Ep 36: Evelyn Mok

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

Yes.

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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.

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Would you like black pepper with that, sir?

No, thank you.

It's the off-menu podcast.

Hello, Ed.

Hello, James.

Good to see you.

Nice to see you, too, mate.

It's a lovely day, isn't it, where we are?

What a genial start to the podcast, this is.

Yeah.

I had a nice.

I'm a genie.

Oh, that's good.

Genial.

Yeah.

I like it.

Do you want to hear my food news?

Yeah.

I went to one of my favourite restaurants the other day, Spentino.

And the man,

you sit up at a bar.

And I ordered the food, and the man went, oh, good choices.

I think it was Spanish, actually, you mentioned Spanish.

He went, good choices.

He went, do you want me to cover that all with sugar?

And I went, oh, no.

I thought, either he knows who I am and knows I'm type one diabetic, and that's the joke, or that's just a weird joke he makes.

But you can't really say, oh, you recognize me, of course.

So I ate the meal, and then afterwards, he said, The beer's on me.

I just want to let you know I really like your podcast with James A.

Caster.

And also, I came to this country six years ago.

I didn't speak any English, and the way I learned English was through watching comedy on television and listening to podcasts.

Wow.

So that's pretty good.

That's good.

Some people will come to Britain, and the first words they learn are poppadoms or bread.

Yeah.

So exciting.

I find the idea of someone learning a language from watching James A.

Castor absolutely terrifying.

Yeah.

Yeah, that is not a good idea.

I mean, if I ever have a child, that will literally happen.

Just imagine like loads of people who've come to live here from mainland Europe and then

suddenly someone says hello, and they go, hello, I am ready ready to eat apricots

shout in no more jobs before they go to sleep yeah that's a deep cut

oh but anyway it's the off-menu podcast where we ask a special guest their favorite starter main course dessert side drink I love it and someone I work with quite a lot said we don't need to intro the podcast that way every week but now

because they've said that I want to make sure we keep doing it and it turns into a catchphrase who said it I'm not telling you that go on shout out.

I'll tell you after.

Shout out who said it.

No, I won't.

But

the way you do it has now become a catchphrase and I even danced to the rhythm of it.

So I think we're absolutely going to keep it.

The last couple of times you've danced to it.

I love it.

And this week's very special guest is the wonderful comedian, Evelyn Mock.

She's so funny.

She's so funny, man.

She makes both of us giggle.

She makes us laugh a lot.

I've seen it Evelyn Live many times.

She's amazing.

And

I think this is a real treat on this podcast.

I just have a good feeling about it.

Yeah, whether you have seen Evelyn's work before or not,

I think you're going to enjoy this one.

Yeah,

she's going to get a lot of new fans off the back of this.

Yeah, absolutely.

And again, one of the best things about doing a food podcast, James, is we're getting sent loads of stuff.

And by stuff, we mean food.

Food-based stuff.

Yeah.

But if you want to send us anything you want to send us, really.

Well, steady on.

Food-based stuff is good.

and ideally, from the companies who make the food, we're very grateful if

someone just sends us something that they like, but you don't know where it's been.

So, we've been sent some lovely stuff, including this week some honey beer from Hyver.

Ah, who knew?

It's got bees in it, I think.

It's okay.

Well,

we're yet to open a bottle of it, but there may well be some bees bobbing about in there.

But it looks tasty, sort of like a mead ale crossover.

Lovely, lovely stuff.

I've had, I have had honey beer beer in the past, actually.

I'm just playing the fool.

And I do like it.

Yes, very nice.

What else have we been sent, James?

We got sent some life water, which is water in a can.

Yes.

Water in a can.

I've already had my water in a can.

Yes.

And it's an odd experience for the first time when you open a can and it's something still inside.

Yes.

I think.

But it was lovely water as water goes, but better for the environment.

It's recyclable.

It's hydrid because water in a can sounds like watering can.

Yeah.

And that's a completely different thing.

You water plants with that.

we've not been sent a watering can

you could i suppose

there's a watering can water a plant with a can of life water you could do that but better to just just drink it extravagant yeah yeah and we also got sent some moju juice shots which

is another thing that's quite hard to say how are you are you even meant to say that moju juice shots it's actually impossible and i've had a couple of those already and they gave me a little boost Where are these?

Yeah, you won't get those.

Where the hell are these?

Sometimes I intercept things at source and take them for myself.

That's a stayed at your house, has it?

Yes.

Right.

You're a piece of shit, mate.

Yeah, but you keep going away.

You keep going on tour and stuff.

Yeah.

So, you know, if you're going away, you get to go off and do all this glamorous touring.

Me and Benito are back at home holding the fort.

We deserve a little something, something on the side.

You guys were doing juice shots when I was away, weren't you?

Yeah, we would meet up every week and we'd do a juice shot and we'd have a can of life water.

Well, jokes on you, because when I was away, I got given three Whitaker's, Whitaker's chocolate, best chocolate in the world.

Yeah.

And I got given three LP, which is a great drink in New Zealand, lemon and parro drink.

It's delicious.

It's probably my favourite soft drink.

Did you bring us any back?

No.

No.

So you're not getting a juice shot.

Oh, man.

Oh, man.

This is not good.

So the secret ingredient this week, if Evelyn says this secret ingredient in her special menu, she is out of the restaurant.

And the secret ingredient this week is powdered parmesan.

That's right, powdered parmesan, that horrible dust that comes in smelly dust that comes in little pots.

Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

I remember,

I've never liked it, but I remember once watching an episode of We Are History, which was Marcus Brigstock's TV.

He had a like a fake

mock history TV show.

And at one point, he was doing a monologue and he had a meal in front of him, and someone went to put Parmesan on it.

The waiter did it, and he said, No, thank you, it tastes like powdered sick.

Yeah.

And I thought, yep, that's exactly

right.

That man's summed up how I feel.

Someone tried to put the powdered Parmesan on it.

Yeah.

All right, okay.

What waiter would do that?

I don't know.

It's crazy.

You didn't think through the scripts, Brigstock.

A bad one.

A bad waiter.

So, if Evelyn says that, which I'm hoping she doesn't, she will be out of the restaurants.

She will be out.

It'll break my heart to do it, but rules are rules.

Rules are rules, baby.

So, this is the off-menu of Evelyn Mott.

Evelyn Mott.

I've tried to learn the RP accent now, and it's

all my housemates hate me for it.

Oh, really?

Because it's really bad, apparently.

Yeah, I don't know.

It sounds great to me.

Let's hear it.

I think I sound absolutely wonderful.

Are we recording?

Right, that started, then we're in.

Evelyn.

Evelyn, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant.

Welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Welcome, Evelyn Mock.

Oh, my God.

Genie.

Hello.

I always like it when people come in who know the genie situation because it's always down to me to explain it.

James just appears and then looks at me as if to say, deal with it.

I shouldn't have to explain myself.

Well, you should, because all you do is just make that noise with your mouth.

Yes.

It is a bit frightening if you don't know what's happening.

I shouldn't have to go about explaining myself.

How many genies do any of you know?

None.

Just Will Smith at the moment.

Oh, Evelyn knows Will Smith.

They know you knew Will Smith.

I do, yes.

I follow him on Instagram.

Oh, yeah.

That's the same as being his friend.

Does he follow you back?

No, but any day now.

Any day now.

Any day.

You are a fan of Evelyn's Instagram account, aren't you?

Evelyn has a food-based Instagram account, which is why she's quite an exciting guest for me.

Cool, Evelyn.

Things I pooped out.

Which I love.

But I show all the things before I poop them up.

That's nice of you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Have you ever thought of setting up a different account where you post it after you've pooped it out?

That's on Uporn.

And that's something else.

I'm making a lot of money from that.

I once actually had a friend who put up like a photo of his poop on,

I think it was like Facebook, right?

And it got taken down.

Yeah.

But it was, I applauded his daring.

Why did he put a picture of his poop up?

I think he had like some kind of stomach issue.

So it was like, guys, does anyone know what's up with me?

So it was like a genuine question to hive mind.

Exactly.

Has anyone experienced this?

Why is it this color?

Yeah, I think he was just like a, he was just like a very provocative kind of guy.

So he just wanted to be a bit like daring, I think.

Look at this, I'm really ill.

Yeah.

Please sub help.

Yeah.

But yeah.

On your Instagram account,

what have been some of the most liked and successful images you've posted that people have really responded to and loved?

I think it's been

people really like desserts.

Oh, yeah.

So people really like ice cream and like

any type of anything with cream on, which I love.

I love cream.

So anything that looks really spectacular, I think people really like that.

And then also meat.

People really like meat on Instagram.

Meat and cream.

Yeah.

That's the thing.

I think there's certain, since Instagram has become a thing, there's places that you go to buy a thing that you then put on Instagram.

Like there's like there's, I don't know if you've been to that, there's an ice cream place where it's like an ice cream cone, but then there's it's got like a huge collar of candy floss around it.

I've been there, yeah.

Yeah, Yeah, and that seems to have been created simply for people to put it on Instagram because it's probably a pain in the ass to eat.

Yeah.

But there's no way that it just looks good.

It's for likes.

There's no way that's that's worth it.

It was very ordinary.

Oh, you had that?

I had it.

If there's anywhere that's been on Instagram, I've probably been there if I've been able to access it.

It's the same with like freak shakes.

You know, freak shakes?

Yeah, sure.

Where they've just got like all manner of shit in there and then all the sauce is dribbling down the side of the glass.

That gets on my nerves.

That's like a heart attack.

It's a heart attack and you can't drink it because it's just a dirty cup.

Sympathetic, yeah, because the sauce on the outside of the glass is very annoying.

It's just for the picture.

Just for the pic.

How did you go about eating the ice cream with the collar of candy floss around it?

So you have to get through the candy floss first.

And so you just stand there kind of like a child trying to eat it.

And it's very, it's really unexciting to eat candy floss.

It's like fun for the first like maybe bite, but then it's kind of like a chore, I think.

And then you just eat it regularly, like the ice cream.

Not very exciting.

Not is it?

Candy floss, I find, yeah, just ugh.

It's that instant guilt of it.

You just go, I'm just eating goddamn sugar.

And like, you could feel it like dissolving your gums.

Yeah.

It's not good.

I've never liked candy floss.

Luckily, I mean,

like I say, I always say this, I'm type one diabetic.

I could eat candy floss if I wanted, but it's just, it's pointless.

It's just pure sugar.

Yeah.

And they made it blue as if that makes it more enticing.

If you have blue candy floss, that is so much worse.

It doesn't look like it exists in real life.

I've seen.

It looks like a cloud.

Yeah.

It looks like a Smurf's hair.

I've seen blue, pink, white, and yellow candy floss.

Yellow.

Yellow seems not.

That gives me.

Just like yellow snow.

Yeah,

yeah, exactly.

I didn't want to be

seen.

Things I peed out.

Yeah, exactly.

Like maybe a new Instagram account for just drinks.

That's not how it works, is it?

Yes.

What?

Yeah.

That's how it works, right?

Drinks just go into P?

Yeah, you peed to the drink.

You peed the pedal.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I second-guessed myself there.

What were you second-guessing yourself about?

I thought that, oh, no, it's not that drinks go into P and foo goes into poo.

They both go into both.

That's what I convinced myself of.

I just convinced myself of that and then instantly were like, no, that's not the case.

I was right.

What, What are you thinking?

You're going to be like weeing out some chicken wings or something.

Yeah.

Yeah, I thought it just all gets sorted into different stuff.

But I suppose asparagus makes you wee stink.

So.

Well, I think isn't pee like all the poison

or something extracted from your body?

It's a waste product.

They're all waste products.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

I mean, what we're doing now is the opposite of a food podcast.

Kind of, but like,

you know.

But Benito is desperately trying to get us off this topic.

Evelyn, you've brought something with you today.

I did, yes.

I got very excited when you guys asked me to come because I love, I'm a feeder, I think.

And that's what I think, and my friends, I just want somebody with good metabolism because I love feeding people.

So I baked a carrot cake for you guys.

Thank you so much.

And it's really sugary.

Yes.

And I tried to find like a sugar-free alternative for you.

No way.

But nobody makes them.

No, and it's they'd be horrible anyway, even if you find it.

All sugar replacement.

If anything like, because I'll just, I'll do a bit of insulin and I'll eat a lovely bit of cake overlining and it's going to be fine.

So you don't need to worry about it.

Okay.

But anything like that, same here?

Quite often, don't have any insulin, James.

Makes cake taste better.

Quite often, you'll see like diabetic chocolate on the shelf somewhere.

And it means they've replaced the sugar with something that gives you diarrhea if you eat too much of it.

Oh, yeah.

Like sweetener, like in the dairy.

I think I did that once, but with like mints.

So I had like these.

Mint M-I-N-T-S.

Yes.

Rather than like beef mints.

Yes, exactly.

Mints.

Yeah,

mintus.

Yeah.

And I, what was, I got addicted to like fisherman friends mints.

And just like, all of a sudden, just one day, I was like, oh, okay.

That's not good.

Back when you were a fisherman?

When I was a fisherman.

That's the worst thing.

Catching fresh fish.

If you're a fisherman.

If you eat too many fishermen's friends, they stop becoming your friend because there's only a very small toilet on those boats.

Fishermen's enemies.

Yeah.

And you have to go over the side, and then all the fish will go away.

Oh, dear.

And then many fishermen have been rolling around

on the deck of their ship, cutching their stomach, looking at the packet of fishermen's friends, going, You stab me in the back.

You're meant to be my friend.

You stabbed me in the back.

And then throwing it overboard.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, thank you so much for bringing us the carrot cake.

Should I unpack it?

Yeah, why don't you unpack it and take us through it?

Are you a baker?

Do you bake a lot?

Yes, I do.

And

it's like nobody eats.

Because

I live with people over 30 now.

So everybody's,

we get consequences for what we eat now.

So I can't give people too much sugar.

So I take any occasion to be able to bake for people.

Oh, wow.

That looks good.

Oh, and it's iced as well.

I'm going to say, it looks nice, but it will be really funny, Evelyn, if that is disgusting.

I haven't tasted it, so it could be a good thing.

It looks really delicious.

It would be really great if the first person who gives us food on the podcast were like, what the fuck?

What have I done?

And I'm like, I'm such a good baker.

Like, if that's not icing, that's just like margarine.

It does look amazing.

Oh, dear.

Yes, please.

It's a carrot cake with

cardamom.

Oh, yes.

For flavor, not the pods.

Yes.

Not since I listened to the Phil Wang episode.

Yeah, thank you.

Cinnamon, ginger, and then we have walnuts in it as well.

Amazing.

Yes.

And then just the cream cheese frosting with some lime.

Oh.

Amazing.

That sounds delicious.

I think we should tuck in after

being, as this is, an audio medium.

And the last thing we want is people listening to us munching away straight after talking about pee and poop.

Let's go into something which I believe I'll have to Google it later.

We'll be turning to P.

Would you like some still or sparkling water?

Sparkling.

Aha.

Very cold, sparkling.

Very cold.

Yeah.

With big, with the big bubbles.

Hold on, what?

Hang on.

In the wine glass.

They're different bubble sizes.

I've never heard this before.

No, you're not.

Different bubble sizes.

There are different bubble sizes in general.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

But not with sparkling water.

Yeah.

No, they're different.

Like,

I think

San Pellegrino has, like, it's less fizzy, or it's, the bubbles are smaller.

And then, like, I think Sainsbury's own brand, the bubbles are, there's a bit more.

What's it called?

The gas in it?

Carbon

monoxide.

Not carbon monoxide.

Not carbon monoxide.

No.

Carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide.

Yeah.

I think.

There are different bubbles.

I know that you can get fizzier, some things are fizzier than others.

Yeah.

But I was not aware that that was because of the size of the bubbles.

Big bubbles.

Because in that case, what you're saying is the fizziest bottle of sparkling water is just an empty one.

Yes, exactly.

One massive bubble.

One big bubble.

We could check it up to my language.

This is my

35th language.

You can't.

No, I'm kidding.

You can't play that card every time, Evelyn.

All right.

You think there's bigger bubbles in some waters than there are in others?

I won't back down.

I think there's bigger bubbles in fizzier

bubble water.

So the fizzier is, because I would think if it's really fizzy, the bubbles need to be smaller because then there's more of them there.

If they're all big, it'd be like, look, there's like five bubbles in there.

Five big bubbles all the size of ping-pong bubbles.

But I think it's because

to make room for them, they get together and become one bigger bubble.

So several small bubbles get together and become one bigger bubble.

So that's what, like

the power rangers.

Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

Or the transformers.

Yeah.

And they're all there.

So you want.

Yeah.

But you basically want it as fizzy as possible.

I want it.

Yes, as fizzy as possible.

Big bubble water.

Big bubble water.

You want me to shake it up for you?

In a wine glass.

Now, why is it in a wine glass?

You said that twice now.

Because it's just fancy.

I don't drink alcohol, so

I find it fancy to drink fizzy water out of.

I'm very, like, you'll notice my taste buds are very childish, and also my sensibilities are very childish.

So I just quite like the feeling of being fancy.

Do you swirl the water around and sniff it like it's a wine?

I don't sniff it, but I swirl it.

Yeah.

You do swirl it.

You just joined him with all the boozers.

Yeah.

I'm picturing you with like a big

feather in your hair.

Oh yeah.

Like a big old feather in your hair while you're drinking this.

Oh that's lovely.

Like

one of those cigarillos like

that ladies used to have.

Cigarette holders.

Exactly.

Yeah, a little holder and then like a hairband on with the big feather coming out and you've got your white on both sides.

Two?

Do you want two?

Do you want two feathers?

How many feathers do you want in your hair?

Where's the line for cultural appropriation?

Oh, where it becomes a headdress.

Yeah.

You can have two feathers, I think.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, one is fine, definitely.

Two.

Maybe if you don't make them symmetrical, you're fine.

I think when they when symmetry starts occurring, that's when I think it gets a bit...

Can they be different sizes, maybe?

Should they be different?

Why about both of them on one side?

But according to your science, if they touch, then they'll just become one big feather.

Yeah, that's true.

You get even bigger feather on your head, and then your head will fall off.

Yeah, my head will fall off.

What a way to go.

Guys, have you heard Evelyn Mox passed away?

What happened?

She had a massive feather on her head and her head fell off.

Two feathers morphed to form one big feather.

And then her head fell off.

Her head fell off.

She died in a South Park sketch.

Pop it up, zop red, Evelyn.

Pop it up, zop red.

Love it when it still scares people.

Evelyn got a little scared.

No, you really got scared.

I got really scared.

I had to hold my face.

It was very scary.

Neither, James.

Woo!

Neither, I would say.

I would like

puri.

Now, go on.

It's fried bread dough.

So it is bread?

Yes.

Just want to let you know that was covered under the choices, Evelyn.

Still, I like that Evelyn's gone for this option.

Yes.

I think it's a great option.

Now, explain because I don't think I've heard of this.

It's an Indian bread.

I really, I like fried

dough, really.

So it gets like, it's really, usually you use it in something called panipuri, which is

so the

bread is just like it's fried and it's really thin, so it if it blows up like a ball when you fry it.

And then you make a little hole in it, and then you put like chutney and

chickpeas and some kind of like tasty water, Indian water in it.

And then you have it like a little snack in India.

But

if I can have it with the filling, I'll have it with the filling.

Absolutely.

Otherwise, I'll just have the crispy bread because

I like it crispy.

The Indian takeaway, where me and my mum used to get curries from when I lived with my mum, we'd always start with prawn purri.

We'd have like purri with really nice like spicy prawns on them.

Good memories making me salivate right now, actually thinking about it.

Purry is a really good choice.

Although it can be so, it can be so oily.

It can be really oily, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you have to, you can put it in a little napkin and tap the grease off if you want.

Would you like a little napkin for the grease?

Yes, please.

I believe it's like some non-greasy ones.

But like, you know, non-greasy ones would be the best.

But if you only have greasy ones, I'll have a little napkin.

Have a little napkin so you can do it.

Isn't it nice to have the option for the grease, though?

Because if you're feeling in a greasy mood, you might want to have something greasy.

Yeah.

I like it crispy.

I like it greasy.

I've always had that about you.

Yeah, yeah.

Is there a specific place you want me to get this from?

Get this puppy from?

India.

So specific.

Anywhere in India, please.

No, yeah.

I don't have a specific place.

My mom used to make them.

Oh.

Because

she's Chinese, but she was born and raised in India, so we would have some Indian food.

Maybe I'll just have my mom's then.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Hi, mom.

What's she going to be up to today?

So my brother actually sent me a photo of a sign that said

Gray Hill Elder Facility.

And then he sent me a photo of my mom in there eating lunch.

So I thought he'd put my parents in a home.

It just turns out he's a facilities manager and he manages that place.

And they have a discounted lunch for seniors.

And my mom's a senior now, so she just went there to have some food.

So she's there.

So your mother started eating seniors.

So if your mom was a guest on this podcast, she'd be asking for a lot of senior lunches.

Yeah,

she would.

She loves a good discount.

Yeah.

Loves a good discount.

And it was like fish balls.

Oh, is that what it's called in English?

Fishballs?

Yeah, yeah.

Fishballs, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Fishballs.

What were you worried that we thought that was?

Well.

You worried that we thought you meant testicles of fish?

Yes.

And you don't mean that, right?

I do, yes.

All right, okay, yeah.

Exactly.

I do, yeah, yeah.

I haven't done that.

A delicacy in Sweden.

Don't they?

I've never seen the fish swimming around with them.

But you think you pee out your food.

You might pee out your food.

I don't think they have massive ones.

I'm not saying they're swimming around like dragging a huge sack behind them.

Yeah.

But isn't it like, what is it?

They lay the eggs first and then the dude comes and sprays it with the semen, isn't it?

Yes.

On the bottom floor.

Don't just say yes, like you know.

I do know that.

They just all spray everything in the ocean and it all mixes in the ocean.

Yeah.

I remember a holiday like that once.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Do you?

But yeah, that's what she's having.

She's having fishballs.

She's having fishballs.

Sprayed all over them.

But what of a time at home?

Your starter, Evelyn.

My starter.

I quite like soup.

Okay.

And also,

for anyone who doesn't know, I'm Chinese.

And in Chinese cuisine, you often start with the soup before you eat.

And I don't know really why I think it's to get your metabolism started.

So I would love to start with a Peking soup from

this Chinese restaurant in Gothenburg, where I'm from, called Hinghua.

Wow.

Yeah.

Now

why this particular soup?

And take us through what it constitutes as well.

Yes.

It's a hot and sour soup.

Yes.

So you can find it in like the Chinese restaurants here, but I've not tasted one that's as good as the one from that restaurant.

Because you guys love cheese here.

I mean

they bung whatever in there.

Yeah.

I think.

I think I love hot and sour soup.

Yeah.

And I never had it until recently because I would just go for the standard sort of Chinese stuff at a Chinese takeaway.

And then I thought, one day I'm going to plump for a hot and sour soup.

It's so delicious.

It's so good.

And it does what it says on the tin.

It's hot and it's sour.

It's sour.

But quite often you'll find different bits in it depending on where you go.

And I feel like there's just a lot of stuff left on a chopping board sometimes where they're like, just sweep all that in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's all part of a hot and sour soup.

And it's sort of gloopy.

Is that right?

It's gloopy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's gloopy.

You could call it that.

It's'cause it's like um they thicken it with the cornflour.

Right, okay.

So it becomes it's it's uh soup, but it's it's thick.

So I think I imagine if it gets cold, it can get a bit or if they haven't mixed the cornflour right, there can be clumps of cornflour in there.

Yeah.

That gets gloopy and gooey.

But in Gothenburg,

it is primo, I would say.

But it has like in Gothenburg, it's like they got the balance of the sour

and

the hot very well.

And it's also like the ingredients they have, it's like bamboo, egg, and then they have like little bits of pork

and wood air, Chinese wood air.

That's like a fungus

that you, that's really, really nice.

And I think that like it's, it just feel, it feels a bit classier as well.

And here when I've gone to, it's like you say it, it's just like, it feels like whatever's left on the chopping board has just gone into the soup

so what is it it's like carrots and peas and like it's so random might be some might be some chicken in there and there might be chicken sometimes it's like the pork yeah and so it's like oh yeah and it's a bit of rice sometimes sometimes a bit of rice rice has fallen in there yeah yeah

but I think I haven't had a as good soup here as I've had there yeah I guess soup here is just a way of yeah using up stuff or it's like or it's meant to just be like this is a good way of getting a bunch of goodness in me I'll I'll just do it.

But people don't really,

not as regularly,

try and like pay attention to the flavor and treat it as a dish in unto itself.

Yeah, yeah.

Which sounds very nice.

It's really nice.

And like, what's special about it is also that the restaurant is, so it's been around for ages.

And my dad,

he didn't used to work there, but in Gothenburg, like, all, basically, all Chinese people know each other because they all work in the restaurant business.

So he bought clay pots for that restaurant for the previous owner and those pots have like remained.

Oh wow.

So it's like every time we're there it's like my dad bought these pots.

He took them with him from Paris back to Sweden when he was like 25 or something.

So that's pretty cool.

He bought the pots.

He bought the pots, yeah.

So the hot pots.

So what was he, why did he bring them back?

Because they they couldn't find any in Sweden at that time.

It was like in the 70s and 80s.

And so he was going to go to Paris because he was young and like

just moved to Europe.

And so he drove there and they were like, oh, can you just buy some back from Chinatown there?

So he bought some and then brought it back.

Amazing.

That's pretty cool.

Do you go back to this restaurant every time you go back to Scothenburg?

Yeah.

My friends make fun of me, yeah.

Because it's like your ritual.

You've got to go there.

Yeah.

We always go with my grandmother or my dad's mother because she only eats Chinese food.

And this is the only place that kind of makes it nice.

Yeah.

So we always just go there every time I'm back.

Do you get free meals?

We get free tea and we get free

fruit.

I think everyone gets that, though.

I'm going to put that out there.

That seems like

I reckon everyone gets that.

And I don't know how they've swung that.

But you think you're getting special treatment.

You're breaking my heart, Erin.

Everyone else hasn't literally bought pots for the restaurant.

Yeah.

Free tea, that's just like a water, really, isn't it?

Next time you go in,

you you should refuse to pay.

Yeah.

And if they're like, no, you have to pay, you should just walk into the kitchen, get all the pots, and then walk out and go in, well, I don't think you'll be needing these anymore then.

Free fruit.

Yeah.

They're having you for a laugh, mate.

Free fruit.

Free tea.

What free fruit are they giving you?

Melon.

Melon?

No one wants melon.

No one eats melon.

Honeydew.

There's four melons in the world, and it's just people passing them around to go, oh, you have a bit of this fruit.

That's

It is quite cheap, Melon.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oranges.

Oranges.

Come on, mate.

Kidding me?

You got a cold?

Yeah.

Is it half-time?

What's going on?

Oranges.

Why would you eat oranges in half-time?

Oh, it's like a sport thing.

Like when you play school sports, like halftime in like football or rugby games, you get a segment of orange for energy and hydration.

And they're not paying for those.

I'll tell you what, they're free.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And at no point at school did I think, oh, the sports teacher really likes me.

He's giving me a wedge of orange.

He's given me special treatment.

Must be because my barber donated

some football boots to them.

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.

Your main course.

My main!

Oh my gosh, already.

Okay.

A very promising start with that super good.

I like it when people say Pacific.

I will say, this is going to go along the lines of Chinese food.

Yes.

Because I very much like it.

But so there's this place in Hong Kong, in the archipelago of Hong Kong, there's a place called Tai O,

which is

an island.

And there is a restaurant called Ho Wan Vegetarian Restaurant,

but they do chicken.

And it's the best chicken I've ever had.

Amazing.

Because they treat it like a vegetable.

Exactly.

No, but it's like, that's like vegetarian in Chinese terms.

Okay.

Because like, what was it?

My uncle, he has a restaurant in Gothenburg, and his son-in-law is vegetarian.

Yeah.

And we were having family dinner there.

And they were like, oh, here's vegetarian dumplings.

And I had one, and it was pork.

And so it's like, that's what Chinese people...

That's vegetarian.

It's just like, oh, we have

a extra.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's just like, and you can't even trust that because then they will have like chicken stock or something that they've prepared.

So it's like, you can't really be vegetarian in

East Asia, I would say.

But they have like the best chicken because

it's salt baked chicken.

And in China as well, or in Hong Kong, they have corn-fed chicken.

So they take it and they marinate it and then they wrap it in like grease-proof paper.

And then they encase that in salt.

And this place has, they bake it underground.

So they have like, they dig a pit, and then they put the chicken there.

And then on top of it, they put

like, what is it, coal or uh wood and yeah like how they treat the pharaohs yeah

do they do that to the pharaohs

wrap them all in paper um put them in a big pile of salt put them underground is that how they treat the pharaohs james i think so

in the pyramids the pharaohs must be delicious

yeah oh slow cooks over many thousands of years yeah

just falling off the bone

i've heard of salt baking before but I've not heard of it done with chicken.

I think it's always with fish from seeing it.

But they do it with chicken.

Amazing.

The best chicken I've ever had.

Super juicy.

So juicy.

So juicy.

And like just, I guess this is the marinade as well, but it was so juicy.

And then the taste of it, I can't remember the taste, but I just remember it was so good.

Yeah.

And it was done in a vegetarian restaurant.

Is it particularly salty?

It wasn't that salty, no.

Right.

Because the salt is outside of this parcel.

Fair enough.

And so I think it's just to make it juicy.

Yeah, because it literally, from what I've seen it before, when they do that, it just hardens.

All the salt hardens in a crust, right?

And then they have to chisel it away.

Yeah.

So it doesn't actually touch the food necessarily or flavour the food.

It's just to encase everything in.

So why is it salted?

I think it's...

One of my dudes, like cement.

Well, it's harder to chisel away, I guess.

I think it's to make it extra juicy, to contain the flavors.

So it juices it up.

Yeah.

Okay.

Somehow.

Well, I don't understand it.

But that doesn't mean it's not true.

Oh, it's true.

So

does it just come with that at the restaurant?

Or is there anything else?

Is that just one dish, or does it come with anything with it?

It's one dish, and then, because it's family style, so you just order a bunch of dishes and then you pick and stuff.

But I would like to eat it with chicken rice,

which is a Singaporean food.

Is this your side dish, by the way?

I think some chicken and a bed of rice will count as a main.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, I think so.

Especially if it's what you would eat with this.

I guess it sounds like you're getting them from different places.

So it's crafty.

It's crafty, but we're willing to let it slide.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I was thinking about it when I was

like, how will I get away with most food?

I'll make it Chinese style.

I'll make it.

But the chicken rice is from, so Singapore has like Hainanese chicken rice.

So first of all, this is chicken cooked in a different way.

You take a chicken and you boil it, you blanch it, basically,

in a tub of water with like some spring onion and ginger.

And then you save a little bit of the fat pockets that you don't cook.

So I think it's like the butt flap or something.

And like the chicken neck and stuff.

You save the chicken's butt flap.

You save the butt flap.

This has made it on your dream menu.

Carry on.

And then you fry it in oil with some other bits that are also fatty from the chicken.

And then that's the chicken oil.

And then you make the rice, so you pour the oil in.

You pour some of the stock in from cooking the chicken.

And then you put like, and this is because it's in Asia, but they always sell the chicken with the neck and the head.

Right, okay.

So you cut that off and you put the chicken neck.

into the rice.

Right.

And then you cook it.

And it's delicious.

And then do you take the neck out before you give it to anyone?

Or is there just a neck swimming around, isn't there?

You can eat the neck if you want.

You can eat the neck?

You can eat the neck.

I don't think it, like, people don't.

If you eat it at a restaurant, they won't give you the neck.

But if you eat it at home, you can have the neck.

Yeah, sure.

Do you want the neck in?

I think I want the neck.

Do you want the neck?

I think the neck.

Hold on.

Ed, you are not eating this meal.

Right, but Evelyn asked me a question.

Suddenly,

Ed's tricked another customer into

giving him his food.

Order the rice and I'll have the neck.

I can can have the neck.

But you don't want the neck in it unless you want to throw it to

old scratty boy gamble.

I sit like a dog in the corner of a medieval banquet.

Yeah, just waiting for someone to throw the neck over.

A little knicker chip

rubber.

You must have.

That's a really good English angle.

So you've got this lovely chicken rice

with...

the vegetarian chicken on top.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's what it sounds very good.

Also, is the quick question about the chicken before we move on.

Is that a whole chicken?

So it's a whole chicken that they chop up.

So they chop it up for you.

But like I said, it's not like a chicken.

Yeah, exactly.

But in Asia, they piece it out with the head, so it looks like they've just cut the chicken.

Like an autopsy.

Yeah, exactly.

And just put it like that.

But they cut it in pieces, but then they put it together so it looks like the whole chicken.

So it's very disturbing.

What's your favorite bit of the chicken?

I like the leg.

Yes.

Is that what it's called?

Yeah, correct, you're correct.

The club.

Drumstick.

You were right with leg, and I said yes, you're correct.

And you still went with club.

Drumstick was right, though.

You landed on the right one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It looks like a club as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Leg, club, drumstick.

It's called the club in Swedish.

Is it?

Yeah,

I'm also a fan of the kluba.

The kluba?

The kluba.

It's the juiciest part.

Yeah, it is.

It's the juiciest part.

You get a little bit of...

The thighs in there as well, right?

Yeah, so the thighs are the best bit of the chicken for me, really.

So if it's on the leg, I'm having it.

James, what are you talking?

Well, I think Ed knows what my answer is.

He's setting me up here.

But normally I like boneless bites when it comes to chicken.

I don't like to deal with any bones.

I don't like to deal with chicken wings or drumsticks or anything like that.

I just like the boneless bites, maybe some breast.

I'll climb over there and stab you right now.

You're distracted and seamlessly.

If you're talking about eating a club or a drumstick, would yeah that's more i'm a you know the best turkey i've ever had well actually there's two best turkeys i've ever had right but what one was uh at universal studios yeah and it had the big old turkey drumstick they do that there yeah yeah who told you about that at gamble oh i did

pass the knowledge on i had an amazing turkey leg yeah absolutely delicious i felt like properly like first time i felt like a you know like i'm at a banquet in henry the eighth time yeah yeah yeah really loved it and then one canadian thanksgiving my canadian flatmate made a turkey that she injected with stuff.

I think I've talked about it on the podcast before.

Delicious.

I would love to eat like a turkey Thanksgiving.

Yeah.

It would be, because it's, yeah, I've, I've never eaten turkey.

It's just huge.

But I imagine it's like a chicken.

But is it better?

A lot of the time it's worse.

But if people know what they're doing, it's amazing.

Yeah.

But very few people do.

It's like soup.

Yeah.

It's like soup.

Very few people bother to do it right.

Yeah.

You just do it lazy and then you get kind of a rubbish version.

And as soon as you have a good one, you can never go back.

back.

I've recently got into fried chicken more.

I never used to eat fried chicken because I think fried chicken 10 years ago used to be limited really to KFC or to like chicken cottage or places like that.

I didn't want to go in there because it just didn't look nice.

Yes.

But now you can get good fried chicken in like nice places.

Yeah.

And honestly, I eat far too much fried chicken.

It's a real issue for me.

And it's so weird because apparently there are different types of fried chicken.

Yeah.

Like the American

bigger bubbles and smaller, smaller thighs.

But it's like with Japanese fried chicken and like Korean, and like incredible, yeah, it's so good.

Indian fried chicken,

Indian fried chicken from freaking it's one of the, yeah, everywhere seems to have a nice version of fried chicken.

Yeah, Korean fried chicken would look like the gotcha jang sauce, yeah.

Oh, Lord.

Talk about your side side dish.

Maasad.

Maasai dish.

I have.

Okay.

So I think I'd just like a nice veg.

Okay.

I would like a nice veg to accompany this.

Yes.

And you can specify what type of veg you want as well.

Green.

No.

It's another Chinese thing.

It's something called Tao Miu.

And

it's pea shoots.

basically.

But these these are specifically the ones that grow from garlic

and they're really like big and popular in Hong Kong and I would they have it here but they don't taste as good and flavorful as the ones in Hong Kong like for a veg they're super flavorful yeah they're quite

they are quite garlicky

but still not as intense as garlic.

But you fry it up with garlic as well and some Shaoxing wine.

And

I would like it.

I would like it from

a place that's on top of a mountain.

Is this a real place or are you just trying to make it as difficult as possible?

Both.

No, it's a place called Tai Mosan in Hong Kong.

So it's like a dim sum place.

But it's really rustic and you basically go and serve yourself.

So you just go to the people where they're cooking and you say, I want that.

It's like a vapayano, but like really basic Chinese stuff.

And so the pea shoots there were really, really great because apparently they come from, they're fresh because a lady just grows them like right next to the restaurant.

Amazing.

So after we ate it, they took, my aunt took me there and it was just this lady.

So you could complain.

Yeah, exactly.

So I could like throw it up in front of her.

She'd be like, give me my money back.

Biach?

Does that look familiar?

It doesn't get fresher than that.

Take a photo of it.

Straight out of it, things I peeked at.

Things I've puked at.

In front of their owners.

In front of the person who made it.

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Terms apply.

So you move on to your drink.

My drink.

Yes.

I don't drink a lot.

So I have an alcoholic.

That explains your loose knowledge of bubbles.

Yeah.

I don't drink a lot of alcohol, but I have an alcohol version, and then I have a non-alcoholic version.

Okay.

Should I do that?

It's both, and then we might make you choose.

So the non-alcoholic version is a coconut milk.

It's also in Hong Kong.

I guess I would just want to be in Hong Kong.

But it's called, it's from a stall

in the, like just on the street in Hong Kong and it's called Coconut King and it's like a chain.

But it's pure, it's fresh coconut milk mixed with condensed milk

and then with coconut bits in it.

Amazing.

And then they shake it up and then with some ice and just give it to you.

The first time you have condensed milk as a kid.

Yeah.

You can't believe it.

Your eyes are spiraling round.

That's like your superhero origin story.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So they're like, can we drink this every day, please?

Absolutely not.

Do you really like sweet stuff?

Yeah.

Big time.

Didn't even flinch.

I come from a family of sweet tooths.

You said that with the glassy eyes of a glow sniffer.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, man.

Yeah.

I love it.

I love it so much.

My dad was secretly a...

My dad loved sweet food growing up.

I didn't know.

He acted like he didn't.

Oh, he had to.

Because he had to be a responsible parent.

Yeah, so he was good at toeing the line and being like, no,

you can have this many biscuits now.

Don't go crazy.

And we you know don't always have ice cream we only have special cereal once a month and all this kind of stuff but as soon as you hit 18 you march into your bedroom with a pot of maple syrup and went down it yeah yeah

not in the family anymore

condensed milk is is that the one where you can take a tin of condensed milk and put it in like simmering water and leave it for ages and it turns into like dolce de leche like into like caramel right yeah and actually so with where we are now in this room, I got given some Dolce de Leche that have been made into the condensed milk by someone who works here.

Who is a fan of the podcast?

Oh.

She's a fan of the podcast.

She goes,

there you go.

Thanks for the podcast.

Here's that.

And now we're in here.

And that's the first time that's ever been bought upon the podcast.

You made it sound like it was like a ceremonial.

like handing over of it in this very room was where I was given my Dolce de Lechre for services to puddings.

That's true.

I've got a little medal.

It's like just the lid of the tin.

It's melting.

I wear around my neck.

It's just one that you'll open once a month and just take a spoon of.

Yeah, I just have it

back.

I'll just feel better about things.

I don't think I can deal with sweet drinks with a meal.

Really?

Do you know what I mean?

Like, if I'm eating a savoury meal, I can't have a thick, sweet drink because then I'll be transported out of the savoury world.

I see.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes.

Yeah, I can just mix and match.

I can drive on both lanes.

I'm just like a drunk driving like that.

But I get like you're very much like, oh, that is dessert.

Yeah.

So same with like a milkshake.

I very rarely have

with a burger.

My friends used to do, like, they used to, in McDonald's, they used to buy an ice cream and then they used to dip their fries in the ice cream.

I've got no idea what these people are playing at.

Like dippers, milkshake dippers.

This has come up on the podcast before.

Has it?

I like it.

I love it.

I think it's great.

Then my mum heard that episode and was furious with me.

It's amazing.

She was not furious.

She was very disappointed.

But then...

But then she said, so this is a memory.

So I don't remember this.

Yeah.

Because my parents have always been very anti-McDonald's.

I think I've said that on the show before.

They really do not like McDonald's.

Once my mum bought me and my sister to McDonald's when we were little kids, we got milkshakes and fries and we just took the initiative ourselves and started dipping the fries.

No one had ever showed us this.

We started dipping the fries in the milkshake and eating it and my mum was like, what are you doing?

That is awful.

And then, yeah, I think that's why for years I just didn't do it for ages.

And I had to get back into it as an adult and discovered, oh, I love this.

It's amazing.

But I had this like buried

memory that I'd buried of being told, do not, that is gross.

It's shameful.

And mum brought it up.

When she heard the podcast, I was saying, I like it now, she was like, oh, you did that when you were a kid.

And I was like, I don't remember that.

Your dad sat in the back going, you shouldn't do that, James.

But then basically logging it in his mind, going, I'm going to come to McDonald's by myself.

Yeah, I'm going to come here.

I'm going to turn up with a full potato.

A jacket potato that I've made at home in the oven.

And I'm going to order a milkshake.

I just shove the potato in there and then drink it all.

That would be so funny if somebody made a sweet jacket potato or like a sweet.

You know, people do it like yams in America.

I don't get that.

I don't get that.

And I don't even get that pancakes and bacon and maple syrup.

I don't get that.

That's the kind of thing Benito's loving it.

I mean, Benito loves that.

That's the kind of thing that I look at that and think, absolutely not.

I wouldn't want it.

But when I have tried it in the past, I've been like, oh, that's why I should never try that kind of stuff, because it is nice.

And I don't want to discover that I like that level of stuff.

I also had, like, I had a gelato that was salt and olive oil, and it worked.

Oh, wow.

It actually worked.

I kind of don't mind that.

Because I like olive oil.

I think that's like olive oil cake I love as well.

When you make like a sweet citrus cake with olive oil It's really good.

I can cope with that because it's the fat but

No, it's bacon and maple syrup.

Absolutely not

I Saw the yams thing.

Yeah, it's basically yeah the sweet potato filled with marshmallows for the first time this year.

I was in America and I basically booked one of my flights.

I had to go from I had to go to Bloomington, Indiana, and the flight was booked.

And I don't think me or the person who booked it for me knew that it was a private plane.

And it was just me and the pilot and the co-pilot.

And we flowed together.

And when we arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, he was like, he joined me up at my hotel.

He went, Do you want to get a steak?

I was like, yeah, I want to get a steak with the pilot.

Of course I did.

We got a steak together and he ordered the yam with a marshmallow and it turned up.

I was like, what is that?

He was like, I love it.

I took a photo of it.

Did you taste it?

No, absolutely not.

I was like, imagine ruining a steak with a marshmallow.

I couldn't believe he had done it.

It's crazy.

Like, what is this?

And he told me his daughter was a comedian and stuff.

I was like, she must have.

I bet she's got material about you eating that

marshmallow potato that you existed.

That's as bad as putting a jack of potato in a milkshake.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's the same thing.

Maybe that guy might have been funny.

Maybe it was my real dad, and that's why he asked me out for a steak.

He was a bit forward, but he might have been like, you know, come on, sir.

So you said you had an alcoholic one as well, alcoholic drink.

I do.

It's

maybe it's not, it's pointless bringing it up, but because I don't remember it.

But we

I did a wine tour in the south of France with my friend in Provence, and it was just me, her, and a British couple.

And

we went and had like these fantastic red wines at these wineries.

And I remember drinking, and we were going to, like, we weren't sure if we were going to spit it out.

Yes.

And they were like, well, you can choose.

And so we didn't.

And so we just kept drinking and got really really drunk but it was really nice wine like any any red like any wine that we bought in france i thought was just brilliant but i feel like we can't i i you have to make effort to find it here i guess any wine from france

is your is your other is your other choice

this is how bad i am at drinking alcohol

well i think we'll we'll go with the coconut the coconut because you remember where it's from you remember exactly what's in it

as opposed to any french red Any French red because I got hammered one day.

So we come to your dessert.

Now, I think we should cut the cake now.

Oh, lovely.

Eat some dessert.

I've been patient long enough.

I'm so patient.

This isn't my choice for dessert, though.

No, this is not your choice.

No, no, no.

So the way you said that, you were clearly so desperate to cut the cake, but also you said it so formally.

I think we should cut the cake now.

I've learned how to be polite about it, but.

How would you cut out?

He just tortured me with dessert talk as well before this happened.

Talking about condensed milk and everything.

Cut like that, and then, like,

bang it like that.

That's great, Ed.

That's a professional cutting.

Yeah,

Ed's biting into the cake there.

Off, Mike.

He's loving it.

So good.

Is it alright?

Really good.

Oh, yeah.

The lime in the frosting.

The lime is so good.

The lime in the frosting is ingenious.

The walnuts are great.

Yeah.

The lime in the frosting, so that's the first thing you get.

It's almost like,

first of all,

you're eating a key lime pie.

And then you're eating a carrot cake.

It's like a Willy Wonka cake.

I love.

Carrot cake is one of my favourite cakes anyway.

Yeah, yeah.

And this has definitely solidified that.

Ah, thank you, Ed.

So.

You just brought us a delicious dessert.

But what in short dessert?

Sure.

Can I have an honorable mention?

You can have an honorable mention, yes.

So my favorite thing ever is just like a really good sundae.

Uh-huh.

With a lot of cream.

Yep.

I like that.

And if it's like Ben and Jerry's like fish food or something.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

With

a lot of chocolate.

What's happening?

I'm giving my insulin.

Oh.

Ed is literally doing.

I've just had a slice of cake.

The much hype.

This is...

Believe the hype, people.

He's about to do it.

It's not really the first time.

This is the first time you've actually done this during the podcast.

During the podcast.

You have to do it directly after.

Directly to myself?

I mean directly after.

Inject it into the air.

What part of a cake do you put it into?

Put it into the cake and then you eat the cake.

I don't put it into the cake.

Although a diabetic nurse once told me that a newly diagnosed diabetic, they used to demonstrate how to inject insulin by doing it into an orange.

Right.

And they'd be like, stick it in there and then do that.

And then one of their newly diagnosed diabetics came back a week later.

It was really sick.

His blood sugars were really high.

And they were like, What's the matter?

Why isn't it going well?

And he was like, Well, I've been injecting it into the orange every day.

I just don't understand it.

Sorry, done.

Diabetic admin, done.

So your honorable munchin.

You like a Sunday?

I like a really great Sunday.

Yeah.

With chocolate and then more chocolate sauce.

Yeah.

And then cream.

I love cream.

Yes.

And then maybe nuts.

Chocolate sauce.

That's pretty like classic Sunday.

Nuts.

Chocolate, ice cream, cream, and nuts.

Yeah.

So, what is your actual dessert choice, though?

That's the honorable munchin, sure.

That's the honorable munchin.

The actual dessert choice is also from Hong Kong.

There's a place called One Dum Sum in Hong Kong that has a Michelin star, but it's just like a

hole in the wall.

Like, it's there's nothing fancy about it.

But they have

this dessert that's

Alfonso Mango that's frozen, but kind of

but soft enough to eat

and it's wrapped in rice dough

and the rice dough is rolled in coconut.

Wow, and it's amazing.

Does sound very nice.

How big is this?

It's very small.

Yes.

It's like size of a mouse.

That's like a little mouse.

What you're waiting for?

A little mouse.

And you get like four mouse, mice, mice, four mice.

Yeah.

Meese.

Meese.

Four misus.

Yeah.

That's mouse sus.

That's his Christmas cattle pronunciation of it.

It's misuses.

Yeah.

That you can share with your friends.

And you eat it with chopped sticks.

Ah.

Now, is there any dips or anything with this?

No.

So it's just as is?

It's just as is, yeah.

Probably, they've probably put some sugar and stuff in there.

But very, very tasty.

Because it's frozen.

And the mango's frozen.

And then

the rice dough isn't.

It's room temperature.

Rice dough is like quite soft, right?

But also a little bit chewy.

Yeah, like mochi.

Mochi.

Okay, there you go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mochi dough.

Again, that's something I've only got into recently.

But

I feel like it's more readily available in this country now.

They do the mini mochi ice cream.

So

the mochi wrapped around ice cream.

The green tea flavour are absolutely incredible.

Little balls.

Little balls.

Yes, please.

Yeah.

There's some Japanese supermarkets in London, and they've always got like a little freezer with those.

You can just pick and choose.

Mix and match.

Bubbles, they they call them.

They're big bubbles.

They're big bubbles.

Fishballs.

Fishballs, yeah.

Yeah, fishballs.

It's been a very, the episode has been sponsored by the sphere.

Yes.

We've been talking about bubbles, mini-mochi, fishballs.

I thought you were going to say the episode's been very ethnic.

Imagine if I said that.

You genuinely think I was going to say that.

I go, well, today's episode's been very ethnic, hasn't it?

Once you've left, it'll say that.

He normally says that.

When you've gone, he'll say, Bloody hell, someone loves Hong Kong.

So nice of her to bring a carrot keg.

It's lovely that she's trying to fit in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He'll say that.

That is a great menu.

I think we should.

Yeah, I'll just lead it back to you.

Come on, James.

Tell us what those restaurants are all called.

You would like some sparkling water with big bubbles in a wine glass cold.

You would like

some pori to start.

Put the pori before.

To start, you would like Pekin soup from Hinghua.

Yeah.

From Gothenburg.

Uh-huh.

Hot and sour soup.

Main, you would like salt-baked chicken with chicken rice.

From Hoi Wan, vegetarian restaurant.

Hi Wan, which is a vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong.

Thai, you would like

Hong Kong pea shoots from

Tai Mo San.

Tai Mo San.

Yep.

From the little garden, the ladies' garden.

Yeah.

The drink, you would like coconut milk from Hong Kong.

Yeah.

From the Coconut King.

From the Coconut King.

Your dessert, you would like mango custard rolls from one dim sum in Hong Kong.

Yeah.

Enjoy yourself, Ed?

Oh, yeah.

It just made me feel really self-conscious.

Yeah.

Oh, James, it's so fun

watching you struggle.

Yeah.

That is a great menu.

I want to try all of those things now.

Yeah, they do sound very delicious, Evelyn.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So we're going to hong Kong together.

Yeah.

Thank you very much for coming into the dream restaurant, Evelyn.

Thank you for having me.

Come back anytime.

Oh, thank you.

That was unintentionally very Chinese.

Evelyn Mock there.

Lovely menu.

Delicious.

I always like it when we have a guest in where there's dishes that I've not had or have never even imagined.

Yep, and they describe them so well.

You need a good describer.

Yeah, she was a really up there with the best describers, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That mango.

That mango thing sounds great.

I never heard of it before.

Now I think I know exactly what it tastes like.

Yeah, because of her brilliant, brilliant description.

Evelyn Mock's amazing.

You should go and see her live.

Check out her Twitter at Evelyn Mock.

That'll have more details about where you can go and see her.

And congratulations, Evelyn, on not saying the secret ingredient.

If she had said powdered parmesan, that would have been it.

Oh, imagine taking that beautiful mango dish and covering it in powdered parmesan.

No,

thank you.

Even her wonderful descriptions would not have saved that.

No way.

Thank you very much.

Evelyn, I'm on tour, James.

Are you on tour?

Yeah, but

it's alright.

It's all right.

I'm good.

You don't want people to come...

Oh, they're already.

You've sold out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's a shame because the people who listen to this are really nice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And they'd be great audience members.

Yeah, some of them.

But it's already sold out.

Some of them have already got tickets.

The early worms.

The early dweebs.

Yeah,

all the early dweebs are coming.

Yeah.

Well, you can come and see my show.

I'm sure

I've extended my tour into autumn 2019.

And, you know,

we're going to a lot of places where...

Bold move.

I'm not sure.

It's not a bold move, man.

Bold move extended it.

Look, it's not bold.

And check out my website, edgamble.co.uk.

Oh, I've recorded a special as well, which is available on Amazon.

Thank you.

I have a new book out called Perfect Sound Whatever.

It's about all the albums I bought from 2016 and why 2016 is the greatest year for music of all time.

And also why 2017 was the worst year for life of my life.

That's a very potted little thing there.

That's perfect.

Is that what the publisher's been telling you to say?

Oh, yeah.

Make it snappy, James.

Make sure you subscribe to this podcast.

Tell your friends about it.

Leave it a five-star review.

You have been, as always, wonderful listeners.

And we will see you next time in the Dream Restaurant.

Goodbye.

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 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.