Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S14 Ep 9: Rose Matafeo

Episode Date: November 23, 2022

From one Starstruck favourite to another…Rose Matafeo everyone !! I’m back in old rainy Blighty, and returning - in fine form if I say so myself - to cooking duty! Whilst gazing at the Matafeo powerhouse, I made a lovely slow roast chicken from Alison Roman's book ‘Nothing Fancy’ and mum did a Saffy's LA inspired salad - it was perfect and minimal effort. Rose spoke to us about growing up in New Zealand, resenting reggae in her teens and her love of Goat Curry. She also offers up Samoan dishes and her secret to the best fry up. We ranked meats, Rom Coms and fell in love to be honest. Enjoy this episode. Go go go! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. Now, we loved having Nikesh Patel so much on last week, we thought we'd get his co-star on this week. Well, this is like yin and yang. Sunny and Cher. The perfect duo. Torval and Dean. I know.

And Lenny and Jess. It's a shame we couldn't have had them together, but I'm so, so excited. We finally have Rose Matafayo coming on, and I'm cooking. I'm back from South America and six weeks away. I have eaten too many meals out. I've drunk far too much wine. I am so happy to be back in the kitchen, and I think you're quite happy too.

I'm very happy. However, you have helped with this dish today right should I tell everybody what we're do you want to ask me some questions about my amazing trip away and what I saw and what I ate well I was help holding the fort down here darling let's not make it about you for a second

how was your amazing trip Jessie it was really amazing. Yeah, it must have been wonderful to be away for six weeks, carefree, no cooking, being looked after. You know, I'm the boss of a huge 15-person strong crew and, you know, I had to perform and really take my role seriously as a performer. A pop star. Yeah. Yeah, and I really liked it. So was it fun?

It was really fun. fun. I ate some amazing food. Did you love Buenos Aires? Buenos Aires was brilliant. Were the jacaranda trees out? Yes! I know. The jacaranda trees! It's quite amazing. But it's like only in November. It's like a purple, it's only

November and it's because I went on your brother's birthday. It was so beautiful. And it's like purple hue it's because I went on your brother's birthday it was so and it's like purple hue over the whole city the jacaranda trees it's just quite incredible it was so beautiful and I was really lucky that we got like four days off there went to a Coldplay gig in a stadium did you eat steak I did eat steak and I didn't know this. They overcook it. You're supposed to ask for one level down. So if you like medium rare, you ask for rare. Because they always do it a bit hard.

And it frustrated me. I learned that after I'd eaten all my bloody steak. Jessie, they'd actually think you're weird if you have rare meat. Well, I have to say, I didn't think it was the greatest steak of my life. Like everyone was talking about. Because they overcook it. Did you drink Malbec? I did like the the mold back I bought some mold back tonight I thought I was gonna sound like a dick and how many how many empanadas did you eat I ate plenty yeah I also had one of the most life-changing blood pudding no blood sausage things at where where was it? El Preferido. It was so delicious.

My tour manager, Jonathan, had an allergic reaction at one of the restaurants, which was an amazing restaurant. Just sadly, he is allergic to cashews and chestnuts. And cashews in Spanish are quite similar, we found out later when they'd written in English that it was chestnuts, not cashews. I think he should avoid all nuts i think for christmas i'm going to get him an allergy test um um no buenos aires was fantastic ate well danced well went to chile um santiago for like a bit chilly that was beautiful it was so was so lovely. All the mountains, all the

mountains just like it was great. And now I've come back and I'm cooking and my friend Helen, who teaches me yoga, we talk about food a lot. And she said, I just made this meal and I thought of you. And it's from this cookbook called nothing fancy now I haven't tasted it yet but Helen who I trust says this is so fantastic by Alison Roman and she's like a home cook so we're doing slow cooked chicken in roasted tomatoes there's loads and loads of oregano tomatoes garlic and then you put a bit of red wine vinegar in at the end but you cook the chicken for about three hours on a lower heat i think my oven's a bit too hot so i hope it's not freaking dry it's like butter some fennel

seeds so it's really just bang it all in and cook and i've just done i've put baked potatoes in for the same amount of time so they've got a really nice hard edge and so we're put baked potatoes in for the same amount of time. So they've got a really nice hard edge. And so we're having baked potatoes, roast chicken with all this gorgeous jammy tomatoes. I put some anchovies on. She recommended to put some anchovies on. And then you've done a salad, which was inspired by Safi's, which is in Los Angeles, which was one of the best meals I had in my whole trip. It's chicory, red and white chicory and i roasted onions and i separated them all and put them with more walnuts on and the chicory and the onions and walnuts and i made an orange a citrus dressing gorgeous so let's how was the

citrus dressing it's got orange juice lemon juice and some orange zest in a vinaigrette really so we're having that so you've got like delicious sweet tomatoes you've got the chicory with the walnuts with the zesty and then i'm just doing some cavolo nero because it's just really nice and then i've made a pavlova because from new zealand they like pavlovas down that neck of the woods, don't they? Yes, we still need to whip up the... Have you got a quick whisk? Electric one.

So, we've got Rose Matifeo coming on, and we obviously had Nikesh, her co-star, last week. And so, I guess we're going to talk a bit more about Starstruck. But we're also going to talk about... You're probably a bit more into it by now. Well, yeah, you've probably been listening to the podcast and if you haven't watched Starstruck, you're into it. And now with what, the leading lady?

I've been really excited to meet her because I just think she's a brilliant comedian and actress and writer. And she writes Starstruck. Yeah, and so she's coming over. We're going to eat some chicken, have a pavlova, have a natto. Who's whipping the cream then, Jess? I'll do it now. All right.

Rose Mastafio coming up on Table Mum. So excited. This is actually the second time we've met in our lives. Do you know that? You're kidding. I interviewed you when I was 20 years old. Fuck off. Yeah.

Backstage at Auckland Laneway Festival. I knew I fucking liked you. Auckland Laneway Festival. I was a music, like I hosted a music show on New Zealand TV. Oh my God. Why didn't you say this to me? I don't know. I mean, I thought I wanted this effect.

I wanted this moment. Is there like photographic evidence? No, it was like, honestly, I accosted you like just after your set at Laneway. Was this before Starstruck was even... Oh my god, yeah. Yeah, I was like 19, 20. And then like, I was doing comedy by then.

And I was doing stand-up and all of that. But then when I was 19, I got a job hosting a music TV show that was literally made in a hallway, like true New Zealand style. We produced it ourselves. It was like a podcast, but like filmed and it was live um and um yeah and i did that for like a couple years but that's how i met like lots of people like yeah it was crazy so did you want to be a journalist then no not at all i had no so why were you there comedy like because because it was it was it was kind of like a youth music show with the most yeah

yeah okay i guess like it's like like simon amstel is like an example of someone who went to interview, I knew nothing about music my taste in music is middle of the road, adult contemporary so did you like Jessie? I loved Jessie. Did you remember me? Of course I remembered you. That's kind of cool

because I haven't been fucking back so I couldn't make that much of an effect on New Zealand I think it was a good, it was a good, it was an interesting lane. Wait, who else was there? Alt J. Subject?

Subtract wasn't there. Really? Maybe it was a year after, maybe. Bat for lashes was there. Alt J. Mr and Mrs. Shlomo.

Did you do the Australian league as well? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Did you enjoy touring down there? I mean, I've never been back. Yeah. But I loved it. I've never eaten so well. Cheers, by the way. Oh, okay. Did you enjoy touring down there? I mean, I've never been back. But I loved it.

I've never eaten so well. Cheers, by the way. Oh, cheers. Cheers. We reunited. Friends reunited. What do you say in New Zealand for cheers? It's just, it's cheers,

but then a slightly New Zealand accent as well. Cheers. It's not a Maori. No. It's a Maori word. I don't think so, but you would say skull. That would be the New Zealand word.

Okay, because I kind of thought you'd come in and do a haka before we added a dae. I wish I could. I'm Samoan, to be fair. But then, to be fair, I probably know more Maori words than I know Samoan words, which is really bad. Yeah, I'm about to go to... Well, this will date the reference, but Samoa just made the Rugby League World Cup finals. And for some reason, I'm going to Manchester on Saturday. Oh my God.

Really? Are you big into rugby? Not at all. But you like the only Samoa. Yeah. Who can we get? I'm going on my own, on my own steam.

I said, I said, I've got to support, you know, Samoa and the, and this historical event. But no, I mean,

rugby and rugby league and stuff, like when you're from New Zealand, you kind of... I'm so not a sports person. I can't get into football here. I've tried so hard. I've tried so hard. Who have you tried to support? Man U.

Man U, okay. Who have you tried? I don't want to say. Arsenal. I knew it was Arsenal. They're a little dull roads, that's why. No, no, no, because they live want to say. Arsenal. I knew it was us. Well, you're going wrong now. They're a little dull, Rose. That's why.

No, no, no. Because I live closest to Arsenal. Yeah, but they're a little dull, Arsenal. To be fair, I've never felt... Like, I don't feel the fire for us. Goodness. That's okay. Say it louder. I don't feel the fire.

Say it with your chest. I don't feel the fire yet. Show me the fire, someone. You might do. Yeah. Well, Man U's a very good bunch. Yeah, we love them, you see. I feel like Liverpool had a bit of a place in my

heart because of... Winning? Well, I love Liverpool as a place and some of my family lived up there and I've been on the Liverpool tourist open top bus three times. I've been on the ferry across the Mersey about five times. I have no clue why.

Have you got a hotel room for the Eurovision then? No. I've got actually weird, I've got a hen do that weekend, a hen night in Leeds. So I will be far away from Liverpool. Okay, fine. That's a very interesting

place to have a hen do. I think it's going to be quite exciting. It's not a destination hen do. But it's better than Brighton, isn't it? We can't go to Brighton for a hen do. Why? Because everyone goes to Brighton for a hen do. Do they? Yeah, it gets a bit messy, I reckon.

Yeah. I'm not really well versed on like, because I've got to organise this hen night. Is it your best friend? It's my best friend who plays Kate in Starstruck. Oh. Who we love. I know.

It's a really, she's the best. I mean, I was just outed, you know, when we were having a night. But yeah, she's,

Who's she marrying? Someone else? She's marrying Al. Oh no! Slap! You did that? No, I didn't because

they were together already and I lived with them and I went, I didn't Because they were No you didn't No no no They were together already But and I lived with them And I went I didn't look far For a cast Oh my god So this is basically

Your life as Starstruck Have you banged Nick Ash You banged Nick Ash Why didn't you ask him When you had him on the show You had him Alright He was so sweet

I didn't listen to his episode Because I didn't want I wanted to be a safe space To him talk shit about me He was so sweet That's so sweet. Is he the kisser? I can't actually remember, honestly.

Oh, that means he's not. No, because, you know, honestly. But he might kiss differently when he's acting than when he's in love. Well, this is the thing. It's an interesting thing about, like, we've only had one sort of sex scene in the first series. But we're talking about this in that, like, you've got to figure out your sex noise your fake sex noise because you don't want to go into your real sex noise

when you're pretending to have sex do you know what I mean it's quite a vulnerable thing so then you have to come up with a fake one and that seems quite weird yeah

is that a thing that everyone does I don't know couldn't you be like yeah that's my fake sex noise yeah yeah double blind Jessie what's your fake sex noise

mum oh my god we're going to brainstorm this right now. Jessie, we've never talked about sex so quickly on the podcast. Gross! This is a dirty bitch! I'm sorry! This is the first scene of my fucking show.

No, no, it's really, it was funny because we did shoot in COVID, so every time we kissed, I would have to down some corset, not down it, but corset or mouthwash was the official COVID guidance. you're kidding every time we kissed for a while we had to like wash our mouths when we kiss how ridiculous it was crazy it was like if we're gonna get did they think corset always stop why didn't we just issue everyone with corset doll and we'd have all been all right it was it goes up your nose the covid doesn, doesn't it? It was just... It was mad. It was early days of COVID stuff where, like, people didn't know what...

How to kill it. Like, we were doing so much stuff. And that was the height of lockdown when we shot the first series. So you were here and your family, I assume, live in New Zealand. So, yeah. A bit of my family live in New Zealand. My mother is... My mother lives in Uganda.

My brother lives in Berlin. So, like, lots of us in our immediate family are up in the northern hemisphere so it's a big it's a good mix and I'm going back for the first time in two years this Christmas to New Zealand are you yeah it's great I I when COVID first hit I went down for five months and had a grand time with my nan and lived with her for a while and then came back. But we were supposed to shoot Starstruck before that all happened. And then one day we came in and they were like, we're not going to do that anymore because of a global pandemic. It sounds like you're waiting behind us to do the job.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Not here. God. I've just come from auditions casting for the third series. Oh, my God. Oh, we're so excited. I loved it from the moment I watched it. Thanks for watching it.

I appreciate it. And then we were so excited the second series. And then where are you going with the third one? We're directing it this year, which is me and my co-writer Alice. And yeah, it's interesting it's like it is hard because like I only I thought the first one was like one and done a bit you know like because it couldn't act because it's almost like watching a film you know and it's like it just exists as one standalone thing and then we did a second series which was which was still fun but honestly making sequels to what

is essentially like a rom-com bloody hard oh. Oh, I thought it was just wonderful. Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah, no, we loved every minute. And I just thought you were the, I mean, Nikesh was a perfect foil, really. I mean, he says that about himself. He says I was just a foil for Rose, really. When did you know you were funny?

I'm still waiting for the day. I don't think I'm funny. We think you're funny. What sort of family did you grow up were funny? I'm still waiting for the day. I don't think I'm funny. We think you're funny. Did you, what sort of family did you grow up in? A funny family? No, not at all. I think, well, I mean, if they listen to this. It's, so I come from, my immediate family got two old brothers, my parents.

Auckland. Auckland. I grew up Rastafarian, 12 tribes of Israel. I grew up like slightly like, that was the religion. I grew up. Rastafarian, 12 tribes of Israel. I grew up like slightly like that was the religion that I grew up. So I, lots of reggae,

like lots of like, both my parents have dreads. That's, that's the kind of, I've got hippie parents, but hippie, but Rasta parents. So that was an interesting upbringing.

Um, why were they Rasta? they were um my dad's someone and then a certain point um 12 tribes israel which is like a denomination of rust came down to auckland or like someone started basically the house there and um and yeah my dad wanted in and a lot of marie pacific island the house, I think, because it was just like a religion that wasn't, you know, completely white. And then my mum joined because she admittedly was a Bob Marley freak as a teenager. And then she was like, what's Rastafarianism?

And then met my dad through that. And then... Was this like a commune? It wasn't really like commune. It was more, it was like a church. It was like, it's kind of Christianity,

but more catered to, you know, Do you follow it? No. I mean, like I, I would have, in that really funny way of like,

you know, when you brought up something, you like rebel against it. So like to be brought up in a religion, which is like pretty cool. When you look back on it, I'm going, I hated reggae. because it was all that played in my house. Like it was so like murals of Haile Selassie on your wall, like, you know, all around your thing of like,

and going, you know, it was so much a part of our lives that I was like, you know, like we had to have dances every month for each tribe. you know like we had to have dances every every month for each tribe and so there's always such funny photos of my mom handmade outfits with all like all the same color i need to find them when i go back home it's it's like so did you have dreads i didn't have dreads myself no but did you wear a little woolly hat i did three colors yeah well not it would read red gold green so green gold red yeah yeah we'd knit them for the craft um the craft thing is like are you teasing us i'm not teasing i've got pictures i got i've got like so you don't listen to reggae now i can listen to reggae now

i i my mom recently came to visit me and we went to eastbourne for a reggae carnival and watched like it was east in eastbourne yeah it was Eastbourne. In Eastbourne? Yeah. It was, like, Dave Rodigan, Janet Kaye, like, General Levy. Like, it was wild. Trojan has a sound system. It was pretty fun. But in Eastbourne, yeah, it was pretty fun.

I think you'd better bring Sam in to hear all this. My husband would have loved it. Loves your life. It was a... That is what he aspired. It was a good life. Through his weed smoking day so did everyone smoke weed?

not everyone but it was definitely a part of it I think it meant that I didn't smoke much weed as a teenager because I was so used to it as a kid that I was like it was everything that was cool was it forbidden? not particularly I don't think anything was

forbidden with my pet but I don't think anything was forbidden with my but I was such a straight laced do you like Safi from Absolute yeah basically that like it was

it was kind of wild me and my brothers were really like honestly I rebelled I loved Burt Bacharach like that was my thing like that was my thing as a kid

which is your song my song my favorite Burt Bacharach song is really hard to say but I think This Girl's In Love With You by Petrilla Clark oh I love that

I think that version of it is one of my favorites or like Tower Of Strength I kind of I feel like maybe you know what like we'll do series three of Starstruck

and then you need to make yeah the story of your life the story of your life and make it a rom-com it's so oh babe

this is it's a no brainer it's a fucking no brainer with Bob Marley's soundtrack in New Zealand that's a good idea actually doll I like

you've got it I got it I think like this is your IP I cannot partake in something with

the 12th tribe of Israel because you're doing you're Jewish I'm Jewish but it's a very different I think it was close yeah maybe closer

than others you could get involved I so no I really think this is what you are you already doing this no

babe no no no but do you it's a no brainer I don't talk about any of the stuff on stage well we didn't know

anything of it exactly because I only I that's the odd thing is that I don't find any of that so normal to me that I can't find the interesting funny so normal to me that I can't find

the interesting funny bits of those things it's fantastic it's really weird it's an interesting thing it's amazing I know so what were you eating

goat curry a lot of goat curry really a lot of injera yeah Ethiopian injera lovely a lot of

yeah I mean yeah did you like that or were you like just give me I do like goat curry okay yeah but I couldn, yeah. Did you like that? Or were you like, just give me? I do like goat curry. Okay, yeah. But I couldn't do saltfish.

It was like a bit like the Jamaican stuff. Aki. Aki. I couldn't fully do it. Have you ever been to Jamaica? Never been to Jamaica. That's fab. I'd love to.

I'd love to go. I mean, I haven't even been to Samoa. But like, that's... I thought it was Samoa. Am I being really shibber? It's actually Samoa. Samoa. Okay, sorry. The emphasis is on everyone in this country does it. Do not worry. Okay, fine. I thought it was Samoa. Am I being really shibber? It's actually Samoa. Samoa.

The emphasis is on everyone in this country. Do not worry. How do you spell it? I'm on a personal S-A-M-O-A. But you say it Samoa. Samoa. Samoa. No, not Samoa. It's kind of like I want some more.

The easiest way is Samoa. Samoa. Samoa. Samoa. Yeah, exactly. It's like your son when he asks for more. Exactly. Samoa. Yes, he's nailing it.

I was trying to explain, because of them being in the World Cup, like England versus Samoa, it was like everywhere, everywhere saying Samoa. It's kind of like more, like, no, no, no. I'm on a personal mission to just tell everyone in England. like everywhere, everywhere saying Samoa. It's kind of like more, like, no, no, no. It's, it's, I'm on a personal mission to just tell everyone in England. Yeah.

You're right though, because we didn't know. Well, no, it's, it's like Moana. Should I get the, which is our favorite.

Love Moana. But everyone's like Moana. You're like, it's Moana, but you've learned the Moa. Samoa. Moana. Yeah,

exactly. Yeah, no, we, are you hungry? Should I get some okay whilst I try and like serve

this stuff up mum's gonna ask me some more questions thank you okay I'm ready right so I want to know did your mum cook goat curry

every night so my mum goat curry was something we'd eat at like at the house at HQ so like

HQ HQ headquarters 12 tribes headquarters and um and um so my mum my mum did learn how to make injera eventually

but not really my mum now my mum has recently told me that she listens to every podcast I do because she misses the sound of my voice

meaning that everything I say now I know my mum will be listening okay that's what mums do I know I'm very happy to say

and I think she'd be the first to admit it she did not love cooking like she wasn't like a natural like it was a still a chore you know in the family especially when you got three kids i can relate to that yeah it's like stressful and it's like i think i'm really lucky you will you know i don't have kids like i get to experience cooking as a joyful thing as opposed to i need to feed yeah i need to feed my family usually on not like much money you know you're like making a budget within a budget did they work as well as follow hyla oh yeah god of course my my dad worked in a classic 90s office job that i have no idea

what it was really uh in that dad way my mom was a teacher but she trained to be a teacher when i was about like eight or yeah right so she was just at home before that and not just at home but she was at home but we were a real we got taught how to cook ourselves quite early on i remember my mother went away for three months on a trip when i was 12 and we were left with my dad and my two other brothers where did she go she went she went to basically do the, what we call in New Zealand, an OE, an overseas experience. An OE.

An OE, the one that she never got because she got, she had her first kid at 21. What people would do at gap year. Exactly. So she like had my brother when she was 21 and so she didn't really have that experience.

So she just went everywhere and this was like 2004 maybe. Did she go to Ethiopia? She did. Yeah, yeah. She went to, I mean she's been there a couple times now Did she go to Ethiopia? She did. Yeah, yeah. She went to, I mean, she's been there a couple times now, but she went to Ethiopia, Jamaica, the UK, like around America.

And that was before the days of phones. So I remember I was 11 and my mum just went away for three months and I'd get, we'd get postcards sometimes. I got one phone call in three months and it was an amazing, I felt like Pippi Longstocking. It was crazy. It was like, because my dad was working and it was an amazing i felt like pippi long stockings it was crazy it was like because my dad was working and it was like i learned i learned how to make a really good lasagna um very good leeks and kind of white sauce age 11 yes age 11 child labor and it's

child labor before that i learned how to make i uh i'd make dinner every friday night for me and my brothers because my mom would be out dancing and my dad would be at the house, you know, doing admin stuff. So, yeah. Self-sufficient. Very self-sufficient. I think so. Do you like lamb, given that you come from Lucille? No, it is a cliche, but I fucking love.

One of my favourite things to ask people in party situations or in one-to-one, rank your meats yeah out of five would definitely be my number really oh oh i love lamb it's the best you're after my yeah give me a lamb chop and unreal yeah the fat the flavor the flavor everything about it i love lamb so much me too um so the rank how often do you eat it to eat lamb well the thing is i've been trying to cut down ultimately on meat. I know, because to save the planet. To save the planet, I know.

But then, like, I keep forgetting. I know. I love food. You keep forgetting about the planet. Yeah, I do too. Look, I try and save meat for, like, weekends now. Oh, you're a weekend meat eater. Maybe a weekend meat eater.

I can't cut it out all together like cold turkey. But, yeah, i do love lamb so so much me too how do you like it cooked your favorite way pretty like medium rare medium rare like like a leg of lamb like a leg of lamb or like a lamb cutlet lamb chop like the ah it's just so good i know if you read so number one for you, can I ask you chicken, lamb, pork, beef? I don't eat pork. No, of course, of course. You do.

Let's not talk. No, I'll eat prosciutto. So you eat pork, you eat bacon. And I have bacon now and again, but I wouldn't eat roast pork. Okay, yeah, yeah. But I love roast lamb. So let's just do the roast thing. Okay, okay.

Okay, roast lamb. Yeah. Ro do the roast thing okay okay okay roast lamb yeah roast beef roast beef roast chicken but I see roast chicken is not that where would you put

fish in there um not necessarily roast I do it I try and eat fish at least two or three times a week love fish

I came from a big fishing family in New Zealand my grandmother um whose name's JC is Moana Moana she's the. It's Moana. Moana. She's the grandma with the shell.

She is part of the Auckland Lady Anglers. Scottish Jessie. So she goes fishing, darling. She's an angler. She is an amazing, like, oh, she's an incredible fish. I never ate fish from a shop before. Do you have different fish in new zealand than we have here i've had arguments about this with a good friend okay yeah of course we can you get halibut no i don't think so i mean i've never had halibut in new zealand we have things like um we do have good snapper kahaway like we've got more like maori terms for like names for things so they're completely different they're kind of they're kind of there's some that are similar but like a snapper in New Zealand

would be maybe akin to like a sea bream here so do you like the fish better in New Zealand than you do here yeah definitely

it's much better fish fish here is very not as good not as good but but I have time for some but I really miss

the fish at home and I like especially my nan will make like raw fish at home and I, like, especially, my nan will make, like, raw fish. Like,

it's kind of like ceviche. Oh, like ceviche. Yeah, but not even, like, coconut cream or cream. Oh my word. So yeah,

instead of, like, instead of, you cure it with lemon, still, but it's like a mixture of then coconut cream, you know,

sprig of, What are you doing? Because it's not, this isn't my recipe, so I'm just having a look. Oh, my God. Yeah, Jessie's doing new recipes. It looks and smells amazing.

This looks amazing, darling. That's insane. Oh, that's just ridiculous. Here, let's have a plate. Are you happy with champagne? Do you want red or white? Yeah, let's have a drop of wine, darling. That's insane. Oh, that's just ridiculous. Here, let's have a plate. Are you happy with champagne? Do you want red or white? Yeah, let's have a drop of wine, darling. What do you want? Red? What do you prefer, Rose? Chicken. I don't know. What do you say? I don't mind.

There's still white. There's still white. There's still white. I love that. Thank you. This is divine. Is it nice? It's unreal. It's actually fabulous. I'm telling you what, it's not my recipe. See, that's the recipe, for God's sake. Shout it nice? It's unreal. It's actually fabulous. I'm telling you, it's not my recipe. Well, she knows the recipe, for God's sake. Shout out to bloody yoga Helen.

It's from this book called Nothing Fancy. And I'm into this lady. Hang on. Al Zorman. Is it Al Zorman? I love that book. Fucking good book, yeah. Oh, is it from there?

I made the lamb from that book recently. I don't have it, so I've just ordered it on Amazon. Oh, I'm going to get it as well. I made the lamb from that book recently. I don't have it, so I've just ordered it on Amazon. Oh, I'm going to get it as well. I made a lamb neck recipe from that over tomatoes. It was good. It was really good. Are you a good cook? You know what?

I'd say I'm a good cook. I have the confidence to say I'm a good cook these days. More so that I just enjoy cooking, so I enjoy trying to make myself get better at it, and I think that's how you become a good cook, is when you like food and you want myself get better at it and I think that's the how you become a good cook is when you you like food and you want to you know get better so you you say you're a good cook you've got the recipe book that we've just done a recipe from Alison Roman I'd like to know if we were coming over what you're

cooking for us oh my god okay immediately because I need to see like lamb probably a lamb thing I think I'm getting better at lamb, especially that Alison Roman recipe. Okay. I'll probably cook you lamb or pasta. Like, it depends. Like, if it's like a last minute thing, I can whip up a pasta very quickly. Okay. So what would be your sauce?

Okay. Are you making your pasta? No, I'm making my pasta. But, like, if you were like, oh, afters at my house, I'd be like, great. Come over. I'd either make you a tuna pasta with like capers or like, you know, sweet, like roasted peppers. Like anything that comes from the cupboard that I can keep forever. Yeah.

And then, or I'll just make you a tomato, tomato sauce, which the best tomato sauce I've ever found. And I know it's illegal to use butter and Italian tomato sauce, but. Oh, I've ever found and I know it's illegal to use butter in Italian tomato sauce but I really tons of garlic and Italians might not like that

to be honest butter but tons of garlic like so much garlic chopped butter tin of tomatoes

and then cook it down and then with spaghetti and parmesan and olive oil and I think sounds heaven I've done that i've i'm sad to say i've cooked that like drunk before and then you should never cook drunk but i nailed it it was all good this has loads of butter in it as well oh because tomatoes and

butter is the greatest gift that was the one thing that mum used to do on a sunday morning with the fry up you do your sexy tomatoes in butter. And they never went wrong. Hell yes. You know what my nan does in her fry up? Fried banana and butter. Oh my god. It's fried banana and butter with bacon.

It's the most insane combination of all time. That's a great idea. If you don't eat pork, you won't be enjoying that. You're going to enjoy it with something else. but something else salty, but it's unreal. Oh, that sounds fantastic. I guess it's sort of like plantain, but it's even sweeter. It's just pure banana. So, yeah, I guess I've got you there.

And then, yeah, I think that might be one of my more impressive dishes, but probably lamb. So, okay, we ask everybody their last supper. It's a starter, a main, a pud and a drink of choice is it so bad? because I played different iterations of this game that's fine though because you can kind of like you know

this is just today this is just today, how I'm feeling today yeah Jessie if this was one of my last oh shut up I'm not I'm not even giving you cheers

if genuinely if they were like actually you're going to the chair you're going to the chair you got an option here it's McDonald's or this

I would choose this don't worry this is this is quite yummy freaking Alison Roman you're good you didn't skimp on the butter

and that's why I didn't it's like the butter and that's why. I didn't. It's like, it's dripping in it. It's just pure butter. Yeah, keep going. I'm just picking out a garlic clove. Yeah, great.

Okay. Starter main. Dessert. Drink. Starter. Yeah. I would go for the most expensive, like, fatty, like, salmon, like, sashimi, essentially. Uh-huh. The most, like, like high grade sashimi you could get.

Where are you going for that? Japan. Okay, fair enough. I mean, I guess Japan. Have you been there? I have been to Japan, yeah. What do you think? I loved it.

Anyway, Sadata, sashimi. Main. Sashimi, okay. Salmon sashimi. Salmon or like fish. Salmon sashimi. What is it? I'd say salmon sashimi, yeah. You say sashimi. Sashimi Okay Salmon sashimi Salmon or like Fish Salmon sashimi What is it? I'd say

Salmon sashimi You say sashimi Oh is that Is it not a sh Sean Connery yeah Oh no is it not an sh At the beginning No it's not

Sashimi I always thought it was sashimi No I know you say What have you been ordering? Well I don't order that Sashimi Some sort of fatty Salmon

Um Cause I like fish Um Main Well, I don't order that. Shhh, homo. Some sort of fatty salmon. Because I like fish. Humane. Shit, that's such a good question. It's really hard because I've just had an amazing chicken meal. That's fine. Like, you know, that could be like a, you know, a substitute. Yeah.

Maybe honestly, like, I think I could do a lamb. Like a really fatty lamb cutlet. Like, I don like if it was if i was about to yeah like if i was about if it was my last meal i'm like i'm eating all that fat oh yeah like would you like the fat i love the fat i don't even like the fat oh my god that's not me being good i can't make it a bit ill oh when it's hard at the outside and then soft oh yeah i am so with so, with this fat, this flavour vibe. But then I get it, I've got friends who cut off the fat and stuff. But in a pork, some people have a pork chop and then cut off the fat on the pork chop. They're like, oh yeah, the crackling bit.

Yeah, why would you do that? So, okay, we've got, we've got the main sides. Are we going to have the... Yeah, do you have potato? Do you like potatoes? Give them the potato. Probably like a mashed potato, I'd say. What most people in new zealand have with their lamb chops interestingly i think like if you were having lamb in new zealand the lamb would be good but

the accoutrement would be terrible like it would be like peas and carrots or whatever like okay i like a classic sort of that kind of meal well there's actually incredible incredible food in new zealand but but then lamb is done here so much better in terms of like, I don't know, anywhere. Exactly. A nice rack of lamb. A nice rack of lamb. But maybe some mash. I don't know.

It's such a hard question and I need to get a better answer to it. Pudding? Pudding? Maybe I'd go for something sentimental and it wouldn't be like, it wouldn't be. Are you a sweets kind of girl? I'm fucking like i love sweets so much if i were okay it's a it's a it's a tie up between it's a toss up between japanese do you remember in japan they have this like strawberry kind of shortcake they have at

new year's day or christmas it's like sponge sponge fresh cream strawberries sponge fresh and it's like a perfect sort of strawberry sponge cake that i got really obsessed with you can buy slices of it at a place in soho oh really good yeah yeah japanese sponge cake is very very it's cheesecake it's like cheesecake and it's very light and pale the the sponge is great. A Japanese cheesecake is really good as well. There's a shop called Uncle Tetsu who they opened up in Auckland during lockdown. And oh, I love it.

I'd line up for those cheesecakes. It's like a Basque kind of. Oh yeah, yeah. But lighter than a Basque. Way lighter. I had a chocolate version of it in Melbourne once. It was so good. Do you think that New Zealand has better food than Australia? New Zealand? Thank you. mean do you think that new zealand has better food than australia new zealand

or do you think um do i think do you feel in competition with australia it's a friendly rivalry but um i will always sort of you know especially it's it's context dependent isn't it like in the in the uk i'm like i'm gonna'm going to be siding with Australians over the Brits. But then between us, down in the southern hemisphere, it's a bit of a rivalry. I've got many Australian friends, though. I've met through comedy. And I go to Melbourne Comedy Festival for a month,

like every year. And you eat well. Like Melbourne's insane for food. So we've got a drink of choice. No, but I've got, oh. I didn't even say say did I say my last oh yeah oh no all that

all coconut buns pani popo salmon coconut buns I'll teach you how to make them coconut buttons coconut buns

buns bread buns pretty normal white bread bun but then basically at the end you pour a mixture of coconut cream

and sugar and a little bit of water over top so when it cooks it gets you know cooked to the top and then the underneath it's like turns this kind of puddingy caramelized like coconutty thing so it's kind of like oh it's like so good and so it's like it's wet at the bottom and you know is this a thing yeah it's like it's um where from from Samoa yeah yeah so yeah can you get that anywhere in London no you've got to

make them and I I have are you good at it I've got I've gotten good at actually the most recent the last sort of family function on my Samoan side I made a lot and I'm half I'm half Samoan and I'm you know half Croatian Croatian and Scottish so um it meant a lot that my Samoan family were like how do you say your surname it's sort of more officially like Matafio but

oh can we say it wrong no no no everyone says it wrong but it's it's a simple change from Mata to like

people say Mata it's just like Mata instead of Matafio Matafio yeah Matafio she could definitely be in Moana

yeah I could be on Moana I should have been in Moana. Moana. I can't believe I didn't get the call up. It's ridiculous. And what gave you the idea for Star Trek? I love rom-coms. Me too.

Okay, let's talk about top five rom-coms. Off the top of my head, Bridget Jones' Diary. A huge place in my heart. Yeah, weird, isn't it? Not sure about that. You must forget. I'm judging. You're from London.

You guys grew up in London. I'm from New Zealand. Yeah, right. You got it. You got to let it go. Okay, fine. Weird affinity for it. And also, I kind of see, actually, like, some nods to that within Starstruck now.

It is, like like exotic to me. The white woman experience in London in the late 2000s. You know what I mean? I am going to say Britta Jones, When Harry Met Sally, Moonstruck. Is that why you called it Starstruck? No,

no, not at all. But it's just a happy coincidence. I love Cher. She's the best. Moonstruck. And two more slots. Freaking hell.

Oh, I mean, I could say really awful ones. Yeah. Well, I do love My Best Friend's Wedding. I love My Best Friend's Wedding. I don't think that's an awful one. It's not an awful one. Oh, but you go for much older ones. I go for all the young ones.

Do you? Oh, tell me yours. Ten Things I Hate About You. My favourite film. Really? I would put She's All That in there really I love that

oh my god okay we're in a different okay I love this 10 Things I Hate About You amazing Heath Ledger doing I love you baby great

stop it I sang that at a friend's wedding that's my favourite did you Ed Gamble's wedding the horn section we're playing is it Bert Bacharach

no that's not Bert Bacharach that's Frankie Valley Frankie Valley Frankie Valley yeah I am the horn section were the band and I

because he's led to New Zealand no he's Australian Australian sorry no no that's fine so you had the horn section the horn section

were playing with a wedding band and people were singing songs you know from the from the collection how fun I was outside

having a cigarette and I was like give me the mic give me the good give me the good song was outside having a cigarette and I was like, give me the good song. And so I sang that and I was like, I'll show you a picture of it. It was a special moment. I was pretty pissed,

so that was quite fun. Favourite spots to eat? Anywhere. Okay. I'm lucky enough. I reckon I'm lucky enough to go to a lot of places because of comedy

and a lot of festivals and stuff to eat great places. Melbourne, Pellegrini's an Italian place, like really old school, you know, I wouldn't say the best Italian, but it's fucking awesome.

Got a vibe. Got a vibe. Um, New Zealand, the Ponsonby food court, the Ponsonby food court, which is where I grew up. Ponsonby,

the food, food courts are a big thing in New Zealand. Really? In terms, yeah, of like, you know, where you get like an Asian food court. So it'd be In terms, yeah, of like, you know, where you get like an Asian food court.

So it'd be like Malaysian and Thai and like, you know, Vietnamese. So it's like street food, but in the mall. Essentially, yeah. Or like hawker centres, you know, would have them in Malaysia. The best. And also so much amazing Asian food, like East Asian food in New Zealand. Because obviously closer to all those places. So a lakser from there,

fricking red curry from the best. Um, and yeah, I guess Australia, New Zealand, it'd be good. England. She's struggling.

England. You're here now. You've chosen to be here. I'm not sure. No. You're going to take citizenship. I am going to get a leave to remain. Leave to remain yeah leave to remain

leave to remain so you better fucking start being nice about the food girl oh wait okay look I love the food I think it's good no hang on

I love the food I do love the food where's like a spot that you've eaten recently these spots this is hard I mean like northeast there's so much good

Turkish there's so much good Turkish is great so good like lamb kebab lamb kebab I mean even like bougie places like you

know Newington Green you got like Jolene and stuff like that and like there's there's many sides of it also you know Chinatown I love going to Chinatown where do you go for your Chinese in Chinatown I go to be honest I go for Malaysian at CNR down Rupert Street okay love that because I'm I'm always on the hunt for a good like laksa or Malaysian. CNR. CNR cafe is pretty good. I don't know it. So thank you. It's pretty good.

A really good, um, like a roti canai and look really good. Um, like Nazi and American stuff. Yeah. But, um,

but yeah, no, no, no, London is, London has got amazing food. I ate really good Thai food yesterday in Clapham. Whereabouts?

Cher Thai, it's called. And Mary Margolis had recommended it. Hang on and it's just North Street and it's been a few different restaurants opposite. We need Miriam on there. Yeah and we had Jill and Johnny came and they

had vegetarian and I had an amazing thing that I'd never tasted with noodle I can't remember the name of it. You always love Pad Thai you keep it quite simple. No this was great and it had little wontons crunkled on the top. It was gorgeous. Oh my God.

A pavlova for a New Zealander. Stop it. We thought from down that way. Oh, exactly. Pavlova. I love pavlova and my nan is amazing at making pavlovas. Is she? Well, I'm probably not as good at making pavlovas.

She made, she can make them in any shape So like shapes of numbers And letters That's a good idea It's a great idea and when we came out of lockdown I told the story on Colbert Like it was Did you tell it on off menu?

No I didn't I'm not going on my ex-boyfriend's podcast. Who did you go out with? James. Oh my god. They've never invited me. Is that who you came for? That's why she came to England. Oh my god.

Oh my god. That's a real scoop. That is a real scoop. I mean you probably would be able to find that on the internet, to be fair. But, yeah. So come on, Rose. Give us a few little tasters of what's coming. Of what?

Of what's going to be in the show. Are you going to stay together? Well, this is the... That's no fun. No one in a podcast gets to do slightly tipsy on champagne. That's how you get the goss. I won't give you any, to be fair. What can I say to you?

It's just, it's the third iteration. He's in it. Is true love running smoother? I can't confirm or deny that. Because can you do the will they won't need anymore? That's a great question. We can expect that. Lots of the similar.

Same gang are back. And it's. We can expect that. Lots of the similar, same gang are back. And it's just another installment of that. I mean, it's so interesting and difficult and hard to find new things to say. Are you ready to call it quits after third? No. Well, it's hard. I don't know what I want to do after that. Because I want to write something else and direct something else. Yeah, your fucking biopic.

Yeah. Oh, you've got to make a biopic you've got to with the Bob Marley music oh my god that would be honestly I think maybe you're onto something

maybe it's a musical oh yes yeah maybe it's a musical rom-com musical can you sing um vaguely

but um but yeah no not not too well. But I love singing. I love singing alone. I love singers. I love...

I'm like obsessed with like, as you said, like the Burt Bacharach. Like I wish I could be like... Tony Newley is my fucking obsession. Like, you know. Was Burt Bacharach ever a musical? Any of his music? Promises, Promises. Yeah, so they turned the apartment into Promises Promises

so I'll Never Fall In Love Again was there and what do you get when you fall in love what's that the day your love that one

it's so dramatic I want your love oh I need your yeah this girl's in love this girl's in love this is her dun dun dun dun

oh my god that I could listen to forever it's my favourite He's still alive But he's ancient He's very old I stood outside a stage door

For two hours To try and meet him And He didn't come out In Melbourne And I just had to make friends With all these people He's kind of 90

Maybe you should get him Into Starstruck I'd love that Like Austin Powers did Austin Powers had Burt Beckert, remember? No, I wasn't a big Austin Powers fan. Oh my God. I was a huge fan as a child.

As a seven-year-old, yeah. I was big into her. I think maybe you just need to use the fact that you've got a really critically acclaimed TV show and you just go, Burt, you need to... Dionne Warwick sang... Forget me for the rom-com pageant moment. Dionne Warwick sang all his songs.

Most of his songs. Do you know the way to San Jose? She obviously sings karaoke. What's your song? I went to karaoke recently. Oh, how was it? I went to Rowan's. It was good.

Oh, do they do it there? I thought that was bowling. They do bowling and karaoke. The karaoke's so good. Who did you go with? Can we do it? Emma. Okay.

Yeah, I went to Emma. Can we have a karaoke night? Yeah definitely Come to Rollins It was with Liam Williams Who was another comedian Lots of comedians Nick Sampson Who is in the show

Is a New Zealander With red hair Says Steve Bunch of people I sang So I sang What was really fun I sang with Liam

Everlong Foo Fighters, great karaoke song. But I actually sang. Can I just like go? Everything I never feel is real forever. Everything I never. It's Foo Fighters.

Come on. I don't need Foo Fighters. Okay. I also sang a very, very. Oh, I sang A Little More Love by Olivia Newton-John. Do you know that song? No. A little more love makes you start depending.

Yeah. Oh, nice. it's a great song rest in peace olivia yeah good lord okay so you chose quite like not obvious ones i mean i mean yeah i just don't know what to do with myself i sang that as well i said that's the springfield i said i really wanted to sing um 24 hours from tulsa another bit of Bacharach I love that song was that Bert that was Bert yeah I thought it was

Gene Pitney it was Gene Pitney but he wrote it yeah yeah yeah but yeah my other classics are oh true Spandau Ballet

really good karaoke really good you look like you're having fucking straight is that your fake sex noise I think that's your fake six noise?

I think that's your fake six noise. We found it. Rose Mutafayo. I knew I was going to love her. How do I become her friend? Jessie, I think you've just got to work on it. Just got to work on it. Because I love her. I really love her.

I could kind of adopt her as well. She was eating from the plate, dipping in for thirds. I love that shit. She's taken some home for her boyfriend. Good gossip. Good fun gossip she loves the gossip like so talented comedies lives for it lives for it yeah um i just loved her back i've been wanting to have her on for so long i know me too and i hate that word fangirl but i am a bit fucking impressed and in love yeah she was great get Starstruck done very quickly, please.

Clever girl. And now, listen, we've given you a double bill of Starstruck stars. Now, if you haven't watched it, you're mad. It's fantastic. It's wonderful. Such a great cast. But she's not just about Starstruck. No.

She's a stand-up comedian as well. I want to go and see her in stand-up. Me too. Can I just mention one thing? thing yeah i've got a lovely friend called tony millet who has a stammer and what i had not realized was his grandson has a stammer and he's written a book called parts of speech which is about one family three generations of stammerers because his father had a stammer and it's he's he's written a book and it's to raise money for action for stammering children and if anyone's interested in buying it it's

published by brown dog books and it's out now and it's a really interesting read tony's a journalist he worked on itn and there's a forward Balls, who also was a stammerer. Oh, really? That I hadn't realised. And his grandson was particularly helped at the Michael Palin Centre. And they've really successfully helped children with stammers. Oh, so Tony Minute, parts of speech,

and it's out now. Yes. Brilliant. Thank you so much for listening. Also, I'm very, very you know i've just learned about alice and roman but we also want your dishes we want your dishes and i and we do judge so don't bring any crap to us but we would love to cook one of your dishes for one of our guests but um please send them into hello at table manners podcast.com

we look forward to hearing from you. We'll see you next week.