Ep 153: Joseph Quinn

James, huge news from the world of off-menu and indeed the world of the world.

Yes.

Ever heard of the Royal Albert Hall?

I have.

We've done live shows there.

And guess what?

We're doing more live shows there next year.

Sure, a lot of them are sold out already.

But we thought, hey, throw these guys a bone.

Let's put on one final Royal Albert Hall show in that run.

The show will be on Monday, the 16th of March.

It's going to be a tasting menu, a returning guest coming back, receiving the menu of another previous guest.

Those shows have been a lot of fun.

We cannot wait to do them live.

Who will we pull out of our little magic bag?

You'll have to come along on the 16th of March to find out.

If I'm correct in thinking, presale tickets go on pre-sale on the 10th of September.

Pre-sale tickets are 10th of September at 10 a.m.

And then the general sale is 12th of September at 10 a.m.

So if you miss out on the pre-sale, don't forget general sale is only two days later.

The day in between is for reflecting.

Get your tickets from royalalberthall.com Hall.com or offmenupodcast.co.uk.

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Welcome to the Off-Menu podcast, taking the milk of humor, putting in the strawberry syrup of the internet and shaking it all around in a big conversation.

James?

Is that the end?

Yeah.

Ed Gamble there.

My name is James Acaster.

We own a dream restaurant and we're inviting in a guest every single week and asking them

their favourite ever.

Milkshake like Greg Davis had with the strawberry syrup.

Their favourite ever.

Start a main course, dessert, side dish and drink, not in that order.

And this week our guest

milkshake can be a dessert and a drink.

And this week our guest.

It's not a great one, but

this is the first in the series and I probably should have done something different.

Sorry.

And this week our guest is

Joe Quinn.

Joe Quinn, a wonderful actor, of course, plays Eddie Munson in Stranger Things.

Yes.

I mean, currently

the most talked about man on the planet.

Yeah, apart from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Yeah, yeah, to be fair.

Very excited.

Who's held the top spot for a long time?

Hey, and you can't hold the top spot forever.

No.

Munson's coming for you, Christ.

Here comes Munson.

Hey, we've both just finished watching Stranger Things 4.

Brilliant.

We both loved it.

Absolutely brilliant.

We both loved the character of Eddie Munson.

We're very excited about this episode.

Yes.

Very excited to speak to Joe about his dream meal.

But it would be a shame, James, if Joe picks a secret ingredient, which we had previously discussed, because we will have to remove him from the dream restaurant and put him in the upside-down dream restaurant.

Into the upside-down dream restaurant.

Where the pedagogical lives?

What the Pedagogy

lives in the dream restaurant in the upside down loyal listeners will know of course of the benegorgon which is uh benito's character uh in stranger things yeah congratulations

and this big secret ingredient is

eggowaffles Eggo waffles it's another secret ingredient that we've picked specifically because of the guest yes uh in in stranger things the character of 11 yeah eats egg o waffles loves them so any munson doesn't eat them but like you know it's a very it's it's a food heavily associated with the show yes my uh wife made me cry laughing the other day uh because we were watching stranger things and there was you know mike and 11 are in a relationship yeah and she said why would you have a fancy 11 you'd be just be like constantly like you're trying to kiss her and then suddenly she goes papa

papa i want ergos

oh weird

so now every time i watch it i'd really really laugh imagine it going going, stop it.

Stop saying Papa.

She never asked Papa for the Egos.

She talks about Papa a lot, but like she only asks, but it's Hopper for the Eggos.

Papa and Hopper.

It's pretty similar.

That reminds me, we should do a spoiler warning for this episode.

Yeah, we're going to speak to Joe, and you know, all the episodes are out of season four, and obviously a lot of stuff happens.

If you've not seen it,

we're going to try and not spoil stuff in this chat.

we'll try but look we're only human so spoiler alert yeah spoiler warning go and watch stranger things series four go and watch it yeah and then listen to this podcast yeah but today because it's good first first day listener numbers are quite important so if you could just go watch it now and then come back to it on the same day that would be that would be really useful for us i mean i think you know all the stranger things series four is probably 23 hours long

so then get this in the beneforgon says listen to it on the first day play us on the first day it really helps us i wonder if we'll manage to get the beneforgon into the chat with joe oh i hope we can yeah uh i hope if we do manage to do that it makes the edit

fingers crossed it is the first episode of the series it's a wonderful way to start uh i will also remind you that i'm on tour i'm going to the edinburgh fringe doing my show electric uh from the 8th to the 14th uh at the um george square assembly theatre And then also, I'm back on a national tour from September.

Gone to edgamble.co.uk to check for tickets.

I have a book coming out in August.

James A.

Cass's Guide to Quitting Social Media, Being the Best You Can Can Be and Curing Yourself of Loneliness, Volume 1.

Wherever you get your books.

But without further ado, this is the off-menu menu of Joe Quinn.

Welcome, Joe, to the Dream Restaurant.

Hi.

Welcome, Joe Quinn, to the Dream Restaurant.

We've been expecting you for some time.

Jesus.

Hi, yeah.

Now, when you reacted, you were quite shocked there when the genie popped out.

Was not expecting that.

You weren't expecting it.

Yeah, wow.

You looked so shocked, but I didn't know whether it was some great acting because

you've done some amazing stuff on Stranger Things, reacting to some horrible stuff happening.

Wow, that wasn't horrible.

I was just

more surprising than any of the stuff on Stranger Things, though, so to say.

Yeah?

Yeah, surprising things.

yeah pretty that that would be a good tv jump yeah

surprising things you jumping out from behind stuff yeah quite surprising lower budget as well yeah yeah you draw from different films i think yeah surprisingly all widenes from different films yeah yeah yeah how surprising i am all the way through and everyone would say at the end that was really surprising that series that was more surprising than the last one

i think surprises on your show we probably can't talk about or can we talk about them now we can talk about all the surprises all the surprises the surprises are out it's exciting you know the series will be pretty fresh in everyone's minds but we're recording it the monday after so it came that came out on the friday the final episode didn't it yeah the last two came out on friday what you're feeling like eye of the storm right now is you go on your social media it's going nuts still pretty raw people going people going insane people are insane and they're going insane about it insane about it they're so surprised yeah yeah yeah loads of surprises things happened um yeah look so it's all it's yeah we're still very much kind of in the in the eye of it really yeah

it's kind kind of mad.

It's good.

Every time you really go wide of your eyes, I just think I'm talking to Eddie Munson.

Every time, oh, there it is.

He's not there.

There he is.

There he is there.

Good accent.

Thank you.

That's perfect, James.

Did you take a card?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or you're American.

James is very good at accents as well, so he loves to meet another guy who's good at accents.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right.

Nice to meet you.

Should we?

Yeah, sure.

Okay.

Do you have any requests for James's accents?

Oh, no, no, it's up to him.

Maybe, maybe an an American, just a general American.

Yeah.

That's perfect.

That's good.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

What's going on to talk about in my American voice?

Just the last time you were surprised?

I'd say the last time I was really surprised

would have to be

when I watched Stranger Things.

That's good.

That was surprising.

Yeah, surprisingly good.

Yeah.

That's one of my American voice that I would do if I was in Stranger Fings and people would would think I was American and would be surprised when I was English.

Honestly, that's how I thought I sounded.

Yeah.

Yeah, you feel like a sociopath.

You just kind of go, hey man.

After a while, I was so far down the rabbit hole after points of just being like,

do I sound good?

Do you like this?

Do you like what I'm doing?

Doing it too American.

Yeah, no, exactly.

You put the shoe on the other foot.

I was talking to Joe Keary, and at one point, i was like so like honestly so deep in it and he was just like dude i can't save you

i can't save you but i promise you it's gonna be fine yeah but yeah it was um thank you for that jam hey no worries i'm happy to you know put my metro cats now they're pretty good yeah i thought you were gonna make me do shrek so thank you for for not making me do shrek are you a big foodie I'm a foodie, yeah, definitely.

I know what I like, and that's kind of like most things.

I think we all try to kind of be patient of other people's stuff, but I do, I struggle with picky eaters.

Yeah.

Fussy eaters.

It's like, oh, I don't like that.

Oh,

oh, is there mushrooms in it?

Yeah.

The mushroom people are the worst.

Eat it.

It's delicious.

Do you know what I mean?

And, oh, no, I don't like fish.

But it's clearly something psychological, but they just need to kind of, I don't know, go over it, eat it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We always start with still a sparkling water on the spot.

Sparkling.

But like, where do you stand on the whole it's bad for you thing?

Well, because I think it's a myth.

What have you heard?

I've heard that there's acid in the water.

Right.

And the acid in the water makes your...

It's the nice feeling that you get in the mouth.

But that's bad for you because it's rotting your teeth.

Right.

So apparently you're meant to use a straw so it avoids the teeth, but then you don't get the satisfying feeling.

No, then you're just putting it straight in.

What's the point?

And then if that's but if it can damage your teeth, what's it doing to your stomach?

What do you think of erode your stomach?

There's acid in your stomach to fight it.

They fight.

the stomach is full of acid yeah yeah so i reckon if if there's acid in the water and acid in the stomach then that's where big battle takes place what's more acid to acid yeah yeah it's let's go head to head yeah but why are they going head to head if they're both acid surely they'd be friends they're working together yeah both make make friends that's why that's quite nice still still water yeah

yeah yeah yeah

still water still water's fine but then that's not acid yeah so then the stomach acid's gonna sit on the side and then fire yeah yeah a little bit of acid

acid chaser chaser.

Are you a water fan in general?

Do you drink enough water?

I have to have it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do I drink enough?

Yeah.

Do I drink enough?

Do you have a dehydrated enough?

I thought I drank enough until I spent a lot of time in the States.

Yeah.

They're kind of fanatic about it.

And there's pHs and there's stuff that's kind of, I don't know.

It's

weird over there.

Do you think it's changed you?

Have you become one of them?

No, no, no, no, no.

No.

No, no, no.

It takes work, though.

I started with little things kind of like kind of invade your vernacular, like, sure.

Yeah.

Sure.

Start saying that.

And don't like it.

And also the little things that are kind of very weird, they're so kind of like forward.

Like they say, appreciate you.

I don't say that to my mum.

I mean, it's just like, hey, I appreciate you.

And obviously, because we're like kind of apologizing all the time, like saying sorry.

So then they don't do that.

They hate me.

They go, like, you're fine.

Like, you're fine.

That's completely bang on.

And it's just like, you're good.

It's kind of.

Do you want want to go, no, I wasn't right.

I know I'm good.

I know I'm good.

I'm just sorry.

Yeah.

Although the worst is, I say thank you a lot.

Right.

And you go to America and say thank you, and they go, uh-huh.

Whereas here, they go, oh, that's, yeah, no problem, of course.

And they never say please either.

They go, can I get a sunning?

Yeah, yeah.

Let me get a sunning.

It's never please.

And if you say please, they're kind of like, I don't know.

It's just, you know, different advantages.

I think it's cute and quaint.

They do.

You say it.

And we are.

We are quite cute about cute.

laughs or bread.

Bread.

Pop loves bread.

Bread.

It's bread.

Sit down, pop it on.

Pop it on.

You got me.

Or bread.

Yeah.

It's bread.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Are you sure?

Yes.

That's not to say I don't like pop it ons.

Yeah.

But I love bread.

Yeah.

With salty butter.

What kind of bread?

Any bread, kind of like, well, yeah, maybe a sourdough.

Like just something like with mainly crust and like kind of very like kind of gooey dough.

That's my bread.

Is there a best place you've ever had?

A best place I've been gone and it's like that's the best bread I've ever had.

That pass.

Well, I guess that does Focaccia count.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

As bread.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But like you can't have that as like your first, that's kind of, I want the kind of, you know, the Frenchy bready bread.

Yeah.

With like with the butter with the salt granules on it.

You know that?

That's the bread I want.

Can I have that bread?

Yeah, you can have that bread.

Come on, of course you're going to have that bread.

We're not going to say no.

Yeah.

Where's this focaccia place though?

I had focaccia in Italy.

They do it there.

And I was in the south of it.

I was in like Puglia and I had some really, really good focaccia there.

Also, in Genoa, they do this focaccia with cheese on it.

I can't remember the kind of cheese that it is, but it's kind of, that will kind of blow your head off.

Right.

I guess a kind of, yeah, an assortment of breads.

Yeah, we can do an assortment for sure.

Sourdough?

Sourdough, focaccia, cheesy focaccia.

Cheesy focaccia.

Enough.

And how are you doing it?

Would you, with an assortment, would you eat all of the sourdough, all of the Forcatcher, all of the cheesy for catcher, or are you going in bit by bit?

I think bit by bit.

How would you approach that?

It's an interesting one, isn't it?

Because I think I'm almost saving the cheesy for catcher until last.

So I think I'm going in bit by bit with the sourdough and plain for catcher.

And then at the end, I'm fully focusing on the cheesy for catcher.

Okay.

And it's face down and it's big time.

I like that way.

I'm going to copy that.

Yeah.

I'm going to do that.

Feel free.

You don't want to diddy-dally around.

No, no, no.

The cheese.

It's all about the cheese.

Ed loves saving his favourite till last.

Right.

That's how I was taught to do it.

Yeah, yeah.

Save your favourite till last.

Eat all the boring stuff first.

Yeah, get it out of the way, and then you know you've always got the best bit of the meal.

Great.

At the end.

Do you not save a bit of everything for the last bite?

No, because what if it's like boiled carrots, broccoli, and then a really nice bit of roast chicken?

I want that last bite to be...

pure chicken.

All chick.

All chick.

Straight chick all the way.

So I'm going carrots, broccoli, chicken, chicken, chicken.

Chicken, chicken, chicken.

I remember when I was a kid complaining that, you know, I really love this bit of the meal and then I eat it and it's gone.

I've just got the rubbish bits.

Yeah.

And my dad's saying, well, I always save the best bit until the end.

And it blew my mind.

I remember thinking that's the cleverest thing anyone's ever said to me.

Yeah.

Like, I'll go do that from now.

I still think of it now.

Whenever I do that, I think of my dad and my maid imparting that wisdom to me.

That was very smart.

I could see you figuring that out.

Yeah.

That my favourite bit.

Just like, what?

Carry the wander by it.

That was amazing.

Yeah.

Are you using the same butter for all three of these bits of bread?

No, the butter is exclusively for the kind of sourdough situation.

Then for catcher, that's kind of doused in oil anyway.

You don't need anything on there, God willing.

And then cheesy for catcher, forget about it.

Yeah, yeah.

Imagine putting a bit of butter on some cheesy for catcher.

Yeah.

You go to space.

That would be awful.

Even I wouldn't do that.

And I love fat.

Just be like, wow.

I do want to try it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You would try it.

I would try it.

Don't sit here and pretend like you wouldn't do it.

Yeah, I would do it.

I would do it.

If you've got me, I'd do it.

There were rules.

Someone would stop you.

Yeah,

an Italian would run out of nowhere and just go, what the hell are you doing?

That's a great advice.

Thank you.

We can all do accents.

Have you ever had to eat on camera?

Yeah.

Because every time actors are eating on camera, I get quite obsessed with it because I look at it and it's like they're not really eating that.

Yeah, they're avoiding eating it.

They don't want to eat it every single take, you know?

So they're kind of not doing it.

But then when they do eat it, I'm like, respect.

You like that?

Well, yeah.

Either that was the take.

Either they said to the director,

this is it.

I'm going to eat it this way.

It's going to do it for real.

So we're going to do it.

Or they did it every time.

So either way, I'm like, big respect that they properly ate the thing.

Well, you don't want to be putting too much in because you could be there for days.

Sure.

But you do need to put something in yeah yeah because otherwise what i mean you're gonna know you're not eating look mad yeah well how long have you been obsessed with this ages like every time we've talked about it before and all of that yeah yeah i i bring this up to a lot of a lot of people on the podcast a lot of the time i i can't you know you want to get lost in the scene right and you're watching the meeting food and you're going that person keeps on chopping stuff up and then like lifting it up and then not putting it in their mouth every single time and they're not eating any of this they're just moving it around the plate but if someone's properly going through it and eating, then I'm like, I believe this scene.

But also, a part of me is going, they must have sat there and eaten loads of food.

Yeah,

you're still out of the scene regardless.

Yeah, either way, if there's food in the scene, it just reminds me it's not real.

The passive fork put down is a real get-out-of-jail free card in this kind of situation.

Oh, yeah.

So, you're talking, you're eating, someone says something you don't like what they said.

And you know, when you just put the fork down and it chink, chink right away, you're out of jail, right?

You don't have to eat anything, the fork's not in your hand.

yeah yeah you could throw in an extra line to the script being like i'm not even hungry anymore yeah and then that's it there goes my appetite

writing that down

i don't like this food i've already eaten yeah yeah

no thanks for waiting for

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You check your hair and reflective surfaces and the world around you for recession indicators.

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Dream starter.

Okay, so I'm gonna see if I can get away with this.

This is before I've even entered the restaurant, really.

Yeah, I want to sit outside

because it's nice, isn't it?

When you get to a restaurant and you don't go straight, straight in.

So you'll sat outside and I want six oysters oysters and a pint of Guinness.

Lovely.

Yeah.

And that's not my starter.

Okay.

Okay.

So

the loophole you've found

is that you've not

in the restaurant yet.

Yeah.

I'm not in.

I think that's fine.

Are you sat down though?

I'm sat down.

I can stand if

that's going to make it easy.

If you're not sat down outside the restaurant, that to me feels like you're on restaurant property.

Well, I can't get oysters to go.

Road oysters?

Could you have some road oysters?

I can't eat an oyster standing up.

If this is a deal breaker, I will go for the road oysters.

I would like to be sat down with a pint of Guinness outside the restaurant.

How about a bench?

You know, a stool.

I'm not comfy,

but I'm not stood.

I think you need to be across the road from the restaurant.

Fine.

Why?

Because then you're not within the restaurant property.

Okay.

If you've not bought them from the restaurant, maybe there's a...

The pavement's public property, Ed.

Yeah, but what about the tables?

You can't just pop yourself down on a table outside the restaurant.

You bring

You bring your own table and a little fold-out chair.

A little fold-out chair.

Okay.

Yeah.

Where have you got the Guinness from then?

Oh, I'd like that from the restaurant.

Well, then you've started your meal.

So the oysters are there.

I mean, we can get through this.

We're close.

Yeah.

Come on.

So, what do I need to do?

A can of Guinness?

Are you making it?

Are you reducing your table?

I'm not going to do it.

Also, you've got to come up with all these rules on your own.

How about I was completely fine with it?

How about I get to the restaurant?

We're not ready yet, but there's a Guinness and Oyster stop just across the road.

okay great i'll just i'll just nip over there a little hatch okay and then as soon as i finish my sixth one as soon as i put the shell down they run over and get me and you say you're ready yeah come in come on you're okay with that a little hatch huh i'm the only one pushing the hatch an oyster hatch oyster and guinness hatch oyster and guinness hatch yeah shack shack a shack shack and you'll find and what there's like so it's a hatch the hatch has seating outside the just just next to the hatch it's a shack so there's those couples that yeah is that what makes it a shack when the hatch has seating i think it needs a little roof okay but outside an awning what's a shack a shack

well it's a hatch it's a little old place

it's the hatch where you can't really see the person who's serving you yeah hatch is just a hole in the wall it's a hole in the wall yeah and a shack a shack feels like it needs to be a little building like a shed like a little shed yeah well what's a love shack

it's a little old place where we get together right yeah so just imagine that but oysters yeah right like i don't think we're done yet

so a hatch everyone everyone okay i mean i'm okay with that it's great the shack is what i'm hazy on the shack

i think it's kind of a wood it's wood and it's kind of uh sanit sanitarily kind of is that a word sanitarily

sanitarily ambiguous i don't think it's good i think it's like but it's a it's a beach thing yeah yeah you'd see it's quite yeah would you want oysters from a shack then

no if it's then it's near the sea yeah yeah but is this near the sea no this is in London.

So this is a shack.

I wouldn't get oysters from a shack in the middle.

I would have them.

No, no, no, no.

Hatch.

Might be all right with the hatch.

Yeah.

If the hatch was attached to a pub or something where I knew they did good oysters from the colour.

It wasn't attached to old Dr.

Seuss here.

What's a hutch?

Okay.

Let's spend a lot of time on this.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

I like the prime meal oysters.

Yeah, so do I.

Great.

And if there's any going, kind of just very, very thin chips, fruits,

and mayonnaise.

Just a couple.

Just nothing, just

throwing those in.

Yeah.

So do you want them just to be able to?

Oh, he's going to have a fucking problem with this, isn't he?

Yeah.

Okay.

We're very much good cop and cop on this episode.

When you say just a couple,

do you want them?

I'm just

going to burrow down into this.

Yeah.

Do you just want a couple on a plate with a little dip or would you like a full-size portion and then you just have a couple of them?

Yeah.

Yeah, I know it's a waste.

And can you, but can you do that?

Can I?

I'm asking you.

I couldn't.

If there was, no, but full-scale.

You just pound them.

Yeah, if they're there, I'm having them.

I think I get interrupted.

So it's like, mm, oysters, nice.

Okay, there's some chips here.

Oh, okay.

Your table's ready, sir.

Can I bring these in?

No, you can't.

These are from the shack.

Yeah, you've got to remember that.

You can't take that onto their property.

Make sure that goes on the night.

Not even my starter now.

Not even your starter.

But you okay with all that now?

Yeah, I love this.

Yeah.

Great.

Oysters and goodness.

And that's like a good start for a night out as well.

Just like you get a little rush.

Yeah.

Okay.

And the fruit and the two fruits.

Two fruits.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, what's the start then?

Have you been to Musso and Franks in LA?

No.

Okay, never mind.

So, they do this really good steak tartare there.

So, I haven't really spent much time in that part of the world, but I was there recently with my friend, and it was his birthday.

We went there, and it's kind of like an old kind of Los Angeles institution, and it's kind of I guess it, I guess you could kind of compare it to maybe like Zeddell's, the Ivy, that kind of thing.

But it's kind of, it just feels better.

It's kind of more, it's like in West Hollywood and it's just kind of just fucking great.

Yeah.

And we went in and we had this amazing steak tartare with this dirty martini.

Are you aware of the concept of the side jar?

No.

The side jar.

It's on the side of your drink.

It's a little kind of vase.

And if you order a dirty martini, which is which I'd like,

briny,

you have your glass with the martini and then next to it, you have a kind of tiny little ice bucket with more martini in it.

So you don't have to order another one.

And so it's a small glass.

And so you kind of the satisfaction of finishing the drink and then picking up a little bit more and putting it in there.

Yeah, I have no words.

It's like a briny martini.

It's a briny martini

with a side jar.

Of briny martini.

Next time you're in LA, go to Moussa and France.

That's the first thing I'm going to do.

It's amazing.

And the steak tartare is just, yeah.

I don't know if the steak tartare was particularly kind of mind-blowing but it was just something about that whole experience that I I'd wanna I'd want to experience again Mary Lynn Rice Club also chose a dirty martini for Musso in France that is from the great benito there but like that's actually Maryland Rice Club of course was in 24 yeah played Chloe in 24 if you're a company show yeah so there you go I mean do you want Maryland Rice Club to join you at this

this this stage of the meal?

Do you want a quiet night?

Yeah, that would be great.

Do you would like a quiet night?

I mean, I suppose in this world, that can happen, can't it?

It can happen.

People pick the same thing.

If you pick the same thing,

we can get that person to join you for that.

So maybe she's across the bar and we can kind of do a little cheers.

Yeah, that's nice.

Maybe she sent you the...

the dirty martini and there we go yeah and then she just nods where's this come from

marilyn rice club i was so on board with the choice of dirty martini.

I love it so much.

It's good.

Yeah, it's always good.

It's not always good, actually, but when it's good, it's good.

It's really good.

I've said this on the podcast before.

In Bob Bob Rickard in Soho, I had a dirty oyster martini.

Okay.

So just combining some of the things that you enjoy, a whole oyster bobbing around in a vodka martini.

How do you feel about that?

What are you doing later?

Wow.

Let's see.

Could I tempt you in like getting an oyster from the shack to go?

Bringing it to the dream restaurant.

They bring over your martini.

You have the maybe the first one as is, and then you top it up with your

side car or whatever.

And then you plop in your to-go oyster.

I think the only way I could sneak it in is to have it in my mouth.

It's like your table's this way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm glad you remembered the rules about plugging in clips as food.

You can't pocket oysters, can you?

No.

Imagine what poor old Mary Lynn Rice Ricegub's going to think.

She's sent you a dirty martini and you nod at her and then spit an oyster into it.

Yeah, what the hell?

He was

flopping the glass.

Why is it going to be an oyster in his mouth?

Fucking pelican.

Well, that sounds lovely.

Also, I think you would have to have a huge respect for immediately just taking the clear technique of choosing a drink with every course.

Yes,

come on.

No discussion about it, just straight away.

Two drinks already.

Absolutely.

Amazing.

You know, we didn't factor that into the pod when we started it, and then mainly chefs utilised it and would do it.

And so when we eventually did our dream menus, without even having discussed it with each other, we had both done that.

Yeah.

Because we're absolutely...

Yeah, it speaks for itself.

It's obvious.

Got to.

And a Guinness and a Dirty Martini so far is a nice little one too.

So the steak tartare is

raw cow and it's delicious.

And

we want lots of gherkin in there, lots of spice in there.

And you want a look traditionally just very kind of thin, crusty, kind of toasty, crustine-y kind of thing.

Steak tartare is an absolute go-to starter for me.

And you want the yolk in there as well, just always the yolk.

Um, it's it's a it's a classic, it's a true classic.

Have you ever had it done table-side?

They love doing that.

What is it?

They bring over all the ingredients on a little trolley, no, and they go, What do you want that?

Do you want that?

And then they like chop it up table-side and put it all together.

I can't remember where I had that, might have been in America, actually.

Please try.

That sounds so good.

Yeah, I think it was in the States in one of those, like, like very traditional, like, red leather bonquette restaurants.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'm so

good for them.

Yeah.

So good.

Would you bite a cow?

Like a live cow?

Would you just bite it?

How well do you like it?

Would I bite a cow?

I wouldn't bite a cow, no.

No?

No.

Any animal you would bite?

No, I love animals.

No animal you'd bite.

No.

Would you bite an animal live?

Yeah.

What?

Those.

Those dickhead bats and strange things.

I bite one of them.

I think he's pronounced demo bats.

Taste their own medicine.

I bite them.

Edward's always hitting them.

I'll bite my Ozzy Osborne.

I think they reference that, innit?

They do, yeah.

That is a reference, innit?

Yeah.

See, we're popping fans, man.

Yeah.

We know it.

No, obviously, Eddie Munson, big metal fan.

Big metal fan based on Eddie.

Huge for me.

You're a big metal fan, aren't you?

Yeah, I'm a huge metal fan.

You love ball games as well.

Let me tell you, the metal press went absolutely wild when that last episode came out.

I know.

All my tweets were from like Kerrang and Metal Hammer and stuff and so excited that there's a Metallica song in Stranger Things.

Oh yeah, when you did the guitar.

Yeah.

Now, here's another thing I always think when watching stuff.

This should be good.

Whenever they're playing, well, I mean, it will be good.

Whenever an act is doing music, I'm like, are they actually playing it?

Are they...

Or is that someone else's hands?

But you think, is it someone else's hands?

Sometimes

they do close-up shots of the guitar and and it's someone else shredding and plexing.

Because when he's playing it, we're playing that Metallica song, bits on the fretboard.

I'm like, they're playing that song, and it's probably playing that song.

But have you learnt it?

Are you doing that?

Or have they got a handsy person in?

I'll be totally honest with you.

Most of it's me.

Yeah.

And I'm doing the hands.

Yeah.

The music hands

to make the music.

The difficult music.

The solo.

Yeah.

They're not my hands.

Dustin's hands.

They're Dustin's hands.

Nothing gets past you, does it?

Yeah.

I knew there was hands.

Like something that's a child's hand is.

I'm tiny.

Yeah, they should have thought of that.

Yeah, so it's kind of a little bit my hands, a little bit other, mystery hands.

Another question about the guitar?

Come on.

When you get it, just before that thing, when you go up on the roof to play it to shred, you get it off of the thing and you're excited about doing the solo.

You put it on and then you swing it over onto your back yeah in one

do you like that how many takes does that take is that a real guitar or is that a light is that made of polystyrene so that it would it would fly easier real guitar real guitar i can't remember how many takes not that many didn't drop it at any point no just goes every time drilled it drilled the strap into the guitar so that we'd avoid that problem brilliant see

what do you mean see why are you looking at me like that

worth answered the question yeah i didn't say it wasn't worth answering it question great answer i'll just say you're enjoying it.

Should we move on?

It's a real badass man.

It's like, it's like, it's really, in many ways, this is the best and the worst time for us to interview you.

Right.

Best time for us.

Okay.

We've just seen it.

And we just want to talk about it, Lode.

It's worst time for you.

We've just seen it.

We want to talk about it, Lades.

That's okay.

Your dream main course, what you you drinking with that?

Okay, this is...

I'm really verging on taking the piss now.

This isn't my main course.

This is my pasta course.

I love this.

I love it.

Respect.

Absolutely.

The more hacks, the better.

Yeah.

Okay, so pasta course.

So we're, you know, the focaccia we had earlier was staying in Italy still.

We're still there.

So I'd like a, it's called the Oricchette alla barrese.

Lovely.

And so I had this.

So oricieti is kind of, it's a, it's a kind of pasta that's meant to be like little ears or something.

And it's very specific to this one area, Puglia in Italy.

And so they do this dish, and it's kind of sausage and broccoli.

And I want it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's really fucking good.

Sounds like Chorizo broccoli pasta.

Oh, God.

Doesn't it?

A little bit, Ed.

James is obsessed with something he cooks called Torizo broccoli pasta.

Wow.

And as soon as he said sausage and broccoli, I was like, maybe he wouldn't have picked up on that.

Maybe we're not going to get a mention of the chorizo broccoli pasta.

But it does, yeah, sound a bit like a chorizo broccoli.

Let's talk about it.

It's delicious.

Okay.

Me and my girlfriend started making it during lockdown.

We had it like, you know, three or four times a week, sometimes.

Delicious stuff.

I mention it on the podcast a lot.

I don't know how often Benito keeps it in the edit.

But it's with broccoli.

It's with the stalks.

Oh, just the storks.

Not the head.

Okay.

What did you do with the heads?

Well, this is the thing.

See, originally.

You're asking all the wrong questions

originally we were using you know we were cooking broccoli just using the broccoli heads and throwing away this the stalks and we're like this feels quite wasteful so we wanted to find a recipe that would use up the stalks we found this one but it's such a delicious recipe that now we're using the stalks and we don't know what to use the heads for so

what we say in our household is like oh we used to figure think what we're going to do with the stalks and now we're figuring what we're going to do with the heads

and he's given that answer so many he's answered that question more than you've answered and do you play guitar in your whole life

yeah No, yeah.

There's no

questions being asked to you.

Just

it's the best dish.

Great.

It's this is a delicious dish

that someone's come on and also picked it.

It's basically like that, but what kind of pasta do you do you use with it?

Oh, yeah, I never know the name of it, so I'm quite bad at

we do,

but like it's kind of the shape's a bit indescribable.

How is the shape indescribable?

Kind of like an ear.

Like a little ear.

What size is it?

Little one.

Little ears.

Not far off, you know.

But I guess, yeah,

so there you go.

Treats of broccoli pasta.

Put it down.

That's what Joe Quince picked up.

It's a different sausage, though, I guess.

It's kind of a sausage.

It's a sausage.

Sausage is a sausage.

Yeah.

Well, it's Halidan sausages got like fennel in them and stuff.

It's quite fennel-y.

It's more cured

and it's really good.

Sometimes you get it with tomato tomato in it, which is kind of a bit of a kind of, I don't know, a bit of an addition.

But originally, it's just kind of broccoli, olive oil, sausage, good times.

Chili?

No, there's some meat in there.

Garlic.

Garlic.

Capers?

Capers.

I've put capers in the past.

No, there's no capers in there.

You put capers in the Toritzo broccoli pasta.

That feels like it's going too far to me.

Esteek and gravity.

That's overkill, surely.

No, it's like that's what gets it to the past.

Is there olives or gets it the gold gold medal?

Olives in there?

No, you don't need it with the capers, right?

Yeah, yeah, no olives.

Okay.

Capers, chili, garlic, tritzo broccoli, pasta, and some parmesan at the end, black pepper.

Is there parmesan on this?

Yeah, there is.

And if, do you want the parmesan on it already, or do you want do you want someone to come over with the block of parmesan and the grater?

It's excessive.

I don't need it.

You need it on already.

Yeah, no, no, well, it's just kind of maybe a little bowl with it in there, and I can just put it on myself.

Yeah.

If someone came over with...

It's the whole black pepper thing that just gets gets on my tits.

It's just what you, yeah, okay, black pepper.

And it's needlessly large.

It's just, well, yeah, I guess so.

You're here.

Yeah.

You could have done that earlier.

Yeah.

But would you send them away?

I wouldn't.

No.

No, no, no.

You politely go, yeah, I'll have black pepper.

And then sit there and sit down.

They're just waiting in the wings constantly.

They're kind of pepper people, aren't they?

Yeah, the pepper people.

Yeah, the pepper people.

Yeah, pretty scary.

But you want it yourself, you can put it on yourself.

I can put it on myself.

Both mine.

Up to you.

you want dustin to do it yeah

yeah so he pops out he in fact he's he's he's my server my waiter see do you know what i mean it's like little things like that my server the very american pencil yeah yeah when i my server whenever i go to the states i always slip into um especially in california slip in if someone's taking an order i'll go i'm gonna do the uh and then pick the thing so i i do the food rather than choose it oh i'm gonna do the can i do the caesar salad no yeah i'd love to see you try that here yeah the waiter would go You're going to fuck it, mate.

Yeah, yeah.

You're going to fuck it get the money.

You're going to fuck the Caesar salad, are you?

Yeah.

No drink with this pasta?

I want a glass of

bang average white wine.

Ah, why bang average?

We'll get to that.

Okay.

Not now.

The perfect time to get to it.

I want it chilled, but totally forgettable.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Like me.

Like your whole face.

Come on, Joe.

joking.

Okay, so that's your pasta course, but your main course is different.

Yes.

Okay, what are we talking?

I want a big buttery fish.

No further questions.

You know, when you're at a restaurant, you get a fish, and it's big,

it's buttery, and it's kind of brown butter, and there's capers, maybe there's some samphire, and there's lemon, and there's maybe some fresh parsley on there, and it's massive, and you split it with friends, and you get the fork, and you get the fishy flesh off the off the bone.

I want that.

And I want with it, I want a side egg.

I want some

just any kind of green, like a spinach or a broccoli kind of sauteed with oil and garlic and then just any kind of spud, any kind of like potato.

I'm not fussy.

Not fussed about the potato.

Could be mashed, could be new, could be whatever.

I don't mind.

I've not had that before.

Normally people would have a preference.

I'd quite like to be surprised with the potato.

Okay.

Surprisingly.

Oh, you came out of the face.

Surprised him.

yeah.

Yeah.

That's the twist at the end of surprise him.

Do you want to reveal the surprise now?

Do you want to say what sort of potato is going to happen?

Yeah.

Yeah, go on.

Dauphin Was.

Whoa.

I think you've picked the only potato that wouldn't go with that fish.

There's a lot of dairy on that potato.

Yeah.

Oh, you said it's a potato.

This is what you get.

You make surprising things with your potatoes.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

You happy with that?

Yeah, very happy.

Yeah.

I'll take what I'm given.

I love the idea of this fish i do regret so i don't regret saying dophin wise yeah too late now because it especially in the accent it would find it more fun to say hasslebacks in that voice yeah you were doing an accent i don't my american my american accent was it oh dolphin watch but like

i couldn't we both missed that unfortunately hasslebacks having it more fun i said dophin watch

it's a bat you can hear yeah you think that was my normal voice you've known me for years well sometimes you just say things in a silly way yeah yeah

this what type of fish is this see i i haven't really thought about it it's just a kind of nondescript white fish yeah and it's big

i don't know if it's a place i don't know if it's maybe i don't i don't know because i never i never know what that fish is yeah but it's always it's white and it's big and there's a big you know what i would say spine that you have to rip out i think it might be like when we went to i know what it is yeah

that that was a possible.

I think about the skate.

Skate wing.

We had.

No, we had a massive, the full thing, didn't we?

The skate.

No, it was a wing.

It was a wing.

Yeah, it was a wing.

Fucking humongous.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're big boys.

Is that how big a skate is?

Yeah.

You're shitting me.

I thought that was a big one.

The skate wing is gorgeous, but I don't want that one.

You don't want that?

I know what you want.

What do I want?

Turbot.

I want the turbot.

You want turbot.

Oh, man.

I love the turbot.

Have you been to Brat?

Love Brat.

There you go.

The turbot from Brat.

I kind of want the Turbo from Brat.

Incredible.

Well, where's this place?

What are we talking about?

You've been there?

When?

We didn't have the turbot, though.

When have I been there?

Very early in the night.

Yeah, after we'd done the first series, we walked over to Brat.

We walked in and then we sat up at the little bar.

It's a lovely place.

Where did this happen?

They do a lot of cooking on open flames and stuff.

It's an amazing restaurant.

That sounds nice.

I'd love to go.

It is.

There's delicious things there.

And you want the turbot from there?

I want the turbot from there.

But I didn't want to...

No, I just want a button.

I want that.

That, but not from there.

Just that vibe.

That kind of vibe.

I like the samphire being in there.

Samphire's good.

That's to be very nice.

That's the taste of the sea, right?

Yeah.

I'm not going to lie.

That was my ingredient that I thought might get me chucked out.

Really?

I'm still thinking about this fish.

I can imagine it

peeling away when you take it off.

There's something about those kind of dishes where sharing them with friends.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I love doing that.

And when you take it off the bone and it slides off the bone so perfectly and leaves the fish skeleton, you're like, I think I'm a chef now.

And then you take it home.

Yeah.

You take the fish skeleton home.

Yeah.

Yeah.

what do you do with it when you get it home?

I don't know.

Come on, don't say don't know.

Just look at it a bit.

Come on, be honest.

Just put it on different things and go, oh, that's good.

Put it on different things.

Now it's over there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now it's sitting on that.

Yeah, I kind of do a thing with my flatmate where I come home and I'll go, where is it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, it's there.

Dean, and then it's my turn.

Give it a name.

No, this is ridiculous.

Come on.

I think you give it a name.

I love combing fish meat off the button.

That's so satisfying.

especially with the skate wing as well

just

combing that is i think about it quite a lot when we combed the meat off the boat it should give you a comb a fish comb yeah that would be pretty good wouldn't it comb a fish you need to comb it all off yeah yeah no no one on no one

i guess ariel no she got a brush didn't she or did she use she used to use a fish bone as a hair oh yeah what did she use that's she was using she's using a fish bone you want a fish brush no but well you know little mermaid right love yeah yeah familiar she brushes her hair with a fish bone, she does, yeah.

Yeah, but that we're just saying that's messed up.

That's messed up.

That is kind of bad.

She flounders her mate.

Yeah.

She's half fish.

Yeah.

Imagine that.

Yeah, it's like us brushing our hair with like a human bone.

Yeah, you come in

and I'm brushing my hair and you're like

comb.

Oh my god, it's Dustin's spine.

Why does he recognise that spine?

Yeah.

But like he was your mate in the.

Yeah, he was

your main mate.

Yeah, he's your flounder.

Yeah.

He he was your little flounder yeah that you want to make a comb out of him I don't want to

but we're just saying it's beyond your control that's what that's what that's what Ariel was essentially doing around flounder that was what she was doing no it's it's yeah it's horrible you know that's that's delicious the fish is delicious yeah the fish is delicious really good choice and your dream side is that already what you've said then with the with the surprise potatoes you know the fish is the star here i just want something kind of green and garlicky next to it and then i can use that bread we were talking about to just

get in there and get all that butter up up in my face yeah and then I can

yep just kind of take the potatoes I guess it's nice to have a little bit of a surprise yeah you know it's like oh okay this is out of my hands wouldn't have picked it but okay

you know like when you go to a restaurant and someone orders for you yeah I guess you've just done that for me well you would have been better off asking I'd probably choose a better potato to go with the fish yeah I rarely see I rarely like a like a boiled new potato unless it's in that scenario.

Right.

Because I think I agree with you that the fish is the star.

You've got all that butter and stuff.

And actually, a sort of boiled new potato sort of soaks everything up nicely.

It's sort of plain enough to sit alongside and just give you the right texture.

I think so too.

Yeah.

What I'm going to do is I'm just going to scrape all the shite off the potatoes

and then just kind of use that as the vehicle for the butter.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not feeling like a dream meal now.

No, no, not the well, whenever the word shite gets in mind

and scraping if I'm honest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're like, oh dear, none of that sounds nice anymore.

So is the shite going onto the bread?

No, no, no, it's just I've got this kind of clump of kind of cheese and milk, I guess.

Yeah, but that's for Dustin.

That's for Dustin.

Get his little hands in there.

Come on.

Congratulations, Dustin.

Before we move on, is there a drink with that main course you're having as well?

Oh, so this is where we get the nice wine.

Yeah, oh, the nice wine.

Because you know, this kind of this idea that you start with the good wine so that then you can just drink anything after and it doesn't really matter.

If you do the antithesis with like one glass, you really feel the benefit.

Right.

So like if you have a kind of like kind of bang average white wine, I don't know, whatever, and then when you level up,

you really

you're a happy person.

So what I want, I want like a real, and I'm not like a kind of like wine guy.

I'm kind of a wine Philistine.

Nothing, James?

No.

Huh?

What?

What?

Wine Philistine?

Phyllis wine.

Phyllis.

I was supposed to go in with the wine.

Oh, Jesus.

Yeah, for the swine.

Yeah, so I guess I'd like a kind of maybe a pickpool or a kind of san-cerre or an Arnaise or just something kind of like something dry and chilled and good.

Perfect with that fish.

Yeah, perfect with the fish.

I like the theory of have the bad one first.

Yeah.

And then you notice you feel the benefit and you get the good one.

Yeah.

We had pickpool at my wedding.

Huh?

We had pickpool at my wedding.

with the starter no quite a forgettable day

you said it's the best wedding food you've ever had well i'd send it to you on the day yeah

because i told you i said you should be the best couple ever it's also the only wedding you've ever been invited to we had pickpool i don't remember that no okay i remember that the bread was the best bread i've ever had there you go whoa

so if you're if you're looking for your ultimate bread basket and you want a bread that you've never had in there surprise bread i would

put the ed wedding bread in there wedding bread yeah.

Yeah, Edding bread or whatever.

Edinburgh.

I know that you've done before.

I've got for it now.

The Edding.

The Edding bread, yeah.

You check your feed and your account.

You check the score and the restaurant reviews.

You check your hair and reflective surfaces and the world around you for recession indicators.

So you check all that, but you don't check to see what your ride options are.

In this economy, next time, check Lyft.

There's the part of me that everyone sees.

I'm Howie Mandel, the comedian.

Apparently, I know what funny is.

Funny bought me a house, but I also know what isn't funny.

OCD.

I've lived with OCD my entire life and people throw the term around like it's no big deal.

But OCD is severe, often debilitating.

It's a mental health condition that involves unrelented, unwanted thoughts that can make you question your character, your beliefs, even your safety.

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So you've had drinks every course.

Yeah.

Do you still have a dream drink on its own?

My favorite drink is, you know, just a fucking filthy martini.

Yeah.

Filthy.

Briny, briny, cold, boozy.

I was told about...

There's a martini.

Have you been to Duke's?

No.

Have you heard about this martini?

We're obsessed obsessed with going.

We're still not being

told about this place.

I still haven't been.

We're all going.

We're going.

We're all going.

We're all going.

So I was told about this.

Apparently, there's five shots, five shots of vodka, one of the mouth, and you only get one.

Yeah.

So if you ask for another one, unless you're like, I was thinking about name dropping, I'm not going to do it.

No, I'm not going to.

I was told this story by someone.

They're really famous.

And they said, yes, and they were asking for another one and they still said no.

Yeah.

They wouldn't give it to the really famous person.

I just love that they just nanny you.

Yeah.

No.

You've had your fun.

Yeah, yeah.

I can make you a normal one, but apparently they're just

really good.

I drink quick as well, so I'd be through that in two minutes.

Yeah, yeah, I do want to try that.

I wasn't sure when you said about the filthy martini, I've heard of this thing, and then you were like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I didn't know if it was that or the olives that are stuffed with Stilton.

Have you heard about this?

In a martini.

Yeah.

Blue cheese stuffed olives.

Oh, I could get on board.

Yeah.

We had it mentioned to us so much when we recorded in America, and I still hadn't had one.

And then when I went to America recently, I found a place with it on the menu, and it is as phenomenal as you'd hope.

I'd bet.

Yeah.

And anything to make it dirtier and saltier, right?

Blue cheese and an olives.

Yeah, wow.

Yeah, yeah.

Will Bayers recommended that to us?

You gotta try it.

That's what he said.

Hey, yo!

Have you had a blue cheese all over the fucking martini before, you fucking jackass?

No, you've met him.

You know what he does.

I had him in the upside down.

I drank him in the upside down every day.

Me and the fucking demigorgun.

He speeds it, that's what he said.

The mind flayer.

Me and the mind flash.

I've been sitting there in my little hut, making myself fucking martini.

I feel it on the back of my fucking neck.

Last time I drank one of these, it was like the mind flayer.

Down in the upside down.

The demogorgan,

he was there.

Fucking, I had two martinis of jukes.

Oh my god, my fucking neck was going off like a rocket.

Nah, nah, I ain't never going back down there.

They do a good martini, though.

Good idea for a bar, that, the upside down.

Dream dessert.

Right.

So, have you been?

Have you ever had lunch at the French house?

No.

Boys.

I'm so sorry.

I think we might be.

So, but basically, it's my favorite place to go and get lunch.

It's like it's in the so it's in Soho.

It's a bit fucking actor of me, but it is just you go there, they only serve lunch.

Fergus Henderson started chefing upstairs at the French house.

So there's this kind of also, you know, menus when they kind of just write it.

I love that.

Yeah.

Don't know why I just love it and it just kind of means that they're just constantly changing stuff anyway the thing that doesn't change on that menu is for pudding the only thing you can get are Madelines

you know and they freshly bake them for you there and you can get either I think you can either get four eight or twelve yeah I want four Madelines with an affogato

and Traditionally, you only really have an affogato with vanilla ice cream, right?

Okay, we're on the boat now.

Yeah, I want a pistachio one.

I want a pistachio coffee mess.

Wow.

That's what I want.

And I want it with a Fernet Branca.

That's great.

What's a Fernet Branca?

Fernet Branca is an Italian kind of, well, it's a liqueur, I guess.

Yeah, it's a DJST.

It's a Digestif.

That's precisely what it is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's kind of not very nice, but it is.

It's confusing.

Some people can't bear it.

They can't go anywhere near it.

It's just what you want at the end of it.

Something bitter, something a bit suspect, something a bit surprising oh

chefs swear by it as well because apparently like means you can then eat again in like two hours time like it really sorts you out and then you can go for another massive

bleach yeah the madelines they do at st john as well right what an amazing way to finish a meal it's just

they're warm and they just they feel kind of they feel bespoke yeah they feel kind of okay we'll stick them in the oven because you have to wait for a little bit for them right and also look i think that you don't after a big meal it's because it's been a bit of a saga this meal let's be honest

really taken the piss.

You don't want something too sweet.

But you're a bit of a sweet nut, aren't you?

Yeah.

Love them.

Love desserts.

I'm happy with this dessert.

Okay.

Because I can dip the Madeline in the ice cream and it's kind of, it's good.

I just think it's going to make me happy.

But this is the first appearance of pistachio ice cream on the podcast.

Yeah.

Grown-up ice cream.

That's always what I always think about pistachio.

I never used to like pistachio ice cream.

And then the first time I had it, when I enjoyed it, I was like, I'm a grown-up now.

Have you always liked pistachio?

When did you get into it well i've always had quite a like wise head on my shoulders yeah so yeah you know pistachio pistachio pistachio other kids were just maxibon maxibon maxibon yeah yeah and i wanted gelato you know straight away first shout out for maxibon on the podcast as well yeah actually overdue long overdue

love a maxibon pistachio afogata that's a great shout yeah that's really good but the thing is it could be rank i think i think kind of the vanilla is just the kind of the foundation for the coffee to kind of go in and do its thing But I don't know, I'm going to take a risk.

Oh, so you've not had it before?

Never had it.

So this is like, and explain is this because pistachio is your favourite ice cream?

Pistachio is my favourite ice cream.

Yeah, and but you want a little coffee as well, kind of a little uppy.

So I think I've got a feeling that it's going to work out.

It's going to be good.

I think it'll work.

I mean, it sounds quite nice.

I think

they're two grown-up flavours, the coffee and the pistachio.

This feels to me like this whole meal, you've had quite a lot to drink during the meal.

Yes.

You have your little coffee at the end.

There's a little perker.

But it feels like you're going to go out after this meal as well.

Yeah, we're going to dukes yeah

that would not be a good idea no we actually we have got our own nanny you now

i feel like we should tell you not to do that

even in the drinks do not do it um i want to meet your menu back to you now see how you feel about it okay there's a lot to read you would like well sparkling water it says but i thought you changed it to still

um i'll take what i'm given yeah i guess it's sparkling then yeah yeah uh you would like an assortment of breads sourdough for kacha and uh cheesy for kachcha with salted butter.

I love that you're worried about sparkling water being bad for you and then you picked about 83 units of booze.

Just does stuff to your teeth.

I'll chuck in Ed's bread and bread there as well.

Yeah.

Pre-meal.

The Edding bread.

The bread in.

You're not a pun guy.

That's all.

No.

Leave that to Tim Vine.

God bless him.

Pre-meal outside from the shack.

Six oysters and a Guinness with some fruits with mayo.

We settled on the shack then.

Shack, I think.

It sounds like it feels right.

Starter, steak tartare with dirty martini and a side jar.

From Mousson Franks.

Pasta.

Mmm, I can't pronounce this.

Orochetti alla baresi.

First time.

Perfect.

And glass of bang average white wine.

Main course.

Big buttery turbot with a side of spinach.

or broccoli, any greens, surprised potatoes, nothing was

and a nice dry white wine that you can appreciate in comparison with the bang average one that you had earlier.

Your dream drink.

It was the Duke's martini.

Duke's martini.

And dessert is four Madeline's avogato with pistachio ice cream and a Fernette Branco.

Branca.

Branca.

And that's all from the French.

House.

House.

Now, you can probably tell, my stomach's going off like a rocket here.

That's one of my favourite menus ever.

Yeah, you love it?

Well, so much of that that stuff actually appeared on mine as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, like the Guinness, the, I don't think I had oysters, but yeah, I know I had oysters for my starter, didn't I?

But they were the

menu.

Well, well done.

They're shaking hands.

Well done.

My stomach's going to be handsome.

No one's ever got a Gamble handshake before.

There we go.

Well, I kind of went through it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's the Quint handshake.

The Quint handshake.

More support.

That's rarer than the Hollywood handshake.

I think

we all know that.

But what if my stomach, what if that's a sign that Vekner's still alive?

What, that your stomach's rumbling?

Yeah, it'd be much funnier if that's what Will Buyers got.

His stomach.

Oh, God, everybody.

False on my arm.

Can you get us on the writing, T.

Get us on the, we've got ideas.

We've got good ideas, man.

Text that.

Yeah, we've got the latest drafting from those guys that you got in, Joe.

They've made these hands.

Will Byers is farting, and there's a lot like Dustin's hands in it.

It says, cut to Will holding his stomach, but it's not his hand, it's Dustin's hand.

Yeah, yeah, Dustin's hands holding Will's stomach, but the audience don't know that.

And then he's brushing his hair with a fish bone.

We know what's going on.

We can see why we would have a problem with this.

Joe, thank you very much for coming to the dream restaurant.

Thank you for having me.

There we are.

A wonderful menu.

Hey,

I think you fell in love with that menu.

Great menu.

Absolutely.

Look, it's a lot of crossover with my dream menu, actually.

Yeah.

I mean, the fish was a great.

The fish was an amazing choice.

That's not something I picked, but yes, please.

Martinez throughout.

There's a lot of stuff there that speaks to your heart.

Look, and I got the Quinn handshake.

What can I say?

You got the Quinn handshake.

I mean, you know, I don't think any guests have sh shook my hand.

No.

Why would they?

Why would they?

Well, Paul Hollywood tried to shake your hand in the photo, but you didn't notice he was doing it.

So you still haven't had a Hollywood handshake.

I can't believe he did that.

I genuinely didn't know.

And you guys only told me after he'd gone home yeah

and and didn't choose the sequel he didn't see didn't choose eggo waffles didn't choose eggo waffles no i don't even know if eggo waffles are commercially available anymore probably not but then you know dream restaurant in it yeah that's true so you know could have could have got them to me it just sounds like ego why do you want yeah it just makes me think of like oh they probably taste like eggs so i don't want yeah they don't want eggy waffles but then but then i have said on the podcast before about you know, once I had, you know, went to Amazing Waffle Place where they or the eggs weren't baked into the waffles, but everything else was.

Yeah.

And there's egg on the top of it.

So, I do love egg waffles.

You do want an egg or waffle.

I'd love one.

Yeah.

In my head, it's like an egg custard tart, though.

No.

An egg o waffle.

No.

You know, and I like egg custard tarts.

So, yeah,

I'd like it either way.

I don't know what I'm moaning about.

Papa.

Papa, I want an egg off.

I want eggos.

It's a nice marriage.

Obviously, obviously, go and watch Stranger Things.

I'm sure you've watched it already.

That's what we're plugging.

Yeah, look, if you thought we were fanboying out too hard with Joe, listen, we could have gone way harder.

Yeah.

All we've been thinking about

for the last month is Eddie Munson.

Yeah.

So

we did quite well, I thought.

Yeah.

He's one of the most metal characters in the history of television.

Yeah.

Of course I enjoy it.

Thank you very much to Joe for coming in.

Just a little reminder, I am on tour with my show Electric Edinburgh Festival for a week in August.

Check out my website, edgamble.co.uk, with all the dates of my tour there.

Yes, please.

I would like to thank someone for sending me some beer.

Yeah.

And it's back at Hobb Day.

Oh, yeah.

I think that's how it's pronounced.

Yeah.

Well, it's on your hat.

You're wearing a cap.

I'm wearing the cap.

They gave me a cap as well.

I went to Phil Wang's house

on the weekend of the Platty Dubes.

Yeah.

And he has his own beer now, Phil Wang.

It's called the Owangatan.

And

he had those of cans there.

And I went Gaga for it.

It was delicious.

Because it's like a salty beer.

Right.

And I wasn't prepared.

I think when this podcast started, I went on about how I just got into sour beers.

I'm the other way now.

No, but I think it is a sour, but it...

Yes, it's sour, but it's been salted.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Delicious.

I love it.

Told Wang how much I loved them.

So they sent me a bunch of beer.

Very nice.

Owangatans.

A bunch of Owangatangs.

And when I was at my girlfriend keeps getting the name wrong.

I think it's called the Wanga Nation.

But they're not called the Wanga Nation.

They're called Owanga Nation.

That's when Romish quits the Wanga Nation.

Yeah, yeah.

Phil Wang takes over.

If Phil Wang takes over, it's called the Wanga Nation.

It's built for that type of thing.

Yeah, that's going to happen shortly one day.

But delicious beer.

And I don't know if it's limited edition, the Owangatangs, but if people can...

I can't believe I've not been sent any.

Yeah.

Also, more beer shout-outs.

Two Tribes Brewery, Mondo Brewery, and Brick Brewery have all sent us beer.

And I've not had a drop of that yet.

No, I don't think I've got to be able to be.

Bonito's been hoarding.

Bonito, the little hoarder.

Hey, he's earned it.

First he work.

First he work editing out all the references to himself.

So

he's got to go and drink all that beer.

And also, thank you to Lil Ray's Rum.

Come on, Ray.

Lil Ray.

Come on, Ray.

You're not so Lil.

I like that name.

And it's been a while since I've had a nice rum.

Oh, there you go.

You'll enjoy that.

Yeah, thank you very much, Lil Ray.

Thank you, Lil Ray.

It is, of course, the first episode of the series, which seems to have got loads of great episodes to come.

So we will see you next week for another absolutely corking episode of the Off Menu Podcast.

The Off Menu Podcast.

You check your feed and your account.

You check the score and the restaurant reviews.

You check your hair and reflective surfaces and the world around you for recession indicators.

So you check all that, but you don't check to see what your ride options are.

In this economy, next time, check Lyft.

Hello, I'm Carrie Add.

I'm Sarah.

And we are the Weirdos Book Club podcast.

We We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival.

The date is Thursday, 11th of September, the time is 7pm, and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies.

Tickets from kingsplace.co.uk.

Single ladies is coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September.

At the London Podcast Festival.

The rumours are true Saturday, the 13th of September at King's Place.

Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet.