Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S11 Ep 3: Angela Hartnett

Episode Date: January 27, 2021

Big week! Mum had her vaccine, Joe Biden is now president, Mum also discovers Muff Kitchen and her first drag name is suggested (thanks Martha Delacey). But more importantly, we have the incomparable Angela Hartnett on TM! Talking to us from her Spitalfields home, we chat about what's for tea, being in a culinary 'power couple' with her partner, working for Gordon Ramsey and we discuss the difficulty the hospitality sector is facing during the pandemic.Mum learnt what ‘ready for the pass’ meant and Angela talks about her ’nonna' teaching her how to cook Annalini, a Christmas tradition. Are there any other chefs out there that hate coriander as much as Angela? Last but not least, we talk about 'Seat At The Table’ campaign - a petition to the government to get a hospitality minister for her industry. We would love you to take a moment to sign it. Her new show Celebrity Best Home Cook is on BBC One, Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 26th January at 9pm and iPlayer on demand - enjoy! x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm here sitting next to my mother, Lenny. Hi mum. Hi darling. It's a big day for you today. Very big day. What happened? I got my vaccine, my first dose. Now what happened? Because you aren't 70 yet. No, I'm certainly not darling.

So how did you get the call? Well, I got a text from my GP because I'm going that way. And I got a text from the GP saying that because I'm a certain age, they were able to offer me an appointment for vaccination. But they had vaccine over that day and to make an appointment. And I did. And it was, I have have to say Hetherington Health Clinic were absolutely amazing the organisation was great they were so kind it was effective I went in and I got a sticker. I think I mean you got it because there was surplus right it wasn't

I don't know yeah I think they don't want to waste the vaccine that's what they said you must have got pfizer then yeah i got the pfizer vaccine my arm hasn't dropped off yet i feel fine okay great and then it's also been a big week because joe biden kamala harris fantastic lady gaga sung the national anthem beautifully thought she was brilliant they said she was out of tune in the time j-lo decided to sing her own song as you do well she met she mashed up oh she mashed up and she mashed up and she put a bit of spanish in for the hispanic and paquito and that that poet oh oh my goodness amanda gorman wow never forget that name we should get her on the podcast can we get her people were saying on i put her picture up on insta and people were saying can you get her on the podcast anyway we are thrilled

to have this chef on i said i wish she was with us yeah i do too because i was cooking for us oh she could have bought one of her diy cafe murano kits we could have bloody had one of them i'd love one of those could have been cheeky and can i have that as a treat yes mum what are you having instead for dinner a baked potato i just had a baked potato it was delicious i'm having it for steak oh we just did um piri piri chicken on the barbecue outside oh how nice yeah it was very nice so yeah angela hartnett and i've been doing one of her recipes it's one of my favorite we did it for tracy thorn i remember yeah it was a salmon it's vietnamese it's a vietnamese recipe it was really delicious yeah so yeah we're fans of her i've actually never eaten her food in one of her restaurants there's cafe morano where she does the

infamous harry's bar toasty along with many other fantastic things But she's kind of down to earth kind of person. So I've seen her on the Great British Menu and she's great on that when she's a guest chef. And I've seen her on the, what's the home cook? Britain's best home cook. Bit harsh sometimes, but she needs to be because they're not great cooks, some of them. Oh, mum, mum, mum.

Actually, I needed to tell you this. So we put out what would be mum's drag name. Now there is a most fantastic chef that you should follow. She's a baker, but also the greatest eater I've ever seen on Instagram. Oh, number six. Oh, lovely. Number six. Sorry, I'm just doing an intro here, mum.

Sorry. Mum's checking the charts. Her name is Martha DeLacy and she and she runs muff kitchen which is a really that's a bit rude well anyway she does do muff dining muff diving or muff dining? Mum!

You're so filthy. She's going to love this because she's a massive fan of the podcast. And she does muff dining supper. Stop laughing! Stop! She's an amazing baker I was going to get you a subscription to the month well I love Martha she's really good fun because she's made my mum laugh the most she's ever laughed in about a year

oh thank you martha delacy muff kitchen and um she said firstly she didn't understand eva longoria's bed table manner she said the bed thing it confused me because she explained it criminally badly still love you eva but is it just b for bread e for entree and d for drink or does she actually go to bed with rolls and lemon caper butter sole so this is something that we will have to ask eva at some point however she did also add also your mum's drag queen name should definitely be chestnut stafado which i thought was very good because you were talking about a vegetarian chestnut stafado

so the first entry for my mum's drag queen name is chestnut stafado so thank you Martha DeLacy who does run and don't laugh at Muff Kitchen oh here we go can I just put my potato on sorry my mum's just putting her baked potato on do you want some water? Yes, sure.

Thank you. Angela Hartnett, coming up on Table Manners. Hello. Hi. I'm just so excited to meet you, Angela. It's such a delight. I wish you were in my kitchen. Oh, that's very nice. Bringing your own food, to be honest. Mum's just put a baked potato on. How are you, Angela? I'm very well. I'm very well. Yeah, not too bad. Just sort of keeping going with everything. I'll press record now, then I'll start. Great. Yeah, just keeping going through this madness that is COVID and everything else that's going on in the world. It's just slightly...

Oh, anyway. And then today, what did they say? May, they think hospitality is going to open up. Christ alive. Anyway. Oh, what? No. christ alive anyway oh what no well now well i think the trouble is you listen to so much news i don't know about you but i my problem is i listen to this news thing then i read this and all the rest of it they said they're being advised by scientists not to open up or open up gradually so they think april may the earliest it's interesting because you didn't, please tell me if I'm wrong, there weren't that many cases of COVID coming out of the hospitality sector because it was already so kind of stringent anyway. No, that's the point. That's what everyone's sort of in uproar about because it's like we had the least amount of cases. Everyone is sanitised and God knows what, you know, I mean, how you taste the food with the amount of sanitiser everyone puts everywhere, you know, so it's unbelievable.

But anyway, how are you two being? Lovely to meet you, by the way. You too. Lovely to meet you. We're all right. Mum had the COVID vaccine today. It was a massive day. Sorry, you don't look old enough, Mum.

I'm not, darling. I'm 69, actually. Right, well, you don't look that. No, I don't look it, do I? No her sister really thank you so Angela whereabouts are you right now chatting to us I'm in sort of spitter fields wow is that where you live then is that your yeah that's where I live yeah yeah and how has it been you know adapting your kitchens to you know, adapting your kitchens to, you know, I know that Cafe Murano is doing a DIY home kit and it looks glorious. And I wanted to know whether you were doing that anywhere else.

And how has it been? Has it been, do you feel like it's like a well-oiled machine now and it's kind of just, it's working now? I think we're getting there. As well as it can. Yeah, I mean, the first, so yeah, we're lockdowns free. I mean, it's nuts to think that's how we look at things now. But the first lockdown, we did just take away,

which was very easy and we're still doing that, just in London and we still do that. And then the last two lockdowns, we've done this big boxes that go out nationwide, which is fantastic. We've adapted it. We've just, I've just been informed, we've sold about 500.

Let's do one, Jess. I'll send you one. Don't, yeah. We've sold about 500. Let's do one, Jess. I'll send you one. Don't, yeah, I'll send you one. Let me do that for you. I'd love one. I'll send you one of next month's. But so that's really busy. That's working well.

And then I think we're about to launch with Restaurant Box, Murano. So we've got sort of Cafe Murano with Dispatch and then we'll have Murano with Restaurant Box. So I think what you have to do is you can't just sit back and think, okay, take all the money. Let's just sit here and wait what happens. I think you've got to really try and do anything you can to support your businesses and basically support your team. You know, they want to work, they want to do stuff. So obviously when we get them in work

and we're paying them full pay, you know, rather than sitting home taking furlough. So, you know, that's why we've done it as much as anything. How does it work when, you know, rather than sitting at home taking furlough. So, you know, that's why we've done it as much as anything. How does it work when, you know, you're within Limewood Hotel, aren't you? And so how does that work? Are you doing a similar thing there? Well, Luke actually has just done one with a company. Luke is the head chef. He's done one about all pickling and preserving and veg and stuff like that. So he's just doing one with a supplier for like a couple of weeks. Limewood, I think in a way, it's, I mean, you guys live in London, don't you? You're South London. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. I think the cities have been hit far worse than the countryside. You know, I think all the hotels, restaurants, anywhere out of London, Manchester, any big city

have done okay. Not done okay, but they've survived better, better I think so they don't need to not they don't need to I think the logistics of them doing it is it's easy in London because you've got all these deliveroo guys you know you don't have that sort of setup in the forest so for them they do stuff nationwide they do lots of gift boxes online do sell lots of wine online etc rather than doing food boxes it works like that. Andrew what are you having for dinners tonight? Oh, well, we don't know, you see. We were supposed to go and have fish and chips with my mum because she's in our bubble.

So basically, mum lives down in Upminster in Essex and we're all planning. She's got a great local fish and chip shop called High Tide, which we've been going to for over 30 years. And we were going to do that. But because we were working today, we're all a bit late. So we've cancelled going to for over 30 years um and we were going to do that but because we were working today we're all a bit late so we've cancelled it we'll go tomorrow so I think probably I don't know we might have a bowl of pasta we're not decided yet or we might even order a takeaway

if we're lazy and can't be bothered to cook is your other half a cook as well yeah my husband's a cook he runs the French house in Soho. Oh, my God. You're like the power couple. He'll go and cook something. The coolest power couple in Spitalfield. I love you. How sweet. I'll tell him that. He'll love that, yeah. But the French house is an institution.

It's like, you know, it's Soho. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. And he's done brilliantly. He sort of, he had a really bad accident about oh god eight years ago now um and in it you know and it sort of has sort of changed him slightly but he's you know he's done brilliantly he's recovered really well but um this is perfect for him you know it's a small restaurant he does about 30 covers a day a day a service he it's him and one other guy leslie's there there's a whole

crew and it is you're, it's an institution. You know, everyone knows everyone. You go in there and someone says, I've been drinking there since I was 12 or something. Or maybe not 12, that's against the law. But you know what I mean? You know, people have just loved that place. It's brilliant.

Who's the better cook, Angela, you or Neil? Oh, I think I'm the more organised cook and the more tidy cook. I think Neil, where Neil is good is he'll like so supposedly he goes now to make a salad i would just put lettuce put a bit of vinaigrette and that's it neil will look in the larder or the cupboard or whatever and he'll find some nuts or he'll find a old carrot and he will adapt it and he'll elevate it to the other yeah it was i love that or j it was whereas I will go

you know I'm knackered I'm tired we're just gonna have some salads you know so that's where Neil's very good but we complement each other how did you start on your cooking journey oh you started in Essex at Minster uh not quite I did a little bit of stuff there I started there in the sense I used to cook a load with mum and my grandmother and stuff like that. But started when I was in Cambridge. I went to the poly there, CCAT, went to the poly there. We all like everyone. So what am I? I'm 50. So everyone of that. That was probably the last year of free education. I still had a grant. And after we finished, everyone was in debt. So we all stayed another year, worked our debt. And after we finished, everyone was in debt.

So we all stayed another year, worked our debt. And then I started working in a local pub called the Blue Ball. Then I worked at the Free Press and then Midsomer House. And after Midsomer House, I started to get serious about it. Worked in Barbados for a bit and then came up to work in London. Came back sort of home, if you like, lived with my mum and then started working for Gordon. And then worked for him for about 20 years, you know. And I suppose what you say, the rest is history. history you know got a restaurant and did he shout at you and yes

few times has to be said yes you don't look like the sort of woman who would let someone shout at you I don't think it's whether you let it happen or not yeah yeah exactly it sort of happened and you know Gordon did like me and we've I mean we still talk a lot and he's a great mate and stuff like that. But and because I sort of I wasn't I wasn't sort of fearful of Gordon in a sense. You know, I was I would sort of come in and just laugh and sort of random stories. And he sort of liked the fact I was a bit. There was one time he was. It basically told me in a few expletives to sod off the past. But I wasn't allowed to help make this tureen

because I was rushing it and then later that night we had a film crew in and they were filming Gordon and he said right Angela get everything for the tureen but he didn't want me to help him because I'd messed around and got it all wrong and then I thought you know what he's never going to shout at a woman in front of a film crew so I just stood there and just started helping him and under his breath he was literally going Angela you, you know, sod off. You know, you know, you're not supposed to. And I was going, yes, Gordon. Yes, Gordon.

I said, but you're not going to get rid of me, are you? Because there's a film crew here. So he loved that about me that I'd always push it and stuff like that. So what does the pass mean? I never understood it till Great British Menu. And then they say ready for the pass. And I didn't know what the pass was. Just where you pass it on to. Oh, you just pass didn't know what the pass was just where you pass

it on to oh you just pass it on well it's basically where you plate all the dishes but exactly that you're passing it on to the waiter so you've done your bit yeah so is that exactly like that very good Jess you know working with someone like Gordon Ramsay did it change or did it influence the way that you treated your staff when you became, you know, when you had your first restaurant? And did it change it? Did you did you follow a lot of Gordon's ways? Did you kind of reject them? I think there's probably a little bit of both.

I think there's lots of everyone obviously sees the TV side and the shouty side of everything. But there were lots of other things that you didn't see about Gordon, how he would really always support you behind the scenes, you know, and always take care about what you did. And one thing him and another chef, Richard Corrigan, always taught me was sort of not get under the skin, but really know your staff, you know, know when they're going on holiday, know if their mum's not well, know if they've got a boyfriend, girlfriend, what their dog's name is, all those sort of things.

And, you know, take a real interest, you know. And also, I think, especially in those days in London, you know, everyone's working hideous hours, which isn't the case these days, travelling fast. So when someone's late or they've overslept and, you know, they've had an hour journey on the night bus, know you've just got to understand all that and that's what Gordon really sort of did he said you know you just talk to your staff and really get to know them and then they feel a real sense of loyalty to you and likewise you to them you know you want to make sure that they want to work for you for all the right reasons so there was you know there wasn't I don't scream and shout I can be a bit sarcastic shall we say I can be a bit you know, shall we say. I can be a bit, you know, I throw, you know, and I'll go things like I'm going to lob that at your head. But I've always got smiles in my eyes, you know, so I don't sort of mean it. But, you know, kitchens are like that in the sense that there's an urgency, you know, so you need to, there's an urgency that you're hearing people's voices, but it's not necessarily aggression or bullying or anything like that. Who taught you to cook in your family?

I suppose I learned with my mum and my grandmother. You know, I sort of, on my mother's side, they're all Italian. On my father's side, they're Irish. And as the eldest granddaughter on my mother's side, I always had to help and do all that sort of stuff. My brother, who's older than me never had to sort of help because he was the boy and the boys don't do anything but the girls had to so I did it all so I learned a lot from my grandmother really so she was a really good cook

what was a defining dish that she taught you that you've kind of stuck to oh analini it's my it's my uh death dish I suppose what dish would I sort of want on my deathbed? And it's basically you braise down a piece of sort of beef and maybe some chicken and stuff really slowly, slowly. Then you've got this beautiful, lovely stock. You take that stock, reduce that and add that to breadcrumbs and parmesan. And that's your filling now for your sort of little annolini. So you put that into your pasta and then cook those in a chicken broth and we have it every day every

christmas on christmas day and it's become a thing you know i always always used to have to make it with my grandmother and she'd make it for the whole family she's obviously since passed away so then my mum and aunt would do it and now i do it so every time around the 16th around that time there's a whole email's going out right who's helping with the analini we all get together as a family so my cousins come my uncle comes partners come we all make them freeze them and then everyone has them on Christmas day so are your family where are your family from in Italy they're from a place called Bardi which is near Parma uh Bolgataro so Emilia Romagna area right in that center um you know near Bologna that sort of heart very much sort of yeah loads of pasta so do you um well this year fine we we we forget about this year but you get

to go to Italy still and back to that place a lot yeah we still go we still got the house there which was my grandmother's house so that's still there we still go there and everyone sort of uses it um and then I go to other parts of Italy I think I mean I love Italy I do feel like it's the second home in the sense that you know I love going down to Sicily I think that's one of my favourite places because it just feels like it's still back in the 70s you know shop shut on a Wednesday afternoon there's no shops open on a Sunday morning except the bakers and it's still back in the 70s you know shop shut on a Wednesday afternoon there's no shops open on a Sunday morning except the bakers and it's just got a wonderful feel to it and the food I think you know I mean I'm sitting down now but I like eating and um you know it's uh and I just

think it's a fantastic culture it just really is brilliant love it out there it's got everything it's got the mountains got the sea it's got the mountains, it's got the sea, it's got the sun, you know, winters. It's just beautiful. So you talked about this being kind of your death meal. So, I mean, we may as well just go straight to it. We ask every guest what their last supper is. So you have starter, main, pud, drink of choice. So that would be, so starter would be my anolini. It would be this lovely little pasta

dish that would be we'd have that as a starter then i would probably which sounds bizarre because you're sort of having meat and meat but i would have just a roast chicken i just love a sort of roast chicken proper stuffing um that sort of thing and then i wouldn't have dessert i'd skip dessert and go straight to cheese um i'm not a big dessert person. So I sort of like that. I'm with you. Bottle of red wine. So if you're not a big pudding person, I mean, obviously you'll have somebody that's amazing at PUDs in all your restaurants. But do you kind of, I mean, obviously you'll taste it.

You'll know whether you like it or not. But could you kind of just, do you go, you just do what you like. I trust you. Well, I mean, basically I'm very lucky with Em, who's my head chef at Murano. She does have a, not a sweet tooth, but she likes sweet stuff more than me. So she's got a great palate. I taste it all and I'll give my opinion and I'll always say the same thing. And they know, they'll go, here she goes.

Too sweet, too sweet. Lighten it up, lighten it up. Because that's my palate. But also I say also also I do think people's palates have changed over time I think people want lighter they don't want real stodgy heavy desserts I think people want something light at the end of the meal so I said look you can have your you know death by chocolate you can have your souffles whatever but always make sure there's something like fruit based lighter that if people want that option but no I think you have it's like

I hate coriander I find that I think that's the devil's food but I still such a funny thing I still have to try it if people put it in a dish you can't sort of just because I dislike it it doesn't mean to say other people can't eat it isn't it funny it's the most divisive herb but it's funny because I've I don't think I've ever met a chef that said they hate it. Really? So that's quite like, yeah, but that's kind of, it's brilliant. But I swear the recipe that mum does of yours has bloody coriander in it. It's that Vietnamese broth with chicken. It was in The Guardian, the salmon. It was in The Guardian with the salmon.

It's my favourite recipe with lemon. Oh, fantastic. Oh, no, that's really good. No, no, I do put it in dishes. but would you just like omit it for yourself so you'd be like yeah yeah but you just wouldn't put it on yours i wouldn't put it on my bit and i don't i suppose what i don't like i've had it in people have cooked with me and they've cooked coriander eat it what i don't like is you know when you've gone and bought an indian or something and it's just thrown on this excess you know amounts of it that's what i don't like but i can

eat some of it but it's not i would never choose it but you're exactly right it's marmite and apparently people who like coriander are smarter than people who don't so says my brother angela i hate to break it to you but yeah i tend to agree um i just want to know because you're in spitterfield you know you're in a hub of so much great food where are some of your favorite local spots that you'll go that you love around your area so uh st john bread and wine is the first place literally around the corner from my house and froak the head chef there so i love that place um i also love um somsar you see ironically Thai restaurant lots of coriander but loads of coriander but they know me so they'll take it off the dish that I have which is really

sweet of them that's brilliant which is really good their sea bass their whole fish or what they do oh I love that I love that sort of dish you know um I like uh sort of tram shed well used to oh there's a great place near mark hicks doesn't have it but a lovely place called popolo which is this sort of um italian spanish place down by um oh rivington street and then across the river is a great place called leggera legare excuse me um which is this amazing italian restaurant really by in st catherine's dock so yeah we can walk to anywhere. And, you know, it's just we're very, very – I think London's like that, though.

I think London now – I'm a lot older than you, Jess, that when I was sort of working on a Saturday, you know, all those years for Gordon, Sunday you could only eat in the West End. There was no really local restaurants. But I think every neighbourhood now in London has got, you know, I know at Brixton, you've got Salon, you've got all these lovely,

amazing places, Levan, you know, and you know, every little neighbourhood has got its own place that you don't need to go into the central London anymore, which is great, I think.

That's a lovely, a lovely shout out to Nicholas, the head chef. Yeah, I mean, I love, I love what they're doing. Salon, I love. Yeah.

And Levan did a bloody good DIY home kit. Yeah. And actually, I don't know if you've eaten Larry's yet, but it's really brilliant. They do this amazing chicken liver parpadele. I'm sure it was freaking great. One day we'll go to a restaurant again. Yes.

And we'll go to the French house. We'll go and eat. Oh, my God. And I'm staying there all night, all day and night, I tell you. So how did you and your partner meet? And we worked together years ago. So I used to run the Connacht Hotel, the restaurant there. Neil started working for me.

And we always got on really well. We always, you know, whenever I did sort of outside events, I'd always take Neil. One, because he was really good and organised and stuff. And two, because he was just great company. And then he went to work in France for about five years. And I used to go out and see him once a year just to see him when he came back. But it wasn't until, because he's quite a bit younger than me, it wasn't until he was in his 30s and I was in my 40s that we sort of got together.

And we didn't, for the record, get together while we're still working together I was a very good boss I did not abuse that position oh I was just thinking about the rom-com that you could write come on so um so growing up it was your grandma in the kitchen and and and you were learning to cook nonna was it was she your nonna yeah yeah yeah and when did you know that you were a foodie or that you were going to kind of I mean I know at university after that but um what was like the first dish that you would make on your own apart from this starter that you'd make with your nonna what which was like your go-to dish that you'd kind of give the family probably something like a roast something like that probably you know because I'd help because my dad died when we were quite young you know I was I was nearly eight and stuff and mum was had three kids under 10 so I used to help her a lot and um

I'd help her and I used to like making a roast and I was quite good in the sense that I could get it all together at the same time whereas I I think my mum's a fantastic cook. She really is. But her organisation of that sort of timing is where she always says she'd never do it in a professional kitchen. But and I think I did sort of always want to do it when I was sort of late teens. I always said, I fancy running a restaurant. My family ran fish and chip shops shops so I liked the idea of running a business I thought that was quite a cool way that you made money you owned your own business you were the boss um and but mum always said go to Cordon Bleu school or go to France really learn the trade but I said oh I just want to go and do a history degree I didn't want to start work straight away

so I wanted to just take study a bit so that's what I did and then after that just learn on the job really I wanted to ask because we were talking bit. So that's what I did. And then after that, just learn on the job, really. I wanted to ask, because we were talking about home cooks just then, which segues perfectly into the TV show that you're a part of. So please tell us all a bit about it. So Best Home Cook is with Mary Berry, Claudia Winkleman and Chris Bavin. I've watched you on it. Yes, yeah.

And they did, did you like it? Do you enjoy it? I do. I think some of on it. Yes, yeah. And they did, did you like it? Do you enjoy it? I do. I think some of the cooks are not very good. Oh. And they're astonishingly bad. They make things like fish cakes

with like tinned fish or something. You know, it's kind of various. Why is that a bad thing? No, but some of them are so bad, Jessie. You don't know why. It's like me going on a talent competition to sing and I can't sing. They actually can't cook and they're on a cooking programme. What do you think, Angela, seeing as you are one of the judges, do you think mum's being a bit harsh?

I think you've got a point that some of them, so where I think you've seen it, you're absolutely right, is there's three, I suppose, rounds in each programme. So Mary always does one where they cook their ultimate dish. So they've got time to practice. They can, you know, their ultimate birthday cake or their ultimate, you know, fish supper. Then Chris, and this is the one that always catches them out, is the, what he calls the rustle up because, you know, Chris is by nature, his first business was fruit and veg man, waste and so he will literally look in a sort of you know a cupboard and go right let's give them a tin of tuna which he did and it floored them and then they have a basically a sort of larger of ingredients that

they all have and they have to come up with a dish because that's the whole point is and I think people actually we should see better results as a result of lockdown. Because I think people have all gone in their freezer and gone, God, what is in that plastic bag that I froze three months ago? Or shall I use that tin of something I bought that I've never used in two years? So people are much better at it of adapting, but it does sort of catch people out. And then my round is what we call the elimin eliminator where we decide who sort of goes home yeah um which is always a fun round i want to know what would you do with the tin of tuna i mean i know you do lots of things but just what would off the top of your head what would you do

with it i would make a pasta sauce with the tin of tomatoes i've had a tin of tomatoes i would cut onion and garlic really fine saute it off make a sauce, then toss in the tuna at the end and put it with the tomato. Like a kind of a tuna puttanesca with a few olives in. Yeah. And you're away. That's really good. I also love that salad that you do with cannelli beans and onions. Oh, yeah.

Lovely. Yeah. I'd have that too. I love it. No, that's really good. So this week starts the celebrity best home cook. Yeah. Who's on it? Desiree's on it um Ed Balls is on it

Ed Burns is on it um Boris Johnson's Rachel Johnson's on it so are any of these are any of these chefs any good actually well interesting yeah your mum said that first sort of series or second series wasn't some of them weren't great cooks. I, I'm, I'm blown away by how good some of these chefs are, these celebrities were, I have to say. I didn't, you know, and I'll fess up that there's a couple of them made some dishes that I afterwards went to the Home X, because obviously we get all the Home X doing the setup and it was even more conscious this time with all the COVID regulations. And I literally said, Lisa, you know, send me that recipe. I really want to try that. You know, some of them made some really good stuff, actually. So it was really competitive. Yeah.

Now, you've been really prominent in this campaign, Seat at the Table, which I'd love youating on about how everyone's suffered, because I think everyone has suffered in some degree in COVID. No one's immune from this. You know, we are a huge employer, third biggest employer in the UK, over 3 million people, and especially 3 million people under 30, you know, really do. And I think everyone, I'm sure everyone at some stage has worked in something in hospitality, whether it's behind the bar in a pub, in a coffee shop. You know, we've all done it before we've done something else. And then Robin Hudson, who runs Linewood Hotel and the Pigs, took the mantle on because we only got to 40,000 signatures, which was terrible. And basically he runs, he has a lot of budding entrepreneurs, these young guys that work for him.

And they basically got in touch with everyone, people like me that I work with, Robin. And we've basically inundated social media, you know, with people like Tom Kerridge, Tom Kitching, Claire Smith, Asma Khan. Everyone's sort of sitting there saying why they think we need a government member sitting at the table at Parliament and, you know, sitting around the government table. So we've got the petition, the debate was won, which was fantastic. People can still sign up. Doesn't mean we've got the minister because the way it works is government only has a certain amount of posts, if you like, and it's down to them. But we're keeping the pressure on and what we're hoping is we'll get an interim minister someone that will sort of work to get us out of you know the positives get us out of covid situation renewal of the industry moving forward and then just have an eye on your interests really yeah exactly because i think what

you will have heard as everyone has heard oh they just go pubs and restaurant pubs and restaurants where where hospitality is so much more than pubs and restaurants you know there's outside catering events there's a coffee shop there's the bakers that sell coffee there's hotels there's you know bed and breakfast you know that is all hospitality so to lump it in so small and such small divisions you know and one size fits all hasn't worked so anyone who can please sign up please send your petition to as many people as possible because the more signatures we get we'll we'll put the um swipe up on our insta so anybody can do it there otherwise just go on to angela's twitter thank you and um you'll be able to find it there absolutely um now angela i wanted to, you talk a lot about Italian cuisine. You cook a lot, you know, Café Marano.

Are there any other countries that you adore the food? I mean, it's a really stupid question, but is there another country that you will go to on holiday, particularly for the food? Japan. Easy answer, Japan. Oh, God. I love Japanese. Hundred-year-old eggs.

Yeah. Oh, mum, get with the bloody times. Jesus. Bloody sushi. Yeah, sushi's freaking great, Mum. Oi. She's so... Honestly, this woman, she's such a great chef,

but she's so narrow-minded, I tell you. I'm with the roast chicken. But the Japanese food has such a huge variety, you know, from sushi to, you know, when they eat the blowfish, you know, then they've got, you know, tempura bars, you know, everything. I love it. I think, and just the culture out there, I think is fantastic. So I love Japanese food. And Em, who is my head chef, I mentioned her before, she's getting married two years time to her girlfriend. They're getting married out in Thailand and I've never been before.

So I'm hoping we're going to take a month off and I'm going to go to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos. I'd really want to go and see that. Eat all the coriander in the world. You know, that would be amazing. Maybe you'll come back loving it. I know, maybe I will. Maybe I will. So I'm really excited for you know that will be amazing maybe you'll come back loving it i know maybe i will maybe i will so i'm really excited for you now um angela what is a guilty pleasure of yours or do you have no guilty pleasures when it comes to eating my worst guilty pleasure is crisps if you can argue

them as a guilty pleasure love crisps aren't they the best but i love the flavor and plain crisps plain crisps i'm very regimented i don't like fancy flavors just like salted crisps and the real guilty pleasure is a crisp sandwich it has to be said you know crisp sandwich angela hart i love it white bread is jesse it's the best thing white bread white bread you know really you know the rubbish white bed everyone says we shouldn't have you know that's it's like that's the best bacon sandwich all this sourdough nonsense sorry just white bread on certain things is the best you've got to got to well i do i mean i'm sure you've tried it the sons and daughters um egg mayo and well actually you may not want it because it's a truffle crisp oh that's that's a bit fancy. Is it good?

Egg mayonnaise on a big, like, block of good white bread. Yeah. Blocky bread. Yeah. With truffle crisps. Inside. Yeah. So bloody good.

Oh, that does sound good. Yeah, they put crisps inside. Do you drink, Angela? Do I drink? Yeah, too much, probably. No, drink too much. Like red wine. Italian wine.

Oh, any wine, really. I'm not that fussed about Italian or French or whatever. Doesn't discriminate. Just wine from a bottle is quite, you know, magnums of it. No, no. And then I do like, I'm partial to, never used to really like gin and tonic, but I do quite like a gin and tonic. And after this, I may just go and have one with some crisps in a little bowl. Oh, gorgeous. See, Angela, we're like, well, I am. My mum takes the piss out of me, but I have two young children and I love eating dinner at five o'clock. Like, it's my joy. But it's very unkind of, it's not very bohemian.

It's not, because I'll be in bed at nine. So I just kind of love this idea of Angela Hartnett in her place in Spitterfields with her G&T, her bag of crisps, and she's just thinking about what they're going to rustle up from the larder. It's too romantic. I love it. What is your favourite takeaway at the moment? What have you been going back to a lot? I do think Indian takeaway is amazing. I think there's some fantastic ones out there. There's a great one. Well, sort well sort of more well maybe not quite your neck of the woods there's a place in sheen sort of um kingston way called dastan and he's an ex-chef of mine

sanjay has set it uh opened it up with um his partner nan and they do incredible stuff they both used to work for the jim carner guys so you know their pedigree and how they've trained obviously both indian guys learned so much from their families at home. And their food is exceptional. It's brilliant. I think Gymkhana itself is fantastic. And I think the guys do, it's Lyle's and they've got a place in... Motu.

Yeah, and they do these fantastic ASAP pizzas, which we tried as well. So they... Oh, so they that tried that so they basically got a place in borough market which i've now forgotten god my memory is going mad anyway they've a sister restaurant in borough market who do this what they call asap pizzas and they're brilliant really real proper american based pizzas really delicious fillings and toppings so that's that's been a really good one so I've been very lucky we've had lots of great friends send us lots of boxes um so we were very fortunate in lockdown Angela do you think that you have good table manners yes I do I'm constantly harping on at

Neil because Neil's terrible it's like he'll start eating standing up you know he's putting stuff on the table and starts eating because he really enjoys food but it drives me nuts and I always say to him did your sister always steal your food you know you can't eat quick enough you know so but um no I do I like to think I've got good table manners I can rush my food like all chefs we all eat too quickly because we're all gobbling but I try and take time and um and I guess maybe you've just answered it but what's the worst table manner that you see in other people or do you see something at your restaurants where you're just like if you fucking do that i'm gonna spit in your fucking main course jesse stop swearing i don't necessarily see the meat but i do i do like the fact that we have at morana we have what we call a chef's table so it's

like table of 12 people they get to look into the kitchen um and we always go and introduce the menu we do a special menu for them and interesting you go out and you will see 12 phones literally all on the table and i might start talking about the menu and someone's on their phone so i will stop and go excuse me i'm talking do you mind i mean i do probably taking photos of the food well they taking photos of the menu yeah no no no, no, no, they're whatever. But I say, excuse me, and they go, oh, yeah, sorry, sorry. I say, come on, you know, come on, put your phones away, converse. I think phones are bad in restaurants.

Listen, I'm not going to stop it. I do it, social media. But we try when we go out now to not, especially when there's like four of you and everyone goes, oh, taking photos, it's ridiculous. So we try and avoid using phones in restaurants i just think um it's you know it's company isn't it that's the whole point of going out is conviviality not to sit on your phone where will be the first restaurant that you go back to apart from one of your own

oh and sit down for a celebratory post-lockdown meal oh my god i i god i thought about that the other day oh yeah i this new place if you haven't been you've got to go both of you so it's called cole k-o-l is that how you would pronounce it santiago lastra yes what a wonderful wonderful human being oh that i went there so after the first lockdown it opened i went there i was invited, I mean, I just want to go back again. It was just brilliant. It's delicious. What sort of food?

Well, you explain, Andrew. Sort of Mexican, Mexican food, but just fresh beyond belief. He's got his own Takka's sort of oven there that he makes all his stuff. He does this beautiful like bean and pig stew. It's absolutely delicious. It's so, so good. He's also using all locally sourced ingredients, so you won't see an avocado on the menu.

So his guacamole is like a pistachio guacamole as opposed to avocado, even though I didn't know that you could get pistachios in the UK. So Santiago, maybe. I don't know. But yeah, there's this uh langoustine um taco did you try that where you suck their head where do they get those locally down the Thames no not down the Thames mum I mean locally I mean like you know oh in England

England Scotland yeah the UK he's using sort of all his techniques and the style of Mexican food but he's trying to use as many British produce and what was brilliant he basically trialled it all for about a year in his back garden, he put a tent in his back garden up in his flat in North London and you know you went now to dinner and you just went out into the sort of tyre pooling out the back that sort of erected and he was making everything

I mean it was just fantastic so I really want to go back there Oh Angela it's been such a pleasure to chat to you Oh it's lovely to speak to you too. Really fantastic. And I mean that about the French House. And I'm also going to speak and send you a box for February. So we get them on a Friday.

So you let me know which Friday in February you'd like it and we'll get a box sent out to you. Any Friday, Angela. I'm desperate. I'm not busy. I'm not doing anything. But it's been honestly such a pleasure to meet you. Likewise.

Wish you all the best with the hospitality minister. Thank you. And, you know, the restaurants and just can't wait to be able to dine in one of your wonderful restaurants. Oh, that's really kind. oh Angela Hartnett really cool she was so warm wasn't she just delightful what a wonderful woman and just so nice to get her tastes of London and just it's exciting just talking about restaurants even though it's maybe far in the future. But hey. She's talking about May.

That is bleak. So thank you, Angela Hartner. And if you want to watch Celebrity Best Home Cook, it started yesterday. So I'm sure you can catch it On a catch up on demand That was really lovely To chat to her

She's cool I can imagine her Not taking I think it should be good fun Good fun We're going to go to the French house Jessie I wouldn't mind Going from my big one

There The chef's table To the chef's table We hope you're alright Thank you Angela Hartnett This has been a pleasure To speak to her And well done mum

for getting the vaccine today I'm very very happy so listen, we did an advert a while ago to promote It's A Sin on Channel 4 little did we know little did we know that it's amazing we were excited about it, the line up was phenomenal

Russell T Davies, come on it's going gonna be great yeah it is one of the best things i've ever watched it's so heartbreaking it's so beautiful it's so important and the acting's amazing ollie alexander it's just i mean all the characters you just love them colin i mean i'm not gonna say anything everything everything about it I just adore and I'm trying to really savour it but I know we did an advert for it but I just wanted to kind of

remind people that haven't watched it yet just everyone go and watch It's a Sin on Channel 4 everyone take care please keep on bringing in your drag queen names for my mother

I think Chestnut Stafado is pretty pretty top notch to be honest I'm being a Muff Diger. Anyway, take care. Lots of love.