Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S8 Ep 4: Yannis Philippakis

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

A lesson was learnt here - don't invite a rock star into your home on a Friday night and expect mum to hold back on the wine, or hold back on baiting me to drink more. Currently number 1 with their new record, we welcomed the wonderful Foals front man Yannis through our doors. We celebrate the band's marriage, talk a LOT about Greece and his Greek Jewish heritage (much to mum's delight), the reason he couldn't perform at the Mercury Music prize this year and his love for Creme Fraiche. He resists offering up his last supper and to be honest, the night's a bit of a blur - so much so we forgot to take a photo! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with my mother. Kalispera. Kalispera. Shalom. Kalispera and shalom. Yeah, we have an interesting mix tonight. What do you mean, darling? We've got a Greek Jew. Wow.

It's a pretty big deal. This is a big deal. It's our two favourite things. Wow. We have Yanis from Foles, the rock band that have been going forever and ever and never stop and are prolific and put out two albums in a year. Mercury nominated this year.

They're always Mercury nominated, Mum. They're brilliant. And one of the best live acts out there. One of the best British bands. So much energy, so much soul, so much attitude. Have you ever seen Yan, Yanis, before? I watched them on the Mercury Prize and I was a bit worried about his hand.

Why, what was the matter with his hand? He broke his wrist. Oh, because Felix had to play, didn't he? Felix ended up playing. He had a poorly arm. So he didn't play guitar, but he did sing. I wonder how he did that. Let's ask him tonight, actually.

Yeah, we will. We are so excited to have Yanis on. Foles have a new record out and it's part two of their album, which is called Everything... It's a kind of long-winded name. Hold on a minute. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, part two. Part one came out in, like, February.

They were up for the Mercury for the first part. Second part comes out this autumn. They are formidable. They are prolific. They are a very very important band and i have managed to have a really fun drunken night with janice once in russia i just was really impressed that they're like actually quite rock and roll and no dietary requirements so i've done what i think most greeks like lamb and i've made some delicious rice with lentils

and lots of onions which you've left about two of. So I haven't eaten them all afternoon. After eating them, because they're fried and they're delicious. And then some pepperonata and greens. And then I wanted to use the apples up, because we had lots of cooking apples. Made a crumble. Nice. A humble crumble.

I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty, pretty pretty pretty pretty good my children and my husband are away this weekend so I am drinking wine and I am gonna sleep for eight hours um so yeah I'm gonna really missing them but I am consoling myself with the second glass of red wine, and it's not even seven. Right, we need to go and set the table. Oh, shit. OK, fine. Yanis from Foles, coming up. Shana Tova. Oh, yeah.

Shana Tova. So are you Jewish or Greek Orthodox? Well, my mum's Jewish. Yeah. So you're Jewish? By blood and all of that. And she was brought up Jewish relatively. And so she comes from Cape Town.

And obviously her grandparents are from Eastern Europe. She's Ashkenazi Jew. You look Jewish. But you look Greek as well. Yeah. Yeah, a little weird, that. and um you look jewish but you look greek as well yeah yeah but um but uh yeah but my when my mum met my dad she she converted partly because my father's from like a super traditional uh culture in greece so she converted partly to kind of um appease the local greek population there um because they have arranged marriages and all of that even still

to this day so it's super traditional so so yeah technically we were brought up greek orthodox and do you go to where your father was when they're married and where yeah because he still lives there so he still lives yeah yeah and it's um are your parents not together uh no they're separated um but yeah so it's so it's quite a fascinating place. It was anthropologically, it's interesting. They have like strange inheritance practices. They sing Byzantine songs there. They play instruments they don't play anywhere else.

They only finished the road there maybe three years ago. So in terms of folk customs and all that, it remained isolated. They speak their own dialect. Yeah, Skopelos have their own dialect, and you can't understand it when you... Yeah. Byzantine, I want to know what that kind of music's like. I've got some on my phone, I think.

Have you? Yeah, so they sing, it's a cappella. For that type of song, it happens at the feast days, and the priest usually leads it, and it's unaccompanied and the songs are about Byzantine lords on the frontier awaiting the Turkish invasions. Yeah, Greek songs are always about either the generals, the Turks invading them

or some love lost. Yeah, they're preoccupied. Kind of almost fardo. Do you think? Yeah, I agree with that, yeah. What I love about Greece is their pride in their culture. Yeah. Do you think? Yeah, I agree with that, yeah. What I love about Greece is their pride in their culture. Yeah. That they, you know, we've got...

Almost too proud sometimes. Do you think? I think so. I think it can be, yeah. I think their pride in their culture is so warm and lovely. Yeah. And they, I love the way the men kiss each other. Yeah.

I love their warmth. And it is no surprise to me that they've been the sanctuary for refugees yeah greeks what what kind of food do you love from greece what's your favorite i like so there's one dish they make in olimbos called macarones which is like a traditional homemade pasta and you just have it with goats cheese and caramelized onions can only be that it's quite can you get us a recipe yeah i can definitely my cousin has a coffee shop there so yeah lots of cinnamon and stuff like that not in that one okay that one's just quite but that's specific it's macaroni cheese but with goat's cheese yeah and delicious

caramelized onions yeah so what else do you like to eat uh so my mum would make quite a lot of greek food growing up so um yes spanakorizo was like just a simple classic and then spanakotiropita which I've learnt a pretty good one so spinach and cheese pie I thought it was spanakopita but say it again

spanakopita so spanakopita is just spinach pie but spanakotiropita is spinach and cheese pie you learn something every day well I put cheese

in my spanakopita so technically your spanakopita is technically your spanakopita is a spanakotiropita shitteroo do we need to change that on the fucking edit yeah get the copy

show them the picture it's gorgeous it's gorgeous okay so your mum makes a really good one of that yeah so yeah I grew up having that

a lot and fasolada just all the I love hearing you speak Greek yeah fasolada it's very good it's quite I know I've had a drink but it's kind of rather romantic you want to be back I love hearing you speak Greek. I love it. It's very good. It's very active, Janet.

I know I've had a drink, but it's kind of rather romantic. You want to be back in Scotland. I do. I just want to be... In a Greek man's house. Do you sort of Greek waiter? No, not at all.

They're all a bit shabby there. But your mum is Jewish, but is very good at cooking Greekreek food yeah so she just so she um part of the reason how she met my father so she was working there in greece yeah so my mum's an anthropologist so she's interested in greek culture so she and her one of her main projects which would interest you is that she did it on the safhardi Jews of Rhodes. So there was a huge Sephardic population in Rhodes, old city. And my mum did a big project on them and their emigration after the war and how they, and they, a lot of them ended up in Zimbabwe or South Africa.

So my mum was, grew up in Cape Town and was like, who are these Sephardi Jews as an Ashkenazi? So she followed them back to Rhodes essentially. So she's like interested in Greek culture she speaks Greek and was taught there so she she picked up some cooking and stuff so she was born in Greece so I was born in Oxford and then we went an academic uh yeah and then but then we went we at six months old I went over to Greece and I have an elder brother so we were there and then we moved back to England when I was five so and then i'd just go back to see my dad you know on holidays and

stuff like that so that's how we you you you got greece i got manchester yeah and i do love manchester but i'm not gonna lie i love the idea of like being like oh god i gotta go and see my family in greece yeah what a drag which football team do you support greek one or english olympiacos i'm olympiacos of course he is i want to hear about the hand we want to know about how's the hand the main thing is i can play guitar because i've been doing it all week poor soul soul. I thought you were going to say something else, Yanis, but no, I'm so glad for you that you can play guitar. Yanis, I did watch your performance on The Mercury. I did, yeah, I played with the little glove. Yeah, your little black glove.

Felix from Maccabees kindly joined in. Yeah, bless him. Super sub. He helped me out big time. But you still sang. Yeah, I sang. Yeah, main guy. So how did you hurt your hand? So I was in the village,

and there was like a festival for, you know, Saints Day for church and stuff. Which Saints Day is it? It was called, the church is Tu Stavrou, which is just like of the cross, so like stations of the cross or whatever. It's out in the valley and we went out and there's some drinking and there's the singing of the songs and stuff. And then my cousin, who should know better, he's my dad's age, came over

and we'd had some bottles of whiskey had been passed around as his customary. Of course. Like it is actually rude of you. Yeah. And he pulled a small knife out. It looked quite... Oh my God.

Not in attacking. No, I know. But just don't play with a knife. And he had a few bottles of whiskey. Exactly, yeah. And was just going like, me and you have the don't play with a knife. And he had a few bottles of whiskey. Exactly, yeah. And was just going like, me and you have the same blood. Oh my God. Jesus Christ.

So then I sort of instinctively went to stop him. I get on well with him. But you thought he'd had a few. Yeah, and I just kind of, I don't know, but I just instinctively put my hand out. This is awful, Jesse. And ended up holding on to the blade somehow. And then he pushed it. It was all in a split second was a blood there's a lot of blood how many stitches

i had seven stitches across these three fingers shit and you play guitar that's your guitar hand uh yeah it's the plectrum hand oh my god yeah there's better than that better being guitar yeah but um so they didn't have anaesthetic for all the fingers in the village surgery. So you had to drink more alcohol. I mean, I didn't need that much more. What are we having for dinner, Lenny? Darling, we're having, we're having lamb. Do you like lamb?

I love lamb. You're not going veggie on us? I would have given you a, I was asked if I had requirements. Yeah. So we're doing, we're having. But do you have requirements? No, I really don't. Okay, fine.

Right, so it's a little. But there's some things that I'm not mad about. Like what? I'm not, I'm not mad about, like if you were just going to serve me three courses of only mushrooms, I'd have a problem. There's no mushrooms. There's no mushrooms. There's no mushrooms. You're not the first.

No. Mushrooms. Also, I eat mushrooms. I'm just saying. You don't want to. I'm not a first eater. We're going to have to change our lifestyle because we've just done a cookery book. And actually, my son's turned vegetarian since we did the cookbook because everything's meat.

Also, the thing is. And it's not cool anymore is it you know it's it's not just about it it's it's like you know it's about what's what's right as well i know i mean i eat meat but it's you try not to eat too much i do and also just like the moment the moment you become more aware about the environmental issues, without, I don't, we're not trying to proselytise on the podcast, but it's like... I agree. It's actually, we're trash in the world, aren't we? So it's like one simple and quite effective step is to at least reduce the amount of meat and dairy.

What have you had today for your food today? Breakfast and lunch, what have you had? So this morning I had cheerios oh my god are you five i got them as a treat for my girlfriend a treat oh well done are you a good boy this week that was a treat no we just had a lonely homework i just wasn't got serotonin in the house this week so i thought um get some cheerios in and then but also i was rushing to practice okay well that's not a clever slow releasing carb but whatever

carry on oh shut up this is so dumb porridge would have been better for lunch I had a pret sandwich which one egg

oh wow egg and what just egg and cress it's boring I can't do what has happened to you egg sandwiches in shops

so I used to I used to tease I used to tease like some of my friends when for being nerdy about eating egg sandwiches but actually I've taken to them. So I had an egg and cress sandwich from Pratt with some carrot juice.

Why are you both wincing at me? No, she's not wincing. She loves that shit. I hate it. You expect me to say they're a pint of vodka red bull, right? In the carrot juice. No loves that shit. I hate it. You expect me to say, yeah, they're pint of vodka red bull, right? In the carrot juice. No, that's after the podcast.

No, totally. Did you have dessert? No, I didn't have dessert. No, it's just, literally, just take... You haven't actually eaten. I've been at rehearsal. You've not had your five a day. I'm pretty hungry.

He's hungry. So we've got... I've done Lebanese lamb. Amazing. With, um... How do you say the name of the rice that I've done it's lentils and rice

no it's Madura rice I love lentils so it's lentils rice and it's got crispy onions in that sounds so good

and then I've done some pepperonata just some peppers amazing pepper stew and just greens it sounds so good

but I have done apple crumble for afters because we had some big apples. Honestly, I'm really, I'm,

he's really hungry. I'm hungry, but also, get on with it. No, no, no, I'm not,

but no, it's nice to chat. It's fine, I'm going to go. And are you going out after this? I am because it's Jack, our drummer's birthday.

Oh, nice. Oh my God, I'm so sorry you're having to do this. No, no, it's fine.

Oh, happy birthday, Jack. Yeah, 34. How old are you, Yannis? I'm 33.

I'm the youngest in the band. And how did you guys meet? All in Oxford? Yeah. In and around Oxford, yeah. How old were you when you formed? Me and Jack have been playing together since we were 15. That's amazing.

Yeah. So I had a band just like in school and the drummer uh ditched me essentially before a tour my oldest friend kit filled in but only temporarily when were you you were touring at school yeah like half terms and stuff oh my god i'd book tours oh my god i love the jewish ambition it's great i'd hand make badges and stuff i booked a tour demo cd and then a friend of mine at school said hey you know there's this drummer from tame a bit out of oxford who likes all these you know all the same obscure bands i liked at the time like don caballero all this uh weird math rock stuff and then um so he put us in contact and then jack came into oxford for practice we skived off school for a

friday afternoon and we rehearsed at these older naughty boys' house for youth movies. And we just had this jam there. And then ever since then, that was it, really. We've just been together ever since then. I have to say, you know, it's pretty amazing. How many years is it now that foals have been together? Over 10. That's longer than many marriages.

Yes. And also over 10, it's kind of rude to say exactly how many years i feel like did you finish over 10 roughly did you finish school uh yeah i finished did you go to uni yeah what did you do i did apology no i did english lit where did you do it i did at oxford fucking just a clever clogs how long have you been with your girlfriend i've been with my girlfriend eight and a half years shit i met izzy in vancouver oh okay yeah we had a gig yeah a gig i met her is she canadian so she's canadian her mom's from duran so she's latina canadian but she's canadian yeah i met her at a show um her friend stage invaded and i protected him from this the overly likeueled security people there.

So I basically saved her friend. And her friend thanked me afterwards and said, come and hang out with some people out back. So I went out back. I was smoking quite a lot of weed at the time. So I went out back, and they've got great weed in Vancouver. So I got stoned. I met this girl, and then I... Fell in love?

There was something there, but I had to leave. I had to get on the tour. I had to leave on the tour i had to leave on the tour bus so i left and we became friends and then a year later my tour manager said uh the first show the next us tours in vancouver so so i was like oh right i'll see her yeah so i flew out early oh you must have been is she gorgeous yeah she's stunning yeah okay and i just i'd always there was just something there. Like, I knew there was something there.

And so I flew out early and I had some, I can't say, I had some, anyway, I had something in, like, customs. I had an issue at customs. But anyway, I flew out early on my own. And then. It's not the States, so that's quite good. They're quite, they're quite, anyway. All right, yeah, okay.

So, so I flew out early and then, yeah, I met her there properly. And then we did long distance for about a year and a half. And then eventually she moved to London and we've been together ever since. That's lovely. Yeah. I think it's really amazing. Foals are still together. We've seen bands come and go.

A lot of our friends come and go. Yeah, and you just kind of our friends come and go yeah and and you just kind of keep on getting better and better and actually it's quite prolific like you're putting out two records this year yeah part one part two was it being slightly business putting two records out in one year because you know the current climate of putting music out it's that thing of as soon as you put a record out it's kind of and then it's gone quite quite candidly yeah yeah you know so the last record we put out was in 2014 or 15 it was what went down and and it was great thank you and that felt like that record went out and it was still the same landscape that i understood from 2008 you know

it didn't hadn't felt like certain things had changed marginally, but essentially it was a known, like, terrain. Mm-hmm. Shit's changed. Putting this record out has been, on like a psychological level and on a creative level, interesting and kind of confounding and in some ways challenging and, you know, being honest,

I'd say disappointing in certain ways i'm not disappointed with the music and all that um but it's been to feel like you're putting out music into a world where it's not digested in the same way and not held on to in the same way and i think this is across the board not to do do with our record or my record, but the art and music has become commodified and devalued and doesn't have the potential to become or be like totemic anymore. You can't put a song out and for it to feel like it is there and permanent. It feels like everything, no matter of its its quality is ephemeral or it becomes part of this sort of sedimentary layer so you put a record out and then another seven releases

come out and they're just above it and you get shunted down and it's like a pez dispenser and that's been a kind of strange experience because you you know you know this it's like you work your heart out on music or on any creative output you put it out and and it has to be there has to be kind of a feeling of it being worth it for you to scour yourselves you know um so that's been but part one was mercury nominated yeah i'm not saying no but it's not oh it's like you threw part one out and oh yeah now you know it did really fucking well. No and you're right to pull me up. You're basically taking the piss you're gonna have two parts that are Mercury nominated

that's a first. Yeah you'll be I think potentially. I wanted him to win. Thank you. Did you? You're saying that because I'm here. I bet that you're gonna have some money. No because you knew I didn't know Dave but you liked his mum.

Yeah my mum actually texted me after we after Dave won and was just like I like Dave. But you liked his mum. Yeah. Dave's mum. My mum actually texted me after we, after Dave went and was just like, I like Dave because he, you know, he loves his mum. That's actually what she said in the text. Yeah. I like Dave. But it's not music I would listen to really. Well, no, but that's fine. The Mercury is not about, it's about.

What is it about? It's about, have you ever been on the judging? No. It's quite, It's really intense. I bet. It's quite interesting. It's great. I've done it a few times.

I imagine everyone knows who's going to win. No, they actually really don't. No. It's one of the only... You fight it out at the end. Do you really fight it out? They don't fall out. It's very kind of British,

but people are really stating their case. And it gets really heated. And you're like, no, I believe this. And then... But do they come up to gets really heated. And you're like, no, I believe this. And then... But do they come up to you afterwards and say, you're like second? No, you're not allowed to. No, I've never had that. But I think that's the amazing thing about the Mercury's is it is, it's genuinely thought

out on the night. And it's like to do with the artistry. And you get the award anyway. Yeah. So it's sick. anyway yeah so it's sick so there's been part one mercury nominated done really bloody well part two have you saved all the excellent excellent songs for part two uh in a way yeah as in part one was the starter and now this is the main yeah exactly so do you prefer part two you know what i kind of love both equally but like we definitely

spent a lot of time like if you say about yeah no but i don't have a favorite kid yeah but you don't know do you or maybe you do um no we definitely ensured like that the main thing we were concerned about actually was that part two wasn't just the kind of afterthought that was the point so we saved a lot of our favorite songs for part two it's been quite a weird experience to sit on the songs for like over a year yeah right normally you know you record them and you're ready for them to go um so now that it's about to come out we're super excited and i think that it can you know it completes the picture it's like we've only released half of the work it's like unveiling the painting or something you only show half of it

so now everyone's going to see the full picture and we're really excited about that. And we're going to go out on tour for it again this year. Are you tempted to do any solo projects as a band? I've written, so I've written a bunch of music with Tony Allen, like Fela Kuti's drummer. He's 78 now.

I've got four or five tracks with him that I started about three years ago I've got to finish those soon and I really want to get those out in the world um and then beyond that I don't have any like specific plans I'd like to definitely would like to be creative in a more broader sense I think that one it's an amazing thing how well Foles has done and how like it's an amazing thing how well folds has done and how like how successful it's been but one aspect of it is that it's become dominating you know so like everything is folds related and it might be nice not just for me but for everybody in the group to just um have creative projects that are on the side to fulfill different appetites that the band can't satisfy and i think like

if you try and overload the one project with too many goals and hopes and dreams, it becomes a casserole of nonsense. So you want to... Casserole of nonsense, I like that. You want to split it up into different things. Do you think you've got good table manners? i think you are going to have good table manners not that i'm going to be watching every mouthful i feel like i don't have bad table manners but

also if you took me to some sort of stately british dinner i probably wouldn't wouldn't pass mustard would you get the vodka red bull out i wouldn't get the vodka red bull out but i also i don't like to eat in the gesture i'm making is a sort of slightly tyrannosaurus rex yes pretty woman when she doesn't know which let's just eat some food let's just eat some food we enjoy it you know i think table manners really is about enjoying food eating at a certain pace having good company and it's not to do with whether your elbows on the table no i mean talking with your full mouth full mouth open, all that, that's different. But, okay, so do you cook?

I cook a bit. What do you cook? Not a lot. I only cook Greek stuff. So what's your thing that you cook? I do the spanakopita. That's what I do really well. Not spanakopilopita? No, I do spanakopita. So I do feta ricotta, spinach. The key to a good spanakopita is lots of leek and lots of dill you need tons of dill do we need to amend our spanakopita

the dill the dill dill is dill had become i love dill dill i can't get enough some people don't like it well they're wrong it's that people don't like dill and people don't like coriander do you do you like coriander i like coriander but i wouldn't die for coriander i wouldn't die on that coriander hill dill though i would there's something about dill where it's like the cure for an imagined nausea as in well here's oxbridge coming out what i mean what i mean is there's something so fresh. There's something so fresh and almost alpine about it in my mind. Like there's something cleansing about it.

I agree. Have you ever tried dill in tuna mayonnaise? Heavenly. Don't knock it until you tried it. Do you like Marmite? I do like Marmite. Do you know what though? I prefer Bovril.

Oh. Oh, yeah. How about that. Oh. Oh, yuck. How about that? What do you mean, yuck? To eat a spread. I eat Bovril as a spread. I think you're the only person that still eats it. No, they don't.

They do it in Manchester. All right, okay. I think that also there is, if you're going to eat meat, that's the bit that's left over. They boil it down. Do you know the history of Bovril? It's quite, it's fairly bonkers. Come on, then. Come on. I like this. I like this. He's left over. They boil it down. Do you know the history of Bovril? It's quite, it's fairly bonkers. Come on then, come on. I like this.

I like this. He's got a story. All right, so the history of Bovril is that, I think that if this, maybe this is anecdotal, but they were having trouble getting protein to the British troops in the Napoleonic Wars. They couldn't actually get cattle. So Napoleon, for whatever reason,

had mustered all the cows of france and so they basically there wasn't protein available so they they thought of a way to the way of transferring protein to the troops on the front line for the british forces was to boil the bones down and make it into bone broth but make into a sauce a spreadable sauce or you put it in a drink and so bovril was the way of getting protein to troops far away where there weren't there wasn't fresh meat available it would go off so it's a way of preserving protein i mean so they were basically it's transportable cow in liquid form i've never really thought about it like that. I mean, it's horrible to say it, but that's... I'm imagining that your dinners at home were you...

His mum's an anthropologist. Yeah, was your mum saying as she gave you a spanakopalopata, a kind of being like, and this, darling, the story of the spinach was da-da-da-da-da, and the people, and was it like that every night? My mum was, to be honest, my mum was a single mum, and she had this, you know, she was, she was academic. So she worked a lot. And so the thing that I look back on now as a 33 year old

man, hopefully we'll have a family at some point. I honestly, and my mum's elderly now, she had me at 42. So she's in her mid, almost the late seventies now. And, and the thing I think about is I don't, we didn't have like she didn't really do many ready you know like ready dinners and like or frozen dinners and stuff i genuinely don't understand how she would get back in time because it takes me two hours to make anything basically and she'd just do it um but there wasn't a lot of chat like background chat necessarily so we'd have a lot of chicken livers was the other thing that we'd eat a lot. Oh, really?

Yeah, we should do rosemary, red wine sauce, chicken livers with rice. And she would say that was the Jewish, we knew that that came from the Jewish side and we knew what came from the Jewish side, the Greek side, sorry. So what, is the livers the, that kind of brings back that memory of your mum cooking? Was that on a particular night or would that be like a weekday? It'd be a weekday.

And then the other memory that I had was that my mum, when she left Cape Town, she went to Chicago to study and she was there in the 60s and she fell in with the wrong or right crowd, depending on how you look at it. And she would go to, she saw Muddy Waters in the 60s in Chicago and Howling Wolf at a place called Pepper's Lounge. And the music that we grew up with in the house, me and my brother was,

essentially was my mum's music taste. So it'd be South African guitar music from, she had this one compilation called Sounds of Soweto. Which I feel like the first Foles record, like there's a lot of kind of Afro, like yeah. Afro beatball, so South African guitar playing specific. And the big thing would be like, I knew my mum was in a good mood

when Chicken Livers would be cooking with the red wine and the rosemary and Howling Wolf was on the stereo. If Howling Wolf was on the stereo. It's a good day. And I've gone back to Howling Wolf now latterly and it's just like, that man had a voice and there's nobody else that will ever have that voice again.

His voice is next level. Do you want salt and pepper? Yeah, there's salt and pepper. There's salt and pepper here if you want. Thank you so much. Pleasure, darling. Love it to be here. I haven't had a home-cooked meal in so much. Pleasure, darling. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it isn't it? So good. Two things I want to know. What would you stockpile if Brexit happens? Which I think it will. It's going to happen, yeah. So what would you... What are you worried about not getting hold of? Is it, like, probably camel blues? But other than that...

They don't come from Europe, do they? Well, they're definitely not made in the UK. Yeah, but they're that they don't come from europe do they well they don't they're definitely not made in the uk yeah but they're american aren't they is brexit gonna make you stop smoking might do yeah maybe that'd be a good thing maybe one good thing will come out of it in terms of food what would i stockpile i'd probably stockpile sea salt greek sea salt though not mold and stuff greek? Yeah. I've got the pink Himalayan stuff. I get stuff from Carpathos that's like... I've never had Greek sea salt.

Mastic. Have you ever had mastic ice cream? Yeah, mastic. It's the best. The ice cream. Mastic ice cream. I bought it back... Liqueur, chewing gum.

Oh. They've got mastic liqueur. Yeah. I've never had it. It's a little sickly. and what would be your karaoke song what post-brexit no all right just in general we might not leave so if we get them to doing karaoke tonight i would like to sing shout by tears for fears oh very good just because i know i can do it pretty well i want to know you're you're the singer yeah you drink you smoke yeah why don't you lose your

voice i have lost my voice i did lose at one point oh actually no you did lose it actually it was um you lost it and you was it it was right. We were minutes away from doing Live Lounge. Yes, I remember this. And we had to cancel it minutes before. Honestly, it's one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced. Do you not look after your voice? I do, yeah. I do now.

So Jesse does. Do you do exercises? So I warm up and everything. I look after it within the remit of me also drinking and smoking. Do you have a bong? The steam bong? Sorry, you buy me? Jesse's got a steam drinking and smoking do you have a bong a steam bong sorry you buy me Jessie's got a steam bong

it looks like a bong I use a steam bowl I steam yeah so we ask every guest last supper desert island meal

alright starter main pud drink oh Jesus Christ alright does it have to go well as a all right so i'm gonna do it separately then all right and one of our guests last week had a whole day of food breakfast lunch so starter would be fuck i can never remember

anything when i'm even like if you were to go what's your favourite three records of all time I'd just be like that's annoying sorry that's an annoying question I won't ask you that I've asked you an equally annoying

question yeah you've asked a different annoying one think about it for a bit and we can ask another question okay cool okay so

favourite places to eat in London okay um so I love they're not necessarily like the fanciest places I love a restaurant

called Silk Road I knew you were going to say that why? I just knew it does everyone say it? no I just knew you were

going to say it have people said it before? no no one's ever said it has anybody said it before? no it's just you say it all the time

it's great I say it and Alex has been and you've been and Sam's been gives me a funny tummy every time I go though well that's your own problem

right so Silk so Silk Road on Camberwell Church Street what do you order at Silk Road? Alex has been and you've been and Sam's been. Give me a funny tummy every time I go though. Well, that's your own problem. Right, so Silk Road on Camberwell Church Street. The dish that I go for, it works in medley with other dishes, but the home-style cabbage, you just can't get that cabbage nowhere else. I don't know if I had the cabbage. The cabbage is the business. I like the cucumbers. Yeah, the cucumbers, fine. The cabbage is the one. Okay, fine. I do it for me. I like the cucumbers. Yeah, the cucumbers, fine.

The cabbage is the one. Okay, fine. I do it for me. I love that restaurant. I love the Trattoria in Newington Green. It's on the corner of Newington Green. Yes. And there's a variety of factors about that restaurant.

So the food is great. They do great coffee. You can go in the afternoon. You can sit outside. You look over the green. It feels relaxed. It can be both basically a coffee shop and a restaurant, which I like. I became friendly with the waiter there, who is a fascinating character. And I used to live in Newington Green.

I've left. But to this day, he texts me. He sends me gifts. I got a Versace, beautiful Versace robe. You must have tipped very, very well. So thank you for that, Nicola. And he's a fascinating man. He writes short stories

and it was just, it's a play, and I watched the World Cup there and I'd scream about Greece. It's just, it became a... Oh, you support Greece? Well, no,

I'm not saying I support Greece against England. I'm just saying, whatever. I can support more than one country. Yeah, I think you can. So the Trattoria and Newington Green is one of my faves. I want to know, for somebody who has so much to say,

and is so interesting. No, you know, you're very... What, you're saying that I've been overly talkative? Not at all. No. Not at all, but I'm really... Throwing shade. You've got an opinion on everything.

Do I? Yes. You don't have an opinion on your fucking last meal come on give it to me all right but this is you know why i'm getting stuck as the starter thing because i know what i do for my main okay do your main all right so my main i would have my father make me a roast chicken with roast potatoes and all the other bits that he does the greek way with the lemon and the oregano. That's what I'd do. Lovely.

Not interested in a restaurant cooked Maine. I want my father cooking that. Okay. I like that. It's lovely. Beautiful. For the dessert, I would like to have the olive oil cake that they do with, oh, it's Artusi on Bellenden Road. Oh, love that. Good artichoke dip there yeah yeah uh or just olive olive oil cake in general i'll just choose an olive oil cake with

a nice crisp type of either maybe a sorbet or ice cream but something crisp to go with it creme fraiche you know what i'm a sucker for creme fraiche i just eat it out of creme fraiche. Who's got that out? I just eat it out of the fridge. I've got a tub there. Do you want some? I bought some from Borough Market the other day, and Izzy caught me just eating it out of the fridge, just straight up. And she's like, why did you buy the creme fraiche?

I was just like, for this. All right. For me. That sounds lovely. Yes. What's your drink? We're talking boozy drink. It can be anything.

Can I have more than one drink? Yeah, of course. I could do a whole... Come on, yeah, you're in foals. Of course you can. All right, so I'd start... Do you drink Uzo? No, I drink Raki, though.

Raki? Yeah. That's not going to be your last drink, though. No. Well, again, all of this stuff is contextual, though, isn't it? Oh, stop philosophising. All right, fine. You're in it.

All right, I'd start off with a Negroni to start, or a mint julep to start, and then... Oh, he likes cocky teas, fine. You're in it. All right, I'd start off with a Negroni to start, Oray, mint julep to start. Oh, he likes cocky teas, man. I was a cocktail barman before the band. Were you? That's how me and Evan met. Before the band? You were like 15 when you started the band.

How dare you? How old were you? I was a barman. A garage barman? Yeah. Amazing. Can you make a Cosmo? easy peasy i can do the flare i can flame the orange for you and all that oh my god no one's flamed an orange for me darling

years ever really and i'm a cosmo queen um yeah and then with with the meal the wine that i'd like so i'd have a light meal so I wouldn't have my dad's roast chicken I'd have like a a Sancerre a white wine a Sancerre that's what I'd like

yeah and then to end I would move on to a Fernet Branca oh that is so fucking trendy yeah

why I'm sorry that tastes like shit since when's it been trending since Brunswick fucking house do it it's fry as balsa

in Jackson Boxer Boxer does it it tastes like shit yeah it's horrible it's like a fucking shit Jager box do you know what's awesome it's Harry

he's allowed to have what he wants shut up what I like though is that I've been drinking that for a long time and I didn't even know it'd come back round

oh really I was hit to it the first time round so would you just drink white wine not red no I drink both mum No, it'd come back round. Oh, really? Yeah. I was hit to it first time round. Okay, thank you. So would you just drink white wine, not red? No, I'd drink both. Mum, where have you met Yannis? No, he's only mentioned Sancerre.

And Fernet Branca and a fucking mint tulip. Fernet Branca's a digestivo, darling. Okay. And then for afters, you know, I know we're talking other things. Would you have calamari and tzatziki first? And a Greek salad? It's a bit presumptuous. You know what?

I would have, yeah, I would like... I'm helping him. There's no Jewish food in your... I'm helping him. In your last meal. You're judging me, are you? No, I'm not. Can your mum make chicken soup and matzo balls?

No, she doesn't make matzo balls. You're going to be invited for chicken soup and matzo balls. I would like to come and eat with you guys again. Yeah, come and have Shabbos dinner. Also, maybe if I come round and ate with you guys more, then there'll be more Jewish food in the last supper. Very good. Very good.

For a starter, yeah, let's do calamari. I love calamari. You just pushed that onto him. Yeah, but it's true. No, but it's true. As a starter, it's great calamari. Or gavros. Yeah.

No, it's not sold on that. Satsiki? Yeah, I like satsiki, but it's true. As a starter, it's great calamari. Or gavros. Yeah. No, it's not sold on that. Satsiki? Yeah, I like satsiki, but I mean... Do you like fava? I love fava. Me too. My mum makes banging fava. Does she?

Yeah. Does she put octopus or anchovies? No, neither. Oh, some of us have... Cacus? I don't know what you guys get up to in Skopelos, but that's not the Greece I know. Well, we like a little bit of octopus on the side. You guys get real fruity over there. I feel feel like you're looking stressed by this whole last supper you're like i'm stressed for you

because i feel like you haven't you haven't committed to it i feel very confident in my main in the booze choices highly confident in the pudding i'm happy and do you like soup you know what actually you know what there you go you know what i would do is i would i would take the world's best gazpacho as my starter that's really oh no what the fuck i want to know if you've ever had i've absolutely my grandma used to make gazpacho and it was it was absolutely banging don't look at me like that do you have um do you have tomato juice on a plane no all right who do you think i am a gazpacho person i felt like we'd have tomatoes Do you have tomato juice on a plane? No. Oh, right, okay. Who do you think I am? A gazpacho person, I felt like we'd have tomato juice.

No, but I want to know. You don't fit into these little categories, you predestined. Right, do you go to... What's your last summer? Oh, God, don't. It's like... Oh, there you go. Do you go to Greece for Easter?

Yeah. Greek Easter? Yeah. So you know the very odd thing they make, which is like the entrails of the something or other. Yeah yeah but you know they don't do that everywhere though they don't do that where i'm from we have the suit with the entrails in that's called patsa yeah where i'm from is it nice we gave i took jimmy from the banter to my village for one easter and my dad gave him cold cold pata which is you know it's literally a clear broth

it's got a light flavouring to it and then there's just chunks of stomach and bits of and honestly Jimmy's got one of the

most sensitive gag reflexes I've ever met the guy's chundering one out of three times he brushes his teeth let alone anything else and just to see him

as all the elders of the village watched him suffering and enduring, trying to swallow this stomach soup. It was a thing of beauty. It was a thing of beauty. Jesse, it is. You have it on the night before

at 12 o'clock, don't you? Not where I'm from, but... Right, so in Skopelos on Greek Easter, all you can smell, the lambs must just think, fuck, we've got to run. Because everyone's on a spit that day. And all you can

see is everyone roasting their lamb off. Yanis, thank you so... Should I call you Yanni? Yeah, whatever you want. Why do people call you Yanis when other people call you Yanni? So, I don't know, it's become anglicised as Yanis, but obviously in Greece... It's Yanni, no?

In Greece, you drop the S, darling. Yeah. I don't know it's become anglicised as Yanis but obviously in Greece in Greece yeah but if you refer in Greece you drop the S darling yeah yeah so Yanni yeah

thanks so much for doing this on your Friday night when it's your best mate's birthday go go go mum do you have

anything to say no oh wow that's first you know what Yanni Yanni Yanni

Lenamu thank you so much for having me in your house the food was absolutely delicious and it's been fun That's first. You know what? Yanimoo. Yanimoo. Lenamoo. Thank you so much for having me in your house. The food was absolutely delicious and it's been fun and hopefully we can do this again soon. Absolutely. I felt like you were charmed, Mum. I thought he was really charming. So bright.

I love a bright place. Are you a sapio? What's it? I'm a sapio erotico. Or what is it called? No. Sapio. What's it called?

Sappio Erotica. He was one of the best huggers I've ever been hugged by. I meant to say, what's the Mark Ronson thing? It's Sappio, that's what I thought I was saying. Sappio Erotica. Mum had a really good night. Mum really enjoyed Janice's company. He's such good fun.

He is. and he knows a lot maybe mum you should be in a rock band because you would be able to do the rider you'd be able to go on stage and before no I couldn't no but I was interested in the whole kind of story about his island and he's so proud of it like every Greek I've ever met they's so proud of it. Like every Greek I've ever met. They're so proud of where they come from. He was just very bright. Very interesting. Loves his music. But it isn't the be all and end all.

He likes lots of things. Yanni, from Foles, thank you so much. You were hysterical. And I'm looking forward to hanging out more. And basically you coming around for Shabbat dinner because apparently you're mum's new favourite person. So that's that. Good luck to Foles with part two.

Everything is... Fucking hell, I can't say it now. I'm pissed. Everything that's not saved will be lost. Everything not saved will be lost. I'm paying for an Uber for you, Alice. Everything not saved will be lost. I am too drunk to say that title. You not saved will be lost. I am too drunk

to say that title. You're not drunk, darling. Mum, I don't drink that much. Well, you need to. Lighten up. Well, you know what? I'm going to make the most

of my children and my husband not being here and missing them dearly. But I potentially am about to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. So good night. Thank you for listening. I'm off. The music you've heard on Table Manners

is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser. Table Manners is produced by Alice Williams.