Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 144: Josh Thomas

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

Josh Thomas – acclaimed Australian comedian and star of his own Aus and US TV shows – orders his dream meal this week, in the final episode from our trip across the Pond.Watch Josh’s show ‘Please Like Me’ on Amazon Prime.Follow Josh Thomas on Twitter and Instagram @joshthomas87Recorded by Ben Williams and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive. Recorded at The Comedy Store, LA. Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design) and Amy Browne (illustrations).Follow Off Menu on Twitter and Instagram: @offmenuofficial.And go to our website www.offmenupodcast.co.uk for a list of restaurants recommended on the show.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, listeners of the Off Menu podcast. It is Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu podcast. I have a very exciting announcement. I have written my first ever book. I am absolutely over the moon to announce this. I'm very, very proud of it. Of course, what else could I write a book about? But food. My book is all about food. My life in food. How greedy I am. What a greedy little boy I was. What a greedy adult I am. I think it's very funny. I'm very proud of it. The book is called Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy. And it's coming out this October, but it is available to pre-order now, wherever you pre-order books from. And if you like my signature, I've done some signed copies,

which are exclusively available from Waterstones. But go and pre-order your copy of Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy now. Please? Careful, when you open up this episode, I've shaken it a lot, and it's going to spray in your face, James. Wow! Was that someone opening a fizzed-up bottle, or was that the genie coming out, but he's all wet? I was coming out of the lab, and I was coming out, and I was shaking the bottle and opening it in my face. Oh, man. What a sound effect. Who knew? You're like Bobcat Goldswhite. Yeah, it really surprised me. I caught myself off guard when I did that, Ed. It was pretty cool. I don't know if Bobcat Goldswhite can do sound effects,

actually. He does silly noises. It's more the other guy in Police Academy. Yeah, we don't want Bobcat coming after us. But yeah, the other guy who was once at Edinburgh Festival, do you remember that? Yeah, I remember he was at the Chortle Awards once. It was quite a starstruck. Yeah, it's great. We were all excited that the man who does the sound effects in Police Academy was suddenly at Edinburgh and everywhere, and we all got to see him at least once. Forgotten his name, no? There were people absolutely screaming his name at the top of their voices. Michael... Fair enough. Michael... Winslow! Winslow! Thank you, the great leader. Anyway, welcome to the Off Menu podcast, where, as well as just trying to remember the names of people, we also ask a

special guest their favourite... Start a main course dessert, side dish and drink, and this week's guest is Michael Winslow! Josh Thomas. Josh Thomas. Josh Thomas, a brilliant Australian comedian and writer and actor. He is in a show in Australia called Please Like Me, that's his show, and his show in the States is called Everything Is Gonna Be Okay. Everything Is Gonna Be Okay. So go and check that out. Track that down if you can. He's brilliant. This is an episode that we recorded when we were in LA, James, in our LA trip, but we're recording the intro much later, because it was our last day in LA. I think we recorded three or four episodes on the bounce, and after that we didn't want to record the intros and outros. We wanted to go out and we

wanted a traditional final evening in LA of drinking slightly too much, eating a lot of food, and then going to see a Sting musical about the Newcastle Docks. It was one of the best days of my life, and looking back at it now that we're coming in recording this intro during quarantine, we're locked down, and I would give anything to be going to see that Sting musical again. Yeah, oh man, and the amount of Americans we told what we were doing that night, I've never been looked at like an alien so much. It's our last night in LA, we're going to see the Sting musical. What Sting musical? There's a Sting musical, don't you know what's going on in your own town? Yeah, well, evidently not a lot of people did, because the tickets were freely available until

the very available. We thought it was going to be sold out, we were like, oh, I can't believe all the tickets to, was it the last ship? Is that what it was called? The last ship. The last ship. We thought they're all going to be sold out, there's no way, and Bodito was like, oh no, we can sit anywhere. Sit anywhere we like. We can sit on the ship if we want. We turned up, like the worst audience, members of our own gigs, we just turned up drunk and sat there, laughing our heads off at the whole thing. James leaning over to people we didn't know, and going, why have you come here? We're here as a joke. Yeah, chatting to people, they like chatting to me, I think. Yeah, they love that. And then Ed bought the soundtrack at the

end of the night and was listening to it in his ring when he was packing up the next morning. Happy at times. James had a whiskey and a little plastic cup. I did. I went to get some more whiskey during the show and there was a lad who worked there sitting outside and I said, have you seen this show? And he went, not yet. I went, it's shit. Oh, but I looked so happy. I looked delighted and he was like, cool. Well, I will tell you who is not shit and is absolutely worth the ticket price is the wonderful Josh Thomas. So we are going to speak to Josh Thomas now, but we will kick Josh Thomas out if he says a secret ingredient which we have decided now. And that secret ingredient is bean sprouts. Bean sprouts. They are never welcome, I find. You told me,

Ed, that they cause food poisoning sometimes. I believe they can. I believe that's often the culprit in a Chinese takeaway because they get left, stored in water, I think, and they can go a bit stagnant. And I don't like them. I don't like them. Get rid of them. I don't like them anyway. So if Josh Thomas has bean sprouts, he's out on his ear. Sorry, Josh. We're going to kick him, sprout the restaurant. But hopefully he won't say that. Well, here is the off-menu menu of Josh Thomas. Welcome, Josh, to the Dream Restaurant. Hello, how are you doing? Oh, here he is. Welcome, Josh Thomas, to the Dream Restaurant. I've spat all over myself. I've never been able to figure out, because when you listen to this, I can't tell your

voices apart. To me, you just sound like one person. Yes. So I never knew you were the genie. Oh, really? You didn't know it was me? You'd reveal. Were you surprised when you showed up and there were two hosts? No, I knew there were two of you, but I didn't know who was who. Yeah, I know one of you is diabetic, but I don't know which one. I'm diabetic. He's a genie. Yeah, very similar. Both afflictions in a way. I have to inject before I eat. He lives in a lamp. Yeah, we're both waiting to be freed. Me from a lamp, you from? Diabetes. Diabetes, like I said. The hard life of a chronic condition. Yeah, we haven't talked about that. That's not come up on an episode for a while, actually.

Diabetes? Yeah, I miss it. Do you miss it? I like it when it comes up. Yeah. Well, you like telling people that I fell in the Thames. Yeah, raise an awareness. And that's how I got so important. Is that true? No, it's not true. A lot of illness is as important as awareness. You've got diabetes probably from what? Fall in the Thames. Well, it's, you know... What did you do to get your disease? It must have been in a previous life. Yeah, okay. I couldn't tell you what it was, but it was bad. Very naughty. Very naughty, whatever it was. Very naughty. Have you done naughty things that you deserve diseases for?

Yeah, man. I've been under submission. Don't worry about that. But I don't have any diseases. I have no diabetes. I'm not a genie. No. I'm just a guy who's cool. Just living your life. Yeah, congrats, man. That's really cool. How are you finding the food in Los Angeles? Yeah, we're having a good time of it. Yeah. So we're in New York for a week, and we're here for a week. And I'll be honest, I think I've burnt myself out on food now. Really? I think I should. But what are you eating in LA? LA doesn't have interesting food, which I don't want to say too much, because they don't think

they don't agree with me, and they get really hurt feeling. Because how long have you been here for now? Two years. Two years. Yeah. Before that you lived in... Australia. In Melbourne. Melbourne, which is a very good food place. Yeah. I've never been there. You looked at me looking for some sort of... I should say it's good. I was just trying to involve you. I was just in my eye contact, so trying... Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's good. It's good. You're good at that so far, so well. Yeah. I think James is still trying to displace the fact that when he did the

GD sound effect, he spat all over himself, and I do just want to go back to that. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll happily talk about it. I always do the GD sound effect, and this time I just went really big on the sound effect. I was so... While I was doing the sound effect, I thought to myself in my head, ah, this really sounds legit this week, and I wasn't really focusing on anything else. I spat down my chin. A sheet of spit. I was like, ah, that's happened. I didn't know that wasn't just how it went. Yeah, I mean... I just thought that's how it went. Yeah, yeah, you think so. I just put a lot more effort for

your episode than I have for any other one. Yeah, you were big. Yeah, but hopefully I can sustain that energy for the whole thing. I'm worried now. I think you're doing well. You spat all your energy out. Yeah, I spit all my energy all over myself immediately. So, LA's not a good food town, you think? Well, it's fine, but it's not like as a tourist, I don't know. Maybe people are like, what should I eat? I don't know what to tell you. Right, okay. I mean, there's like multiple soups,

but if you've just been in New York, you've probably had a better Jewish daily than here. Sure. There's like Mexican food, but then like... I mean, it's not as good as in Mexico, and that's right there. It is right. Just to let you know, we're recording at the border. Yeah, we're just on the border. So, I got no recommendations. I was just wondering if you did. We had a fantastic meal at Bestia the other night, which is an entire restaurant. Yeah. It felt like a thing.

Every dish there was fantastic. Yeah. So, yeah, they were great. All right. Steak, great fish, desserts. Guizados last night. Yes, that's the best taco. It was really good. Yeah. Did you get the sample of seven different tiny little tacos? That's a nice way to live, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Popping them all in. I could do each one in one bite.

I had to like... I had to like have a technique where I kind of like put it in and then like post the rest of it in with my thumb, but I was still able to do it and get it all in one go. Because you want it all in one bite? Yeah. I don't like biting a taco, especially when it's like more kind of stewed meats in the middle and then having it like drip onto your hand and having a palm full of meat juice. So, that's interesting because to me, you're the drip boy that likes to drip. You're the dripper.

Yeah, yeah. You're a very drippy boy. Yeah, yeah. I made up for it later on in life. People are full of contradictions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am pretty drippy, so yeah, that's the best sense. The lady refused to serve me the spicy one. Did you?

Is it a really spicy one? I was like, can I have that one? She went, no. Oh, yeah. It's more of a... She said it's more of a challenge taco. I was like, man, I'm not up for a challenge. Sort of just want dinner. I often find Americans telling me that something spicy, they're like, oh, you know, you can't have this, it's spicy.

And I'm like, oh, honey. I can eat it. If you've got it on your menu in this country, I can eat it. Like, give it to me, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fair enough. Are you a bit of a foodie? Yeah, I'm very food focused. Great.

So all I did in my 20s really was travel and eat usually quite expensive food, so I spent all my money on. So I've been very stressed about this podcast. But yeah. Yeah, so which I like, when I listen to the podcast and somebody's not really into food, I move on. Yeah. So Rose McGowan, she was like, you know, if I had a pill,

if I couldn't eat food, I was like, fuck off, Rose McGowan. I can't eat, but nothing for me today. So I've been very serious about it. That's good. That's good. That's what I like to hear. Yeah. Do you name like every episode of your sitcom after a food?

Food. Yeah, there's a lot of food. Yeah. But I don't really like, I kind of burnt myself out on it, like 29. So I haven't really, the last few years, now I just eat. Also, I'm not late. Because so the truth is, if I was going to have my dream meal,

it would be things I haven't eaten. Right. Because I like to try new things. That's how I feel. But then I don't know, that's not like, it's not a good podcast. It's difficult to discuss things if you've never had them. Yeah, it's just I'd like to try this. There are also things that I don't know that I want yet.

Do you know what I mean? What I would want is for somebody to be like, well, this is like a cake from Egypt that's like really good. And this is the best version of it. And you've never heard of it. And here it is. And you get to eat it now. Yeah.

So the podcast is going to be us saying, what do you want for your stars? And you're going, well, I don't know yet. What would the chef recommend? That's what I would want. Right. And but there's two things that in the dream podcast, I would eat that I wouldn't eat in real life.

And one of them is whale. I would like to taste it. I won't taste it. But I mean, he's a genie. So you can get an ethically sourced whale. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Sometimes I just see them fighting with green peas on the boat.

And it looks so crazy. I think that must be a nice bit of fish. Don't you think? Sure, sure. Yeah, I guess that's not the message they're trying to get across to you at the time in those videos. But yeah, you can see. I do the same when I watch like movies with like drug addicts.

I think like, well, it must have been fun. Yeah, it must have been great. If they're like that about drugs, they must be. Yeah, I think meth must be. Yeah. It must have something to it. Yeah. Can't be something you can take or leave.

Would you like us to give you some meth with them? Yeah, I fucking love some drugs. Yeah. If you can guarantee that I won't get addicted or die or that I'll go public. Yeah, we can do that. And we can ethically source some. The whale.

Some whale. I mean, whales are pretty big, right? I don't think they'll notice if you just take a little like slither off the side. And let it carry on. Yeah, just a bit of carpaccio. That'll scab over. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That'll scab over. That'll scab over, yeah. Okay, well. Someone else will point it out to the whale later on. Yeah. Should I regret saying that I just want to know what it tastes like, but I don't want to eat it? Yeah.

What? I want to know what it tastes like, but I don't want to eat it. So you want the taste implanted in your head. Yeah. But without having to eat the thing. Yeah. Once I had horse by accident.

Have you ever had horse? Are you riding a horse and you sort of fell into it? I was in it. Like broke quite. Yeah. Caught it quite fast. No, I didn't. No?

No. Okay. No, that's silly. I had it at a market and we were trying the sausages and I said, but she put it in my mouth. I didn't like it. I said, what is that? And she said, horse.

So that's good to know you don't like it. No, it's in the moment. Like I'd rather like eat something. Oh, that's really nice. What is it? It's horse. I didn't want to eat horse, but in the moment being like, I don't like that.

What is it? Horse. That's worse. Cause you're like, oh God. I like getting a clean taste that wasn't without me knowing what it was. So I know that my reaction to it was honest because I just thought it was like pork or something.

So I liked that I got to taste it without the stigma of like, oh no, I'm about to eat a horse because then sometimes that can ruin something. And then if you don't enjoy it, then you're like, maybe it's the mental factor was getting in the way. Exactly. But now I know decisively that I don't like horse. I know also decisively that I don't like sheep's brain

because once on an Australian television show, I was blindfolded it and I was fed up by Nikki Webster, who was the girl that was in the Australian 2000 Olympic opening ceremony. If you remember, she flew in. She's famous in my country and she fed it to me and I was blindfolded and I didn't like it. So I know I don't like that without the stigma as well.

But maybe it's just the way she fed it to you. Maybe someone else fed you sheep's brain, someone else from the opening ceremony. I'm not going to sit here and blame National Church and Nikki Webster for me not liking sheep's brain. It doesn't have to be someone else in the opening ceremony. No. Do you think Josh only gets fed by people who were in the

opening ceremony at the Olympics? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very specific. Yeah, yeah. I've been fed blindfolded by like a lot of C-grade Australian celebrities. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, like a big kid.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know about this bird that I want to try, but also you're not allowed to eat it. And it keeps being in Autolaine is the word I'm looking for. Autolaine. Do you know it? No. So it's in succession.

It's in Billions, which are two shows that I haven't heard. But everyone keeps telling me about this scene because they're like, you would love this. And it's like, it's illegal in France because it's unethical. And that's like when the French take a traditional French food and make it illegal because of ethics. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoa, that's bad.

It's still legal. They're still into it. Yeah. It used to be illegal here. And they brought it back in California. And they were like, yeah, actually, one second thought. We've thought about that. And it's fine.

Yeah, yeah. It's like a little bird. I don't really know why it's so controversial. I think maybe it's like quite rare. And also they take the bird and they only feed it in the dark. And they like force feed it the way you would have for a grab. And then I read that sometimes to kill them, they drown them in almond yak.

But I'm not sure if that's true. Look. That can't help the flavor of drowning it in art. It's like, yeah, you can really taste the fear. All of this is a spike from a saw moving. And then it's a teeny bit. These birds have done. It's a tiny bird.

And they eat it with a napkin over their head. And in succession, they say that it's partly to hide their shame and partly because it heightens the senses. So it's like, so no one can see this evil thing you're doing when you eat this bird. And then you put the bird in whole body. But you hold it by its beak and then you pull it out.

And then you eat the whole bird in all the little shells and all the little bones and stuff. Oh, my gosh. It's like some sort of satanic ritual. Yeah. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Yeah. Would you do it if it wasn't mean?

I can't imagine it not being. Yeah, what are you doing to make that not mean? Also, I mean, just in general, I wouldn't want to eat like a bird, a whole bird, holding it by the beak, and then scraping it through my mouth and having all the little bones up. I wouldn't like that. The bones you chew.

Which I imagine even worse. But do you like if you get like a tempura prawn and you eat the shell on the outside of the prawn, you know? Or like do you like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I imagine it's like that. I think the napkin over the head is the step too far for me. Yeah, not into that.

Well, that's where I think this must be tasty. Right. So you have to have a napkin over your head. If you're going through all of this, that must be good. Have you ever tried eating any other foods with a napkin over your head? No. Usually senses?

No, I don't. Have a nice chocolate pudding with your napkin over your head? No, it's got to be evil. Yeah, it's got to be evil foods, yeah. I mean, I'm otherwise not a bad guy. Just those, there are two things that I'm like, if it was a dream restaurant and I could experience it without it being terrible,

that I would be interested in the narrative. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess in the dream restaurant, it'd be a bird who has voluntarily just hung out in the dark, fed itself all that stuff. Just, yeah, just really went on a big bed. That was just lifestyle anyway. Yeah, yeah.

Bit of a goff, kind of just doing that. And then happily just died naturally while swimming in a bowl above her neck. And then it was like, okay, now we can drag it through your mouth and have a napkin over your head. But that would be the dream. That would be the dream.

You're the genie. I don't need to see the work. You know what I mean? Just make it happen. So still are sparks in water, Josh. So I don't like bottled water. I find it kind of disgusting and creepy. Because well, it's bad for the environment,

which is a hard sell for me at the moment at this stage that I care about that. But I don't like thinking of it having been on the boats and in the storage all hot and in the plastic or the glass. To me, that's more disgusting than the tap. When you see something,

do you think about the whole history of it? I just find bottled water kind of unsettling. I just don't know why people think that's more glamorous than tap water. Because tap water is all moving and I just like it better. But I know that most people don't want to say, when you're like a fancy restaurant,

they say about the water. I always say tap water's fine. Tap water's fine. And I say it before, very quickly, so no one else has to feel the shame of it. I said it before you even said hello. You're walking in this. Can we take your coat?

Tap water's fine. Tap water's fine. But if it's one of the places where they have on tap still and spark like it's filtered out of the tap, you know they do that and it's free? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sparkling out all the time?

No. No. So what was the point? You still have tap water? Still, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't like the bubbles with my meal. To me, it's like a treat by itself. Sure.

Yeah. Oh, so you drink sparkling water on its own? Yeah, I'm not like with a meal. But you don't? Okay. I can understand that. Yeah, it's all a bit busy. I don't want to have a mouthful of food

and then a mouthful of sparkling water. That'd feel... Just weird things to food, right? Yeah. I don't think my mouth would just be confused. You know, you've had it before. You're acting like you've never done this. Well, Joe, what? I'm not sure if I have or not.

What? Are you already saying water and food? Yeah. Of course you have. I don't know. This is insane. I can't pinpoint a certain time. I gotta go. I can't tell you a specific time I've done that.

Also, maybe I've never done that. You're talking as if you've taken a mouthful of food and then leave the food in your mouth and take a swig of water and mix it all up. Oh, no, no, no, no. No, he hasn't done that. No, no, no. I haven't done that.

But I would have had the food and eat it and swallow it and then I'd have the sparkling water. But there's always going to be the flavour of the food still in there. And then the bubbles come over it. Are you kidding me? I don't want to do that. I don't think I've ever done that.

You have. No. Come on. This isn't. This is the craziest thing I've ever had. Name one time. I've done it. But also, it's like any fizzy drink is the same effect

on your mouth. You can't name a time. Yeah, but I can't name a time. It'd be weird if I could name a time you've had sparkling water with a meal, right? Well, stand out because I've never done it. I don't know. I think he's done it.

Yeah, he must have done it. He's done it, mate. Don't fall for this shit. So he feels like what? There's trust so early in the podcast. See a weird thing to lie about. Yeah, it would be. Yeah.

Exactly. That's why we're so uncomfortable. Do you want a napkin over your head when you're having your water? No, I don't want a napkin over my head unless I'm eating the evil bird. You don't want it for the whole meal. We can do it for the whole meal.

We can do like a veil over you for the whole thing. No, no, no. I couldn't be more clear about it. I'm not the only one. The napkin on my head, I'm doing something evil. I'll go for the whale, but they're not in the meal. OK, they're not in the meal. Neither of them are in the meal.

No. Why are you pushing the napkin so hard? I feel it'd be fun. We haven't had a guest have a napkin over their head for the whole meal. Yeah, I feel it'd be fun to put a napkin over my head, if you want. Maybe the whole tablecloth.

You sit there like a ghost? Yeah, fine. Yeah, I feel that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Puppadums or bread? So the Puppadum or bread question always confused me. It feels like a very British thing, that question. Yes, to be fair, it is.

But like, if there's anything you would normally have at the bread course, maybe that's not bread that you've had before, that you've gone, this is great. Yeah, OK, I know the answer. I just was curious about why Puppadums were getting such a high... Yeah, because like actually having an Indian meal, that's when instead of the bit where they bring you the bread

at another restaurant, they would bring you the Puppadums at this point. Yeah, and in the UK, I guess we really love going to Indian restaurants and having that kind of food. Being bought some Puppadums beforehand. Sometimes I think to myself, I think I like this better than bread, actually.

And then one day I was like, come on, me and my buddy, yeah, we're going to do this food podcast. So you'd pick Puppadums. We just feel like Puppadums are getting very high billing to put them versus bread in this question every week. Anyways, obviously I'm not choosing Puppadums. Sometimes I like to do...

I don't anymore, but when I made 20s, I used to always do those very long meals where there's many, many courses and they try and be interesting. And there were two bread courses and that, which I really liked. One was a croissant made with smoked butter. That's good.

Yeah, very good. And both of these places were like, the chef and they say the chef's name, thinks that bread is so important, it should have its own course, right? And they're like, they're so esoteric that they brought out the bread half way through as its own course, right?

And one other guy did crumpets, which I liked. But definitely the best bread I've had was, you know, if you go out in Paris and you have like a really... It's debauchers and you stay up all night. And then once I was having a multi-day kind of love affair with this boy, and then we had a big fun night out long

and then the bakery's just open and you get the big get. And just as they open and it's warm, and he got me that. So if you could arrange... Did he have to get it for you? I think that exact is gonna be with someone who I'm sort of like,

having a multi-day love affair with her that I won't ever really see again. We've had a really big night and he knows where to go to get the bread and he gets it and gives it to me and we eat it and kiss a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it a baguette?

Yeah, it's just a French baguette. Properly, like, that's nice. Also, like the way you said, you know when you go to Paris and you stay up all night and it's really debauched and me and James both... Yes, yes, we know what that's like. I know the bread bit.

I've definitely had bread. I feel like they do it in movies a lot. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's just like a whirlwind night where suddenly you find yourself in a bakery. Your fiance lived in Paris for a while, used to go and visit. Yeah, but we didn't stay up all night.

No. Why not? The spark has long died out. It's a hotie. It's been discussed on the podcast many times. This marriage is a last ditch attempt to get the spark back. Let me tell you that.

That's what I've always said. And even when they were in Paris together, Josh, there was no spark. Yeah, but we won't go in now. Are you lived above a bakery? Yeah, she lives above a bakery. Can you believe this? They lived above a bakery in Paris

and you've had a more romantic time in Paris. No, but you would have gone up and got the bread from the bakery. Yeah, I got up and got the bread and then brought the bed back to the flat. That's the scene. That's the night staying up all night. Yeah, but we're not going out all night, are we?

It's a hot end. Yeah. We've got each other at home happy. Yeah, exactly. Stay at home. Are you single? Lovely. No, I'm not.

How's that going? Lovely. Okay. It's a lovely time. I'm single. Never been happier. Absolutely loving it. Sparks flying everywhere.

Just you wait. So, French bread. Yeah, but also just generally a French baguette is the best bread to me. I would take that. Fantastic. And did you want most of your courses after a multi-day liver fair?

Some of them are pretty specific, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but they're not like, but also the food is the food I want. Yes. So if you can't be bothered with all the other stuff, if you're tired or whatever, I don't know how many podcasts you're doing today

if you can't get all this stuff done. I get it, but most of it, I want the French baguette. So your starter, is that from a specific place as well? Yeah, I really, I really, really like caviar and actually it's expensive. So I just, and I like value. So I feel like I'm not paying for this dinner, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so I'll have caviar. And it's like I've only ever had it maybe twice. And one time I was in Paris again, which actually makes a lot of sense. I was with a boy, I was like, my, I guess my boyfriend, and we were having a fight, which I, and we were at a Russian caviar restaurant, which is just such a good place to have a fight.

And they're like, it's like a, they've got their own, like it's like posh Russian, so they've got their own kind of, you know, there's like French service and there's like different countries have their own different kind of service. They've got their own sort of kind of service, all different like accoutrements that I haven't seen. Right.

Like you can't eat caviar with a metal, you have to eat it. They eat it with like the shell of a, like the shell, like mother of pearl shells spoons. Right. And then they have like a vodka cart, as opposed to like a champagne cart. So it's like, that's all fun. That's pretty cool.

It is cool. And we're really mad at each other, but we're wanting to try this thing at this place. And it's like a roast potato and they cut the top off and then they take all the potato at the middle and they make a mash out of the roast potato. And then on that, they just put like a bundle of caviar from fresh.

It's like a potato skin with caviar on it, right? Well, no, you don't eat the skin, you eat like the mashed potato out of the center, but the mashed potatoes we made of like roast potato. And it's like, it's not this like fru frui, you know, like 50% potato, 50% butter thing, which I don't like much, you know, people do that. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, like too much butter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, sometimes 50% they put it through the ricer, they're not mashing it, they put it through the ricer, it becomes very like creamy and like soft. I don't like that. More like a puree, really. It's like a puree, right?

I don't like that. It's like Russian and it's made from like roast potato. It's got like strong potato flavor. Yeah. And then you just scoop in this thing of the caviar. Are you scooping it out of the potato? Yeah, they serve it in the potato. Well, and then you don't eat the skin?

I don't think you eat the skin. I'd be so tempted to eat the skin. I mean, yeah, you'd be beyond tempted, he'd do it. I'd do it. I would spoon and just pick up the whole thing and I'd eat like a big potato. It's not like, the skin is like not that clean, I guess. Yeah.

No, I'm still do it. Still haven't said anything about putting it off. Yeah. Yeah, I would still do that. It feels like the kind of way I would probably end, if I was scripting this fight over the thing, I would probably end the scene with the boyfriend showing me what by eating the skin of the potato

to humiliate me in the Russian caviar restaurant. Just looking me in the eyes like, I never really loved you anyway. I just want this, I want this to be over so much, I'm going to eat the whole thing. Yeah. I'm going to eat this dirty potato. And then I'd break up with him for humiliating me.

Did the argument add to the flavor of the dish? I liked the drama of the tension in to cut with just the delightfulness of really one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. Sounds so good. Yeah. Where you're getting an even amount of like, do you say like creme fraiche, was it sour cream?

I think it was creme fraiche. Creme fraiche. I've got a bad memory. Caviar potatoes, like what ratios were you getting on each scoop or were you just like, just going? I don't think I was putting too much potato on. I really want the caviar. Yeah.

Caviar, I mean, again, I rarely, rarely have it. Yeah. But it is nice. It's nice. It tastes a bit like veggie might. Not something I've ever done this before. I think the trick with caviar, I think the way they get you is very salty, you know, and like salty snacks

are very moreish. Yeah. But you can't have anymore. So you like, it's very salty. You have like a teaspoon of it and you're like, well, that was yum. I'd like to have that again. They're like, well, there's $100.

It's like, oh, yeah. It's a worry about it. I think, I mean, has anyone ever had anymore? It like sticks with you, you know? Yeah. Like, because you can't like, it's just, it's like, if they gave you one like cheese flavored cracker, you know, those things, they're like really moreish.

I don't know what you call them in your country or what others think. It's like a Ritz cracker or a mini cheddar. If you had one of those and then they were like, never again. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Take all my money. I like, my favorite thing about caviar is when you, you're supposed to push it to the roof of your mouth, right?

And then you can feel it pop. Yeah. So I like the ones that you get in Japanese restaurants, which I think are way cheaper. The salmon roe. Yeah, the salmon roe. But it's eggs, fish eggs. But because they're much bigger, they pop.

I feel like you got quite tense there when I said, it's not caviar, you said it's fish eggs. It's fish eggs, but that's, that's how I got this bit of the conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you were like, you were really in the, for a second there, you were in the cross-airs. I just didn't want you out.

As soon as she said, as soon as she corrected it, I was like, oh, God, I don't know. Really? Oh yeah, he really got in there quick. Yeah, I know what they are. They're both fish eggs. Both fish eggs, I know. I felt like I was in the Russian restaurant,

watching YouTube, about to order a meal. Yeah, I nearly just grabbed a bottle of vodka from the cart as it came past. Yeah. Was that what your argument was about? Was that you were sitting down with your boyfriend and he was like, I love this place. You know, I've had, I've been to like,

you've been to like Japanese restaurants. You get the, you get caviar there. But that's, that's not the same. It's actually salmon roe. Well, no, I think, I think you'll find it's caviar. And then it like escalated. Also, that's exactly the sort of thing I would say to someone.

I'd go, it's not caviar. I would say that. So I think that's why when you said it to me, I was like, oh, damn. Yeah, because he knew it going in. He got me. Did you know it though? Yeah, I wouldn't describe that as caviar at all.

But it was just, it was noisiness. It was the link to fish eggs, Josh. Well, he did say it was caviar. I was moving the, I was moving the conversation on. I'd like to play the tape back. I think you said, you know that caviar you get in Japanese restaurants. No, I've seen it.

I didn't say that. I've seen it go out for breakfast and have scrambled eggs on toast. I mean, it's caviar's delicious. Like he thinks it's caviar. Remember every Easter, you get excited to have your big chocolate caviar, don't you? You can't wait to eat it.

Big chocolate caviar, giving it to you by the Easter Bunny. Well, that sounds amazing. I mean, that's one of the, every now and again, there's a dish that I've never heard of, never tasted on this podcast that I really immediately want to eat.

And that's definitely one of them. I really want to try that. And I can imagine the setting. And yeah, great. Have you been to Bob Bob Ricard in London before? No. It's great.

It's really fun. What happens at Bob Bob Ricard? All the decals are all done up like the Orient Express. That sounds really good. But they've got like a, their big thing that it does very well for them is in every booth,

they've got a button that just says press for champagne. Oh yeah. They bring over champagne. Oh, I have been there. Yeah. Oh, you have been there. Yeah, not I have.

You remember the name of it? The decal, what it was, you just remember the button. I remember the button. I'm not sure. Yeah, you're at this place with the press of champagne button. Yeah.

So your main course. Okay. So I was in Tokyo, my friend and exchange student that used to live with her there. So they took us like around. And so there's like, like it was very hard for this whole thing

to not be about that weekend. One of the things we tried, which is not what I'm putting on there was blowfish, which as you can imagine, was very thrilling for me because I like food to be weird and dangerous. And blowfish can kill you.

And it's not something you can just go out and eat, right? You need like the chefs have to train for like ages and ages. I don't need to explain how blowfish is. Is we've all seen the Simpsons. Yeah, I've all seen the Simpsons, right? Yeah.

And at this restaurant, because a lot of restaurants in Japan, you know, they just do one thing, which is really fun. So you go to a place. Caviar. Yeah, what? Something to do caviar.

They probably wouldn't. Yeah, they probably wouldn't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's not, um, yeah. And then they, you know, the place just has a mackerel.

This place just has blowfish. And then it's like multi-course and then you get blowfish every way. So like you walk in and all the tanks are like filled with blowfish around you. And then you sit down and then you have blowfish every way imaginable.

You get like blowfish sashimi, like fried blowfish. They make like a soup at the table where they put the blowfish in and they do like, I think pansy at blowfish. I'm just making up different ways of cooking. Then they brought out blowfish testicles.

What? Whoa. And we ate blowfish testicles, which are like this big white puffy balls. You can like Google them. So the testicles puff up with the fish? I don't know whether they're like, they're like big and kind of foamy and white.

And they've got like a kind of, like the top has been kind of like, I guess they put it under a grill or something. So it's like a little like caramelized on top. And then a testicle brulee sort of thing. It's like caramelized. I mean more like just browns a little bit. And there's no sugar in there, you know.

So how big in comparison to the blowfish itself? So I think, I think it must when it cooks blow up. Yeah. So it's like, it's like, it's like half a, half a fist.

I can't remember. There's only a good size metric. Yeah. Bigger than you would think. That's all I need to know. Yeah. Bigger than I would think. Because now I'm thinking about it and I've made it bigger.

Yeah. There was like four of us and we all had a bit of it. It was just what they gave you one. I think the whole time we're just eating one blowfish. Oh, wow. And they cross it out and you eat the whole blowfish. I don't know. It's hard to really know.

So then they must give you two testicles, right? Yeah. I think there's two in the bowl. Actually, maybe we had three. So that doesn't make sense. Oh, I don't know anything about a blowfish. No. Show me to Google it.

I'll show you a picture. It doesn't seem that interesting for people at home now. That's it. Oh, I think I can safely say. I want to see. So that was interesting. Oh, and then at the end, just when you think they've done it all, they had a dried blowfish fin and they dip it in sake and lit on fire

and then put it back in the sake and then you drink the sake. That's crazy. I mean, that guy was making it up as well. Yeah. Oh, guys, we promised them 15 blowfish courses and we've really run out of stuff. Dry the fin, set it on fire, put it in sake. Yeah.

Did it change the flavor of the sake? Could you see why they did it? I didn't like sake back then. Yeah. So I don't think I really had it once or twice. So it was, you know, now I love it, but back then I didn't really like it. So I don't know what it was meant to taste like or what it did.

I burnt myself out on it. I did, I'd never had it before. Then I did like a tasting course thing at like this convention. Mm-hmm. You just go around and try all the different sake. And then halfway through, I was like, I think I like sake. And then by the end, I was like, I'm never drinking this again. Did you ever have like the brown sake,

like the kind of more like, no, I had that once and never again. I had jellied sake. Have you had that before? You get it in little cans. I mean, little cans and it's like lemon flavor jellied sake. Yeah. I love that. That's a real treat.

Yeah. Sometimes they take that to like a picnic with my friends. Sure. Like a little treat, you know. That does sound nice. I love that one. Yeah, you love that one. Yeah, I love the jellied one.

You wouldn't otherwise have sake? No, I've had it, but I wasn't mad into it. But like, I feel like you get a lot of like, a lot of the sake here is shit, you know? And that's like a problem. And then like, I have no witness. I'm like navigating the menu. So it's like, how do you know what you're ordering, you know?

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Just look for the jellied one. Like sometimes people are like, I had sake with shit. It's like, but yeah, but if you have like two wines in your life, you're not going to like it. Yeah. I like it.

So for your main course, you want the testicles? No. Another thing we did that weekend, well, another like really special meal that we can, was we went to his grandma's house and his grandma made us like full Japanese breakfast with like all the little like containers of like miso salmon and rice and like pickles and all that stuff.

Amazing. That's really good. And like an old like Japanese town. That's like a real dream. But my favorite thing I ate there, because one of my favorite Japanese foods is eel on rice. Uh-huh. You know, with like the barbecue sauce.

Yeah. And they took us to this place and it's like a little, it's like in the country, it's like a little like Japanese kind of style, like kind of like building like you'd imagine. And then because we had tourists, they take us out the back and they had like hundreds of eels in these tanks, like slithering around and there was blood everywhere. And then you order the eel and they like kill it

and cook it there in the little hut. Uh-huh. And then that, and that's what I'm having. Bring out the napkin. Yeah. You don't want to get under a napkin for this? No. Bring the eel and the blood hut.

Well, it's fine. There was a lot of blood. Yeah. It was like, we ordered it and then they took us out and yeah, that was more blood than we probably wanted. But it's the best eel you've ever had. Uh-huh. Oh yeah.

I'm sure. And it's one of my favorite dishes. So it's like the best version of my best dish. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair enough. Freshwater eel, is it? Unagi, is that right? Is that the word?

I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. It's really delicious. I know with the barbecue on top. Yeah. It's really delicious stuff. It's really nice and I feel like it's never like,

I don't know, but some of these things I feel like, you know, we're getting at that good quality because there's like so much sauce in it. Why would they bother? You know? Okay. Yeah, yeah, sure. It's like, you gotta like,

you know, like, like food quarts and stuff. And it's like, it's delicious anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? But you need it in the blood heart, right? You need it in the blood heart. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That adds something.

It's like, you really have to go to a special place to get them to kill the eel fresh. Yeah, yeah. You just don't see that much. You don't see that much, you know? Yeah, the fresher the better, really. You want to, you want to, you want to see it's, the look in its eyes.

It's a dine. As it realizes, and then you get to eat it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, fair enough. Eel from the blood heart, it is. What's your side dish with that? Well, it's okay, but it comes with rice, right?

So it could, you know, if you- We're not picking fucking rice, fuck you. Say fuck you directly into the microphone, please, Josh. Fuck you. And why isn't there not an amuse-bouche? Oh, sometimes there is. Sometimes there is. Sometimes I do amuse-bouches.

But today, today, the amuse-bouche was spit. And I was, I was also a surprise to you. I'll hop in now. And I like it, I like just like a little palette cleanser. I don't really care what it is. You don't care what the palette cleanser is. You know, like a little, like a little, just a little something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, we'll get you a little something. A little something. Yeah, I don't want to skip it. That's a nice cause. There you go. Have a have some buttered peas. Peas are my least favorite thing. Can we feel a bit sick?

I hope, I hope on the least favorite. Also, you went buttered peas, and I could say I've produced it just literally lean round to me with frowning, just going, what the fuck is he talking about? Buttered peas. Oh, it's a little thing. It's not an amuse, but it's got to be a palette cleanser. You want an amuse-bouche.

Amuse-bouche is at the beginning, right? Yeah, that's the beginning. And I missed that, which is annoying. I like, I like that's my favorite course. So you want a palette cleanser sort of dish as your side dish to take you into the dessert. I just need some clear thinking time on the side dish. A little sorbet, perhaps.

A little sorbet. It's in the main meal, so we could be a savory sorbet. A cucumber sorbet. Cucumber sorbet. Yeah, I'll talk with the side dish. If I get, like, at the beginning of the amuse-bouche, and I want, I had it, like, last week, it was like a pork crackling with, like, salt and vinegar stuff

on it at the restaurant for a while. That's nice. Great. We can have that at the beginning. Have that at the beginning, and I'll have as a palette cleanser. You know, I like it when they, like, one time, like, something like, I like it when they put, like, campari in it. Like a campari, like a campari sorbet, or, like, a little, some, like, compressed watermelon.

I don't know why they do that, but... I mean, for someone who was struggling to come up with something and then land on campari sorbet and compressed watermelon, that's... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, uh, a campari sorbet and compressed watermelon. Fine. Thank you very much. Is that my side dish? Yeah.

That's your little palette cleanser. Yeah, little palette cleanser leading you through to the next course. Not a lot of vegetables in this meal. That's dream meal, mate. And potato. Yeah. I mean, vegetables aren't any fun. You can't watch them get bled to death. You can eat the watermelon in a hut

where there's loads of seeds everywhere, if you want. Yeah, yeah, that'll make you feel better. But then who gets hurt? Yeah, good point. What's the point? You draw a face on the watermelon. Yeah, yeah. Really screaming.

Like Wilson. Yeah. Your drink. Um, usually I would get, like, whatever... I get a cocktail because I like to see what they've got going on. Yeah. But I reflected on that today and I realized, um, that they're never good.

Yes, correct. I'm ex... I feel exactly the same. I always fall for it. Yeah. I always go, oh, that's interesting. And then I taste it like, I don't like that. It's not good. And I always want to see, like, what the restaurant's doing

and the wine, I kind of feel like, I can buy this on the shop. Yeah. You know? So the ones I had to buy expensive wine, I was really mad about it, uh, we went to this restaurant and the cheapest wine they had was just so expensive. You know, usually there's, like, one you can get away with, right?

Yeah. And I was, like, 25. And we had to buy it. It was 180 euro, which is a lot. Yeah. It was, like, way more than I would ever. And I was upset, really upset. I was, like, in a really beautiful restaurant

that's, like, carved into the side of a cliff or something under this, like, old town, right, in Europe. Yeah. And I'm just so upset that I've just spent this money on this wine. Um, and then it came out and it was, it was delicious enough. Right. Great. It was delicious enough to pay for that.

Like, it was, like, I was, like, I was, like, so worried that this wine was going to come out that I just spent 180 euro and I was, like, so upset about it. And I was worried it was going to come out and not be good. And then it came out was, uh, I don't know how to say things. It's Shazam Montrache. Do you know how to say it better?

No, that sounds good. What was it? Shazam Montrache. Okay. Yeah, great. Shazam Montrache. Montrache. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You guys can do it French better than me, though. I mean, you're talking to James Acre, so this guy can't say anything. Yeah. That's true. Yeah, yeah. Shazam Montrache. Montrache.

Yeah, Shazam Montrache. Shazam. Shazam wine. Shazam. Watcha say. Yeah, it's just what you say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was my favorite wine.

What, is it red? Is it white? It's white. It's like, um, I'd say it's like similar to like, uh, Chardonnay. It's like from a region. You know, from a region? It's like, I don't know. I don't know the kind of wine you're talking about here.

And it's not, it's, I don't know. It's just, it was wine I had once that just, it just, I've never, I've never like, I really, because I was so upset. I've never had something cheer me up as good. Yes, okay. But the base point was very low. So I just was like, it was just such a relief that actually,

it was like precious wine that I liked. So it's wine so good that it can win you round. Yeah, won me around, even though, and like, uh, my boyfriend at the time was with me and he was like, just so annoyed that I wouldn't cheer up because we were like, at this very beautiful restaurant. Was this the guy from the Russian restaurant as well? No, it's different.

It's been a lot. So what else is? It's a different argument. No, this is, this is not an argument. So what else is night you ruined? This is not an argument. This is like him giggling and trying to cheer me up. But I just won't come around.

Yeah. I just won't come around. And then, yeah, I did because the wine, then the whole night was fine. Fantastic. A bottle of that it is. Your dessert. So this I struggled with, I really love desserts.

Okay. But it's hard to find a dessert that's that special. Because like, they put sugar in all of them and that's really nice. So like, sometimes you'll go to like a restaurant or you'll go somewhere special and they'll put all this evidence and it's good. But it's not that much better than a Twix, you know?

Just isn't. And so I found out how to pick like a special one. I was in Thailand on Christmas and we're on the beach and we're on this like weird island and my dad's girlfriend is Thai and she like found these little sticky date, sticky rice like parcels that have like banana in them. Yeah. And I'd always seen them at the markets.

I didn't know I was in them, you know? And I really loved them. And I was just really glad that she opened me up to this world of the little sticky date banana things. But that's not what I'm picking. Okay. I think the key to heightening a dessert to a point that is special is freshly baked.

I think it's like the key. In LA, actually one of the good things they do in America is chocolate chip cookies, like they're actually amazing. And they do them a lot. But in LA, so I won't pick that. I'll pick something from Australia because I mean, I can just go get it, you know? She's like a waste of a genie.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. And in Australia, they do, I don't think, do they, I think this is an Australian thing, like hot jam donuts. Oh, hot. And they're not that special. They're just like a hot donut. Yeah, they serve it hot with like jam

and like put the cinnamon sugar on it. But they serve it hot often out of like trucks or like at music festivals or something. And it's like, like they've just made them. So they just fried them. Yeah. And then they inject the jam in. And they inject the jam in and they give it to you

like really quickly. And you walk around like a market or a festival eating like the hot jam donut. Yeah, sounds very good. Because I think I'm not really a donut guy unless they're hot. So I didn't know that other countries were just serving them cold.

No. So we serve them cold as well, but I would never. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, but have we had donuts here though? No. Or do we have a donut? No, we had a donut thing the other night, bestia, didn't we?

Oh, by that point, I was... But that's not, that's not like, if you're a bestie, I don't think they have donut thing as really... It's like the donuts they bring to set. Like, like they're everyday donuts are like those like pink ones. And then they're like the bear claws.

Because they, because I filmed a show here and they don't, they won't walk unless they're like within 25 feet of like donuts. It's like the law here, it's like the unions. And I learn all about them, like the maple bars and the bear claws. Bear claws, because you know they have apple in them, like an apple tonneau, but like in a donut.

Right. I didn't know that because I've seen them. Yeah. I remember that one of the cops on Dexter would always have a bear claw. Yeah, exactly. It's like, how are they so much? Yeah.

They've got apple in them. Right, okay. And they only had that on Dexter because they were just on set. Yeah, yeah. But it was just constantly being like, well, I'll make this part of my character. So they'll always have a bear claw, yeah.

Yeah. And then I would always, so I would try new ones every day. Great. The maple bars, maple syrup on top, which is like really good. Yeah. Uh-huh. You don't get that. Do you get that in Britain?

No. No. You don't get this kind of... And I'll ask them questions about them and they'll look at me like, I'm so stupid. And then I'll ask you about the doughnuts. And there's different types of batter. Did you know this?

No. So there's yeast risen and then there's like cake batter ones. Uh-huh. And people have like strong preferences and on set like you have both. Yeah. Right, okay. You have to have both.

Yeah, there's like different textures of doughnuts. And in fact, on my show, they get the doughnuts from three different locations. Wow. I don't know why. Wow. But the best ones, if you're going to get the... The budget on your show must be fucking insane.

It's like a whole column of doughnuts. I only know that. I can't tell you. Americans have crazy for doughnuts. It's very important. I put in a lot of weight. But if you're going to get a doughnut here to try the best one,

you've got to get the ones that are made with potato flour. So they make them with potato flour, which I don't know... But what that does is, you know, like the outside of a chip or something, it gets like a nice like crisp texture. That texture, you kind of get like a bit of that on the outside of the doughnut.

And then the inside is like very light and it's yeast risen. I would always get yeast risen, not the cake ones. We have an Australian. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sounds great. So you want a hot yeast risen doughnut

with potato flour with jam in the middle? For your dessert. I don't know if anyone ever has potato flour. I want the Australian one. You can have the Australian one. Yeah, and I will. Okay, well, I'll read your order back to you now. First of all, before any of it started,

you're having an amuse-bouche, which is the pork scratchers with the salt and the vinegar. Yeah. You can have in tap water, you're having a fresh French baguette in debauched Paris. That's what I've got written down here.

Starter, mashed roast potato with caviar and creme fraiche after an argument. During that argument. During that argument. Oh, it's got to be during the argument. Apologies. Main course, eel killed in the bloodshed or whatever it was.

Blood hut. The blood hut. Yeah. On rice with barbecue sauce, side dish, it's like a Campari sorbet. Look at this. It's really just a palate cleanser that you want. Campari sorbet and compressed watermelon.

You need to download that. Sorry. And your drink, the... Oh, no. Chassan Montreche. Chassan Montreche wine in a restaurant that's carbonated side of a cliff, while you're still having an argument.

No, that wasn't an argument. No, you're sulking. You're sulking and someone's trying to cheer you up. You're gay. Yeah. And there's hot jam donuts from Australia. I'm guessing you're about to argue with someone. No, that's on a nice day.

Yeah, that's a nice day. Yeah, that's a lovely end to the day. Yeah, I like it when the... When the poshness of the situation contrasts with the mood. Yeah. That I really like. Yeah, that's great. But that's about walking around a market

or like hopefully like a music festival and it's been raining for a few days and we're like cold. And then we get the market and then we get the hot donuts and we like hide under an umbrella. It's lovely. You're sort of... Your menu sort of really tracks a whole relationship quite a few actions.

Like romantic time, debauched night in Paris, argument, sulk. And then everything sort of comes together at the end. Because the food, sometimes you can eat like really tasty food but just you forget it or it's boring or sometimes you have like... You know, sometimes you'll go out like someone will... Like an agent or someone will take you to like a fancy dinner but it doesn't taste good because you're like with your agent or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or like, I don't know, whoever the business person is or the hand sales team or something. And they're like, this is the best whatever beef. But it doesn't taste good because I'm with them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They should say like, this is the best restaurant in Hollywood. Warning beforehand, I am going to ruin the flavour of it with my presence. But like, you should come back here with someone

that you want to have a fight with at some point because it is so good. If you're a mid-argument or sulk, this is a really good place. Josh, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Josh. Well, there we are. What a nice menu. I really like the selection of a little something.

Yes. Ah, fantastic. Also, you know, we don't normally record the intros and outros a whole year after interviewing the guest. And it's really nice just to reflect on it now and how our lives were so different a year ago. Oh, man, it's really, really changed. He did say bean sprouts. Really appreciate that.

No. When the last ship sails. Oh, and who knew that was the last live theatrical event that I was going to go to? I think that might be the last view I ever saw in life. And you know what? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have gone. Thank you, Sir Josh.

Do go check out his shows. Please like me and everything is going to be okay. And thanks for listening, guys. We're going to be back again next week. Yes, please. I will love to be back next week. Thank you very much. See you in a year. Bye.

Hello, it's me, Amy Gladhill. You might remember me from the best ever episode of Off Menu, where I spoke to my mum and asked her about seaweed on mashed potato. Our relationship's never been the same since. And I am joined by... Me, Ian Smith. I would probably go bread. I'm not going to spoil it in case.

Get him on, James and Ed. But we're here sneaking in to your podcast experience to tell you about a new podcast that we're doing. It's called Northern News. It's about all the new stories that we've missed out from the North because, look, we're two Northerners. Sure, but we've been living in London for a long time. The new stories are funny.

Quite a lot of them crimes. It's all kicking off. And that's a new podcast called Northern News. We'd love you to listen to. Maybe we'll get my mum on. Get Glill's mum on every episode. That's Northern News. When's it out, Ian?

It's already out now, Amy! Is it? Yeah, get listening. There's probably a backlog you've left it so late.