Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 155: Taron Egerton

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

Rocket-man himself Taron Egerton pops into the Dream Restaurant this week. See Taron in 'Black Bird’ on Apple TV+. Follow Taron on Twitter @taronegerton Instagram @taron.egertonRecorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive.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? Welcome to the Off Menu podcast, beating the egg of conversation, grating in the cheese of humour, pouring into the pastry case of the internet, and baking for approximately an hour to make a lovely podcast quiche. Wow. Happy with that? Yeah, very happy with that. I fought for a second there. You were making an omelette. I think I might have done omelette before. That's the only reason I pulled. Nice little left turn there. It's a quiche. Yeah, it's a quiche. I don't know. That's exactly how you make a quiche, isn't it? There's some

other elements to it. Hey, you know that I don't know any better. I believe you. That's a gamble. My name is James A. Kasser. This is a dream restaurant. And we invite a guest every single week. Can we ask him the favourite ever start? A main course dessert, side dish, and drink, not in that order. And this week, our guest is Taron Edgerton. Taron Edgerton, a wonderful actor. A wonderful actor. I love him in films such as Kingsman, Rocket Man. Yes, Eddie the Eagle. Eddie the Eagle. Oh, the trailer to Eddie the Eagle genuinely made me emotional. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was such, oh, it's a sweet story. Anyway, a true story. And barely does a trailer get me in the feels, Ed. And that's a hard thing to

do with you because you are an absolute rock, James. I'm the Tin Man. He's the Tin Man. That's what everyone calls me. The Tin Man. Tin Man. You'd be a great Tin Man, actually. Yeah, I would love it. Paint your face up, Selva. You're half way there, I reckon. Yeah, you're a proper Tin Man. Who would I be? In Wizard of Oz. Oh, I mean, there's not many handsome men in Wizard of Oz, is there, Ed? Stop it, you. So I don't really know. I'd happily have a crack at the lion. Energy-wise, I could have a bash at the lion. I think Josh would have come and get the lion. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, Benio's pointed out that Josh would be the scarecrow. Yes. That's probably true. Yeah. Yeah. But the lion, I don't know.

Might not be the lion. Dorothy, maybe. Could it be Dorothy? Toto? Could be little Toto. This is another conversation where we cast films with the British comedy circuit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We should start up a new podcast. Anyway, we are going to kick him out if he says a secret ingredient. Am I right? Yes, you are right, James. There is a secret ingredient. If Taren says it, he's out on his ear, which would be a shame because I think he's looking forward to this, James. He listens to the podcast. He listens to the pod. We're very excited to have him on. It would be a shame to kick him off. But rules and rules. And this week, the secret ingredient is Turkish delight with the chocolate bar.

But no, not the chocolate bar. The chocolate bar is good. Normal Turkish delight. No, wrong. The little cubes. I love the little cubes. They're bad. I used to go on holiday with my family to Cyprus a lot. And it was such a great day when we go to the Turkish delight shop or this, I believe, Cyprus delight, they would call it. And by the little, all different flavours, the pistachio one, that's my favourite. The worst. That's the worst one. Well done. Open it up. So delicious. And it's all covered in the icing sugar. They're like travel sweets for the thinking man. Right. Well, the first time I had Turkish delight, I think the yellow one, maybe it was delicious, but very quickly don't like Turkish delight. But

I do like the chocolate. The chocolate bar's trash. The chocolate bar's delicious. Fried Turkish delight. Yeah. Why are you covering in chocolate? No need. Absolutely delicious. No need. So either one of us is either one. He's out. Either one. But let's just say that the person who hates that particular type of Turkish delight is the one who has to kick him out. Okay, perfect. That's a good deal. Yeah. Well done. Well, hopefully you won't say it anyway, because we're looking forward to meeting him. Taran is also in a very new, exciting TV show on Apple TV Plus called Blackbird, James. Psychological thriller. I like psychological films. Me too. Me too. Because you can use

your head and your heart. You're thrilled. You're emotionally thrilled, but your head is going, oh, I mean, I'm in this as well. Yeah. That make me think. So do watch Blackbird and you'll have a think and a scare. Yes. And this is the off menu menu of Taran Edgerton. Welcome, Taran, to the Dream Restaurant. Thank you for having me on. Welcome, Taran Edgerton to the Dream Restaurant. We've been expecting you for some time. Here he is. He went big for you today. I felt the sound effect. I felt the rush of air as you manifested. What did you visualize? What did you see? Tell us what you saw. You with a sort of small cloth wrap in a sort of Y front shape. When you say a cloth wrap. Kind of like, I suppose,

like an old fashioned nappy. Yeah, like a nappy. I wore a nappy for it. For a meal. Like you would wrap cheese in the old days, sort of like cheesecloth sort of stuff. Exactly. With the sort of string, the metal string swinging around his head. Be quite good to wear a nappy during a meal. You'd never have to leave the table. Well, you'd never have to loosen your belt, would you? No. You could just expand with the nappy. Never see a baby loosening its belt, do you? Imagine that. Oh, God, sorry. Yeah, because I suppose all my knowledge of nappies really as a childless man come from the adverts, where you always see there's a sort of elasticated flex bit. Yes. So they do grow with the baby. Do you look at that

and see that? That's almost like a baby gets full. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I always visualize a nappy sort of moving around on its own, you know, because they show the absorbent qualities without the baby. Yeah, sure. So it sort of does like a little ballet pirouette thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe, do you think, since you're a genie, perhaps your nappy could do that as well? Oh, yeah, I'd have a magical nappy that moves around on its own. So what, so does it fly off you? Yeah. A bit like Dr. Strange's cape. Yeah. Oh, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It can fight my battles for me sometimes and help me. You get so excited at that idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, because I was about to say, because

my grain went to just like, when you said moving around on its own, because on my genie, I thought about the carpet in Aladdin, but Dr. Strange's cape is a much better reference. Which is more 2022, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really like that. Why would you want a nappy that flies off on its own? That's the last thing you want a nappy to do, though, right? If anyone ever attacks me, the nappy can defend me like Dr. Strange. You can foil your foes with it. Yeah. But would it be soiled? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some of them would jump out. I would be scared, soil myself, and then the nappy would be like, would you preserve your modesty as it's flying around? No, I would like, you've got to use everything

available to you to distract them and to get in their heads if they're attacking you. So I've got to have my boy out and like, you know. Although I would, from the other perspective, I would say that if I was being attacked by a magical soiled nappy, I don't have time to look at someone's crotch. No, you'd just be running for the hills. I'd be running for the hills just, just bang the nappy away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All that would be wrapping around your face, you childish man. Yeah. How I'd prefer, I didn't know I'd sort of refer to himself as that now, but it's interesting. Well, I just wanted to let everyone know why I know about elastication on nappies. You were setting the scene. I was setting the scene.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Childish man. You're a childish man. Yeah, I'm a childish man. Why don't I go around telling everyone? Make it my identity. That's not my identity. My identity within the world of nappies. Childish man? Yes, childish, childish man. Very much a childish man. Yeah. Three childish men. Four, actually, if you count Bonito, which people rarely do. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bonito's got a puppy now, though. He's got a puppy. How have you? What sort of dog? We've got two of those. You've got two cockapoo's. You've got the same dog as Bonito? Yeah. They, I mean, they're amazing, but they're so, they're full on. Very lovely. No, bad luck. I think that's what Bonito's finding. He's getting,

he's not getting much sleep at the moment. Considered a nappy? Perhaps a nappy that could take them for walks. Yeah, that would be good. But James is nappy. Yeah, I learned you're my nappy, Bonito. Take the little cockapoo for a walk. Anyway, sort of cut all this out. Anything to do with him? It doesn't go in. Cockapoo's your special move with a nappy, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Oh, great. Now you've got to keep it. That's a great joke. That brings everything together. Either way, you look it. Would you consider yourself a foodie, David? I feel like there are, there are two sides to my nature. There's the, there's the sort of the, the side of me that appreciates nice food, well constructed with lots of thought put into it.

And I do like to cook a little bit, but then there's the other side of me that's a kind of disgusting, gluttonous, gannet that sort of doesn't really care what it is. It's more just about volume. Do you know what I mean? Oh, yeah. So I feel like a foodie kind of makes me think of somebody who's really quite academic and measured in what they do. And I wouldn't say that that's me all of the time. But I think, I think the gannet feeds into the foodie as well. I think that, that's the part of it. Well, in which case maybe. Yeah. I mean, I think about food all the time, all the time and oscillate between being someone that eats quite well and someone that really, really doesn't eat well. Is that because acting you have to eat well? I think it depends

what you're doing. Last year, I played a part where I had to be in good shape. So I had to think about it for quite a long period of time. And it was hard. It's really, really hard. Yeah. And boring and boring. How much you think about it? Because if you think about it all the time, you should talk about it all the time and no one cares. And if you're eating that healthily, you must be thinking about the other stuff that you just, you want to eat all of the time. Yeah. I've done like periods of eating very healthily. I'm on a downward slope, like which is beautiful. But do you do the thing of watching YouTube videos or thinking about everything you want to eat or looking at menus online when you're eating healthily?

So what you watch people eat the foods that you wish you could eat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he reads the menus and then when he's reading menus online, he texts me to tell me that he's doing it. I'm going to join him with him. Yeah. You bring James into your fantasy. How does your wife feel about that? She's fine with it. She doesn't want me to call her at the door and go, look at this menu. Yeah. All right, we're going to go there. No, I can't. I want to tell James about it. Have you ever just gone online to read a menu? I don't think probably not without intending to go and eat there, I don't think. And sometimes I feel like that's cheating as well, because I feel like it's quite nice to get to a place

and share in the moment of opening the menu. Interesting. Yeah. And I sometimes feel like when I get there and someone said, I've already looked at the menu, I feel like it's the kid who flicked to the back of the Order of the Phoenix. Do you know what I mean? And goes, I know what happened. And I sort of go, well, you just did. I kind of don't know if I can swear, but it's annoying, isn't it? You can swear. You're a wanker. Yes, I am. Yes. Because you've subverted. Yeah. Yeah, what everybody else is. I see what you mean, because I do do that. I'm the guy being like, being like, well, quite a bit of judgement actually. Yeah, fair. I'm going, well, they do, apparently this is an amazing thing they do here and I've looked at the menu and they have that

today. So we should definitely order that. Right. I do that. And that is like, you've cut out a whole portion of the evening. Well, yeah, it's part of the ritual, isn't it? I think. Yeah. But there's something quite nice about getting there and having that moment of, because it's so much about communion, isn't it? And, you know, I've got a very close relationship with my family. We've always cooked together and there's something very sort of social about it. I do buy into that, the whole Jamie Oliver school of it being the time to be together. And I think going out and looking at a menu is kind of an extension of that. Yeah. I like that. I think you're right. I like that. I'm going to stop looking at menus online now. Yeah. Really? Yeah. And

are you going to stop telling everyone that serious black dies? No way, man. No way. Every meal. That's how it starts. The thing is, I think enough people listen to this podcast that that will have ruined it for someone. Yeah. We're going, what the fuck? Ed sits down at the start of every meal and he goes, Bellatrix the Strange kills it. She pushes him through a curtain. Yeah. Is she really? He mubs it in everyone's face as well. Dobby's dead and we're having the pork. Still a sparkling water tavern. So I thought about this and I think on this occasion, I'm going still. Okay. I like sparkling water for the same reasons everybody else does.

It feels like a sort of like a gentler cousin of champagne, doesn't it? It feels like an event. You know, it sort of somehow feels like it should cost 10 times the amount of still water, even though it's just had some gas put pumped through it. But I think when you come to the dream restaurant, you need to be thinking about the amount of food you can cram inside yourself. And I know there's magic at play and the normal rules of physics don't apply, but the association of drinking sparkling water, I think will make me feel fuller quicker. And I want to bed into the experience and make sure that I've got a real cavernous, empty space that I can just fill with all the foods I enjoy. So I'm going still.

I think that's very sound logic. Oh, totally sound logic. And I love to hear about sparkling water being the gentler cousin of champagne. Do you know what I mean? It still feels like an event. I'm imagining a gathering of the fizzy family now. Yeah. That's the family tree. Very mild manners. Very non-committal when it comes to opinions about things that are happening in the world. Whereas champagne is like, oh, I've got so many things to say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's champagne. It sounds like a nightmare. In the fizzy family tree, then, where you put in ginger beer? In relation to champagne? I feel like... Not doing a voice for that, by the way. Ginger beer, maybe like an older uncle who sometimes says things that aren't entirely

appropriate, but he's really well-meaning. Yeah, yeah. And he's just a product of another time. Yeah. Yeah. But you'd probably have a moment to think before you invited him to every family event. Yeah. Are you thinking fiery ginger beer in particular? Exactly that. Yeah. Yeah. He loses his head sometimes, but... He just gets a bit overexcited. He doesn't get out much. Yeah. Yeah. He's a bit dusty at the back of the shelf. A little bit. And when he gets there, do you know there's those people in your life? There's people in your life you've not seen for ages, and your heart rate doesn't change when you see them. And it's lovely, and it's like a true friend. But you know there are those people in your life where you see them and you go,

okay, all right, here we go. And you just have to slightly adjust. Yeah. And they're probably the people in your 30s you gently maybe don't see as much of. Yeah. I feel like Uncle Ginger Beer may be one of those people. You want to name names? It's probably Bester, don't you? Yeah. Does Champagne have any children, or is it a child that's drink? Well, so when I was a little boy, I remember that my great grandmother, who I called Nin, she used to... She used to... It was very strange. She used to call me sailor, and when everybody else was having like a drink, family dues or whatever, she'd always give me like sparkling grape juice. A bit like, what's that thing that they get out

at Christmas for people who don't drink? It wouldn't be... Oh, it might be the first slur mentioned on the podcast. You love slur, right? I love slur. I'll be a tellerious. So I suppose maybe... I mean, she wouldn't have given me slur. It would have been like a sort of, you know, a Safeway's own version of me. An off-brand slur. Off-brand, yeah. But I feel like that could be a child of Champagne. Yeah, I do so. The innocent version of Champagne. Yeah, a little sort of cute Champagne little baby. He can't drink me, that's not going wrong. Yeah, I think slur is so funny. Yeah. It rarely comes up that people have got slur, but when they bring it up,

in fact, they have to say it. So it's like, we have slur, if you'd like. There is a benefit to slur, though, because as much as I like Champagne, like most people do, my mouth tastes of arse after this. Do you know what? It's so horrible the breath Champagne gives people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for that reason alone, I think slur's worth a punt. Pop it on absorb bread! Pop it on absorb bread, Tamron Edgerton! Pop it on absorb bread! Okay, Pop-a-doms. Yeah. Yeah, Pop-a-doms. God, that did frighten me. I knew he was coming. Yeah, you knew it was coming, but he's getting better at... Now we're back in rooms with people. Yeah. You are getting better at sneaking up on people. I'd also get better when I know that the person has listened

before, so therefore expects it. Yeah. And I was like, right, you know, I've made it feel like we're talking about slur for a while, which I wanted to, by the way. So I've kind of like, you know, annoyed myself there. Yeah, you cut the slur conversation. Nobody was good because it was off beat. It was a jazz attack. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask Taran if Nen called anyone else Sailor, or if it was just you. Oh yeah, well, I was like a member. That was the detail that we let slide. Yeah. I suppose I can remember it was just me, yeah. But I remember at the time it making me feel like a rock star. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Little boy. Yeah, little boy bought the slur. There you go, Sailor. Yeah. Who comes? The Sailor. Exactly. The Slayla. Yeah, the Slayla. It doesn't

quite work, but you know, we'll work on it. The Slurla. Slurla. Yeah. Yeah, that's much better. Yeah, yeah. We love that. We love that. So the reason I've opted for, because Poppidoms, every time I listen to the show, I do think there is something really in Congress about having Poppidoms, if the rest of your meal isn't centered around Indian food. Sure. But mine is. A little clue. So I am going to have Poppidoms with mango chutney, raita, all that lime chili. Yeah. All that good stuff. Yeah. That's good. And I was trying to think is that because when I was thinking about it, I was trying to figure out, is there a posh version of Poppidoms that makes me sound like I'm a culinary kind of whiz? Do you know what I mean?

That I've eaten somewhere really interesting. Yeah. But I do slightly feel that once you've had one Poppidom, you've had them all. Well, they do the spicy ones sometimes. You go somewhere that say you're plain or spicy. I prefer the plain. I think I do as well. I do. And I also, my favorite use of a Poppidom is not the crack and snap and dip, the classic move. Yeah. I like to take a whole Poppidom, smush it in my hands, and then crumble it over a curry. Oh, okay. You're using it as a condiment more than anything. Yeah. Yeah. A bit like a substitute for fried onions. You know, something to give it a bit of texture, a bit of crunch. So I'm going to have Poppidoms instead of bread. And I'm going to keep a little bit back for my mate for the crumble.

But you are eating a little bit of it just in the traditional Poppidom style. Absolutely. Saving some. I'm keeping it real versatile. I'm going to use it as the traditional sort of, you know, take a little square and nibble, but then also crumble it on like a sort of garnish, like a crispy garnish. I've seen people do the crispy garnish and I do respect it every time. Do you? Yeah. It takes quite a lot of bravery to take a hot, because it's a big old thing. You can't do it discreetly and it makes a big noise. So I feel like if you've got to do it, you've got to own it. Yeah. You've got to sort of act like you're Brian Blessed or something, you know. Especially in quite a quiet Indian restaurant as well, like late night where there's not many

other people in there. It's sort of soft, soft music playing in the background and then suddenly. Yeah, exactly. I always wonder actually, when I listen to this show, who the other guests are. Well, this is up to you. This is your dream meal. If you want to be eating alone, fine. If you want other guests in there, fine. Well, I sort of always imagine that it's kind of like the background cast of the movie, Disney's Robin Hood, you know, sort of animals dressed up in kind of, you know, medieval costumes, having larks. But the background cast, you don't want the main players. Absolutely not. I don't want anyone to pull focus. The background cast of the animated Robin Hood who are animals dressed by the Robin Hood times. Exactly. And they're all doing slightly

the same thing over and over again, you know. The same sort of action on repeat in the hope that you won't notice it. You're such an actor that you have extras in new restaurants and no one pulls focus. No other stars in here, please. Yeah, yeah. No foxes. Can I have stars? I know a few stars that you wouldn't invite to dinner. Really? Yeah, yeah. Helena Bonacarta. Daniel Radcliffe. Gary Newman. Yeah. Gary Newman. Gary Newman was not in any of the Harry Potter franchise films. But they would have earned it for you, wouldn't they? They'd turn up and tell you what happens at the end of Order of the Phoenix. I suppose so. Yeah, yeah. So you can't miss it. You can't miss that. What specific animals? Do you, any specific background animals? It makes me think

of, I think of a, perhaps like an alligator blowing a long trumpet. Yeah, okay. Is that conjuring image? And that's not going to pull focus? Yeah, that's going to come on. Oh, that's going to drown out the conjuring of the poppy-dums at least. No, because I can be like, are you pre-arranging with the alligator? I was going to get him to mine. I was going to get him to mine. But actually what I might do is get him to toot every time I crunch a poppy-dum. That's a great idea. Yeah, that's a really good idea. That would work in so many situations. Well, if you had an alligator following your own tooting. Yeah, with a trumpet. Whenever you farted, maybe. Whenever you farted, or like in some Japanese toilets, you can play music that's supposed to cover up the sound of

you going to the toilet if you're like in line of cubicles. Wow. So instead, you could take the alligator to... And what would you do? Would you give him a signal? Would you give him a wink? I think he'd know. He'd not be watching. He's got to have his eye on that poppy-dum. I think he's in the cubicle with you. Well, that's what he's being paid for. Are you paying him, or is he... You must be paying him. Not initially. Right, and we'll see how he does. So he has a sort of phase where he's... Well, what's his motivation for doing it in the first place? It's a good job, man. How's he earning a living? Well, it's not a good job if he's not getting bloody paid, is it? He does a good job. If I prove my worth, I'm going to get paid for this. Yeah,

alligators are living creatures, too, as well. Yeah, Ed. Yeah. All right, I'll give him a quid, doesn't he? A quid for every Trump. Yeah, exactly. Well, that's a lot of money, actually. Yeah. If you've ever been around, Ed. Most of the edited video has to do is get a bit of Ed's fart flatulence. Every time it cuts to the little music in between the sections. That's a fart. There's no editing there. That's just... We're still sat here, and I've just done a really long fart. Also, Ed's farts are extra loud, because every time he does them, he goes, because they're second by surprise. I'm always scared by them. Yeah, and he gets really surprised by them, don't you?

Surprised and slightly excited. Every time it's a new sensation. Yeah. So, actually, I'd have to pay the alligator quite a lot of money, I think. It'd be a lot of work. Yeah. If I had a quid every time, I'd gamble farted. Yeah. I'd be an alligator with a trumpet. A starter, a dream starter. Yeah, okay. So, I was torn between two things, but I decided on... There's a restaurant in Soho called Social Eating House. Do you know that? And the chef there is a guy called Paul Hood. And it's actually... The last few times for the

past couple of years, it's not been on the menu, but he used to do this thing. And I think it was kind of a signature thing he did, and it was called mushrooms in a bag, if you have that. And he sort of brings out, or someone from his team brings out a little toast rack with pieces of really nice, I think sourdough toast with a kind of mushroom pate smeared on the top of it. Spread is probably a nicer word when you're eating it. But then also he brings out a bag of mushrooms that have been steamed in a kind of little folded plastic bag that they cut open in front of you. And then you put the mushrooms on the toast, chop it up and eat it. And it's got a really nice amount of theatre to it that it doesn't feel... It's not like, you

know, when someone brings out something that's on fire, or you've got to crack into it and there's five layers, and it just sort of all of a sudden hits a different part of your brain from the food bit. There's just a really nice little bit of theatre to this, and you all take a piece from the middle, and it's just lovely, and it's completely delicious. But he took it off the menu. I've not been in a couple of years actually, but... And I don't know why he did that, but it's amazing. Absolutely amazing. It sounds amazing. It sounds like that sort of thing you're looking for as well, that communal, sort of fun thing. You're all getting involved and you're all doing something. Yeah, I really like food that's not... Like, I've had meals that have been,

you know, really intricate and things that have got incredible sort of craftsmanship in the construction of them. And it's a really nice experience, but I don't like it as much as I like everyone mucking in, get involved, you know, lots of people sploshing stuff around. Do you know what I mean? On a Saturday night, do you know what I mean? A bit of a splashy dinner. I prefer a splashy dinner. Like, the best meal I've ever had was long gloom. And before we started recording, we were talking about the trip, and that's where I saw all of that, and I thought I've got to go and try that place, and I went, and it was the best meal. It was incredible, but I wouldn't want it every day. Do you know what I mean? It's a really special occasion. It's like the kind of thing I

think you do once every few years to celebrate a special occasion or something. But yes, back to mushrooms in a bag, it's just got a real wholesome loveliness to it, but it's just phenomenally delicious. And if it's not on the menu and he's listening, he should definitely bring it back. Jason Atherton restaurant, right? He's got a few of those places. I have been there. He's got a pizza place as well, I think, that he opened somewhere. He's got Little Social as well, which is across the road. And the bar upstairs, which is called The Pig or something. Is it The Blind Pig? It's a good name, because you can't really see it. Yeah, exactly. That restaurant is phenomenal. I've

not had the mushrooms in a bag. That sounds great. I've never had that. Also, all the background animals are going to be excited when they hear Paul Hood's in the kitchen. I thought it was going to be great. We know your cousin. We know your gentler cousin. I don't know. Paul Hood sounds like the gentler of the cousins. I think Paul Hood's the gentler. Paul Hood's the gentler cousin, making mushrooms in a bag. Robin Hood's the richer given to the poor. Yeah, Robin. He's got good intentions, but he's full on. Yeah, he's got the gentler. I actually think Robin Hood would be one of those people. If I saw them at a family gathering, I'd be like, here we go. Yeah, I don't know. He's going to bang on about how altruistic he is.

He'd be a nightmare on Twitter that bloke. He would. He would. He'd get a lot of hate. Yeah. We want to go well for him. For all the nice things he's doing, or for the virtue signal. Yeah, for the virtue signal in Robin Hood. I feel I've been there once socially at home. It's very nice. I'd say it's the main place that I've been turned away from the most amount of times, because I just haven't learned that you should book ahead and I challenge my luck every time. Really? They do really nice things with bread. They do little, again, communal. You can buy like a jar of something and they do a coleslaw, which has got truffle in it. And it's really, it's like the carrot and the cabbage, isn't it,

Cos? It's all really chunky and it's just amazing and really rich and fatty and lovely. And they bring a little basket of bread, or I think they might bring a loaf of bread and you sort of tear bits off and scoop bits out. And then they do, I think they do a pate as well, or duck roulette, I think is what they do. Oh, nice. Yeah. And they're really nice. You can buy a couple of them for the table and then you all muck in and share. What kind of mushrooms are they in the back? Are you got button mushrooms or are they the ones that look mad? No, it's one of the... I know exactly what you mean. They might be a little mixed, but certainly more of a forage-y vibe, I think. Wild mushrooms. I think so.

The ones that look mad. The ones that look mad. That's what you want is the ones where they're not uniform. The ones that feel a bit dangerous. Yeah, they all look different. They kind of got that quite a meaty quality to them. Yeah. The ones that look like a big trumpet. The ones that look like a big trumpet. The other guys. It's straight in there. Get out of the back. Stop popping on my mushroom. It's not covering up my farts. And you're not just to be clear. You're not crunching up your popping on over this. No. Would you be tempted? Cos it's sat there. It's ready to be crunched. No, because I think the bread is toasted really nicely. So I feel like the different

textures are all pretty well figured out. Whereas, not to say I'm reinventing the curry or anything, but I do think there's a level of elevation to put in a popperdome on the curry. I think it gives it an extra dimension of crunch. Whereas, it might even be called seps in a bag or something fancy. That, I feel like they've got it pretty well figured out. Don't think it needs augmentation. Nice. Yeah. That's the thing in those kind of plates. Like if you went to long clume or something like that, you wouldn't be adding stuff to it. You wouldn't be going, no. I'll tell you what this needs. No. It's got that hot sauce. It's got hot sauce in your bag. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a bit like that with mayonnaise. Yeah. Yeah. Big jar of helmets. You know,

people like, I think particularly in America, certain parts of America, they'd have like a little bottle of hot sauce in the bag. Yeah. I love my own bag just for a jar of helmets, mayonnaise. Maybe purpose built, you know, in the shape. What are you putting it on? Putting it, probably like a leather belt or something. I mean, what food are you putting it on? You're so into it. A leather belt. A leather belt just, that's just a jar. Just a jar. Just a jar. A bit like I'm off to catch frogs or something. Yeah. Maybe with a couple of little side sections, perhaps for like a, maybe a butter knife. Yeah. And then also, perhaps some anti, you know, like surface wipes so that I can just wipe it off. So I'm not putting

a mayonnaise knife back in the, back in the, makes sense. If you're going to, if you're going to go to that level, you might as well really think it's through and bring it on. Maybe a golden mayonnaise spoon or something. I've got one of them. I've got a golden teaspoon on the chain that I can put on my neck. Yeah. That's for ice cream though. It's for ice cream. Yes, you've got an ice cream thing, haven't you? Yeah. Yeah. You know, that does look like a Coke thing though, right? Yeah. Everyone told me that. Like I got given it for Christmas. It was a call back to something that, to the Jason Reitman episode, I think. Yeah. Which I'd forgotten about because it'd been so long since we were recording it. So my mum got it for me. I was like, I don't know what,

why have I been giving this? She had to tell me about my own podcast. And now, yeah, I've got it hanging up in my kitchen. I remember that. I listened to that one. That's the, he directed Ghostbusters, right? He did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I can use that spoon now. Yeah, nice. But maybe for your Christmas, you're going to be having a mayo belt. Maybe. Yeah. I do like the idea of the leather crossbody bag. I know. But instead of the bag, it's just a massive jar of helmets. Yeah. Like quite a hobbit-y vibe. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. A bit like you should be walking around with furry bare feet with it. Yeah. Yeah. And a sort of quizzical look. It's not not like a Robin Hood vibe either. No. Yeah. No, no. No, exactly. Well, that's the sort

of more, where you could sort of flip it around. Yeah. Yeah. And then it would feel quite rock and roll like it's a quiver. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys in a quiver? Would you consider? I think it depends if you've got the right utensil to be able to easy access it. If perhaps if you had a big long spoon, then you could sort of do the action of removing it from the quiver and scoop it out and put it straight in your mouth. Yeah. Yeah. I'm into that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm definitely into that. It's like you're grabbing an arrow and then it's just a spoon. I think you would have to have a spoon in the jar already. Yeah. So that you're reaching back like an arrow. Yeah. You're pulling it, the spoon out, eating it and then you put it back into the jar. So maybe more like a ladle

because of the angle that it's entering. Yeah. Because otherwise you're flicking mayonnaise over everything. Otherwise it's a disaster. You're going to piss off the other guests in the restaurant. Yeah. It's catching an eyeful. Yeah. And you die. It's a disaster. Yeah. That's the other guy. Yeah. Yeah. This isn't worth a coin every 10 minutes. But yeah, what food you put it on? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I mean, I'll put it on quite a lot I mean, if it's, if I, if it's like say I'm hungover and I'm having a curry. I mean, I'll introduce mayonnaise to a curry. Wow. Or I'll, I'll put it on. I mean, people who don't put mayonnaise on pizza drive me up the wall. Hold on a second.

Yeah. No, I know what you mean. Actually, people who don't put jam on a burger, you can't, you can't pitch that as a universal grime. No, I can't. You know these people? The history books are full of people. Everyone said was mad until they invented light bulb or something. Yeah. Yeah. It's just similar. It's exactly like that. You know, if you've got a pizza, particularly I feel if it's like a, like a frozen pizza, it's a bit uninspiring. If you take a big old dollop of mayonnaise from a jar and you just spread it on top like butter over a crumpet, I promise you it's going to take that thing to the next level. Listen, you've got to just expand the way you're thinking because the components are the same as a sandwich, it's bread,

it's a tomato sauce, it's meat, it's veg. It's all the same thing. It's just in a slightly different form and you would never go, you put in mayonnaise on a sandwich, you're heathen. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? But listen, I'm open to the idea. I like that you do it. I think the issue that we had is people who don't put mayonnaise on a pizza do my edit, like, because that's everybody except you, Terence. Okay. All right. Okay. Well, perhaps I may have been a little bit overzealous in the introduction of the idea, but I would, I would encourage everyone to try it. So when you're preparing for a film role and being healthy, it's pretty easy. You just cut out mayonnaise slab of pizzas. Yeah. That's the way I lose the first

study. Because I like it, you know, when you're ordering a pizza and sometimes you can get dips and stuff, and sometimes you'll be able to get like a Sriracha mayo or something like that to dip the crust. I love that. Yeah. And then I thought maybe Terence means like a drizzle all around, like, you know, sometimes you'll do that, but at no point did I expect you to say you're getting the mayo and you're spreading it over the full surface of the pizza, like an extra topping. Like, and I do quote a crumpet. Yeah. I thought a crumpet. I mean, it really, it does depend in what mode I'm in, but yeah, if I'm, if I'm, if I'm really going for it, that's perfectly possible. Is that, is that hang, that's hangover food, right? That's hangover food. You know,

when it feels like tomorrow is never going to come anyway, so it doesn't matter. And then inevitably Monday morning does come and you feel disgusting. And not only are you still hung over, you've had a mayonnaise-covered crumpet pizza. Exactly. And you're wondering why you sat in your flat alone. We did a pizza collab with Yard Sale Pizza. Oh, nice. You'll be getting a call from them soon. Do you think? Being like... To maybe develop a pizza-purposed mayonnaise. I think it would be good of them to do like the option for all their pizzas that if you want, you can go Taman. Right, right, right. So like, do you want that Taman? Yeah, do you want that Taman style? Yeah, yeah, Taman style. And then they spread the mayo on it.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out if that's great or terrible. Do I want that to be my legacy? I feel like you've got other stuff that you can consider as part of the legacy. I don't think this will completely eradicate everything you've done until now. So it could just be a corner of, yeah, yeah, sure. It'll be a subsection on Wikipedia. Right, right. But it'll be at the bottom. Wow. Yeah, Tamanaze or whatever. Yeah, Tamanaze. That's good. Tamanaze pizza. I would be interested in developing my own mayonnaise. That is something that I'd be proud of. Yeah, absolutely. Your own mayonnaise, specifically.

Maybe it would be like Interesting Welsh Eggs or something, I don't know. Interesting Welsh Egg mayonnaise. Interesting Welsh Egg mayonnaise. That's a great name. Interesting Welsh Egg mayonnaise. We've got Tamanaze. That's in the bank. Let's not... At the very least, it could be the album name for my first album. Yeah. Interesting Welsh Egg mayonnaise. Yeah, yeah. That's quite, I mean... That's cool, isn't it? I've actually put an experimental album. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Your legacy is absolutely signed and sealed now. Do you think? You've got it. The mayonnaise, the album. Congrats. All the films, obviously. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Your dream main course. Now, we kind of already know what this is going to be in a way. Yeah. Edge, do you want to guess what kind of curry we're talking here? I think it might be on the spicier side, simply because you're saying when you're hungover, you might add mayonnaise to it.

I don't think anyone, no matter how hungover someone was, surely not adding mayonnaise to a coma. No, no, because that's too rich, isn't it? Yeah. Well, hold on. We're guessing. Okay, you're guessing. All right, okay. This is a perfect guessing game. Okay. Lambuna. I think you've gone down the lamb route as well,

but I was thinking maybe like lamb gel frazy. Lamb drass. Oh, we did all right. We did all right. I don't think that's bad going. Yeah. What led you both to lamb? Racism.

Yeah. Yeah, fair enough. Okay. Are you like, that was what? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm done. No, fair enough. Also, I would personally go for lamb curry as well. Yeah, I think that I would probably, most of the time,

I'll just go for chicken curries, but I do think if it's a special meal, if someone's picking it as their dream main, I would expect lamb curries when done well at the nicest. Absolutely, yeah. But easy to screw up as well. Well, I agree. And I think it ties into what you said about putting mayonnaise on a calmer.

I think the thing about having lamb in a curry is it totally depends on what the base of your sauce is. Because I think having a cream-based sauce for a lamb curry is, I think, quite a lot because the meat is, like if you use shoulder, quite fatty. So the specific curry that I'm thinking of is one that my eye cook and also my mom and my step dad cook. And what's lovely about it is it's all done from scratch,

but it kind of comes up different every time, you know. And there's something really lovely about that. It feels like it's sort of constantly in flux. And you're not constantly reaching for some sort of precision dish that you get tired of because it always comes up a bit different, depending on how many chilies you use, what type of chilies, whether they're fresh or dried. But the one I'm thinking of, I have to say,

that's something that I would do if people were coming over to the flat or whatever, but I'm specifically imagining one cooked by my mom, obviously. And it's really, really, really gorgeous. It's the kind of thing you cook over sort of three hours, probably. And it's like a blended onion base with chopped tomatoes. So you fry up spices with the onions, I don't know, chili and garlic with the onions, and then you fry the meat in the spices,

and then you introduce both to each other and sort of slow cook it over a couple of hours. And it's really, really good, yeah. That sounds very nice. Is there a specific time where you were like, oh, that's my favorite version of this that you want at this dream meal, or will you take whatever version happens to crop up? Well, I guess it's probably as much as anything about the people you're with. So quite often I'll spend a few months away from home,

but whenever I go home and I'm in the house with my family, there's something that's really special about having a dinner like that, and it's something that they will cook because I'm coming home, because it kind of fills the house when you arrive, and it feels like a Friday night thing or a Saturday night thing. Everyone's having a couple of beers, and typically, they'd, mum almost stepped that guy would do a dhal with it, and a raita, you know, and pop and oms.

Well, they wouldn't make pop and oms, but they'd make other things, and that's, I don't know, it's just a sense of coming home and family, and yeah, I just think Indian food done well is amazing. Yeah, it's really clear how important it is to eat with your family. Yeah. But when we asked you the guest list, all you said was that it was background characters from Robin Hood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Well, you know, when I'm on a podcast, it's not about them, is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they're all focused on that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, that sounds lovely. Yeah. And I can totally, I can feel it. I can see it when you walk in, and the smell hits you,

and then you see everyone for the first time in a few months. It's beautiful. Exactly. I do have an honourable munch in, though. Please. And it's quite, I don't know what the polite way of putting it is. It's sort of, it's junky. It's proper junky.

And there's a place in my hometown, and it's called Lip Licking Fried Chicken. Yeah. It's been there for a very, very, very long time. It's ran and operated by one family from the area. And it's just somewhere I've been going since I first started going out with my mates, and I still love it. It's the kind of thing you probably shouldn't have that often, because it's, I don't think it would be described as health food,

but it's fried chicken with chips, loads of mayo. They often put like grated mozzarella all over it. Why not? There's something that they do there, which is just like a chicken sandwich with a hash brown in it and cheese and chocolate and mayo. And I can't figure out if it is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, or if it's just kind of the flavour of my childhood or my teenage years, and that's why I always keep going back to it.

But that is something that I did also consider. But I think perhaps the curry is probably much nearer to my heart, you know? I think that's a better choice as well. That feels like a better choice. But having said that, looking fried chicken sounds great. Sounds great. And the first, you know, we said it before in the podcast, the first fried chicken you have, mind blows your mind.

So that was the first taste you had of fried chicken. It probably was. Probably was, yeah. It's pretty mind blowing. And the introduction to the hash brown, you know, I used to be a Tower Burger boy. That was my order at KFC. When did that change?

Why did that change? I used to go every Friday to KFC with my friend Graham and watch Extreme Sports on the TV and have a Zinger Tower burger. Oh, no. When I was 17 to 18, probably. James didn't discover alcohol until later in life. Yes, I think I knew that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we'd have that for lunch. Just like him and Graham used to watch Extreme Sports and have a Zinger Tower burger every Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They showed Extreme Sports in the KFC. So that's why we watched it because it was on TV. You would sit in KFC when you was a Zinger Tower burger and watch Extreme Sports.

Yeah, because we were going to college nearby and we would leave at lunch, go to the KFC, watch the Extreme Sports and eat the Zinger Tower burgers. Nice. And very excited about it. And then I think I changed from the Zinger Wrap. Right, because it's lighter or... Just got into wraps big time, you know, like I...

The Wrap phase. I hadn't really ever had wraps. I'd had sandwiches like just all the way through school. Sandwiches are a big thing, aren't they? All the way through school. Sure. You're just having sandwiches. Yeah.

And my mum never made me a wrap. And suddenly I was like, this is amazing. These wraps are so cool. How did your mum feel about that when you said... Your sandwich is a sad mum. I didn't tell her about Extreme Sports either. I kept it all secret. She thought you were having sandwiches and watching Mild Sports.

She didn't, though. Yeah. Well, yeah, I just really got into wraps for a bit. And then they bought out Popcorn Chicken and I got very excited about the Popcorn Chicken and loved that and always had to have a box of Popcorn Chicken with the main KFC order. Yeah, yeah, of course.

Did you ever... You know, the one that I always loved at KFC and I don't know if they still do it was... Do you remember the Big Daddy Box Meal? Oh, I know the name. And it's... I had a very specific burger in it with a very specific sauce that you couldn't get independently

of the box, of the Big Daddy Box Meal. Yeah. And I remember thinking that was quite special and always feeling slightly frustrated that you had to get it as part of this epic big combo with loads of things, which was probably, probably, you know, by KFC standards, quite expensive as well. I think I've only had KFC maybe four times in my whole life.

That's amazing. Incredible. I don't know, it was just never part of... It was never on the agenda when I was a kid, but then when I started working in a pub, there was a favourite chicken opposite and I would finish my shift and immediately go to favourite chicken

and get basically the equivalent of a Zinger Tower burger. Right, right. That's so good. Well, you would like KFC then. Yeah, I would like it. Yes. Yeah. When did your mum start making this curry?

Because like... I'm always interested when family recipes, like family stapled dinners, crop up and then how it becomes your favourite and how it becomes a thing of like, that's what we make in town when he comes home. So there's a specific cookbook, kind of like a sort of... I think what seems like a sort of quite traditional

Indian family cookbook that I think was my stepdads and she met my stepdad when I was 14 and I think it may be something that he brought in and I suspect my mum has probably refined her process of doing it in a way. He still does it a lot as well and he's very, very good. But he's somebody who would not necessarily really pay

that much attention to a recipe and is kind of quite freestyle in the way he cooks. And it still comes up great, but it just feels different to the way... You know, like there's... You know, the element of chemistry that comes in of cooking that I feel like my mum has probably got a better handle on than I have or he has,

just in terms of like, you know, the amount of fat there is in something and how long you want something to reduce for and like the water content and the amount of veg you're using and how all that blends together and she's got a real instinct for that in a way that... I mean, if he's listening, I'm sorry, Guy, but he possibly doesn't have,

but it definitely came from him. He's more of an instinct, just riffing it, trying different things. Yeah, he's, you know, Alexa play the who and air guitar whilst, you know, cooking the curry. One of those guys. Yeah, one of those guys. And my mum's constantly coming in

and going, Alexa, quieter, please. I think I'm both those guys. The difference is if I have a beer while I'm cooking. Sure. The first half an hour, it's 45 minutes of the preparation, if it's a big meal, I'm so exact. It's all perfect. I'm pre-prepping, I'm getting everything chopped.

I'm cleaning stuff as I go, crack a beer open, Alexa play the who, disaster. Yeah, I got a terrible habit. Occasionally when I cook, I will do an Instagram story as I'm doing it and more often than not, I'll drink. And it's never a good idea because by the start, I'm really kind of together. I sort of look quite nice, quite fresh, you know,

and I'm being quite measured and considered by the end of it. Oh, my word. I just look like a sloppy mess. I'm swearing a bit, you know, telling people to get out of the kitchen. It's completely avid. As if it's not dangerous enough to have a drink around an open flaming night.

You're like, well, why don't we broadcast this to the public? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Never get on it. I'm all with it. When you're cooking, thinking that idea of I'm going to have a drink while I'm doing this. Oh, it feels so great.

Oh, it's amazing. When it occurs to you, even if it's just a soft drink, I get excited to be like, well, while I'm cooking, I'm going to have a big old Diet Coke. I'm like, oh, brilliant. This is going to be way more fun. You keep going back to it. Yeah, yeah.

You know what, I sometimes say out loud when I have a little sip of a beer while I'm cooking. I don't know. Well, strap in for this. Treat for the chef. Yeah, great. This is out loud to himself. Yeah.

Because it feels like you're sneaking one in because you're doing all the work. Yeah. So you get a little extra treat. It feels like someone should be grabbing the drink and pouring it in your mouth as you're stirring or chopping or something. Treat for the chef.

Yeah. But she won't do it. That's where the alligator could come in handy. Exactly. Yeah, you've been promoted. Yeah. I don't think that's a promotion. I don't know.

That alligator takes what it can get. Yeah, it sounds that way. Yeah. Are your dreams side dish? I mean, I feel like it should be something that complements a curry, but I'm not going to do that. And it's something that I think a lot of people might roll their eyes at

and think it's a sort of actory cliche. But I am going to go for rock, shrimp and pora from Nobu London Park Lane. And it's pretty, you know, I mean, I think it started there. I mean, you see that kind of thing in a lot of places now, but I'm fairly certain. Well, it was certainly one of the first places to do it,

or they do it very, very well. And I think it's just chopped up prawns in a batter with rocket and a sort of creamy, like a spicy mayonnaise that they just mix up and serve to you. And you just pick at it with chopsticks. And it's quite light, but it also feels sort of decadent and battered and fried. And it's just lovely.

And I love it. Sounds great. It's really good. Have you guys not done that? I've never been. I've been, but I didn't have that, I don't think. But which one did you get? Did you go to the one in...

I've been to both. In London. Yeah, so there's the one that's opposite Hyde Park, right? That's the one I'm talking about. Yeah, which is quite light and bright in there. And it's quite, it feels like more of a sort of a less... Like the other one is just, you feel like you're a wag. You feel like you're with a football at all times.

Yeah, I know what you mean. And I think I do really love Nobu, but it is got a kind of... The food's always consistently really lovely, especially in that Park Lane one, but it does sometimes feel a bit like it's very in-out and it's got a kind of chaos to it. Which is the one that Boris Becker got the waitress pregnant

in the brim top of that? Oh, God, I didn't hear about that. Yeah, that's... I mean, it does have a sort of slight air of anything... It's probably the other one, right? It probably wasn't the Park Lane one, because that feels like a bit more like a sort of fun, like light and bright restaurant.

There's a lot of windows, but... Exactly, the other one's a sort of den of inequity. Yeah, that feels like more of a Boris Becker with the waitress in the brim cupboard. Right, yeah. Do you have to be cautious when eating rocket in public now, in case someone's chounced rocket, man? Because genuinely, when we were discussing secret ingredients,

I did think maybe we'll go rocket. Oh, just on the off chance that he's in egomania, he starts to recline his credits. No, I didn't think that just to have a link. Sometimes we just try and make it link with the guest at the secret ingredient, because we've done all the foods we actually hate now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We might as well just make it link with the guest. It was very nearly rocket. And that could have been... Imagine if I got kicked out. Kicked out with Jade Adams. No, we tell them also, because I'm a fan of the show, I asked to come on. Yeah.

He was a man that asked to come on and get kicked out. We felt bad. Right, yeah, we felt awful. We didn't go rocket. But it must be a thing, right? Like, if you're ever... If I was you, and I was in public, and I was bringing a spoonful of rocket up to my mouth,

I would expect someone to go, rocket ride! Yeah, well, yeah. Although I suppose from an adjacent table, it's quite difficult to identify the specific greenery you're eating, isn't it? And I mean, imagine how foolish you'd look if it was a bit of spinach.

Sure, yeah. You know, people that haven't... Even if it's spinach, they're having a crack at that. They're going to have a crack. Yeah. Because, like, you can't... It's kind of almost more indignified that you come back with it.

Spinach, you idiot. So, you know, like... Yeah, exactly. That doesn't make sense. I win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's spinach, actually. You can see it's spinach, yeah. And then it was called your Popeye.

Popeye, yeah. I was reaching for that, but you didn't see it, yeah. Because you are a sailor. Exactly. That would make sense. I can't keep up, man. Also, I guess, you know, it's a pretty successful role for you. So, it doesn't matter if someone shouts Rocket Man at you.

You're probably a nice little reminder. No, it's lovely. It's not, you know, it's not... You know, I'm very happy to be associated with it. You're eating a no-boo. You're having your favourite dish in no-boo. Yeah. You know, what's the problem

if someone shouts Rocket Man? Yeah, get over yourself. I guess you could ask Elton, like, you know, do you eat Rocket in public, Elton? Because Elton must not go near it. Yeah, he can't. He doesn't. He probably learnt that in 1978, didn't he? Yeah, people ascended my...

Was Rocket... Do you reckon people were eating Rocket with a wine spray bottle? No, not when the song came out. I mean, I bet it took years for people to get on board with Rocket. Because it's a funny thing, isn't it? I mean, it's good, but it is bitter. And I bet, initially, when people...

When it was, you know, when it came out... When Rocket was released. Yeah, when it was released. You know, say it was 1978, I bet people didn't appreciate the genius of it. Do you think they tried to get Elton on board to do the advert? Yeah. To promote Rocket?

I mean, if they didn't, they missed the treat. They're never going to be around the clock. There's no way they won't. Yeah. And then, come on, Elton, please. Yeah. Please do the advert. Say you're a Rocket man,

and then put a spoonful of Rocket in your mouth. I thought, that's all we need you to do. Well, I'm not going to do it. Forget it. Oh, yeah, when I asked you what you were putting your mayo on, I was hoping you were going to say Rocket. Or salad. Yeah, I know. Would I have it on a bit of salad?

I probably wouldn't have it on a salad. Oh, do you know what? I might make a dressing with a bit of mayo in. Yeah. For salad dressing. But I probably wouldn't squirt mayo on a salad. Sure. This shrimp sounds great.

Yeah. But the thing about it is, when you go there, I think it's expensive to eat there. So it depends what you want out of it. Like, I don't know. Sometimes it can feel like it's quite in and out for the money it is. So I think it's really, it's nice to go with a bit of a gang

and make it feel like a little bit of an event. Because it's, I know people who eat there every day. Like it's going to, it's a bit like, you know, going for fast food for Uber wealthy people. But it's nice to sort of save it, I think, and treat it as a special thing. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a place called Shack for You, which we've mentioned a lot on the podcast. I follow them on Instagram. But I've never eaten there. And I followed them just because their sandwiches look so alluring. Oh, they're so good. Yeah. They're katsu-sando.

They do a katsu-sando. Yeah, that's my end of the market. I've seen, I've been there and had, they've done a rabbit's katsu-sando as well. Wow. Which is exceptional. And don't they do, they do one dessert, right? They do a matcha toast thing.

Yeah. French toast, yeah. Which like, that's the thing now, it's the same about going to a place a lot. Like, I've been there so much that now, some, there's a lady who works in and she's working there. If I've had my main course, she'll just get the French toast ready.

And if I don't want it, I feel real bad guy. Because I'm like, oh, I'd rather not. She's like, what? But you love it. You love the French toast. I'm like, oh, not today. But I went there yesterday with a friend who he hadn't been there before. So I was like, oh, this is going,

because if someone hasn't been there, and I don't really know what that friend likes to eat really, they're going to have stuff on that menu that he likes. So it's a bit embarrassing just to say all the weight and stuff. I knew them all by name. Saying hello to them all. And stuff. And he went, no, you really do come here a lot.

Your dream drink. I mean, contrary to what I said about gassy liquids, I do like a beer. Yeah, I do. And at the moment, the one I like is called Saturday Lager. Oh, never heard of this. It's a white tin, very plain. And they have a, they have like a,

they have, I think they do a range of seven drinks and one's named after each day of the week. I can't remember the name of the brewery, but they sell it in Waitrose. And I think I'd just have a can of that maybe. I can visualize the can. I think I know. I mean, it's easy to visualize.

It's just white. But with black writing on it. Tiny little, tiny little plain black writing. And then I think each of the other ones. Is a different color, right? Exactly. Yeah. Who's the brewery, Benito?

That's right. And Union. That's the one. Yeah. Excellent. So what makes it a nice lager? Well, I don't, I mean, I've tried to be, I've always liked a beer,

but I've never been somebody that's a really kind of graduated into more kind of complex, sophisticated beers. You know, like I've, I just, I just like a sort of nice, sort of full-bodied lager. Really. You know, maybe something that's a little bit cloudy. And I don't like, like bitters and things like that. I've tried, bitters really don't agree with me

in the way that they don't agree with a lot of people that we don't need to go into detail about. But we need the alligator, basically. We need the alligator. The alligator, yeah, with a mop and bucket maybe. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. His poor alligator's got so many more jobs now.

Oh, boy. Oh, gosh. Put down the trumpet and get the mop. Free for the chef. So yeah, just a simple nice beer, I think. I think. Have you only drank it on a Saturday? Have you ever had it on another day of the week?

Probably have. I mean, I try and only drink on the weekend. Because when I've got some specific day pants. Right. And whenever I go outside of the system, I do genuinely think in my head, I'm being a real rebel today. If I'm putting Wednesday pants on on a Sunday, I think this is, what are you doing, you mad man?

Yeah. Do you feel out of whack for the day? Or do you just feel like a non-conformist? I just feel like a bit of a punk, to be honest. Dude, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rebel, rebel. Because I think, oh, maybe it's unlucky. And then I think, no,

you've got to take your fate into your own hands. I'm wearing the Tuesdays on a Thursday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, so your pants don't forget who's in charge. Yeah, exactly. That's the whole thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's a lovely drink on a Saturday beer. Yeah. I think lagerant, lagerant curry, you can't really go wrong. Oh yeah, that's a good mix. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know whether, obviously we're always told that that's a good mix. And I think I might have, when I first had it,

forced myself to enjoy it. Because everyone told me it was a nice mix. Because you're at the age where you didn't enjoy beer. Felt you should to be a real man or whatever. Beautiful. But I like weird beers now. Do you? Because I can only stomach a couple of beers now.

I used to be able to drink like 10 beers. See, I'm trying to cultivate that in myself. That thing of, you know, listen to your body. You've had two beers, you feel full, you really don't need a third beer. Now's the time to segue into something like a nice vodka soda, you know, and something that's a little bit lighter.

And I could still easily be the kind of guy who'll go out and guzzle a bunch of beers. But I'm really trying not to be, because it just feels a little bit juvenile for a man in his 30s. So cool. We're older than you. No, but I would have like,

now I'd have like a weird sour beer or something. Would you? Yeah. Really? James got me into them. I got him into them. And then I probably don't like them as much now. Yeah, yeah.

The baton has been handed over. I've had experiences like that. So I feel like, you know, with the sort of, with the craft beer kind of explosion thing that happened a few years ago, the IPA became a real thing, didn't it? It looked like a contender to the lager. And I remember the first time I had when I thought,

oh my, I drink IPAs now. This is my new identity. But it tapered off. And I came home. I came home on a Saturday. On a Saturday. Yeah, yeah. I was thinking the other day, I went to Michela.

It's a really fantastic brewery called Michela. It's a Danish brewery that they got a place in London. And I went for a beer there and Rob Beckett came to join us at the comedian Rob Beckett. And I felt immediately embarrassed when Rob turned up because I was drinking a passion fruit, passion fruit beer. And he is the most straight down the line bloke you'll ever meet.

Yeah, he's quite, he's the sort of South London user, isn't he? I was like, oh no. And he's like, why aren't you drinking? Yeah. I went, passion fruit beer. Oh, what the fuck? Like I got really angry at me. And the waiter came out to take his order.

And Rob went, I don't want that. What's the closest thing you got to Amstel? Really? Yeah. And then his friend turned up. He used to be a boxer. God, I felt so embarrassed. Yeah.

How do you handle those situations? He's got to own it. I tend to stay quite quiet. That's the way I like to sort of try and handle it when I'm in it, when I'm with the guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

As soon as I get overexcited or keen or someone directly sort of engages me, I don't stand the test very well. Crumble. You've got action films and stuff where you've been like jumping around kicking people's faces in. So like they must think of you.

Yeah, he's a real guy. And yeah, no, I'm endlessly disappointing to people. You know, I often get asked, you know, who my team is and all that. And I'm being Welsh. I often get asked about rugby. And did I play rugby when I was younger? And I just can't.

I mean, I've now arrived at an age where I can't, I also can't be bothered to pretend, you know. So if someone now asks me, you know, who my team is or whether I like football, I just, I can't even, some of the energy really. It's just, I really don't like football. And I just don't want to have this conversation with you. We arrive at your dream dessert.

Yeah. I'm excited. OK. Shall I polish up the spoon? Yeah, they've gone dog spoon. I think it's good. So my favourite dessert is a pecan pie. Mm, lovely.

And I have spent, I've spent two extended periods of time, like months in New Orleans for work. And both times, I don't actually think, I'm not sure if the pecan pie is a native thing to New Orleans. I think it might be another southern, it might be in a state other than Louisiana. It might be Texas. So I can't remember exactly where.

Which one is the pecan, there's a pecan state, isn't there? Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know. Oh, but you open it, it's going to be googled in that, the pecan state. But it feels like a southern, a sort of, Yes. Exactly, I think it's something that's kind of been embraced by the South in general.

Yeah. And they just have amazing pecan pie in New Orleans. And I was there for six months last year, and a lady named Anne Morgan, who I was working with on the production, who is a hair designer, a hairdresser, she bought me some pecan pie from a place called Windowsill Pies, New Orleans.

And she also bought the most incredible ice cream from a place I can't remember the name of, but the pie is the main event. And it was just insane. So sort of crunchy and buttery and delicious, and with a big dollop of really good, you know, vanilla bean ice cream or something. It's really, really special.

A little bit warm as well. Nicely out of the oven with ice cream on top. That's my idea of a real good time. Pie culture in America. We've never captured it here, right? We've never captured it. Sweet pies. Yeah.

Totally. And oh, and that's another one. She actually, it was very decadent. There was a bunch of us on the makeup bus, and she bought, I think, a cherry one, a pecan one, and then also a sweet pate one, which I found it quite difficult to imagine, but was really, really, really, really good.

So yeah, that's the thing that came to mind. I really do love a pecan pie, and this one from Windowsill Pies was exceptional. I love the name of Windowsill Pie. Love it. It's great, isn't it? Very evocative. Very evocative.

Yeah. Imagine a little fat boy in a comic book stealing it off the windowsill. Stealing it off the windowsill. I'd love to steal it. Steal a pie off a windowsill. He bloody would steal a pie off a windowsill. I would.

If I was walking along, I saw a pie calling on a windowsill. I think I'd steal it. I'd love to read a comic about you stealing a pie off a windowsill. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love it. I love cherry pies. Yeah. Remember when we were in America with our friends?

Yeah. And we walked, well, it was over an hour. It was about an hour and a half, I think. Yeah, it was pretty long. Yeah, it was a long way. To follow in the Google Maps or whatever, where the pie shop was. This is L.A. was it?

New York. New York. And we were like, we really want a cherry pie. Googled where the best one was, found it on the maps, walked all the way there, and it was shut. Did you get a pie? We didn't that day. We went, well, I don't think we did.

No, we didn't get one. We got a cherry pie. That's a nightmare. Did you get, have you ever done juniors? Is it juniors cheesecake in New York? I think it's juniors cheesecake. No. That is, there's a place called juniors in New York

and they do a strawberry cheesecake and it's the best cheesecake I've ever, ever, ever had. I mean, it's insane. So the next time you go, I highly recommend juniors cheesecake. What makes you so good? I mean, if I knew that, I'd be making it every day. I don't know, but it's delicious.

Delicious. All right, we're going to have to manipulate another trip to record podcasts. Yeah, you have to go there again. I'm going to read your menu back to you now. See how you feel about it. OK. Still water.

You want poppadoms with chutney and the right-hand lime pickle, but save some to crumble. Starter, mushrooms in a bag from social eating house. Main course, mum's lamb address. Crumble the poppadom over the top. Side, rock shrimp tempura from Nobu, London Park Lane. Drink and Union Saturday Lager. Dessert, pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream

from Window Seal Pies in New Orleans. That sounds amazing. Yeah, I feel good about it. I really want to try the pie, most of all. Actually, I also want to try your mum's curry. I want to try the madras for sure. Well, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant, Taran. Thank you, Taran.

Thank you so much for having me. It's been lovely. There we are. Oh! Thanks so much for coming in, Taran. That was a great episode, I think. Great episode and, like, really, really visual. You know, you've got the mayonnaise belt there,

the cast of Robin Hood. The quiver, the mayonnaise quiver. It's great. There's a lot of stuff going on. The alligator. Yes. The alligator. There was a lot going on there.

I love that episode so much and a great menu at the heart of it. A great menu at the heart of it. Yeah, a lot of stuff I'd like to try there. Yeah. And no Turkish delight, so we didn't need to have that argument. Yeah, fair enough. I think we should have asked him anyway, which of the two he prefers, actually,

if he's on a Team Chalk or Team No-Chalk. Yeah, we were so close to picking Rocket for that. We were so close to picking Rocket. And, you know, I'm glad that we didn't, because we got to hear about the pecan pie. Yeah. But at the same time, I always do get excited about the prospect of kicking anyone out.

Yeah. Or Eagle. We could have picked Eagle. Imagine if we picked Eagle and he picked Eagle. And he did pick it. Roast Eagle. Yeah, I love it. Roast Eagle.

That'd have been awful. And don't forget that Taran is in Blackbird on Apple TV Plus, which is out now, a psychological thriller for your mind and your heart. Kaka, kaka, the Blackbird. Ed, are you doing anything? Yes, I'm on tour, James. Ed Gamble at the Code at UK for tickets. Yes.

Check it out. Electric, it's called. It's called Electric. It's a lot of fun. Come along. You can pre-order my book, James Eggers Guide to Quit in Social Media. Being the best you can be and curing yourself of loneliness,

volume one, wherever you get your books. Unless it's already out. If it's August or after August, it's already out. You can buy it. Buy it. Buy it. I loved it. Thank you, Ed.

Thank you very much for listening to the Off Menu Podcast. We've got plenty more amazing guests to come. It's going to be scrumptious. Bye-bye. Bye-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,

and 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 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 Gladell'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.