like fennel and cucumber pickles. And then we've got a kind of bitter leaf salad with candied walnuts and then a turmeric honey lemon dressing. And then this is a green feta dip. It's like lots of herbs with feta and pistachio and a bit of cherry on the top.

It's so beautiful. All my days. So just help yourself. And this is just every day for you. And I'm a chef. He's a chef and a judge and a nerd. Would you, would you, that's, I'm just, they're not, they're not crispy enough. No, no, no, no, but they've got the quality.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you like two bits? Yeah, please. I love chicken thighs as well. This is perfect and also good pairing for the shard. Okay, great. And it's got rice. Oh my God, my ships have come in.

I do feel like sometimes it's always a bit underseason, so I won't be offended if you need to put some more salt in. I'm like really piling up your pay. Jesus Christ. Sorry. No, no. I hope you're hungry. I'm going to make a loss of this. I'm so sorry.

This is actually really... Here's a spoonful. I've come a long way, so this is... Okay, great. Thank you. He's walking home, definitely. And then he's going to bed, didn't it? And then helps have some pickles.

Isn't it stunning. Mm. Mmm. Mm. Jesse, these are good noises. Doesn't make noises like that. No, I think he's being sweet. I'm not, oh.

I mean, it's not my recipe, so... No, my days. No, it works all together. It's very nice. Mm, very delicious. The rice is so suffused with chicken flavor. The abuts are stock? There was no stock.

Wow. It's the easiest recipe of this. Wow. But you do... The rice is so chickeny. Because you use the chicken fat from browning the chicken for about 10 minutes. Oh. And then in the onions and stuff.

So maybe that's why. So like, what, if we were coming around to yours, what would you be cooking us? Ooh. Hmm. Oh. You know what I've been doing a Sichuan egg and tomato dish? which is really delicious. A friend of mine called Lizzie Mabbitt,

she made a cookbook a few years ago. One of the dishes in it is this Cetuan egg and tomato, and you start off by frying Chinese pickles and Cetron peppers and garlic and rice wine and tomatoes. And you turn this tomato into a slightly gloopy kind of spicy sauce. You put that to the side, and then you quickly scramble some egg and you mix it all back together. Yum.

And you get this gloopy egg and egg and... tomato. Good brunch recipe. And you top it off with La Gama, you know, the crispy chili oil. Oh, yum. And have that on rice on noodles. That sounds great. It's so good.

And vegetarian. What, like, how long has it taken you to prep the new tour? And it, did you, yeah, like, you were talking about being quite blue from the news. Did you have to, like, when did you finish writing this tour? Or is it still kind of a work in progress? It never really ends. We're always fixing things up. Sometimes routines sort of become irrelevant as you're doing them.

You know, their shelf life expires and you kind of have to replace them. Oh, that's annoying. Yeah, but usually by that point, you've got something else that you prefer and you just push the other, the old bit out. So it's always evolving. And yeah, I don't know really how long it takes. If I'm given the deadline, it'll be done by then usually. And do you have a focus? Like John Bishop talks about his family and his family.

his divorce and things like that. Do you have a focus? Well, when I started, it was very much about being Asian, being Chinese in the UK, because at that time, it was like, it really was kind of just me. That was the only East Asian really doing any stand-up in the UK. And now there are loads of brilliant.

Are there? Yeah, which I guess I'm happy about. No, I was going to say, he pissed off. All I'd say is, when you preach for more representation, be careful what you ask for. Because it might bite you in the ass. So now it's more... Now I feel very British, you know.

No, I don't feel very foreign at all anymore. So it's... Now, this shows about, like, millennials and how we millennials are aging now and, you know... How old are you? 36. Oh, you're a millennial? Yeah.

Are you on the cusp? I don't think so. I think I'm so smacked dab in the middle, actually. Millennials are roughly born between 85 and 95. I was born 1990. What are my mother? You must be... I'm 84. What does that make me?

Very young Gen X. Gen X. I thought I was a millennial. Well, if you want, there's... I identify as a millennial. There is a term which is geriatric millennial. Oh, my God. I did not make that up, and I don't...

I'm not saying you should take on that... But that term does exist. Jesse. Geriatric millennial. That's very sad. I'm a geriatric pop star and now I'm a geriatric geriatric millennial. This is a sad day. So Hawker, I want to talk about more about the Hawkers you talked about going there,

you know, eating out a lot. What would like, were you allowed to choose which hawker you went to? Was it kind of like you'd all just do your own, you'd all have different meals when you were going out with your mum and dad and your sister? That's quite clever really. Kind of like, it's like going to Borough Market, you know what I mean? You'd be like, you want a sausage, go and get one? A little bit, yeah.

So if you go to a hawker centre, then you're literally just a bunch of tables and you're surrounded by all different kinds of cuisines and you just go up and... It's like a food court. Yeah, food courts, a lot of food court. South East Asia is very food courty, for sure. Are you on the seaside where your family had the home?

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I mean, not literally, but the city is on the sea. So what would be some of your choice hawker stalls? Or would you switch it up? Well, yes, yeah, you switch it up. There was one place we'd go to after Kung Fu practice. So we'd then, as kids, we'd go to the dojo, you know, where my parents met. Dojo?

Yeah. What's the dojo mean? A dojo is where you practice Kung Fu, like in Lili Annan. Yeah. Yeah. I always thought it was a dojo. I was thought, yeah. So he said, wasn't it that he said that's where he practiced his martial arts?

Oh, really? Oh, my God. Yeah, that's why he called it the dojo. Okay. And he wasn't practicing his martial arts. I was practicing something. Well, we didn't use our dojo for adultery. We used it for the traditional methods of Kung Fu.

And, yeah, so every Saturday, me and my sisters and my cousins would go and, like, do punching. And then we, like, folks are drivers to a place. How many brothers and sisters do you have? I got two younger sisters. And then we'd go to a place that we called lamb chop, because they did lamb chops. There was a Western grill. There was a Chinese hawk a bit. and so I would get like Charko

Tiao as a starter. What's that? What's that? You know Hofan? The flat rice noodles? Yes. Chalkueh Tau is the Malaysian sort of version of that.

That's just fried at really high heat with like dark soy and traditionally like cockles and pork fat and just like really chard and earthy taste. And then on top, then after that I'd have like a full mixed grill which is like a lamb chop chicken chop sausage but done in sort of an Asian-y style. so good.

But a lot of the restaurants, corner shops, the cafes would, there would be a drinks corner, there would be like a Chinesey stall, there would be maybe a dumpling stall. So it was almost like individual operators within a restaurant and you just hit up each one you want as you wanted. That sounds great.

It's really good, man. What is the kind of one spice or herb that you can't really get in England and they don't use it commonly, but they use it in Malaysian cuisine. My favourite would probably be, my favourite would probably be pandan, which is starting to come over here, but it's quite rare. It's like a kind of cakey leaf. Yeah, leaf.

The flavour's very desserty. It's very, it's what's it look like? It's kind of vanilla-y, I guess. It's like a long green leaf. Have you cooked with it? I haven't, but I've had it in Borough Market at a Malaysian spot. And it imbuses a really lovely green colour to, everything you put it in.

It's just a really lovely comforting flavour, pandan. Everything else, like, I mean, UK is so good for food now, especially the cities. You can get anything now, really. I mean, you can get, I mean, we have a national foe chain. That's incredible. We have a chain or faux restaurants. I mean, even 10 years ago, they've been crackers. But, but yeah, like, the food in the UK has come leaps and bounds in a very short amount of time.

Where's your takeaway spot? For... When you're at home and you need a takeaway. Yeah? Yeah. I get food from a place called foodie cuisine a lot

Which is a Chinese place They do lost sian stuff It's off on the road It's next to a bakery It's right next to a bakery And they do like Sian skewers Of like

God you'd never think Foodie cuisine was kind of An attractive kind of option That sounds great It's called yeah I don't know why they call it Foodie cuisine I love Chinese restaurants

But it doesn't sound like Chinese food No it doesn't It's a food Although I think they have missed the E at the end of cuisine. So, like, foodie cuisine. In that sense, it's very Chinese.

What was that place we went to for your birthday, where they had the Chinese restaurant with the Elvis impersonator? That was on New Cross. That was on like Old Kent Road. That sounds awesome. I know, I don't think it's there. There's a lot of Chinese Elvis impersonators. I don't think it's there anymore.

It's really funny. I thought I was going to be. An Elvis impersonator? Yeah, so big in Malaysia. Is he big? I'm like my uncles. I grew up with them. So there's my father.

And he has five brothers and the sister. And they were obsessed with the Beatles growing up. And my father was in a Beatles, a band that played Beatles songs in Malaysia, called the Locusts. I called themselves The Locusts. And so I grew up listening to a lot of Beatles and a lot of oldies and Cliff Richard and Elvis. And I sang a lot when I was young. And I thought it was going to be a singer for like, for my teens. I thought it was going to be a singer because the family did so much music.

you can really sing. I could. I could. I'm a bit out of practice. Would you like some pudding? Yes, I would. I'd love some pudding. I don't know if it's going to work,

and it's always that thing with rhubarb. It's like rhubarb season. Oh, great, yeah. And I got forced rhubarb, because it's pretty. Force rhubarb always sounds cruel, isn't it? It does. I feel bad for the rhubarb every time.

It's not its time to mature. They force it under blemin glass houses. I always pick the farmer's strangling the rubub when I hear forced rubon. Force rubal. Force them into it. What are they forcing? They're just making a grow faster. They're forcing them to be a crumble.

Poor little rhubarb. Gosh, why do we just have foie gras or anything? Would you eat that? Oh, you did anything. I did anything. Yeah, I do anything. But you know that thing where you never know if it's sugary enough? Until you try it?

Until you try it. And Rubel's got a tang, so you've got upset that, right? Yeah, so I do have three options. I have custard. I love custard. Do you? And I thought Rubel of custard. I love it.

What a rhububarb crumble, is it? It's a rhubarb kind of, it's called a rhubarb crisp. It's like a crumble. Okay. But kind of, is it strucel on the top? No. What is streu so it's like a crispy bit on the top? Yes.

So it's like crispy pastro. But it doesn't look very crispy at the moment, which I'm worried about. Anyway, custard, do you want your custard cold or warm? I have it warm. Warm, yeah. That's okay. Yeah. Okay.

Do you want ice cream as well? Yes. Do you? Ice cream might be my. My dessert, I think, for my last hour. Did we not get that? I don't even got that far. Because he said he wasn't interesting dessert, really.

Yeah, this is interesting, Phil. You know what I love is ice cream with a drizzle of olive oil on it. Oh, yeah. Have you had that? Yeah, had it the other night. So, honestly, so delicious. Do you want that on the side? You know what?

What flavor ice cream is? I've not sure. Clotted cream, vanilla. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. with a little olive oil on top.

Like extra verge or old? Yeah. I don't know if I've got the sexiest evil. Whatever they call it. In this economy, how could you? Okay. So, right, I'm going to do that all. I'm going to do that now.

But before I go and get it, can I ask you your nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere. Wow. Well, you know what? I've already mentioned the Greens stuff right in Oisysers. And I remember when I was touring

with a bunch of comedians through Southeast Asia, and we stopped off in Penang in Georgetown, and we went to a restaurant called Kabaya. And it's Baranakan food. Paranakan people are the Malay's Chinese sort of mixed people in the straits there. And it was just a really, really high-quality restaurant, and they brought just a plate over of just simple green stir-fried in oyster sauce,

and I had one bite of it. And it was that Proustian Madeleine moment, you know. It was that bit at the end of Ratatouille. The guy goes back in time he remembers that. first rat to do we had and i had this piece of stirfied veg and noisor sauce and i just instantly went through this roll-a-dix of all the stir-fried veg and oyster sauce i had as a kid and because it was just the platonic ideal version of it so that that was it and it's just like it's never the one you expect it's never the dish you expect just the simple just a simple bit of

vegetable in the side evocative and it just takes you back to your childhood so that that was probably it yeah i've just showed some olive oil it's really nice sexual with your rhubarb crust. I should have done it separately and I'm really sorry but you do have this rhubbubb crisp that isn't crispy so I won't be doing this recipe. It feels quite crispy. I gave you the crispiest bit, babe. You're the guest and then you've got

little olive oil. Olive oil. And custard and dirt. You've got everything. This is delicious. Okay, darling, can I have the smallest amount with ice cream? He's happy. He's happy. But I think you'd be happy about anything, though.

I feel like you're just a kind of... That's why he's a good judge because you're kind. I'm not kind. You are kind. I'm actually even quite nice. Are you trying to be a hard man on it? Because you're not. You come across as kind.

It's all going wrong. Yeah, but I was a guest on it once and that was too mean. You can't be mean. Mm. That rhubarb. Troy is forced. That's one forced rhubarb. I love it.

You're very sweet. I love it. The crisp is more of a chew. It's not a crumb. It's not a crisp. Is rhubububchew? That's nice rubub chew. No.

I'm not quite nice. It's fine. It's totally fine. There's something in it in the rhubb. Orange. Mm. Yeah. Delicious.

Really good. Yeah. And on that note. Oh, wow. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being such a great guest. Thank you for the delicious wine.

The good chat. And hopefully I'll see you around. It's around the neighborhood. Lovely eye. Lovely, man. Really lovely. Great guest. bought beautiful wine.

Yeah. Very funny, very kind. Yeah, likes the food. I knew a lot about food. Very, yes. Yeah, I feel I've learned, Pan Dam. I didn't even know. Pandam.

Pan Dam. I thought that was a Kylie Malo song. Isn't it? Padam. Oh, okay. That's what I thought he was talking about. Phil Wang, you can watch on Great British Menu, where he is a judge. And also, you can go and get tickets for his new tour.

Uh-oh. Now. Well, I could listen to him, Wang. on forever. I thought the recipes were really nice for the mains. Yeah. But I'll just make a rhubarb crumble

next time for fun sake. That was a big old waste of blood. I thought it was quite nice because it was chewy. It was tasty. Yeah. I needed more crisp. Yeah. Anyway, we'll see you next week

for more table runs.