Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S8 Ep 1: Antoni Porowski

Episode Date: October 9, 2019

Well, we are back and this time I've brought my whole family to live with mum for the foreseeable future, or until she gets tired of my slobbish ways. So as a sweetener for mother dearest, I decided to bring a real life Disney Prince to Clapham. The dreamy Antoni provides a real share all episode; we talk coffee fixes, guacamole, champagne grapes and he doesn't choose a last supper, he demands a last day of food. Get ready to hear us ogle over the king of the Queer Eye kitchen. Table Manners is served!Produced by Alice Williams Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners series 8. 8? Have I aged? No, not a bit. You keep on getting younger and younger. Thank you Jess. And more polite and more polite in every series. Today you actually haven't spoken to me, you've just barked at me. Jess, you've got a cold. Yeah, I had a cold too and I'm sorry that me and my children passed it on to you.

Yeah. The current situation is that I've moved in with mum just because we thought it may make the content slightly more exciting. And we get on so well. We're basically trying to become Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Yeah.

And we're trying our best and we apologise if we don't make it to the end of Series 8 because we've killed each other. But it's quite tense. Sam, my husband, has gone to Los Angeles for work. That's what I usually do. So I'm really pissed off because I always say it's work and now he'll realise it's not work.

It's a lot of green juices and hikes and sunshine and palm trees. He actually had the audacity to say to me at 5.30 this morning on a video, have you ever been to Nobu, babe? Yeah, yeah, no, I've been, babe. Yeah, Have you ever been to Nobu, babe? Yeah, yeah, no, I've been, babe. Yeah, have you ever been to like Nobu, Malibu? No, I haven't, babe. Oh yeah, the waves crashing. Oh yeah, that stuff is sick.

I was like, yeah, great. Good for you. I'm cleaning up Fox food caddies outside in the pissing rain. Disgusting. Anyway, I'm missing my husband mostly for the help. jesse yeah two nights running two in the morning and up at 5 30 today was the first day i've slept beyond seven i'm

really sorry it's fine if it's any consolation i woke up at five with my son little voice on the night before last grandma mummy's gone away from me she didn't sleep in my bed I said it's okay come get him with me do you need a wee no I've done a wee in the bed already oh fine I'll sort it it's been a big week um yeah what have we got on the menu today well you we've made boyardee eggs, but you've made it really. And you've done it really well and cleverly by roasting the vegetables to make them sweeter. That's not what you were saying when I did it yesterday to prep. No, I know.

And with the tomato sauce and then you put eggs in when the mixture's all hot in the oven. And then we sprinkle feta on the top. And just bake it bake it we're just having that with a really lovely loaf of bread I've made bread I made some burnt granola from yesterday like my favorite kind that I'd like to think is a Thanksgiving granola with pecans and cranberries and orange zest and it's a bit burnt so I take it or leave it Jesse do we have to mention the negatives? Let's just say we're serving granola. Okay.

So who do we have on the show today? We've got possibly our most handsome guest, but I don't offend all the other ones. But he's a chef. Is he a chef or a cook, would you call him? He's the chef on Queer Eye. And he has just got a cook would you call him he's the chef on Queer Eye and he has just got a cookbook out Anthony in the Kitchen Anthony in the Kitchen I've never had so many people be so excited about a guest coming on to this so yeah coming up on his busy schedule this is the end of his um promo run here so we're just getting him before he gets to the airport so

we're gonna make him a quick breakfast can't wait to meet him can't wait hi it's so lovely to meet you look at you two handsome what a beautiful home. Oh my God. It's like a ship. No, it's not. No, it's terribly messy. I love it. I sit here. You sit.

Actually, you sit in between us. That's nice. Here? Yeah. Everything is so nice. You're so sweet. Oh my God,

you're so sweet. What a loser. I can't look at you. You're just too gorgeous. You're beyond. You're even better in real life.

Okay, and I'm blushing. You look like a kind of like... A Disney prince. A Disney prince slash like, if Marty McFly was slightly much more fitter. Do you know what I mean? Like, just like... No, he looks a bit like Eric.

And Marlon Brando. And a bit of like everything. Oh my God. Prince Ariel. Yes. Okay. Anthony, who doesn't need a surname because on Instagram you are just Anthony. Just Anthony.

Thanks for coming. Thank you for having me. And everyone I've told that we're having you on have just been so excited. You have like such a huge adoration, following, everything. I try not to take that on too much. I get a little, it gives me a little anxiety. Does it? A little bit.

But are they like weirdos? No. I feel like they'd be like quite normal ones. So everyone is very kind. And I've never experienced sort of like the other side of being like, for example, last night I was at South Bank and I had a little moderated panel with Jack Whitehall. Oh, how was his,

did you, and how did you find his humor? I love Jack. Yeah. He's brilliant. And, um, and he was telling me afterwards,

he was like, I'm shocked by how kind everyone was. Cause I guess with his shows, when he's doing standup, people usually like scream and like kind of give their audience, the audience. Yeah. And I was at a book signing and someone at the, at the bookstore was telling me how, um, they were like, yeah, like everyone is so nice.

And they bring like nice little, I try to read every, it's getting harder, but I really try to, you can't keep every single gift, but you can like, I try to read every single note because really people really take time and like care and sort of like saying how they relate on the show to something that I said or one of my cast mates um and so I'm like always I don't know I'm like filled with gratitude whenever I like run into someone because everyone has a personal story if you like go up to an actor for example or I think as a singer as well it's probably really similar because what you do is very personal and kind of like intimate right and you're like sort of pouring your heart out yeah um so when you have a fan that comes up and they're like oh i really relate uh you know i know no it was really sweet some bloke came up

to me yesterday i was i was doing something and he said oh you um can you write a little note to my uh fiancee um because she really likes you and we're gonna have your song as our first dance and it's like such a huge compliment you know and, and you kind of just think, oh my God. Yeah, like I'm part of this person's life. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, I don't really know where to start because you're here promoting the cookbook. Yes.

What's it called, your cookbook? Antony in the Kitchen. Antony in the Kitchen. Nice and simple. Good name. How has the process been making the book? It's, it was, I decided to write the book while I was filming two seasons of Queer Eye. So we had like 12, 14 hour shoot days.

And then I would spend all night long basically testing out recipes. Because I've never written anything down. Everything was in my mind. And I have these like monster hands. And like everything is measured by like whatever fits in the palm of my hand so to like actually start measuring it out was like a challenge pain in the ass it's a real pain in the ass if we're being honest um but um did you not get a tester oh I did I had you did it first I had three testers so I would basically be on set and then I had my lovely co-author Mindy Fox

who was in Portland Maine and we would text all day and she'd be like okay what recipes are we doing today and I had a recipe tester Jen on the east coast and then Beth a dear friend of mine in Kansas City who did catering for Queer Eye and was a restaurateur there and I love working with women it's always just so collaborative and like it's just like such a warm, loving environment. It really is. It's true. You should have seen us about five minutes ago. The foxes had got into the food caddy.

We have to put off. You weren't kidding. There are actual foxes. Oh yeah. They play in the garden. So you wouldn't do when they, they not the food caddy. I was fucking, I was fucking fucking bucket of water,

getting rid of bloody miso noodles so you don't have to walk on them. Spots poo, I should think. Disgusting. But yeah, no, we want to kill each other today. So I'm really glad that you think that there's such a female. No, I'm feeling love. Oh, brilliant.

Yeah, we're really good at performing now. At least while I'm here. No, you've like calmed us down. It's just we don't need to look at each other anymore. I have to steal a strawberry because the berries have been so incredible here. Oh, really? The blackberries are so nice.

Oh, mum, have we still got blackberries or not? No. Oh, stop. We've got some. Now, um. Strawberries are so juicy and tart. I, I, my, we did a little research on you. Do you do fasting?

I do, do fasting. I'm sorry you're here for breakfast then. No. Um, so so i when i'm since i'm on tour there are no rules oh really okay and i'm basically um many nights i'm just a human um trash can and i just eat whatever is in the mini bar and i just eat all the chocolate bars and chips and i put hot sauce on them and i'll just like put everything down my gullet. You love food so much. I love food. I really do. You know, when I felt like I really connected with you is when you said cream is king. I agree. So I think it's the best thing in the world. I love dairy. I mean,

do I deny myself dairy during the week when I'm in New York? Yeah. I have a lot of oat milk and, and, and almond milk and smoothies and things like that. But it's also, it kind of makes me appreciate it more when I have it on weekends. So where do you go for a big splurge on the weekends in New York? Oh, I go to Murray's Cheese. I've heard of Murray's Cheese.

It's so good. Is it in Chelsea? No, where is it? It's in the village. Okay, village, okay. On Bleecker. And, or any cheese shop, really, any cheese monger. Is that where you live around there?

I live in New York, yeah. So I'm in like sort of like flat iron Chelsea area. Okay. And so I'll go and I love to make myself a cheese and charcuterie board. And that's like a meal that I'll just have with myself. And I just get like beautiful big fat medjool dates and Marcona almonds. And I'll get like a stinky blue and like an epois. And then just like a nice cave-aged an a poise and then just like a

nice, like a nice cave aged Gruyere. And then what are the crackers? So the crackers I buy, I don't know the, uh, I think it's called rain coast or rain for the fancy ones that are like, they're like crap. They're like a thousand dollars for a box. And they're like, and you get really disappointed when you buy them and they're all broken. And I'm like, no, but they're still good. And they have like all kinds of get really disappointed when you buy them and they're all broken. And I'm like, no, but they're still good. Oh my God. And they have like all kinds of seeds and like dried cranberries. You kind of think you're being slightly virtuous because there's like, you know, nuts and stuff.

Exactly. Oh yeah. But I, um, I do love the bread. Isn't as good in New York. Like in Montreal, it's, it's really nice. And that's where you grew up. That's where I grew up in Montreal. Um, but I, I can eat cheese alone.

I don't even need anything with it. I can have a whole block of cheddar by myself. I understand that. Now, have you tried cheese with Marmite? Okay. So you like Vegemite? I do like Vegemite. I feel like it's a little milder, but I feel like I need to revisit Marmite. We could do that for you today if you want, but we've also But we've also got other stuff as well. I'm down. I'm smelling things. I'm getting really excited. I see eggshells.

So we go to a little Greek island. Every year. Which one? Every year, Skopelos. Okay. And we love a beach called Limnari. And the guy is really cool. It's a taverna right on the beach.

The grumpiest man in the world. The grumpiest man in the world. I love a taverna with a grumpy man. Right. He's very grumpy. He plays great jazz and he makes this thing called Boyardi eggs, which is a bit like shakshuka and it's just like a mixture of tomato

and peppers and chili. And then you bake the eggs in there with feta. So that's what we're having. Instead of like halloumi or chorizo, you just put feta on. And it's like, yeah. It's a nice brunchy kind of thing, but I hope it's not too much for you for your breakfast.

You can just pick. You can have whatever. Like, he'd love some cheddar as well. Do you know me at all? I will eat anything. And I just get, and just the thought of now you're making me think of just Greece in general.

I remember the first time I went and I was in Mykonos and we were near a beach called Agios Sostis and there was this place called Kiki's Taverna and this guy Vasili. Yeah. You go up and it's basically like while you're waiting two hours for your table, cause there's only six tables and it's like right on this little Cove where like, um, Onassis used to like dock his mega yacht and, um, and you sit there and this guy Vasili has four salads every day and he goes to the market and he makes these four salads. And when he runs out, he runs out. He's the bus boy, the waiter, the chef and the cashier. And he has this pork chop and it's a beautiful,

big, fat, juicy pork chop. It's a little pink in the middle the way that it should be because Americans freak out over like overcooking their meat and they just eat everything well done. It's so fun. And it's just slathered in honey and fresh oregano. And it's the most magical thing. It's so nice. And it gets caramelized and the fat cap gets really crispy and the fat is all rendered and it just melts. And you feel like the salty, sweet fat, just like dribbling down your face. It's on a hot summer's day. It's perfect. And I have like an homage to that in the cookbook where i like recreated the pork chop oh nice now are you single i am this is well i mean look my our lovely man this is gonna be so awkward he's gonna die just keep your mouth shut no my brother is coming in from a night shift and i was like you have to

come in and meet anthony anyway so there we go no presh um why are you single um wow we're getting into it okay a greek god so here so i'm somebody who's like pathologically codependent i've always lost myself in relationships that's like the person i am i kind of i tend to like lose my identity and i have like abandonment issues so i really try to like make sure that the person loves me and never leaves me and then i kind of just so i so I'm, I'm learning to sort of, I'm trying to learn to be independent. I think, especially with the life that I have now, I'm surrounded by people all the time. Like, you know what that's like, you have these like crazy environments. And then at the end of the day, you're like kind of like left with yourself. Um, and that's like

a terrifying thing for me because I love people but at the same time like being with myself is probably the most uncomfortable thing so I'm trying to explore I hate being on my own I hate being on my own and I want to be the person and I have like daydreams

like my life is music videos and I have like fantasies about like what my daydream music video is and I always tell myself like I'm gonna have a night alone in my apartment in New York where I don't get to spend that much time but when I'm there I'm like

I'm gonna have a romantic night with myself and just like light candles and listen to Maggie Rogers. Oh, I love Maggie Rogers. Love Maggie Rogers. Who doesn't? She's so lovely. She's like, she has like the,

she has elements of, I think Janis Joplin a little bit. Are you, you're really into music, aren't you? I am. So that's why you kind of live your life in like a music video. Yeah. I love music, candles, food food those are like my three things i mean look talking about abandonment

issues i i watched the wonder episode yeah and i thought it was really amazing and you talked to her about it on the program you said you really remind me of my mom yeah and she kind of looked she was like yeah and you were like yeah my mom never said i love i love you and and i don't have a relationship with her and you just kind of you were straight down the line with wanda i'd like have chills even thinking about it it's um that was that was a tough one i think when i when i started the show there were certain things that i told myself that i was never going to talk about right um the first one was like i'm not going to talk about fluidity it was just assume that i was gay oh okay talk about. The first one was like, I'm not going to talk about fluidity. It was just assume that I was gay.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Just like most of my life, it was just always assumed that I was straight. Okay. And I would be in a relationship working in a restaurant. People just like assume that. So when I booked the show, I was like, okay, this is an unscripted show. I've been auditioning as like a very unsuccessful actor for like a decade while I was working

in restaurants. And so being on an unscripted show where you really just pour your life out and you're asked to sort of like be intimate and have conversations with perfect strangers, that was something that made me really uncomfortable. And so I told myself that I'm not going to talk about the gay thing and I'm not going to talk about my complicated family. But what I realized very quickly is that if we expect these people to open up about their lives with five complete strangers, like you have to be willing to do the same. It has to be a conversation.

And she really, she triggered me. I think when I met her, it was very clear speaking to her daughters when they told me that their mother didn't say, I love you. Like that really affected me because I remember like kids need to be told that they're loved. And I think there are many ways of expressing that you can do it with affection. You can do it

with acts of service. I think food is a love language for me. At least it's how I show my love for people. It's how I say, I'm sorry. But that's how Wanda said she thought she was doing it through her fried fish. And I think that that's important. And it's something that she, but I think just the words every once in a while, like a kid needs to be told that. And I know that I did when I was a kid. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if that was the same episode or it was a different one where you were talking about your dad. Your dad's a doctor. Yes. And he'd work a lot.

So, but you still have a relationship with him. I do, but that was. So it's like, was he very warm and. He's definitely, he's warm. Growing up, I wasn't very close with him because he worked a lot. And he's somebody who's very passionate about his work and his patience and his career. And so like my, you know, my fondest memories with him, maybe every two to three months, he would make blueberry pancakes. And we would have

like a father son steak dinner, which like 50% of it was awkward and kind of quiet because we didn't really know how to navigate. It's like we were both speaking a different language. But I just remember like him taking the steak off of the grill and letting it rest and then cutting through it and seeing a perfect medium rare. And then I would like go for the A1 sauce and he'd be like, this is a beautiful steak. You're not putting steak sauce on you're gonna enjoy it as it is like I remember that and even though those moments were few and far in between um it's something that I kind of that I really cherished but it really made me um when you said that about your dad and about that he worked a lot I was like oh god I work loads and mom's praising her eyes I work loads

I mean my son's sleeping he's to wake us up in a minute. Well, hopefully not. But my daughter's gone to nursery and I feel like she's starting to be like, mummy, come and sit with me. Mummy, come. And I'm like, and I'm like, oh God, yes, I love darling,

but I've got loads of work. And I mean, you know, we're great, but it did make me think, yeah, I probably need to pause a little bit. And like, I don't want to, you know, I'm sure she's going to have lots to say about me when I'm older. But it was just kind of it really it resonated with me when you were talking about your dad. Your dad worked all the time. Yeah, he worked all the time.

And I think some people, you know, I think it's always a balance and I'm still trying to figure it out as well. It's like even for so long, I wanted to have, I didn't get the career that I wanted. I got the career that I needed. I really do feel that like it didn't all happen exactly the way that I should because well, life never really does. Right. But I know now that I have this opportunity to do so many things like the cookbook, developing other shows, endorsements, like whatever that is, speaking engagements, all these different things that I'm working on that I'm really passionate about. But it is important to sort of like have that moment. And I do use work as an excuse as well. We're really getting into it this

morning. I'm into it. No, I'm okay. I rather I rather this over talking over the weather, even though I love the rain in London. I'm very happy because I love a good little moody mood. But I think it's it's it's it's tricky because it's like, yes, I want to have moments where I'm with myself. But at the same time, like I take on more work than I really need because it just it kind of keeps me busy and I don't have to process feelings. Mum, are you all right? Do you need me to do anything? Do you need help? No, it's done actually because the eggs I thought weren't going to do as quickly. So it's ready really in five minutes.

Have you put a bit more oregano on? I haven't. Do you want to? No, it's fine. Whatever. Do you find it hard to watch other people cook when you are such a cook? And is it hard to be the backseat? Are you a backseat driver?

So, that's a good question. So, I'm not good at letting people cook with me. Yeah, neither is my friend over there. Because I like to do things a certain way. Yeah. But I am learning. Do you know who Samin Nasrat is? We had her on.

Isn't she amazing? Legend. Have you met her? I love her so much. We love her so much. Honestly, like that smile, that that enthusiasm when you meet a hero and they don't disappoint oh my god i know and and what she taught me in in salt fat acid heat um lovely series on uh on netflix is that she really encourages her guests to cook with her so that

they can they they take a little bit of knowledge in terms of like how to treat a vegetable or whatever it is but they feel like they've actually collaborated. So I'm trying to be that person, but I wasn't socialized to be that person because I wasn't allowed to cook with my mother growing up. I would watch her from a distance and it was like, that's how I learned. I mean, this is, but it helped me learn though. Yeah. Yeah. And like, if I did the best email wrong, you'd be like, you're doing it wrong. I'm not a very good teacher, you know i i'm still really passionate but we all cook in our family so you'll need to i think that's incredible i think that's so important my mate is up and i'm just gonna get it to keep on talking ask some questions about

i can ask you because we ask all our guests what is um your real if you're going on desert island for six months okay it used to be death row but i've got a thing about the death penalty and i can't even say the words so um what would be your last meal that you'd have before you went away my last meal i think it changes day to day but what I would have this okay so my last meal would be and I would let's treat it as a day so I would start out

oh you're going to have a whole day but I'm going to eat the food my last meal would be the food that I would have in a day we've decided he looks like Elton John today you are a little Elton Johnny look at your corduroy onesie. Who are you?

You responded well to that. Right, listen. Anthony's doing a first. He's not having just a last supper. He's having a last day of food. I want to live my day in one meal. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, come on then. I've never done that before. Okay. Full fat cappuccino with like a lot of foam and then the perfect croissant not iced it would be hot okay tell me about the ice and the hot thing um i am totally addicted to caffeine and the ice gets to get into my blood stream quicker you're kidding me how do you know that i am a coffee junkie tell alex oh wow that's an iced coffee you can drink it faster he drink he has eight spoons of instant coffee if he's

having instant coffee in one cup in one cup i do get a migraine if i don't have coffee within the first 30 minutes of waking up your match with my Yeah, he has so much coffee. Wow. Okay, so you're going to have a... Okay, so I have just like a cappuccino, full, fat, whole milk. Yeah, beautiful. With the foam and then a perfect croissant with... From anywhere in particular? If I'm in New York, it would be from Bread's Bakery because they're the only ones who make them on premise

and they don't ship them out from somewhere else. But if I'm in Paris, literally it can be a truck stop anywhere. It can be five days old, and I would really enjoy it. That's not true. I love a freshie. And then I would have Nutella on the side and some really nice butter that's just like the right temperature so that I can smear it on.

Salted or unsalted? Lightly. Salted. Lightly salted. Yeah. Yeah. And then a little bit of like a nice strawberry jam as well. Okay.

And so I would just like have bites, a bit of Nutella, a bit of jam, switch it up, a little piece of, oh my gosh. This is beautiful. Do you want me to do it? No, it's fine. Whatever. It's fine. Look at these little eggs in purgatory.

Do you want me to dry off a car, a regalo on top? Whatever. It would have made it look a bit like. Do you want toast or would you like just bread or would you not like anything? This is perfect. Okay, fine. Look at these beautiful little eggs in purgatory. They're just bubbling and you're not afraid of feta?

No, we're not. I really appreciate that. Okay, good. As a dairy person. I'm a dairy freak. Now I have to say, side note, this is not guac. It is like... I didn't have any fucking limes and i had no time i'm sorry

it's basically avocado with a little bit of greek yogurt and just for you but have you tried it well yeah i've done it before like that and i like it it's not a big deal what is wrong with people people really went and mexican culture like they've been using crema in guac get over it so but yeah i don't understand it but yes the guacamole thing just to kind of interrupt your last day are you kind of sick of talking about it and sick of making it not i mean look i'm not as obsessed with it as is portrayed but sometimes we get remembered for things yes that we didn't really choose or decide um it was my choice to use avocados throughout two seasons and both of those episodes were aired in succession.

So here we are. I've profited from it through endorsements and like I've played the, you know what I mean? I've played the game. But yeah, so I've just kind of like, it's, I definitely eat less of them now because it's just like, it's kind of overkill. It's like, I love the strokes, but I used to wear the t-shirts and now it's like when

they appear on the show, it's sort of like, I'm not really going to wear them as much. Didn't you like get sent like shit loads of strokes t-shirts? So what happened was, um, we, uh, our stylist purchased strokes t-shirts off of a website. And when we, Netflix got clearance for me to be able to wear the t-shirts, they found out they were fake. So they contacted management and they found out like oh we love the original queer eye because this is right when it started so they sent me a boatload of them that's nice but now you can't actually stand looking at them I've kept them but it's just sort of like you need to like resurrect them in like five years exactly yeah yep I'm sorry

look at these yolks are they are they too over done no they're beautiful the eggs are so much better here than they are in the states

I mean everything do you really think the produce is very different here then so come on it's so much better it's a little better yeah I mean

you're right the bread is shit it's significantly better so oh wait we started with the meal oh yeah we haven't yeah we've got that so i just finished so i just finished oh no and breakfast i would also have a slice of christina tosi's birthday cake from milk Bar. Are you familiar with Milk Bar? Yeah. I love birthday cake for breakfast. What's the other one? The garbage... Oh, the Crap Pie. Oh, the Crap Pie. No, the Crap Pie.

Compost cookie is really nice too. Is the birthday cake the truffle one that's literally like that and it tastes like birthday cake and it's like the cookie dough kind of? So you can get the little truffles as well. Yes. Where's this, Jessie? It's in Lower East Side, isn't it? Or East village. They're everywhere now. Okay. So birthday cake. So that's kind of, is that like your 11s is, is that kind of, we've gone past breakfast. This is, or is this still breakfast? It's like, it's like

near 11. Yeah. So then I would, um, I don't know why, but I'm thinking about the Caribbean now and I would maybe for lunch have like a really nice lobster taco with just like heaps and heaps of cilantro and a bunch of fresh lime. Where would you get that from? Have you had it somewhere? I did have it somewhere recently. You know where I had it?

At Sunset Tower in LA. Oh, where do I get oysters at Sunset Tower? I love doing that. Yes. At the restaurant, not a room service situation. No, no, no, no, no. And then you see who's in the bar. Yes.

It's just fun. It's so iconic. Do you remember who's in the bar. Yes. And it's just fun. It's so iconic. Do you remember Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Yes. So I feel like I'm on the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Like I want to wear a hat and like a classic burberry. Jessica Rabbit's just going to come out. Exactly.

It's about Sunset Towers. It's so dim, the light. It is so dim. I love a moody hotel though. Sorry, this is incredible. Oh, thank you. Do you like it? I love it.

Was I too easy on the feta? I'd say it could have had a bit more feta. I think it's perfect and it's the right amount. It doesn't need salt because the fetas are just perfect. And I have to say, mum, by roasting the vegetables before, it's made them a little sweeter rather than too acidic. 100%. Thank you, Anthony.

Because they don't release too much moisture. And by pre-roasting them, look at the nice little char you have on the red onion as well. Thanks, Anthony. Isn't that nice? Okay, so I'm continuing my lunch. And I would have a surf and turf lunch. And then look at the nice little char you have on the red onion as well. Thanks, Anthony. Isn't that nice? So, okay. Okay, so I'm continuing my lunch. And I would have like a surf and turf lunch. So I have my lobster taco.

And then I would maybe have like a short rib burger with a bit of bone marrow mixed into the meat. Short rib burger. Short rib is nice and fatty. So really you get to get that nice char if you're grilling it. And then on that I would have like a big slice of Like a summer tomato like when tomatoes are really awesome and I would have mayonnaise and ketchup and relish Nice and simple cheese and American cheese like the garbage II orange cheese that just kind of like melts over it on either like a

Nice brioche or a potato bun or even a pretzel roll if we're being all 2019 about it. Americans are obsessed with pretzel in the form of bread now. It's unnecessary but it's quite awesome. It's quite dense. Very dense. Yeah. Dessert. What dessert I already had for breakfast. Oh I know he's setting himself up for for cheesecake. That would be my intermezzo. Yeah. So I would have like a nice aggressive, like a spread of six to eight cheeses with maybe some like really nice. I love a blue with little baby champagne grapes that just like pop in your mouth with like a nice crusty French baguette. Sorry. What's a champagne grape? Champagne grape.

They're like tiny little baby purpley grapes, but they're very sweet. They're not too tart and they go really nicely with like any type of blue. But I like a good crumbly Danish blue. He's such a, you and Anthony, we should have done a bloody, we should have done a fucking, what's it? What's the dippy thing that you do? Raclette or fondue? Fondue, we should have done a bloody fondue.

I like raclette. I can fuck with a fondue or raclette. I'll have fondue next to the raclette and just not feel like that's overkill at all. Okay, so. Here we are. White t-shirt with tomato sauce. Fuck's sake. Story of my life.

Oh, babe. Have you got a change? Always. Of course. Are you kidding me? I'm the messiest guy in the world. So am I. Okay, so I'm almost done with this meal that's taking five hours to explain because I keep on getting me? I'm the messiest guy in the world. So am I. Okay.

So I'm almost done with this meal. That's taking five hours to explain because I keep on getting distracted. I'm sorry. I have severe ADHD actually. And so I would, yeah, so I would have the cheese platter. And then after that, I think I'd be ready for like a full on dinner. So I would have, I would have. Oh, sorry.

Were we not at dinner? No, that was intermezzo, I said. So you know with your bloody surf and turf, they were just like little sliders? Yeah. Okay, fine. God, I love you. Or not. Maybe they were bigger.

The burger has to be bigger because it has to be rare on the inside. And the problem with the slider is that they're always well done. I don't want to live a kind of life where I have to eat a burger that's well done. I want to taste the... It's got to be juicy. I want to question... Don't get messy. I want to question like how much it's been cooked. I want to feel like a risk taker a little bit, you know? So after, um, after that I would have, you'd go to the gym for two hours, go for the gym for four hours and sweat it all out. And then I would have dinner. So we're ready

for dinner right now. Dinner. I would start out with, I would probably do like a really impossibly thin shaved fennel salad. Cause I love fennel with citrus and pistachios. Shameless plug for Antony in the kitchen is also a recipe for that in the book. Um, and then, so I would have a salad, something light cleanse the palate. And then I would have the perfect either pasta carbonara or cacio pepe, Either pasta carbonara or cacio e pepe. Both with dry pasta. Fresh pasta for me is all about like the lighter sauces. And with really heavy, rich sauces, I like a dry al dente pasta.

Interesting. Isn't it interesting? We often ask people about their last supper and so many people would have pasta. Vongole and cacio e pepe. But it would be like a small amount, like just a little bit. Oh, is this just your starter? This is, yeah. Okay, carry on then. So for the main...

We've got a match, man. Go on, Fatty, keep going. For the main... No one's called me that in a while. I love it here. I would have a perfect rack of lamb, medium rare, where like the fat cap is really nice and crispy

and it just has to be really salty. Lamb has to be very salty to me. With, I would have like a potato gratin, like a dauphinois. That would be my dream meal. I'm so annoyed that you haven't come for dinner because we've got both of those in our cookbook. Love, love. Well, the rack of lamb I have with an agrodolce in mine. What's an agrodolce? So it's a macadamia nut crust around the lamb lollies that you dip them in. An agrodolce is basically honey, red wine vinegar, rosemary, and chili flakes. And you cook it down. It's sweet, it's sour, it's spicy, sticky, and you just...

Agrodolce? Yeah. I'm fucking hell. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. No, what would be your veg? Well, let me get to the fish part. It would be a whole roasted snapper. You'll take the piss now. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. What would be your veg? Well, let me get to the fish part. It would be a whole roasted snapper. You're taking a piss now.

I love you. I like a whole roasted snapper with crispy skin and my veg on the side. I do love crispy Brussels sprouts. I love roasted carrots. You're not sick to death of them yet? I'm not. How do you do your brussel sprouts? I'm sick of quinoa, but not Brussels sprouts.

Anthony, how do you do your Brussels sprouts crispy? On a cast iron skillet, very high heat. Would you blanch them first? No. Oh. I put them directly on. The flavor's more concentrated. But if you want to be a real badass, if you fry your Brussels sprouts, that's poetry.

And so now we're ready for dessert. Okay. So the first thing that I would have, and this is one of my favorite things ever since i was a kid i take fresh watermelon and i rub fresh ginger on it i'm okay thank you fresh ginger fresh ginger on watermelon it's really nice because you like feel a hint of it but it's not overwhelming and it just kind of but it dissipates quickly that's why i love ginger it's not like capsaicin or like tabasco or like a hot sauce that kind of stays. It's very salty and it's just really unnecessarily intense, but I do like it though on certain things. Yeah. But then I feel like Cholula. I love Cholula. That just kind of shits on it. Is

that the one we've got here? It's great. Love Cholula. So we're ready for dessert. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. I'm exhausted. I would have, um um a butterscotch poudre creme does that just like um angel delight it's i don't know a poudre creme is kind of like a more dense creme brulee it's like a creme brulee but less eggy okay and i would have it because i love caramel over chocolate so it looks very close to yeah it's very there's no eggs in it darling that sounds like my kind of it's very dense it's really lovely and then i would have a bowl of fresh berries with raspberries from my childhood garden growing up i know that's very specific but i used to pick them every summer and it was like what i love doing with blackberries from london and

fresh mint and i would finish my last thing that I would drink would be like a cup of chamomile tea, like really nice chamomile tea. Night, night, goodbye. Night, night, goodbye. Would you drink wine? No. Would you not? Do you drink? I don't. Have you ever drunk? Hence why you don't drink. Yeah. Got it. Um, so chamomile tea is like my it's your go-to it's my it's it tells me that it's time to go to bed um i want to ask a bit about queer eye because the whole world has kind of fallen in love with you five and it's been obviously life-changing for you and you were put together did you know any of them before no was that quite difficult was it kind of feeling like you were being put in a kind of uh a boy band or like it

was kind of like um were there any tensions or did you all just because you look like you absolutely adore each other i did we do there was a moment the four of them were already this was during the chemistry testing which is when they're like they're figuring out who goes well with who and they have everyone in a room and they have the rest of us kind of like waiting and they like swap you out and be like, let's try this one. Let's see how that sounds stressful. How did they find you?

It started out as like reaching out to people and people auditioning for it and sort of submitting themselves. And it was just like, they looked globally, like they looked kind of all over. Um, they had people from all over. They ended up picking, um, three Americans. and then I'm Canadian and Tan is British. But

there was a moment where the other guys were all in the room and they brought me in and we just like sort of sat down and I just looked around. And I remember on one of the emails it said like, we're looking for a diverse cast. And I looked at us and I'm like, we're diverse ish enough. Um, and then we like looked at images and it was like a guy wearing Crocs and we were asked to like comment on that and just kind of like, what do you think about Crocs? If you work in a kitchen, I get it. Zero judgment at the same time. Like I don't get offended by anything. It's sort of like where, whatever the hell you want, if it makes you happy happy like wear a dunce hat. No.

I don't give a shit. That's why you're in the kitchen bit. What do you mean? Well like Tan deals with that. Tan deals with like the fashion part. Tan's not going to let

somebody wear a fucking croc. I'm sorry crocs are horrendous. I mean they're very comfy though. Have you ever put them in your phone? No. I don't know like girl like what if like you're pregnant

or like you just had a kid or something or like or if you're a guy and you have a bad hip and you need there's no you need, maybe you need to be wearing Crocs because you've got bad foot. No, I've got my fit flops on now and I've been told those are extra special, but I would not wear Crocs. Okay, fine.

I love these yellow peppers with the onion. It's so nice. Thank you. It's really lovely. Um, but yeah, I don't get offended by my, like, I don't have, I have strong opinions about certain things. Like I don't put like ketchup on a hot dog is really offensive to me it actually ketchup on a hot dog really pisses me off what do you put mustard on mustard relish and a bit

of raw onion and a bit of sauerkraut we don't do good hot dogs in england i but where do you get the sweetness from you don't think you need it from the relish oh okay what like a kind of caramel those like the kind of american garbage relish like yeah tomato relish oh no you don't want any sort of tomato we think you like the green stuff okay so here's the deal a tomato relish i would i would fuck with that okay but not ketchup do you like ketchup i love ketchup i love it with my meatloaf mix with the mustard the flavors together but if you're mixing it all together and if you're making like a special sauce like mayo relish mustard and ketchup together which is basically like every special sauce like

that i would have there's something about the ketchup that bothers me i don't know if it's a childhood memory maybe i was triggered because like someone who i hated put ketchup on their hot dog on their as a kid. And maybe that like is what affected me. Because everything is nostalgic to me. Everything was like tied into childhood somehow. Yeah. So what's the most memorable meal of your childhood?

Good or bad? An emotional question while I put food in my mouth. How symbolic. The most memorable meal in my mouth. How symbolic. The most memorable meal of my childhood. That's a really good question. No one's ever asked me that before. I think it was Christmas Eve.

When we'd be like the five of us with my two sisters. I moved to the States when I was 12. And that's sort of when our family was kind of like split up. My sister stayed in Canada. And that was like the first schism in the family. And then my parents got divorced and it was like the second schism. But whenever we would have Christmas together, it was a very stressful time. It wasn't like the calm, like majestic sort of like Norman Rockwell. I don't know any family Christmases at all. Yeah, they're all a shit show, right?

They're all awful. Yeah. But like we would all just sort of sit there and we would gossip about other members of the Polish community and just make fun of other family members. It was like our bonding time. We bonded over our gossiping.

And we would just talk about how badly we didn't want to go to church afterwards and make the half hour drive to sit for two hours with everybody. Are you Catholic? Catholic, yeah. So you've got a lot of guilt lots of guilt but like it was just there was something really nice in that and i love the ritual of like we had the pickled mushrooms that my parents picked like the fall previous and we would like go foraging together so it was like the memory of that and this like classic polish salad with celery root and homemade mayo, which I love homemade mayo. And there wasn't any meat. And we would just all sit there and it was all like a lovely time. And I remember there was one

year I got my, I got my dad a DVD for Robin Williams. It was like an HBO appearance that he did. And we watched his standup routine onup routine on the television when we were done eating. And we all enjoyed it so much. And my dad's like a devout Catholic. That we didn't go to church because it was so funny and we stayed. And I was like, oh my God, I broke the tradition. We don't have to fucking go to church. That's a horrible sentence.

And then, and I just remember, like we all kind of laughed about it. And we were like this thing that we did, this ritual every year we just like ruined it by like watching Robin Williams instead but we all laughed so hard and that was like a really that was a good one and then waking up the next morning and we're allowed to have meat so it's all charcuterie it's all fish and herring like seven different ways and then you wake up in the morning and you have like pasta which is like this beautiful pate and I would just slather on the homemade mayo and ah it was just it was really nice just well both of your um are both of your parents um polish both are polish yeah so my um do you speak polish i do it's my first language yeah wow how many languages and so i learned polish

in school uh polish i learned at home yeah we were only able to speak Polish at home. And I went to Polish school growing up. Dzień dobry. Dzień dobry. And it's a good one. Hello, good day. And French I learned in school. And English I learned from Sesame Street and whatever PBS shows there were.

So French, English and Polish. Yeah. And I started, I love Spanish as well. I can read Spanish and I can understand most of it. But when after Queer Eye, when we were done with seasons one and two, we had four months off and we weren't allowed to work while we were waiting.

And it was this like dead period where I was like, what am I supposed to do with my life? So I took Italian lessons. So I've always wanted to be- And now you're fluent in Italian. Not fluent in Italian. I can understand it and I can read it and i can speak the menu i can sort of get around but i can speak the menu exactly the important things yeah um but um i've always like i had this like very strong jewish and italian envy growing up i wanted i always wanted to be

an italian jew but i found out i took a 23 and. Do you know what that is where you do your genetic testing? I'm 5% Ashkenazi Jewish. Oh, really? Which gives me so much joy. And I love how you did this. So that made me happy. I kind of wish it were double digits, but you know. So were you eating a lot of Polish food in the home? I was.

Perogies are sublime. We never made perogies. Not once. Did you eat them? We did. We would go to a kishka,ka to the meat shop and there was a grandmother who made them and they were in styrofoam containers the cheese and potato ones i think are better than the meat ones oh no meat all the way with the sweet with caramelized onions sweet crispy onions and just dollops of full fat sour cream like that's joy and when they get cold you just eat them like chips and you dip them in sour cream oh my god but like where are your family from in Warsaw I love Warsaw they're from Warsaw

really good food my um do you get to go there a lot not really um I went as a kid very often and my sister went to medical school in Krakow so we used to visit her often Krakow is beautiful as well everyone says it's the most beautiful city apparently I don't know if this is true or not, but apparently Hitler liked it. So he decided not to destroy it. So you don't have all the communist facades and all of the newer construction. But yeah, so my father was actually born in Brussels.

His family fled there after the war and he was raised in Canada and his family lived in South Africa for a while as well. But we're Polish, Polish, Polish. When did you come out? I didn't really have a coming out. Didn't feel the need to? I think when I started dating a guy, I always knew that it was possible.

But for me, it's always been about the individual. And I was just like, it'll happen when it happens and I'll know and then I met someone and I knew and then slowly but surely I let all my friends know and the reaction was basically like oh my god I can't believe it but I'm not totally shocked and it like kind of made sense and then so I was in a relationship for a couple of years and then I moved to New York and, um, where I went to pursue acting, um, my acting studies and I just dated women for several years. And then I met someone again and we were together for seven years. A lot of the recipes are actually in the book about sort of like documenting my relationship

with him. Like his family taught me unconditional love. They like really took me in when I was really struggling. Are you still friends? Uh, we're not in touch now. I think it's hard to be right. Cause I think it takes time to process certain things. And um, the breakup sort of happened right when the show came out.

So it was a sort of, I was in this space where I just felt very claustrophobic and there were cracks in the relationship certainly, but I definitely didn't fight for it as much as I probably would have if I had clarity of mind. Yeah, but I still, when I was writing the book, I was thinking, do I mention him and his family? I was like, how could I not? They were there during such formative years, so the book in many ways is kind of like a thanks to him.

So maybe you'll reconnect through that? It's not, you know... I'm not putting any pressure on it. I think we both have to kind of be ready for that and conversations have to be had. But I think I'm always open to anything. Look, I wasn't close with my father growing up. And now we speak multiple times a day. Oh, yeah.

And then with my mother, I was I was very extremely close with her growing up. And now we don't have a relationship at all. So like dynamics, it's complicated. It's complicated. It's very complicated. Where does she live? So she I think she spends her time in between warsaw and switzerland oh wow so she's back in poland now but she lived in canada um but like the point is like relationships and dynamics change yeah it's like there's everything is constantly like

one of them yeah the family is very much there's like a division line but my oldest sister i wasn't super close with her growing up and now we're impossibly close One of the sisters? One of them, yeah. The family is very much, there's like a division line. That's tough. But my oldest sister, I wasn't super close with her growing up and now we're impossibly close and we talk all the time. Where does she live? She lives in Ottawa, she's in Canada. And she's like my older, I'm the baby. Oh right, okay.

I can kind of imagine that. I feel like, how many sisters have you got? Two older sisters. And then that's it? Mm-hmm. Okay. Do you think you've got a good table, Ennis? I do.

I do too. And do you have anything in particular that you don't like in other people when they eat? It's not about eating, but it's probably my biggest pet peeve is if I go to a restaurant. And often I'll have lunch with strangers sometimes or like people I don't really know or like a work lunch setting and when someone is rude to a waiter it actually like it makes my it makes my blood boil like any disrespect to any human is often like I don't I don't care what's going on with your day or what a bad mood you're in like being short with another person but can i ask you sometimes waiters are a bit rude too so how would you deal with that if a waiter is rude i just like i try to but i need every i need everyone to love me so i just like i just try to flip it over so i

just try to like be charming as fuck but everyone does love you. We love you. I love you. We definitely love you. I'm like, I'm swooning. I'm like going to be like floating on air today. This was so nice. Well, I'm just so happy that you made it and that you could do it and that we've got to meet you and that everyone is going to hear this. And we are very, very lucky. This has really been a highlight for me.

Oh, you're so sweet. When are you back? very this has really been a highlight for me oh you're so sweet when are you back so i was just um talking to a friend and i didn't get too much time to like actually fully enjoy myself while i was here like it's just been really work although i did have a meal at darjeeling express oh is that good was it good incredible watch the chef's table episode okay with osma's story and then you go and she does not disappoint really all women run kitchen and stuff i don't know where is it it's like benny was gonna go to it's in this like outdoor markety place i it's such a special place i you do you watch lots of

food programs then i do i mean i don't watch i feel like i used to a lot more than i do now i do have this weird thing now which ties into like me being a bit of a workaholic i feel like i don't watch I feel like I used to a lot more than I do now I do I have this weird thing now which ties into like me being a bit of a workaholic I feel like I don't deserve to watch tv because there's always an email that I need to respond to or a thing that I need to work on so I don't watch shows oh don't be so hard on yourself I need I am like I need to be better like doing things just purely out of joy two things I'm going to share with you yeah I've never shared publicly so I have a couple of months off now even though I have like I'm going to share it with you. I've never shared publicly. So I have a couple of months off now, even though I have like, I'm always doing something. I wanted to do two things

that I just like am passionate about, not for the sake of like money or anything, but just like, just to like really enjoy. So I was, I played piano growing up and I hated my parents for making me play the piano.

And then when I wanted to impress this girl, Jessica Essabag in college, I learned how to play Coldplay as a scientist and I made her cry and she ran out of the room. It was a whole thing so I want to either get a piano or just like take piano lessons and I also

want to work with like a choreographer or a dance teacher and learn how to dance at weddings because I'm a terrible dancer I don't believe that you're perfect I'm a terrible it's so awkward and I want to dance at weddings do you want to dance like a ballroom dance no i just want to go to a wedding

and just like and not look like an asshole yeah okay oh that's all i want he might be asking on dancing with stars never would you never do not for me it's not for me because you could learn but he'd be out in the first but i would want to do it yeah exactly i would rather do it privately she'll work you yeah everything not everything has to be public for me i keep i like to keep a lot to myself i give a lot but i also keep a lot as well and it's like it's a delicate dance and i don't think anyone's ready to okay nobody wants to see that just yet well i wish you well on piano and dancing we give all our guests a tea towel which i'm sure you'll be using a lot. And this is what I do on the show. Oh my God, you're going to have me in the photo like that.

Oh Jesus Christ. Giving me heart palpitations. Running in for content with my messed up t-shirt. I really screw this up. I could probably get that clean if you want to take it off. Don't even worry. Just saying. and here we are and i'm blushing again you know what it's the perfect ending i was blushing when i walked in

yeah but i couldn't i can't i'm the queen of washing oh you are yeah yeah and i get stains off everything but i didn't mean it like that. It's a bit like the Coca-Cola advert. Ta-da-da-da-da. Mum, I want to sing. For the first time in forever. Da-da-da-da-da-da. I think we've just met a Disney... Oh, sorry.

We're doing a fucking outro, Mum. Sorry. Who's that? Can I just answer it quickly? Hello? For the first time in forever. Is it quick? Is it really yes yeah that's fine perfect yes all right then bye i just think we've met our disney prince oh my god i don't think I have fancied someone since I was 18 and I first fancied Sam.

Married woman. I don't care. He was dreamy. Alice couldn't look at him. Sarah asked for a bloody selfie and you asked him to take his top off. I didn't mean to. I was trying to help him with his tomato stain Thank you

Thank you Anthony That was so great What a brilliant start to the new series Great foodie Loves food Talks about food in the same way we do I just think And he liked our food darling

And he I think was very trusting and intimate and warm and respectful yeah we just met him and now I have his phone number Anthony I'm gonna text you every night a queer eye whatsapp group oh my god imagine

but yeah that was dreamy and it managed to stop us fighting for two hours as well. Darling, it's been very stressful. Yeah, for me too, Mum. Okay, darling. Yeah, for me too. Sam Burrows, come home. Dishwasher was broken.

Had to hand wash everything. Mum, let's not talk about the fucking miso noodles I had to clear up outside. Gardaloo! Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting. I don't do that. I had to do sloshing.

Fucking disgusting. The foxes didn't like it. They didn't like it. I heard them out last night. Didn't you hear them? You thought, oh, Jessie can do that. Payback. It's amazing what a guy from Queer Eye can do for a family.

I feel like the atmosphere is lifted. Yes. I feel like I can love you again. I feel I love you, darling, all the time. Whatever your faults. I feel like I'm going to... Oh, shut up. I feel like I'm going to pay for the dishwasher to get fixed.

Maybe I'll move out, but it's okay. No, you're not moving out i may thank you so much for listening there are so many more brilliant guests coming up on this series but this has been one of the best episodes i think i don't think i'll ever get over it all our listeners we'd love to hear from you hear your life hacks hear your restaurant recommendations, recipes. We need so many new recipes. We've just written a whole cookbook, so we need some new ideas. So please get in touch. Our email address is hello at tablemannerspodcast.com. so the music you've listened to on Table Manners

is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser and Table Manners is edited by the wonderful Alice Williams.