STAR GRAZING

Allen Leech

GRAZING WITH...ALLEN LEECH 

 

GFG: What’s your earliest food memory?

AL: My mum’s coffee mousse, she used to make it for dinner parties when I was a kid.

GFG: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

AL: Kangaroo! I did an around-the-world trip in 1998 and ate kangaroo whilst I was staying in Australia.

GFG: Steak – well done, medium or rare?

AL: Rare, definitely rare.

GFG: Describe your perfect meal.

AL: Starter would be scallops, followed by Lobster ravioli and Chocolate fudge cake for dessert. I’d have it in a farmhouse in the Tuscan hills, with Oliver Reed and Richard Harris for pure entertainment, JFK for political stimulation, Sinatra for some tunes and Natalie Portman for the view! 

GFG: What’s your favourite restaurant?

AL: The Fat Duck in Bray. I love Heston Blumenthal’s passion for food and the innovative and unique way he presents it. The atmosphere there is just intoxicating- the whole thing is a total sensory experience, and the surrounding area is absolutely enchanting.

Allen Leech plays chauffeur Tom Branson in ITV series Downton Abbey


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GRAZING WITH… DEIRDRE O’KANE

GFG: What your earliest food memory?
DOK: When my mother first put parmesan cheese on spaghetti bolognese - it smelled like vomit. I remember asking myself why anyone would do that to good pasta. I love it now, of course, but I'll always connect the two.



Deirdre O'Kane



GFG: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

DOK: Probably kangaroo when I was in Australia. I hated it.

GFG: Steak – well done, medium or rare?

DOK: Medium

GFG: What’s your idea of the perfect meal?

DOK: Crab claws to start, followed by spaghetti vongole with a very good white wine. For pudding, hot chocolate fondant, soft in the middle and with vanilla ice cream on the side.

GFG: What’s your favourite restaurant?

The River Café in West London. It's my local and it's always got a great atmosphere and wonderful food.

Deirdre O'Kane is an Irish stand-up comic and actress

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 GRAZING WITH...TRISH DESEINE

GFG: Trish, what's your earliest food memory?

TD: Over Bistoed minced beef, HP sauce and blue potatoes with salty Irish butter on our farm in Co. Antrim.



Trish Deseine



GFG:  What's the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

TD: Deep fried maggots in Beijing. They tasted like chicken.

GFG: Describe the perfect meal?

TD: With a lover in my old apartment. Drinking Icy Jacques Selosse champagne, lardo di colonnata, Maison de la Truffe truffle ravioli with cream and, much later, figs. I can taste everything.

GFG: What's your favourite restaurant?

TD: Corrigan's Mayfair. The man's a genius.


Trish Deseine is a Paris-based food writer and chocolatier.