Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster

Best of 2025: Part 1

Release Date: December 29, 2025
Podcast Hosts: Ed Gamble & James Acaster
Production: Plosive

Episode Overview

The "Best of 2025: Part 1" episode offers a hilarious and heartwarming curation of Off Menu's most memorable guest moments this year. True to tradition, Ed and James introduce favorite clips from a dazzling roster of comedians, actors, sporting legends, and culinary personalities, all sharing their dream menus and anecdotes in the Dream Restaurant. This year, the annual round-up is delivered with playful self-parody, in particular lampooning their behind-the-scenes scriptwriting process, and features standout segments about water preferences, iconic food memories, bizarre starter requests, and some all-time giggle-inducing tangents.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Classic Still or Sparkling Water Debate

00:06–40:00

• Recurring opening segment where guests reveal deeply-held water preferences—always leading to robust, and sometimes absurd, debate.
  • Daisy Ridley opts for "Still, please. Very to the point. I struggle to understand sparkling water." (09:32)
  • Ed, James, and Daisy joke about sparkling water enthusiasts being "psychopaths" and spiral into an impromptu investigation of elderflower cordial as perhaps a "gendered" drink.
  • Emily Campbell: "Water in general is just not the nicest, really. I'm a squash person." (19:11)
  • Hilarious sidebar about drinking from the bathroom tap versus kitchen tap, the odd taste "metallic", and the sham rituals guests have around hydration.
  • Sally Phillips recounts using a website “Mineral Waters of the World”—then digresses into ghost lore via Japanese water demons and cucumbers with names carved in for protection.

Notable Quote:
"If you drink sparkling water, you're a psychopath."
— Daisy Ridley (10:24)

• Rod Gilbert stands up for sparkling, tying it emotionally to cancer treatment:

"Everything's disgusting, except sparkling water. That kind of got me through." (38:11) - Leads into a 15-year-long running song:
> "Fizzy water, it is good."
(Rod & Sian, 41:50)

2. Dream Drinks: Pinot Grigio to Lychee Martini

52:00–1:13:00

• Clips highlight how dream drinks can be as pivotal and playful as any solid dish.
  • Joanne McNally:
    "A huge Pinot Grigio. Ice cold. It's the only thing I'll send back if it’s not cold—I'm like, practically a sommelier." (54:12)
    • Epic tales of touring, Prosecco sell-outs, and crowdsurfing with fans post-show.
  • Daisy Ridley reveals a complex relationship with wine (allergy!) and opts for "a lychee martini, quite sweet, not too alcoholic." (1:08:00)
  • Sally Phillips fantasizes about a magic home-brewed-in-the-gin-room drink, perhaps with "glitter," perhaps color-changing—but definitely delicious.

3. Foodie Tales & Unexpected Recipes

1:19:00–1:59:00

• Memorable food stories and new snack hacks abound.
  • Santiago Lustra paints a slow-roast Patagonian lamb:
    "You cook it close to the bonfire. You press the skin, when it’s crispy you feel, you hear the crackling. When you pull it out, all the juices...” (1:19:30)
  • Anthony Perovski is "a little slut for caviar," but also loves a hamburger-helper-style homemade mac-and-cheese.
  • John Early shares a “manchovy crostini” recipe: crusty bread, thick butter, Calabrian chilli marinated anchovy, shallots, parsley, lemon, parmesan:

  "When they see you assemble it, they're always like, 'OK with the butter... shut up.' Trust me." (1:47:19)

  • Carey Mulligan: Simple but transformative home food:
    "Burnt vegetables. Butternut squash, roasted almost charred, feta cheese, avocado, bold beans, pine nuts. Loads of dressing. Bowls of that. That's fantastic." (1:52:35)
  • Hilarity around gym snacks, "medjool dates" and debate whether bananas "go straight to your legs."

4. Weird, Wonderful, and Unconventional Choices

2:10:00–2:30:00

• Ian Smith's starter: “salmon, haggis, and saffron risotto” (dubbed “McAuliffe Surprise”, saffron being the surprise)
• Moan Rizwan: Greatest food pleasure? “Cheese scrapings from the edge of a lasagna dish, served on a massive fine-dining plate with garnish.”
• Nina Conti's dream: Picking fresh, pink pistachios straight from a tree grown in the restaurant.
• Comic riffs on pot noodle sandwiches, and a festival memory:

"Where else do you get to go in the big thing and come out with a little version of the big thing?"

5. Live Show Highlights and National Treasures

2:31:00–2:56:00

• Rod Gilbert describes humble culinary origins:

  "Spaghetti Bolognese? In my house growing up, that was a tin of tomato soup, a tin of corned beef...” (2:31:54)

  • "Family Hold Back" (FHB) at mealtimes when guests visit.
• Julian Clary's childhood stew trauma and the story of mum scraping a hot stew down dad’s shirt.
• Self Esteem's dessert: Six Mr. Kipling cherry bakewells, decanted and microwaved, served with finest vanilla bean custard from a carton. All about the nostalgic ritual.

6. The A-List Era: Global Icons at the Dream Restaurant

2:56:00–3:24:00

• Jeff Goldblum:
  • Reflects on food as social event, kids’ barista skills, and the acting craft of eating on-screen.

  "Some of my favorite eating experiences... was not even real practice. You're an actor, but you're always learning." (3:01:12)

  • Shares trivia: “an antimacassar is like a doily for your couch.”
• Gillian Anderson:
  • Ed’s wife adored her at age 9.
  • Reminisces about desserts and X-Files fan reactions.
• Kate Winslet:
  • Fights the "corset Kate" label, lauds Eternal Sunshine, tells wild improvisational stories from its making.
  • Talks about food memories—a doorstop-sized oatmeal-raisin cookie with coffee in Montauk is indelibly linked to filming.

7. The Robert De Niro Interview

3:24:00–3:40:00

• A coup for the podcast: De Niro is candid and relaxed.
  • Shares war stories from filming (The Deer Hunter risking river rapids and helicopters) and eating cobra meat.
  • His poppadoms/bread answer: "I'm easy. I like whatever they put in front of me, as long as it's good."
  • On restaurant habits: enjoys ordering several desserts to split; admits to nibbling off everyone else’s plate, even his kids’: "At this point, I just do it...”
  • Long-running joke about "cat nipple ice cream" and Ed’s fixation with Meet the Parents quotes.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Daisy Ridley:
  "If you drink sparkling water, you're a psychopath." (10:24)

• Ed & Sally Phillips (On elderly pleasure):
  "My gran said, 'At my age, you don’t need to give anything up. I have my pleasures and that’s what I like, you know?'" (12:40)

• Rod Gilbert & Sian, on cancer and fizzy water:
  "Fizzy water, it is good—fifteen years we've been doing that." (41:50)

• Joanne McNally:
  "I'm 41, James. I look, because I love gigging so much... Even I was like, wow, I’m going again. It’s crazy. And I feel great." (1:00:39)

• John Early (on crostini):
  "Every time you assemble it, they're always like, 'OK with the butter... shut up.' Trust me." (1:47:19)

• Chris McCausland:
  "I used to love a pot noodle sandwich... Spoon it onto the white bread, don’t even butter it, just fold it over." (2:26:00)

• Jeff Goldblum:
  "Now you brought up another... that’s a portal into another subject. The craft of acting and depicting real life. I could tell you a lot about that..." (3:04:00)

• Robert De Niro (on poppadoms or bread):
  "I'm easy. I like whatever they put in front of me, as long as it's good." (3:27:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:06–40:00 – Still or sparkling water compilations, from Daisy Ridley to Rod Gilbert’s song
• 52:00–1:13:00 – Dream drinks: Pinot Grigio (Joanne McNally) to lychee martini (Daisy Ridley)
• 1:19:00–1:59:00 – Best foodie stories and “food as ritual”: Santiago Lustra’s lamb, John Early’s crostini, Carey Mulligan’s vegetables
• 2:10:00–2:30:00 – Wildest menu choices, cheese scrapings, pistachio trees, pot noodle sandwiches
• 2:31:00–2:56:00 – Live show moments, growing up on corned beef and "family hold back", Self Esteem’s bakewells
• 2:56:00–3:24:00 – Global icons: Goldblum, Anderson, Winslet
• 3:24:00–3:40:00 – Robert De Niro’s epic guest spot

Structure of Guest Menus & Off-Menu Rituals

• Each guest chooses: starter, main, side, dessert, drink
• Recurring fun: "Poppadoms or bread?" debate, “Still or sparkling?”, surprise ingredient, water preference philosophy
• Cheeky off-shoots: napkin color politics, gym snack debates, the most tragic/nostalgic tastes
• Dream Restaurant allows anything: the weird, the magical, the nostalgic, the impossible (giant pot noodle restaurants, pistachio trees at the table, dream drinks invented by genies)

Final Jokes & Self-Referential Fun

• James and Ed openly admit to how the show’s changed them (“the weather’s great up here,” Ed jokes about becoming posh).
• Guests surprise themselves—Self Esteem forgets which podcast she’s on:
  "Do you have a food podcast?"
• Joanne McNally's epic own-goal:
  "Do you have a food podcast, Sam?" (3:40:22)

Summary

This "Best of 2025: Part 1" distills the anarchic, affectionate, and uninhibited energy of Off Menu at its peak, with British wit and comforting chaos. The episode is as much about what connects us through food as it as about individual quirks—rituals, childhood nostalgia, world travels, health kicks, and plain daftness. With a parade of A-list guests and cult-favorite comedians alike, Off Menu closes the year with unmissable stories about menus, memories, mishaps, and the magic only food (and laughter) can conjure.

To explore: Catch Part 2 for more chaos, cuisine, and comedy from the Off Menu Dream Restaurant.