Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S14 Ep 2: Rina Sawayama

Episode Date: October 5, 2022

Rina Sawayama everyone… I am a huge fan of this amazing woman, we met in Paris years ago on a front row (daaaahling) and I have watched her become a complete icon. We are THRILLED to have her on Table Manners. Rina educates us about Japanese cuisine; chirashi bowls, eating fresh Kinmedai fish, and her mum’s signature dish of Tonkatsu… delicious! And we learn her poaching technique. We talk about the time she met Lady Gaga, lactose, art being her hobby & karaoke with Harry Styles. A dreamy episode… enjoy! X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with my mother. The kitchen smells delicious. It does, doesn't it? Yeah. And I'm ready for a big one. A very big one, tell me. Who are we having tonight, Mum? Rina Sawayama. Is that right? Yes, that is right. Rina Sawayama is coming the eve of her second album.

What is that, your sophomore? Sophomore. Album coming out. She's probably absolutely exhausted. No doubt she's in rehearsals. She's got a promo throat probably. Absolutely knackered. What are you cooking for her, Mum? I thought I'd do something quite simple.

Yeah. So I've done chicken with peppers and olives. A Nigella special? First chicken. Yeah. Adapted Nigella special. What about the microaveau rice to go with it? And I've done my rice that you like.

And I've done just some green beans. I'm going to put some olive oil and garlic in. We're recording this in a rainy week. It's kind of felt very cold. Felt more like April. I don't feel cold at all. Jessie's cold. I feel damp and cold. You're tired then. I am tired. Because at all. Jessie's cold. I don't feel damp and cold.

You're tired then. I am tired. Because I'm not damp or cold. Feeling very perky. Oh, good. Shout out to the handsome man who politely accosted me in City Airport when I was just coming back from Greece with my kids. I had one strapped to me.

And I saw a lot of very beautiful men walk through City Airport. I've never seen it so busy. I said, that's come from Mykonos. I bet you, Sam, looked on the thing, flight from Mykonos. Anyway, I was getting my stuff and a man came up to me and said, I just want to say I really love you, but I fucking love Lenny. And I just thought, yeah, that's how it is. I must say, when I was in the queue to get on the plane at Skiathos,

I said to someone, oh God, do you think this is the right queue? And she said, you're Lenny. I've just been on a long list and I listen to all the podcasts. Did she let you jump the queue? She said, if I ring my father now, he'll have a heart attack because you're his favourite. Did you use that to your benefit? No, because she was in the queue with me.

She was a passenger. Oh, now I've forgotten her name, but shout out to the lady in the queue. And also the people that, I mean, just don't think that when Lenny's having her month off, she's never not off. She's completely working.

We got an email to Table Manners email that said... Hold on, I've got to get this up. No. Hang on. But I was being kind. There were a stranded couple on Limna Nari Beach with miserable Vangeli and their taxi had been cancelled.

Vangeli is the excellent owner of the best restaurant in... It's the best taverna. Okay, this is the email. This was sent to Table Manners email. Hi, Lenny. I hope this message reaches you. in in it's the best taverna okay this is the email this was sent to table manners email hi lenny i hope this message reaches you i just wanted to say a huge thanks for rescuing andy and i from the heat of limnanari beach last week we were so grateful to you for the lift back to our hotel and it was a real pleasure to meet you albeit fleetingly we shall be keenly following your

podcast and catching up with previous ones take care care and have a lovely holiday. Love from Sarah and Andy. Mum is now taxi driver, PR queen. I don't know the best publicist on a Greek island one could get. So you're picking random people up from a beach? No, they were stuck. I was sitting having my lunch. You're a saviour as well. It was before you came. Before you came, you were coming the next day and I just thought I'd have a quiet lunch on Limna Norrie Beach and read my book. And they were stuck because they're a taxi driver. And I said, if you hang on a minute, I just want to read the last bit of my book and I'll give you a lift home. What were you reading? Crow Lake by Mary Lawson.

And it was good? It was beautiful. But I'll tell you what else happened on Limna Norrie Beach. So, you know, that big long path road down. I gave a nice couple who were half Greek and half German this is a different different day I was coming to meet you your daughter had earache so we we left straight away yes went back about three days later yeah and this this boy said I found you I said what do you He said, I've been looking for you for three days.

And he said, I lost my phone. And I said, really? So he said, I think it might be in the back of your car. What's it? I said, well, I haven't heard it. So we found it in the back of the car. You also are a thief. He was so happy.

And then I gave him a lift home and I said, just hang on to your phone as you go. I found you. I thought it was going to be a Greek Adonis. I thought it was going to be something really fabulous. No, he'd stolen his phone. That's brilliant. So yeah, we are recording this. This is our first one back from Holly Bob's,

but you'll already be well into the series by now. And I have to say, I'm thrilled to have Rina. Rina is a big foodie. She's a brilliant singer. And she's a real pop star. I mean, she's like our Lady Gaga. She's our Rina Sawayama. She is talented, exciting, so interesting.

And lactose free. And lactose free, as mum just said. Yeah. What were you going to make for her before you knew that she was lactose free I was going to do panna cotta with sour jerrys that I brought back

from Greece have to be for the next guest next one and so I've done stuffed peaches and I haven't used butter with amaretti stuffed with amaretti

and I've used coconut oil but mum lactose isn't in butter it's milk you fool lactose lactose is milk I don't think okay

is lactose in butter of course it is lactose is milk milk. I don't think. Okay, is lactose in butter? Of course it is. Lactose is milk. No, Mum, I don't think so. Butter contains only trace amounts of lactose. Well, I'm not going to kill the girl with the bloody amaretti stuffed peach, am I? Christ. Rina Soeyama coming up on Table Manners.

Rina has walked through the door looking absolutely gorgeous perfect oh my god but has apologized and said before she got in through the door like she wasn't going to be allowed through the door if she didn't bring something she was trying to get a deliveroo order from morrison's for a bit of wine because she feels embarrassed. Because I didn't bring anything. Because I've just been at a shoot. We'll try not to judge it. Honestly, you know we were out there for like five minutes. Why? Because we were like, okay, we need to make sure you

order and deliver. We're just like, we're conspiring outside. Listen, you've got a busy time. Oh, shush. From one queen to another, I think you're okay. You forgive her her don't you mom it's fine so reena you the album's coming out in like a week yes crazy is it finally is it yeah is it full on at the moment so what was the shoot for today uh today was oh it's for es magazine yeah so that was nice that's been one of one of one like i've wanted to do for a while so that's

why i have like piles and piles of makeup on. You look gorgeous though. Thank you. Did you do your makeup? Mona did who you've worked with. I love Mona. I know, I love Mona too. But you're amazing at your makeup.

Who did your hair? Oh, thank you. Someone called Tomomi. And she's been with me for years. Right, she needs to come to your house and teach you how to do those braids. It's so wonderful, you have to work with her. Can you do braids? No.

No, I don't need braids on me. I need them on my daughter who wants to look like Elsa. Oh my God, yeah, great. No, she's so wonderful. But we've met before a few times. But the last time we met was doing this YouTube thing. And you're a big YouTuber. Yeah.

You love it. I love YouTube. And so I should really be looking on there for hairstyles. That's what I should be doing. What have you been looking on youtube recently for oh okay so i've weirdly gotten into doing watercolors have you i think i've lost my marbles no doesn't promo make you lose your marbles what doing promo oh yes yes promo does i don't know about yes yes watercolor i think would probably help yes that's promo i'm surprised you've got a voice because i you get the promo throat yeah i did um there was one day

in the uk where i did 20 interviews and then there was one day in japan that i did eight shoots and 15 interviews and i like had to do the last interview in bed because I was like I can't think anymore so I think yeah the watercolor is like there to like remind myself of who I am and what are you painting what are you painting pictures of um I like to paint I like to sketch food she's big foodie mom I am a big foodie but the tragedy is I found out I was lactose intolerant last year it was a tragedy for all of us actually I know I'm so sorry you were going to get panna cotta with sour cherries

no honestly it's my favourite and sometimes I do cheat when I take lactase but it doesn't oh yeah the enzyme pills I learnt about them too no you mustn't do that it does work but it's probably not good for you

your body's trying to tell you don't drink cow's milk just stop it right jesse thought that butter isn't lactose but i think it is you have made with milk no that is but yeah butter's good thing we didn't use it then oh my god thank you yeah yeah butter yeah so i can't eat like cake and like cream no i'm not don't worry we've got you an oatly creme fraiche oh thank you have you tried that yet you just didn't worry. We've got you an Oatly creme fraiche. Oh, thank you. Have you tried that yet? Have you tried that yet?

You just didn't want it in our fridge. You don't want it in your house. Get it out. Well, thank God we're not too far from your house. I know. So that's quite... That's a bonus. Where do you live?

I live in Tuting. Tuting. Tuting. Which, American listeners, I'm going to love that. Because it means farting. Does it? Yeah. Oh, yeah, you toot.

You toot toot. Why? That's so much tooter. Tuting Broadway. Farting Broadway. Oh, my Yeah. Oh yeah, you toot. You toot too. Why? That's so much cuter. Tooting Broadway, farting Broadway. Oh my God. I know, what a blow. So listen.

Is that where you were brought up? South London. I actually grew up in Chalk Farm. Oh, how lovely. I know. So I was like, I was stone's throw away

from my school which was in Marylebone and then I moved to battersea um when i was 18 and then i've been in i was in earlsfield and i'm in tooting and you grew up with your mom yes and what was food like growing up with your mom was she a good cook she is a good cook but she hates Oh, that's a bit like this one. Is it? Is it because you had to do it, so you started hating,

or did you hate it from the beginning? No, no, really. I don't mind cooking. I don't mind cooking. I like cooking, but I don't like pressure on me. Fair enough. That time pressure. So we do a food podcast. So I do, no.

Yeah, no pressure. So when we first started the podcast, I would go to work and then come back and cook and that was too much but now I take the whole day off if we've got a podcast that makes sense and so I get the delivery order of the food and then I cook at leisure so you grew up with your mum single mother single mum yeah so worked really hard yes parents were separated since i was 10 so i'd kind of just say you weren't born in england no so i was born in japan in a very rural area called nigata and amazing it's where most of the rice in japan is made so i would just it honestly you step out

of my grandma's or my grandparents house and it is rice paddy fields like the backdrop of like a studio ghibli movie you know it's like totoro like honestly like picturesque um and then i moved to tokyo pretty much straight after i was born and then lived in tokyo for a little bit and then came here when i was like four and a half five years old why did your parents come here so my dad worked in japan airlines and so back then i don't know if they do it as much now but they used to you know transfer we were here for five years round symbol with JAP what like the flag was it the flag no it's it's got it's it had like when when I was very young yeah it used to have a big round symbol with JAP really as the the kind of do you fly with them uh i fly with whoever is

cheapest i mean i i am a i'm a one world girl oh yeah yeah are we are we are we are into are you into the lounge yet i am into the lounge i fly i fly a lot which is um you know not something i love to do because i'm absolutely terrified of flying. Really? Are you okay with flying? Yeah, I kind of feel weirdly at ease. I love it. Mum likes the food. I love the food on planes.

Even when it's tooy or... I just love the little tiny food and the little pepper and salt. It's cute. So, I mean, you must be flying a lot because you have to fly a lot. Oh, I am. I have flight flying a lot because you have to fly a lot. Oh, I am. I have flight anxiety. What are you frightened of? I'm frightened of crashing because a couple of things.

So when I was young, all my family lived in Japan. Yeah. And so I would make the trip from Japan to London, London to Japan on my own when I was, you know, chaperoned. Unaccompanied minor. Yes. and done to japan on my own when i was you know chaperoned unaccompanied minor yes so i was like 10 or something or maybe like 10 12 but i remember there was one particular really really bad turbulence and like no one was there like you know when it's turbulence and like they can't come to you your stewardess didn't sit next to you and hold your hand so i remember i was like like so terrified

and since then i think my body just remembers it it your dad worked for an airline my mom was also a cabin attendant once oh my god I have a half sister she also was a cabin attendant for ANA so they're not and they weren't frightened no they love it yeah so I'm just there so you're still frightened yeah we flew from London to LA and we fly over the Rockies so if you fly over any mountain range, that is when the turbulence hits. You warn yourself. Do you kind of preempt when you're like, oh, Rockies is coming up? See, I was asleep that time. Yeah, have a big glass of wine.

Have a Xanax. Yeah, but then, see, I'm not much of a drinker. That's my little secret. Sorry, I'm a bit boring. No. Yeah, you're good. That's probably why you've got a voice still beautiful you start yelling don't you when you start drinking yeah it's true yeah so i'm not

much of a drinker and i find that often i have to work straight after i get off a flight and i just can't do it if i've drunk so i'm completely sober and then like there was one time recently flying with the rockies it was absolutely smooth smooth smooth, smooth. And then boom, like fell, fell so like, I don't, it feels like you're falling like a hundred feet. Did the oxygen mask drop out? No, it's never dropped out. I know. Then you're all right, darling. But I watched Lost when I was younger.

Oh Christ. And you know when you're so scared. Pretty fed this. Oh yeah. But you know when you're scared of something. So you, you watch that thing that you're scared of something so you you watch that thing that you're scared of the most so i used to watch lost and like every single time there's a recap like every episode there's a recap of the crash back to you and growing up um i guess we could

start with when you lived in japan do you have any really early memories of eating food there? Not really, to be honest. I was so, I was so baby. I just remember taking naps at my nursery or whatever, that's all I remember. But I did go back every summer and every winter to see my family. And I remember it would be the time that I'd look forward to so much

because it would just you know there's such a tradition around summers and winters in Japan you know you really change what you eat quite drastically yeah the funny thing is in Asia the the saying is that like the hotter it is you eat something that's hot to sweat to cool you down oh my gosh yeah i know so you were there this summer and i i saw pictures and it it looked quite cold babe in parts it was like the mist was there fog oh no so okay or was it humid it that was the weirdest climate so that was actually there was a picture of me on top of a mountain in like full mosquito oh right yes that was humid it was really humid

and i've never ever experienced a climate like that because we were on top of the mountain and you think it was really cold but it was very warm it looked like fog it looked like fog it looked really dark but it was so warm and so like temperate it was fine so what were you eating this summer in japan oh my god um So my mom lives in Atami, which is 30 minutes outside of Tokyo. She lives in Japan now? She lives in Japan. Okay.

So now she, like she lives in a seaside town. Nice. Basically. And so there's a lot of places that you can eat seafood. Lovely. And there are places where it's a catch of a day sort of situation and you pick what you want

and they'll tell you what the price is that day and this i had like um kimidae which is like oh god i don't know what i never know how to translate fish names right anyway like is it a white fish it's got it's red on the outside like a red snapper yeah that's it red snapper okay so it's a red snapper teishoku which is a meal meal so you got the rice and then you got like the um pickles and then you got the miso soup and you got this amazing fresh fish right there and you get to eat it in front of the sea basically gorgeous if you go to japanese restaurants in england or i don't really go to japanese are they no good it's because I don't want to pay a lot it's okay it's pricey do you know what I mean like I I like the taste and I can accept that

the taste is really good but when you know how much things cost in Japan and to eat the same food here when it's literally 10 times the price it makes me kind of can you cook japanese food can you make and can you make sushi i have made sushi but you've got all the equipment with the bamboo yes i do okay yeah well what's your what's your japanese dish that you would serve lenny um okay i don't know if this is like particularly Japanese but I have this Japanese cookbook that has like 10 minute meals oh I love that yeah oh my god where did you get that in Japan can you can you send it I can send it to you I'll post it in every single page to translate it but honestly this book has been life-changing so there is this poached chicken recipe chicken

breast which i think a lot of brits are quite horrified with like poached what do you poach in water or coconut water oh yeah okay but it probably keeps it moist you see yeah because what people get poaching wrong you're not meant to boil it you're not meant to see bubbles just have a little drop of water at the bottom yeah yeah and how i do it is i get you know a fridge cold chicken breast the best you can buy without skin then you boil a pot well actually you put it in a pot of water with some salt then you boil it up and it has to be some sort of cast iron that holds a lot of heat so you get it just before a boil like an even before a simmer switch off switch it off put the lid on nine minutes and then you get it just before a boil, even before a simmer. Switch it off. Put the lid on.

Nine minutes. And then you take it out. That's your 10-minute meal, right? I know. And then you leave it out for another 10 minutes just to let it rest. And then I make this incredible sauce that is, I think it's a garlic. It's soy sauce. It's rice vinegar.

It's got a little bit of mirin. Got all of that here. Yeah. Oh, my God. And then um cook some onion in it really finely chopped white onion and then you also have lots of spring onion on the side that's really finely chopped and some tomatoes like little cherry tomatoes that have been sliced in half and then you pour all that all over this chicken that has been now sliced in one centimeter slices and it is the simplest thing but it's delicious but it's so delicious i couldn't do it as well no we can't i'll send you the recipe if you know how it should taste that's half the thing don't

you think that's inspired by i think i want to say a taiwanese recipe i think it's called high high one is chicken maybe i'm wrong but poaching chicken is quite a normal thing to do in asia chicken honestly it's the best way to eat chicken breast i'm really glad that you've told me how to do it because i've poached it before and it's tough as old booth so it's okay you gotta switch switch it off and cook it in a la cruz undercook it undercook it darling yeah undercook it is undercook it yeah i think it is so japan you don't have a memory from four and a half but no your mum's dish when you came to london what was the dish that you just wanted my mum makes this incredible thing called tarekatsu which she told me is a nigata specialty so from her area but you get pork tenderloin and you bash

it and you bread it and then you fry it like a katsu like pork katsu you know like katsu curry in panko but you pull it out and then you dunk it in a in this sauce so it's got it's like okay so it's like i want to say it's like a soy sugar glaze it's not teriyaki it's got a little bit more sake running through it so it's a little bit kind of alcoholic tasting but it has so much death and it's so savory and i i can eat like 30 of them. And it's these tiny kind of palm-sized little medallions. Medallions, yeah. But it's very thin.

So the whole thing tastes very crunchy. Like a schnitzel. Yeah, it is like a schnitzel. But imagine like lots of little schnitzels that's then dunked in soy flavoured. This is what you need to do. This is good. Maybe my kids would eat that. Yeah.

Oh, it's really good what's your big celebratory dish oh celebratory dish like for a wedding or um i would say always at a celebration there's a dish called chirashi which is uh sushi rice and it's in this massive bowl that is actually made of wood and you have to i think it's sandalwood or something it has a amazing fragrance to it you put the sushi rice in there and then you lay out all these different colored ingredients so whether it's like you know like it could be like raw fish it could be like strips of um egg that's been like cooked so you know like really thin like you know egg um uh like fish roe little like bits of like man manje too is that how you say it too and yeah so then you can basically like

mix it up and then it's like this amazing it's called chirashi and most sushi places in japan will have a chirashi because it's all they usually i think what they used to do is maybe like get the off cuts of all the kind of undesirable bits of the sashimi and throw it in there and then mix it up i think you'd really enjoy japan have you ever been no no i'm a bit frightened once jesse was eating that 100 year old egg i just thought i might not be able to go yeah i'm really hungry can i help with any of the food? can I help? I'm just going to put the rice on

we knew that you were doing a load of promo it's just a very comforting meal oh love it it's roast chicken with lots of peppers and what is it? peppers and olives and olives some green beans

some microave rice. Oh, so, yeah. Love it. How's it feeling? How's it feeling with the new record? I mean, everything you've been putting out is brilliant. Oh, thank you. No, I feel like it's a really exciting time for you.

Thank you. Is it feeling good? Is it feeling overwhelming? 100% overwhelming. Really? Because, I mean, before 2020 2020 obviously i was doing mini tours i did maybe five shows across the states as a tour and i was doing it to venues maybe a thousand was the biggest venue i've done and then we went into lockdown and your record was huge unexpectedly

it was it was it had such identity and that's the thing it was like cute but you come out of lockdown and you have this i mean you had a strong following but it grew it grew a lot yes and you did your tour yes you got away with well you got away like you were like a week before on omicron yes we Yes. We did have one person who got COVID. Yeah. And did you, were you able to just- No, no, no. No one else got COVID.

Oh my God. I know. It was pretty scary time. But that must've been a really big moment for you because the shows were amazing. From what I saw online, it was a really, it was huge. It was, to be able to play Roundhouse, having come out of lockdown

and covid and roundhouse is again i grew up near chalk farm so yeah you know roundhouse is like my local venue and it it was it still hasn't sunk in well what's the yeah but i mean that's really nice about roundhouse but you're bigger than roundhouse now so what's the next what's the next one for you we've just we've sold out brixton amazing yeah so i mean i don't know i guess it's ali pally isn't it there's that there is this pop girl route that happens it's roundhouse what's charlie xx doing she played ali pally yeah so i think it's like i think it's like yeah roundhouse but you did you manage to play amazing it's amazing you're it's like yeah roundhouse but you did you manage to play at Brixton

it's amazing you're gonna love it it is right I mean I've been to I think that's the place that I've been to the most gigs in London

it's really good also local local yeah exactly yes I'm so excited so promo's mental promo's mental how are you fueling this promo situation are you eating

well i'm getting a lot of deliverables i'm not gonna lie yeah no judgment with that of course because you can't be asked to you could do your poached chicken in 10 minutes though i i do i do do my part that's sorry i was getting paid sorry i don't have done that oh my god guys to see this in real life is amazing oh rice yes how do you do yours do you have a rice maker i absolutely have a zojirushi rice maker which was 250 pounds and it's phenomenal it's phenomenal because don't judge us we do ours in the microwave with a little bit of chicken stock and onion and i think it's delicious as long as you don't boil it and strain it it's not pasta no when people do that i'm like it's not pasta babes do because with a rice cookie you don't have to

think about it right no yeah you just put in the you just put in the rice and you put but even it took me a do you have a way of making it up or do you just let it be pure and i'm a purist yeah i do eat like brown brown rice yeah these days um but i don't think it actually agrees with my digestive system but i still eat it anyway anyway but but you know I think I bought a rice cooker when I was 30 so I have been cooking it in the Le Creuset like I have a small Le Creuset oh yeah did it work it's like god I don't want to say the wrong thing but I do think it's one cup to one cup but you gotta get the one like every every type of rice has its own water like so what do you use short grain short grain rice do you search yes you have to get rid of the stuff do you really go for it no three times and that's it

okay yeah okay and my one of my treasured kitchen gadgets in my house is this tiny little sieve that fits on the end of the rice um or any like pot yeah and it means that you like once you wash the rice you can strain it just i need to show you a picture yeah i need i need to see this because i like kitchen great because it should be on a big platter. Oh, this is amazing. No, it's going to do you. You're going to have a good meal tonight, Rina. No delivery for you. No, but I want you to know that I would present it beautifully. Oh, don't worry. No one can see, Mum.

It's fine. No, but I can see. And I'm upset. And she's... No, don't be upset. No, I'm not upset. It should look all beautiful. Mum, it's really nice.

No, Jessie, because you don't care because you're a dinner lady. That's the problem, Rina, here. Rina, would you like me to give you some rice? No, let her help herself. Oh, Jessie! Because you'll get it doled on your plate. Well, I just... This is so nice because I rarely get to have family dinners, right?

I'm the only person in my whole family. Are your family loud? Or polite to each other? No. Or respectful? No, me and my mum do have our moments, I will say. Because being too close. Yes, right.

But... Does your mother speak to you like my mother speaks to me? That's so shit. Help yourself, sorry. No, thank you. Because I know what you do. No, thank you. Because I know what you do. Sorry. Did you hear that? Reena's mum doesn't speak to her like you speak to me. Reena, help yourself

because I'm not allowed to say it. I like it because you say it when you think it and you don't hold on to it. Oh. No, I don't. So, okay. What's the plan? You touring you're singing a lot you are feeling good about the record i'm feeling so good about the record although i started rehearsals you're sick of it already no i love touring that is my that is like the lifeline well that's what you do it i do it

for that bit right right genuinely for that like one and a half hours on stage is what i do everything else for and i love putting effort into like the design of it but um i would say i've realized that i think i've made a mistake in terms of i've written a record that is really fine to sing if you're singing it in the booth and trying to nail the nail the vocals for one day. You got any backing singers? Doing it, no. Oh, babe, you need to get some backing singers. Courtney, she needs backing singers. Courtney!

She's warming up. Manager Courtney's on that, she's warming up. Help yourself to chicken. And dig deep, because there's loads of veggies at the bottom as well. So take whatever bits. There's loads of breast there as well. It's honestly like glistening chicken with amazing crispy skin.

Oh, you're very... Oh, it is crispy, Mum. And it's sitting in amazing jus. I hope it's a jus. Oh my God, I'm so excited. Just take... There's loads of veggies underneath. I really love the rice. It's good.

It's good, right? You need to tell me the recipe. Chicken stock, either dried onions or onions. It's dried onions. The listeners have heard this a thousand times. I buy it in bulk, dried onions. Rina, last supper. Where are we going to go for that? Starter, main, pud, drink of choice?

My mum definitely has to cook the main. Oh, really? Which is the tarikatsu, the thing I was talking about earlier. I think starter would be gyoza. I love gyoza. Gyoza's amazing. Which one? And I make gyoza.

Oh, shut up. Which one do you make? I just make, like, regular pork gyoza. Gyoza's amazing. Which one? And I make gyoza. Oh, shut up. Which one do you make? I just make like regular pork gyoza. And you steam them or they're fried ones? Fried ones. Japanese ones are always fried. Are they? No, pan fried.

Which ones are steamed then? Why are they steamed? Chinese ones are steamed. Why are Chinese ones gyoza? Yeah. So dim sum, which I think, is this still in Hong Kong? I don't want to make anything up but yeah so japanese gyoza is usually pan fried and you have that nice crispy bottom and then like the kind of gooey top but i will literally sit there for three hours wrapping gyoza so that for the whole year

eating gyoza oh no i can't it's of those things that I can just keep eating and eating and eating. Like, I will never, like, I can't stop eating goza. Do you take hours to do it? Yeah. Would you choose to do that over baking? Yeah. It's like what I imagine if, like, you know, like, there's, like, a kind of tradition with, like, in Italian households. Like, the grandma would sit there and, like, make the pasta by hand.

And you're like, why would you do that when you can buy it like that's what I that's what I'm like with gyoza you can buy gyoza from you know what there are some really good frozen ones but I go to Japan Centre where's that the one in Edgeware Road is that one in Edgeware Road? no it's the one in Central

just off Regent Street I don't know that one because you don't i know your level of understanding of japanese food is nobu darling popcorn prawns mochi my favorite things on oh ever i'm obsessed with little moons which is your which is your favorite i love the chocolate one with the hazelnut oh no you see i like coconut or the passion fruit the passion is the passion fruit there's ones that are like you can have you can have the passion fruit there's a mango or passion mango yeah the mango

and the passion fruit see that's okay but if you have like mochi the origins of mochi is like it's basically pounded rice right so if you pound a particular kind of rice and mochi rice that's how they get it all jelly like oh yeah just imagine you're squishing like a whole bowl of rice into like this tiny little thing and you just pound it pound it do you know what i don't think you should sing i think you should start making mochi i would love to she's really good at her job i know she is but i'd love to open a bakery would you that? That's my dream. What, like a Japanese bakery? Japanese bakery. So what would you serve in your bakery? I would serve...

The cheesecake? That like... I love that puffy... The puffy, yeah, the cloud cheesecake. I got sent one when my son was born, and it was light as a feather. It's just mainly egg whites, and then you just fold in some.

It's good for you. But it's a Japanese bakery. Okay, so there's like, I would probably anglicise it. Because I would, you know. What would you call it, this place? I've thought about it. And I always think that the most successful bakeries are named after a person. Okay, so who would it be named after?

Gales, Greg. Would it be Rena? No, Greg. No, but then I want something different for me. Noriko. Noriko sounds good, right? Noriko. I love that.

Okay, there we go. No one take my idea. The blooper bakery isn't. What's the one? Was it Dunn's in Next to Church Studios? Oh, I love Dunn's. Oh my God. That's my lactose cheat meal.

Ooh. Dunn's cakes. Is there another one at Sept crouch end no i always i only i only go when there's a there's a studio called church studios that is paul epworth studio which you made this hell yeah and there's another song called frankenstein that i wrote there and that's yeah but i always go to duns and i always get a stomachache this hell and frankenstein was did you write them post kind of lactose intolerance hell of being, yeah, were you in agony?

I, the day I became lactose intolerant was the day I arrived to film John Wick. Shit. I know, the worst. In Germany, where they do a lot of butter. Were you like shitting loads and you were about to eat Kiani? Jessica, please.

Oh, babes, no, I need to know more. No, no, no. Jessica loves to talk about poo. I do. I love to, too. I do. Oh, my God. Yeah, I love to talk.

But I need to know to talk about Kiani. Also, do you know, I think it's because of, like, when you're touring, you just talk about poo all the time. Do you not find? On the tour bus. I hope you don't. I talk about poo. Because you can't, it's like the thing because you can't do it on the tour bus.

You can't poo on the tour bus. So it's like. Please. Yeah. You'll never have to experience it don't worry mom i need to talk about reena's acting sorry sorry so okay john wick was it amazing doing it it was insane it was the most incredible the hardest and the most physically exhausting job i've ever done but it was also the most insane i would say that it's absolutely excruciating to watch yourself on screen right it's very different to a music video which i'm very used to seeing now and you know like i'll have i'm

i'm in the editing suite in the music videos watching my face over and over but movies because of the amount of hd-ness and the fact that your face is literally the size of an entire cinema lamp in there they want the real deal exactly and also you're a character so you're not making facial expressions like you were what was your character she's called akira and that's all i'm allowed to say about it when's it coming out next march i think oh jesus didn't you film it about over a year ago? Yeah, 2021 May. I need to know something about Keanu Reeves that nobody knows.

Have you got something for me, Reena, that you haven't given any other bugger in these 20 interviews a day situation? Oh, God, I wish I could say it. Something around food. Did you eat together? Did you share a drink? Yes, we went for meals together. Has he good table manners yes he does does he split the bill or does he pay i think someone paid who it was the studio um but i think whilst he's doing john wick he is on a

pretty strict regime in terms of diet i think so right. Right. But I think when he was, yeah, when he was dining with us, we were just kind of chilling. But it was, isn't that a weird thing to say, that I was chilling with him? But he was so nice. He would always make sure, because he was one of the producers and he is one of the producers on John Wick. Yeah.

He always made sure as a newcomer that I was comfortable because the whole thing is so scary. It was my first movie. And so it was terrifying. It's like hundreds of people on set. Like, and also it's something I've never done before. And, you know, it's like what with what we do, there's so much of you turn up and you you don't know what you're gonna do that day do you ever have that because i feel like i'm turning up to work and it's like

the first time i've ever done this so many times every festival it feels like that yeah i don't know maybe i'm just like no i think i get really freaked out the thing about festivals is you never know you can expect the worst out of a festival because you've made an assumption and then you have the greatest gig of your life and that's amazing or you can have the other way where it's bloody awful um i don't think we finished your uh last supper your mom's making the main meal so do you say goza or goza goza okay everybody itza. Okay, everybody, it is miso soup, not Zed. Miso. Miso.

Miso soup. Yeah, it is goza. Are you going to have miso soup with goza? Yes. With my main, I will. Always rice,

rice on the left, miso soup on the right. If you saw miso soup on the left, would you be like, oh mate, you've got bad taking manners?

It makes me feel sick. Really? Is it offensive? No. What is your pud? My pud would be a creme brulee

because I'm lacto. You can't because you're lacto. No but I'm about to die. Okay. Yeah. So I might die with a bloated tummy

and that's absolutely fine. And where would you have that creme brulee from? Or just, you don't care? You just have it? And would you like your creme brulee warm? Or do you mind if it's cold inside? I like it warm. Everyone likes it warm.

No, but sometimes you get it cold and then it's quite hard. And I don't mind the cream being a little harder. I like a matcha creme brulee as well. Have you ever tried a matcha creme brulee? I'm not a fan of matcha. Do you not like matcha? I'm sorry if I offended you. I can't do it.

Oh my God. What was your experience with it? But Jessie, you like all that shit. No, I don't. I think it's the milk with the matcha. I can't do it. Fair enough. I can do matcha with green.

Okay, fine, fine, fine. But I can't do the frothy with the matcha. Do you not like a latte and stuff? You don't like lattes? It's my favourite thing, matcha latte. They do it down the road. Do you? Really? That's your favourite thing?a latte they do it down the road do you down the road really that's your favorite thing they do matcha latte down the road you love it new ground

love it yeah new ground no if i'm if i'm gonna die i'm gonna die shitting myself but i have to say i like that i like that i have to say i've had a good matcha and white chocolate cookie before that was really good there's a place called sakurado in london that does matcha and white chocolate cookie before. Ooh. That was really good. There's a place called Sakurado in London that does matcha milk crepe cake, which is just tons of crepes with cream in the middle. Oh, yeah, that's Japanese, isn't it? Yes. And, like, I ate that, like, for three days straight because there was this mix-up about getting someone a cake,

and then it got delivered to me. Anyway, long story, I ate it, and I felt so sick, i kept eating it because it was just delicious just pure cream carby creamy love it what would be your drink oh you're not a big drinker no but when i'm in japan i do drink what do you drink i drink this thing called oolong hai which is oolong tea, but it's a tea-based cocktail. Oh, it's like Boston, what's it? Not a Long Island iced tea, mum. That has no tea in it. Which you drink one and then you wake up the next morning and you don't know where you've been.

So oolong hai. Oolong hai. And then you mix shochu with it. Which is like a sake. It's a stronger... I actually don't know what it is. I had that in the robot restaurant in Tokyo. Oh my God, you went to robot restaurant.

I've been three times taking different people. Love it. Oh my God. What's an Arnold Palmer? Isn't that tea? That is lemonade and iced tea. See? But that's not got alcohol in it.

We're talking about... It does. Lemonade and iced tea. I think so. Mum, what are you talking about? I'm sure an Arnold Palmer. Maybe your kind of Arnold Palmer has a bit of alcohol in it. Maybe it does.

I now need to know about something else. Lady Gaga, you met her. I did meet her. Was it in Vegas? It was in Vegas. Why were you in Vegas? We were meant to be in Utah, but our bus broke down outside of Vegas. So you decided to go to the Gaga concert.

Stop. No, and then one of my dancers said, no, I said, wouldn't it be really fun if we could go to a Gaga concert? Is she playing today? And then my dancer was like, yeah, actually, I just checked if she is.

So how did you get tickets? You called up your mate, Elton. Well, at that point, I'd already done the remix for her. So I had the contact of her management. And then they generously gave us 12 tickets. That's amazing. Yep, it was incredible.

And after the show, she came off stage, and we were backstage, and she holds both our hands out to me, and she goes, Reena, how was your tour bus? I love her. Fucking surreal, babes. I love her. I love her too. babes I love her I love her too this is why you can't leave Jessie

right I just want to show her that is not okay have you not heard that is not okay she said that okay look what I look

look I've peeled it sorry we're talking about the metal lid the inner lid also she put the wrong spoons in that's your fault oh guys

give me a bloody break the metal inner lid to inner lid. Also, she put the wrong spoons in. That's your fault. Oh, guys, give me a bloody break. The metal inner lid to a yoghurt pot. And Jessie has just peeled off one corner of it. You're just trying to get some points with my mum. She knows she's a lady. Not a bloody dinner lady.

I don't know if that makes one a lady to be honest. Anything that is unnecessary, I just have to peel it off. Okay, guys, all I'm going to say to the listeners, you've heard 14 seasons of me being in an abusive relationship with my mother, and I'm here calling out that it's unacceptable. And I'd like you to all email in if you think that Lenny is unreasonable. Oh, shut your mouth.

So we've got peaches with amaretti biscuits done with coconut oil and a bit of brown sugar. And then you've got a little, you know what? I'm going to make it a peach melba too. I'm going to put a little bit of raspberry sorbet.

This is so good. It's nice, isn't it? So simple. What did you do with the amaretti? You just mixed it in with coconut? You just bash them up. Yeah. Bash it up. Shove it in the hole.

That's what she said. So, yeah. And then you put it and bake it. And you've got yours with the oatly creme fraiche. Which slaps. Yeah, kind of works. Great works great so you're a south london girl we love that girl yep where's one of your favorite spots to eat in south london oh dosa and chutney and tooting broadway it's very um it's just super cheap and amazing good

dosa good dosas oh yum Do you eat out a lot? No, I eat in. I was in Deliveroo all the time. All the time. Lunches. Which Deliveroo? Which breakfasts I get. You don't. No, I know.

It's disgusting. It's when you're really busy and I just can't eat. What do you have for breakfast? I like the Joe and the Juice club sandwich. I quite like the little Joe and the little turkey sandwich with the juice it's the bread and I need to know what the recipe for the bread is because the bread is the only thing

if that was just in plain bread it's the bread do you like karaoke? obviously obviously you see but she's Japanese shut up she's a singer as well that's where i learned to sing japanese karaoke because i would go back when i would go back to japan for summer holidays i

would just go to the booth and get a one-person booth and sing for hours because it's love you've got a mic where is this place oh it's. Every single karaoke shop has a single booth. In England? No, in Japan. Is that quite common for kind of people to just go in there on their own? Yeah, because it's such a nice stress relief. And like that is, I think, the equivalent of singing in church in the UK or wherever in the Western world.

Yeah, karaoke. Is karaoke in Japan. So what were those songs that you were belting that you were like, you know what? I could do this professionally. I would always try and sing the hardest songs. So it would always be like Whitney Houston. But I grew up listening to Japanese music.

So I listened to, I would sing a lot of Japanese music. Okay, we won't know any of those songs. No, you won't, no. But what would you sing now? If you're going to a party and it's a karaoke party. Not in Japanese. Just any song. Not in Japanese.

Any song. Choose your Japanese one because maybe everyone needs to know it. I always love... Okay, so I find like Western songs, like English songs, more challenging to sing than Japanese songs. Really? Yeah, because I mean, you get people like whitney and mariah you don't have to choose the big singers you have she has a big voice mom no but i

am an absolute like devil are you a diva i'm a demon when it comes to karaoke because i just want to i can't wait till the carry like till the mic comes around to back me. I just have to sing the next song. Okay, so tell me. We're having a karaoke night and it's your turn. What's the song? I'm going to sing Cut to the Feeling by Carly Rae Jepsen. Oh, Carly Rae Jepsen, such good tune.

It's in my daughter's favourite film, Ballerina. Have you watched Ballerina? No, I haven't. You can hear it there because they do a whole ballerina dance to it. Amazing. That is good. it's one of the oh i've seen it and it goes oh yeah yeah true oh wow would we be able to find that on karaoke? Oh, yeah. You would. Okay. Yeah. I actually went to karaoke with Harry Styles one time.

Sorry? Sorry what? Oh, my gosh. Carry on, carry on. It was a total accident. What do you mean an accident? Where were you? I was in Tokyo and my friend, I was with my friend.

This is my booth, bitch. Move. Well, you know what? Because it was Harry, I let him. I was like, you know what? You're a pretty good singer, so you can sing this one. So hang on. Did you duet?

Well, yeah, actually, we didn't duet. Oh, he 100% didn't know who I am, and that's absolutely fine. Because it was like several, you know, he was just like... Was he One Direction? No, not that on it, though. No, but just tell me, Harry Styles went into a booth on his own. He was just wandering around the streets looking for a karaoke booth. Well, no, I think he was in Tokyo recording his second, second i think maybe this album or maybe the one before okay but um one of my friends

kiko was like hey like my friend shun is having a like party at his or like a little gathering like do you want to come and i was like yeah sure like you know shun's one of my friends and i was like yeah sure i'll come after work and i'll like i'll come meet you and then she was like oh by the way harry styles is always so there and i was like what i'm coming yeah and then she was like oh and um bobby and karamo from queer eye are also there oh my god stop and so it was like the most random group of people and so we all went to karaoke there was just there's a lot of bars in japan that's just seven seats and so we went to nichome which is like the gay district in japan in shijuku and we went there and we went to this like very private little tiny karaoke bar and it

was all pink and it's like absolutely tiny yeah and uh we sang and we like what was his song we sang and we like what was his song he sang an amazing rendition of i will always love you oh my god never put him as a whitney man and it was the most beautiful thing i've ever heard oh my god the boy can sing did he look into your eyes no and i'm just you with those eyes oh my gosh was he looking into somebody else's eyes no No, he wasn't. He was just looking at the screen. We were just all like chilling. It was so weird because it was so like, oh, like completely unexpected. If you're the demon, what do you do after Harry Styles does I Will Always Love You? Oh. Did he hit the note?

You don't sing. Rina, did he hit the note? Well, he lowered it to his key. What? He can change the key. Oh yeah, of course you can change. You can change the tempo. You can change the key. You can can change the key you can skip the intro

you can skip the intro you've never sang karaoke do they have reverb that's what Jessie yeah obvious that's what everyone likes you can EQ oh you can do anything okay I'm going to Japan

have you sang your song in Japanese karaoke yet? No, babe. I did that the other day. Did it sound amazing? It sounded insane. Because they like properly replay all your music for MIDI. Oh my God. Which song did you sing?

I sang STFU in excess. Oh my God. It was so fun. It was so fun. Did you film it? Did you film it? Yeah, I filmed it. Making a TikTok about it.

I really want to. I don't know why you don't like it. No it? Yeah, I filmed it. Making a TikTok about it. I really want to. I don't know why you don't like it. No, I like the sound of it. I like the idea of doing the booth and the EQ and the tempo. It's literally like a desk. Like it's just, the booth is as wide as just this table. And you just get in there and you just see the screen right in front of you. And you just sing.

I had a spare half an hour, so I just went. Yeah, I just went and just got a little thing for half an hour and then I just sang a couple of my songs and then left. I love that, Reena. I fucking love her. Honestly, such good vocal training because when do you ever get to practice with a mic unless it's in the rehearsal room?

Very, very good point. Reena, I adore you you've changed her mind there we go so i think maybe you need to set up your own karaoke place why don't you open instead with with cakes karaoke and cakes oh there we've got it forget john wick like good luck to you and john wick and i'm sure you're gonna be fantastic but this is the way to go i feel like from John Wick, the springboard is to make my own chain of karaoke restaurants. Babes, there's a lot to think about here.

There's a lot to think about. I've loved having you here. I've loved being here. It's been such a good time. See, Mum? Thank you so much. Gorgeous. That was amazing food.

Lastly, do you have good table manners, Rina? I think so. you scolded me about mine with the bloody yeah yogurt well i really fucked up first by not bringing something but then you brought something it's sitting there dragora blanco sounds fab um i well ah do i have good table manners yes thank you okay i do thank you so much for being here thank you so much for having me this is honestly a dream and thank you so much for coming it's such a pleasure Well mum, Reena Sawyama, what a treat. She's a force of nature. She's such a star.

And I think you'll look back in about two years when she is essentially Lady Gaga and you're going to be like, I had Reena in my kitchen and... I couldn't take my eyes off her.'s stunning she's mesmerizing she's incredibly generous as well yeah she's very sweet and um i'm very you know yeah i'm a big big fan and she was so lovely and it was a pleasure to have her and i just wish you all the best with hold the girl and your food was lovely And I think that pud was really good. For people at home that want, like... Am I allowed to say simple?

I think it wasn't as simple as you think. OK. Because the amaretti stuffing... Stuffing! It was coconut oil and amaretti biscuits bashed up, which was fantastic. I had to bash them. You could do it with butter. Yeah, it would be better with butter. I didn't like it as much because it wasn't... Ihed up, which was fantastic. I had to bash them. You could do it with butter.

Yeah, it would be better with butter. I didn't like it as much because it wasn't... I liked it. It was good. It didn't taste very... Do you know what I forgot to put in? No, I forgot to put the amaretto in. Oh, yeah.

And that would make... I thought it didn't taste very almondy. It was really nice. I missed it out. It was lovely. Anyway, I loved it. But I think that was inspired inspired the raspberry sorbet on top well i think that was my suggestion i did because i said why don't you do a peach melba

no you didn't what i said was i'm going to get the swedish glass or i've got some raspberry sorbet and you said oh that would be a peach melba but you didn't know i had raspberry sorbet so it was not your idea and don't anyway whatever You're great. You're amazing. I'll cook next time. Thank you so much for listening, everyone. And go and listen to Rina's record.