(mumbling)
(plates clattering)
(upbeat music)
- Hello, welcome to the channel.
- Today. I'm hungry.
So I've asked our normal home cooks Jamie and Barry,
to shop local and buy me lunch.
Hopefully they can find something delicious, new, exciting
and most of all
that celebrates London's diverse food scene.
- And then they say the fame hasn't gone to his head.
- There's gonna be three rounds.
Round number one, story.
I want a dish with a talking point.
Two, Instagram ability.
You are gonna vote on which dish you think is most enticing.
And three, originality.
Hopefully to find a dish that I've never tried
or possibly even heard of before.
- That's a challenge.
- I'm going straight for a big mac.
- (chuckles)
I know he's not had one of those before.
- I'm gonna give you some time to research.
A £50 budget each.
Off you go.
- Speny, £100 on a lunch mate. Look at you!
(exciting music)
The thing with Ebbers is everyone thinks he
knows everything including himself.
- Yes. Find something that Ebbers has never eaten before.
"Oh , I've eaten everything".
(exciting music)
- I've got one solid idea.
The others are sketchy.
- Instagram category,
completely depends on what turns up and how it turns up.
- Oh, it's lethal.
(upbeat music)
Let's get started this first round isn't easy.
Jamie, you're up first. Tell us your story.
- Ebbers you love a story, please lift the cloche.
- (chuckles) - What the?
(camera clicking)
- What you have in front of you is cevapcici.
This is considered to be the national dish
of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Romania.
- [Barry] What?
- [Jamie] And Serbia.
- They all share one national dish?
- Yes. This is an incredibly popular street food item
in the Balkans.
Which is kind of Southeast Europe, fairly recent invention,
they reckon around 1860 or so from Serbia.
The guy reformed Serbian hamburgers
into the kofta shape and became incredibly successful.
People started asking them all times of the day and night
even for breakfast, is how the story goes.
- I have no idea how you're supposed to eat it.
The fact that it's on a flatbread,
part of me just wants
to roll the whole thing up. - Yeah.
(chuckles)
- And yet picking around the different bits.
Those little koftery things with three different meats.
Delicious.
- Would you say that they're quite moist?
- They've got a lot of the, the fat.
So I think the fattiness
of the three different meats comes through
but there's also a really fiery kick from that red sauce,
which is slightly different to that red sauce
which is I think the aubergine one, right?
- That'll be the aubergine and paprika.
I think the,
the fiery one will be the extra chilli sauce
that I ordered for it.
- Oh, gotcha.
Yeah. A standard Jamie move.
(exciting music)
- It pays to all the senses, I like it.
- And just so you know, the pedigree of this dish,
this was produced by the Hungry Tummy.
- [Ben] Sounds like I've eat-
(camera flashing clicks)
- Place in London that specialises
in Eastern European cuisine.
I thought that would be perfect
for you.
In your face, your turn!
What's your story?
- Interesting approach.
- I love it. I love a national dish.
I'd not heard of that one.
It's super tasty.
I learned a lot.
- Ben, please left your cloche.
- Dish number two.
(rock music)
- There you go.
That's exactly the reaction I was looking for.
- [Ben] Whoa!
- In front of you, you have a starter, a main and a side
of a focaccia.
Open them up and tell us what you find.
- You know I'm a fan of things on sticks,
but I'm also a fan of things in jars.
- Interesting!
(camera clicking)
These jars are from Gado, founded in London.
They're on a mission to offer the best Italian gastronomy,
wherever you are.
(camera clicking)
Think of it as a celebration of Italian excellence.
So first off you've got a wild boar bresaola, and secondly
you have a vitello tonnato.
They all come cold.
And because this is a takeaway only restaurant.
And it's all pre-made in the jars every day.
So it's almost like a cole slaw at the bottom of that.
(jar thumping)
- You've gotten coleslaw and cold meat.
- [Barry] Exactly
- Good. I mean, it's for Ben though, not me.
- With some bread. I mean,
this is basic like picnic ready to go.
But as a packed lunch,
suddenly this becomes super interesting.
- Now please dig into the main
because this was completely new to me.
It's veal on a tuna mayo.
(giggles)
Essentially, like, are you aware of this?
- I've only had it at Angelina's.
The restaurant in Dawson that fuses Italian
and Japanese food.
- It's then topped with apple and sultana.
To give it more sweetness as well.
- And the veal
is served deliciously pink.
- So as you can tell, when it comes to Italian food,
this is fine ish dining in a jar.
Which is somewhat unusual.
And again, the reason that jumped out to me was these jars.
There's so much plastic,
when ordering takeaways.
These jars are obviously reusable.
You'd keep them for yourself using them for other things.
But actually once you've got 20 of them,
you can then return them
and get a discount off your next order.
- So what's the story?
- The story is the jars.
That was the story.
- I introduced it as a talking point.
I said, a category as a story.
- Oh, sorry.
And that's the end of the story.
- (laughs loudly) - That help?
(laughs loudly)
- I feel like,
that in itself is a brand new story to me.
It's a place that I've never been.
It's a national dish I've never tried.
It's absolutely delicious.
This one, the food is delicious again,
but it's so unique 'cause in the jars that
it takes it to a completely different comparison.
Both great stories.
The one that captivated me more,
is the salad jars.
Because they're delicious and unique.
I need to order it several more times
so I've got enough jars to return them.
(rock music)
- Time to claw it back.
Ebbers,
open it up.
- Instagram ability.
- Ooh.
(camera clicking) - Ebbers what we have here
is a baklava ice cream sandwich.
I've got you your favourite, pistachio gelato.
Biscoff baklava and pistachio baklava,
and some vanilla gelato as well.
- Wow.
- I also like the fact, if you're pronouncing baklava wrong,
you've said it wrong about five times.
- Baklava!.
Well it's also it's made by the baklava company.
So let's hope-
- You've been saying "backlarva" until I said baklava.
- Oh no you're kidding.
- (chuckles)
- It's baklava!
- So we should stress
that this round isn't up to me to vote.
- You are currently voting on which one your favourite is.
The one that you would entice you to eat the most.
But in the meantime, we're gonna look at them, taste them.
Ben's gonna decide what he would've picked.
- It's irrelevant.
- You're in charge.
- Flavours wise, I'm excited.
- Both crispy and chewy, all in one.
- So this is from the baklava company,
they've been there layering there since 2016.
And people have been loving their baklava.
Either from the store or getting them delivered.
- These have all the textures that you love of baklava,
but then they've been hit round the head
with loads of really new quirky flavours.
And by new, I mean kind of trending flavours, Biscoff.
I would almost like to say that's almost Oreo.
I don't know if it is.
With a drizzle of chocolate.
- Basic.
(beep)
- It's the Instagram round.
- I know.
And you've got Biscoff and Oreo.
- Let's see if it pays off.
- It looks filth.
- As you can imagine,
their photography has sent these crazy on Instagram.
We will wait to find out whether my photography
has the same effect.
- A great choice,
because it's not something I eat very often.
And every time I have baklava I always go,
why don't I eat this more often?
And then this,
is a real indulgent twist on that.
That makes it arguably a bit more accessible
to people who don't know what baklava is.
This might entice me to try that
and the classic flavours.
The gelato also delicious.
- I'm nervous now.
Ebbers, lift the cloche.
- Ooh.
- Now I have simultaneously taken a risk
by playing it safe.
These are from Laduree,
which is a very well established French patisserie.
I went with them
cause I know they make the prettiest macarons around.
And I got the most flamboyant thing on their menu.
(camera clicking)
Soft macaron with fresh berries
and an icing inside.
Classic,
punchy in visuals.
And I was thinking the colour, the elegance,
would get me the views.
- While this is kind of all the shades
of golden and beige and brown.
This is striking.
But also I hear you, perhaps a little obvious.
- It is obvious,
but sometimes give the people what they want
- Texture wise, perfect for a macaron, lovely.
(exciting music)
Both photos were uploaded to Instagram
without any reference to whose was whose.
Or even what the challenge was.
The only question was: which is the most enticing?
It has been live for a period of time.
- Well Ebbers why don't we get your opinion
on who you would give the point to?
And then we'll find out the real winner.
- Sat here with these in front of me.
I know which one catches my eye initially
and that is the brighter colour.
But I also know which one kind of entices me
in with curiosity and the one that I would be enticed
to go back for more of.
Should we look at the results?
I'm nerve, I'm really nervous.
If I get this, I'll take the win.
- With 65% of the votes.
- Oh!
- So pretty much two thirds.
- Not quite a landslide, but.
- You guys have said that the most enticing dish is..
(drums roaring)
- (giggles)
- [Ben] Jamie'. - (laughs loudly)
- The baklava wins it.
And most of the comments we're saying,
too obvious.
Whereas people saying that looks really cool
and I absolutely want to try it.
- Barry, how many times is one of my photos beaten yours?
- That wasn't the photography challenge!
- Well, how many times- - That was enticing foods.
- has one of my photos-
- I took a risk.
It went wrong! - beaten one of yours
in a challenge?
(upbeat music)
- One point each, which means it's all still to play for
as we dive into the unknown.
- Speaking of the unknown Ebbers,
please lift my cloche.
- [Barry] Your cloche?
- My cloche.
- What's those? - (chuckles)
- That didn't under the cloche.
(upbeat music)
(scribbling screeches)
- Whoa.
(sniffs)
What is that?
- [Barry] I don't know.
- Ebbers full out originality round.
I would like to take you to Nigeria.
- [Ben] I've never been.
- And I would like to serve you ogbono soup.
(camera clicking)
Otherwise known as draw soup,
which is served with pounded yam.
(camera clicks)
- Wow. So I have no idea what this dish is,
what these various bouncy parts are,
or what gives it that consistency.
- So it's known as draw soup because of the viscosity of it.
It sits somewhere in between a soup and a stew.
- Yeah.
- It's made with ogbono seeds. It's like wild mango seeds.
- Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- And the meat, I have chosen for you,
is mixed meat.
- It is the most unique consistency.
- [Jamie] Yeah. - I have ever seen.
It's almost stringy like cheese,
but part gelatinous bone marrow-y.
- It's like slim.
- [Ben] Possibly mucus like.
- [Barry] (laughs loudly)
- I don't know I can't get, I dunno how to get it enough
on the spoon to be able to try it.
Cheers!
- (chuckles)
- It's spicy.
- [Barry] (laughs loudly)
- That's a grower.
You know when you order for takeaway menu,
it sometimes gives you a guidance
of how many chilli next to it.
- (giggles)
- Which one did this have?
Whoa.
- A lot of Nigerian soups and stews
are served with something called a swallow.
And that is the solid part of the meal.
I went for the pounded jams.
This is a white yam.
The brown skin of the raw yam is sliced off with a knife.
The white inner part is boiled until soft.
It's then pounded until it's smooth
with a dough like consistency.
- (giggles)
- Texture is unlike anything I've ever eaten before.
And I'm not great with the gelatinous textures,
but, hey.
- It's a very traditional dish that every family
in every tribe have a different recipe for making it.
Whether they prefer to have vegetables in it or not.
- And for that reason, I absolutely love it.
- What amazes me about this
is that all of these foods are available on our doorstep.
- It's the very reason I love to travel the world
is to try new dishes.
The fact that you don't need to leave home
and you can have dishes like this brought to you.
- So it's from a restaurant called Enish Africa.
They're on Old Kent Road.
They do tonnes of Nigerian recipes
as well as dishes from all over Africa.
- It's fiery, but more than just the spice, it is,
so unlike anything we've ever had before.
And for that reason, I'm a big fan.
(upbeat music)
- Very strong start. You've done it again.
- Whoa.
- [Barry] My turn Ebbers.
- Wipe the sweat from under my eyes
- And please lift the cloche.
- Ooh.
- These are wheelcakes from Wheelcake Island.
Who are based just in Spitalfields.
They're aim was to recreate their Taiwanese childhood
favourite market store treats,
and bring it to London.
So wheelcakes are soft, moist, fluffy,
Taiwanese pancakes,
with creamy fillings in a variety of flavours.
(camera clicking)
You've got a bean paste there.
We've got a chocolate and vanilla
And you've got a cheese version as well.
- Sweet, but not sickly sweet.
I remember having similar in Hiroshima.
- The tricky thing with Ebbers here
is he's done a lot of travelling.
- He's done a lot.
- He's not been to Nigeria and he's not been the Taiwan.
So we're playing it safe.
- All the Balkans.
- All the Balkans, different round.
- Yum. I mean I'm still going 'cause they're all different.
(knife clanking)
And in the spirit of originality and intriguing me,
I am super intrigued.
Oh this is, this is by the different fillings
- [Barry] Chocolate and custard this one?
- Oh that's the red bean.
- Oh red bean.
- Red bean paste is one of those that
on your first taste, you're like, oh, do I like that?
- Yeah.
And then on your second taste, you realise I do like it.
- And then you can't stop.
- And then you can't stop. No.
- For me, the texture of this one with the custard, yummy.
The flavour of the matcha, phenomenal.
And the red bean paste, I kind of I've always liked,
But, in an originality round,
we have had steamed doughs before,
as steamed breads.
And we have had kind of pancakes cooked in a similar vein
but I've never had anything like that.
And although it wasn't my favourite thing I've eaten today,
under the category of originality,
I love that we got to try it.
So my winner
for the originality round is Nigerian stew and pounded yam.
- (hand claps thumping)
Well played. Well played.
- Such an experience.
- You got a great technique in these games.
I've gotta learn-
- What winning?
Yeah. - No, no!
- Yeah
- Providing you didn't overspend on your £50 budget.
Jamie will take the win two to one.
Baz what did you spend?
- £45.50.
- Not including delivery and Jay.
- £49.51.
- Oh!
- Oh, You spent well too.
- 50 quid for lunch.
(chuckles)
- [Both] Hundreds hundred quid for lunch.
- You happy?
- Told you I was hungry,
but granted a hundred pounds maybe little spend-y for lunch.
But as always,
all the food will be shared with the rest of the team
as soon as the cameras stop rolling.
- But for now it's over to you in the comments.
Like me and Ben ,
do you agree that I had the best dishes?
Comment down below.
Let us know, have you tried any of these?
Which ones intrigued you the most?
- Right? I'm in the seat next.
That's it.
My turn to have a hundred quid spent on me.
(beep)
- We could also ordered a fufu, but I decided not to.
That's casa-va or cassava,
depending on how you want to pronounce it.
- See that's what my wife calls her. Nevermind.
(chuckles loudly)
- I went, went for pounded yams also something your, nope.
(laughs loudly)
- Well played, well played sir.
- Well that just fell into my lap.
- That was great.