Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware

It’s a foodie dream today with our next guest, chef and entrepreneur Meera Sodha. Author of the new vegetarian & vegan cookbook ‘Dinner’, Meera joined us for lunch bringing an absolutely delicious freshly baked honey cake with her! We discovered that Meera learned to cook from her lovely mum who grew up in Uganda, how she became a columnist for the Guardian magazine, her varied (and wild!) past careers, setting up her own dating agency 'Fancy an Indian?’(!), how she started writing cookbooks with the help of a smoothie company, and the fabulous story of how she met her husband (it’s like a Netflix romcom). Plus, she really gives Nigel Slater a run for his money with her incredible ways of describing food. Meera’s new vegan and vegetarian cookbook ‘Dinner’ is available to buy now.

We have Irish acting royalty joining us this week - and my new best friend - the fabulous Saoirse Ronan! We managed to grab lunch with Saoirse in the midst of promo for 2 incredible film projects, Steve McQueen’s Blitz & her very own The Outrun. Fresh from her viral appearance on Graham Norton, Saoirse told us all about growing up between NYC and Ireland, her iconic mum Monica, her love of Vegemite & Barry’s Tea, how she met her husband, being on film sets from a very young age and all about the joint love her family have for John Travolta. Plus, mum surprises us all this week with an epic version of the story of Skimbleshanks, who knew she was hiding that talent?! And who needs her on a new audiobook reading?? We absolutely adored having Saoirse join us, you really won’t want to miss either of the films she is currently starring in - The Outrun is available to buy & rent now, and Blitz will be released on Apple TV+ on 22nd November.

This week we have our favourite Bostonian comedy actor joining us for lunch at mine, and what a treat it was! Mum was over the moon to have the ‘dazzlingly handsome’ Rob in front of her, and - over an absolutely delish Nigel Slater peach and poached chicken salad - we heard all of his hilarious and heartwarming stories. He told us about meeting his wife at a summer camp 20 years ago, joining an olive oil club with his next door neighbour, working with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the horrendous food poisoning he got from a dodgy oyster, and we’ve found another Table Manners guest with a penchant for a cold water swim! Rob is not only a fabulous actor, but also a great cook apparently - we’re coming round for a chicken noodle soup soon! Rob is currently staring in Bad Monkey which is available to stream now on Apple TV+.

On the pod this week, we welcome the legendary Gary Barlow! In between early morning studio sessions and tour rehearsals, Gary stopped by my house to share some brilliant stories — from his days on the road with Take That, where he and the band indulged in the infamous “King Naan” curry competition, to the comforts of home, like his mum’s classic chicken and mushroom pie. On the menu is a recipe I’ve never made before, from the Sunlight & Breadcrumbs recipe book by Renee Erickson & Sara Dickerman - mum is obsessed! Scrambled eggs with radicchio, parmesan and balsamic with @dustyknucklebakery focaccia and for pud, the banana bread from the Table Manners cookbook.Gary opened up about his journey into winemaking, his love of good food, wine and the perfect juicer (he loves a daily shroom smoothie). He even let us in on his rider staples and reminisced about listening to music with King Charles. Gary’s new ITV series Gary Barlow's Wine Tour: South Africa starts from 11th Nov. ‎Join us for a one off special live recording with Choose Love at The Union Chapel in Islington on December 2nd - more information here

I’m a housewives fan - well, if I’m being honest, I have been religiously loyal to Beverley Hills and now the reboot of NYC, however I knew this would be a biggy for any Real Housewives fan. So I put in the work of consuming 13 series of RHONYC to learn about the one, the only Countess Luann. And goodness me, I’m glad I did!There’s many firsts on this episode: having a Countess on, having one of my friends come over to listen, and also having to nip out mid recording for a daughters school choir performance due to our dear Luanne being rather tardy (‘the traffic was awful’ – that’s the effect of a housewife!)The iconic singer, model, etiquette pro, author & TV personality came over to New Cross looking fabulous in, well, of course Jovani! I fed her some boiled chicken (more delicious than it sounds) & mum made a strudel.She told us all about her friendship with Tilda Swindon, her love of caviar on a potato, her parents regimented sex life & whilst I had to pop out, Luann chatted to mum about growing up as a family of 7 (!) in Connecticut. This was a wild one but a GREAT one! Enjoy!Luann’s upcoming show ‘Countess Cabaret’ comes to the UK in February – tickets are on sale now. you don’t want to miss it. It was Chic, C’est la Vie, C’est Bon x

On the podcast this week, it’s the man that does it all, funny man Jason Manford!The fellow Mancunian popped over to Clapham for a lunch of lamb meatballs with Turkish rice & a plum shortcake tart thanks to a delicious Nigel Slater recipe! (@Nigelslater please join us on TM soon). Jason chats to us about family life with 6 children, his break into comedy, his love of Billy Joel & the importance of an ice cream maker & a can opener.Jason's UK tour runs until October 2025, go get a ticket, you don’t wanna miss it: jasonmanford.com

We threw a little dinner party for the launch of our brand new series! We ate at our friends Honey&Co as it’s one of our favourite restaurants and the food is absolutely divine. Thank you to Casamigos for providing the most delicious Palomas and Margarita cocktails! And thank you to the Soho Hotel for letting us get ready in such a gorgeous hotel room. What a treat to spend the evening making new friends and listening to new stories. Here’s to Series 17!

Season 17 is off to a brilliant start and this week we have the gorgeous Finneas joining us for lunch at mums on his flying 48 hour visit to the UK. This episode was recorded post mum’s birthday celebrations and she partied so hard she lost her voice… Finneas is part of a prolific songwriting duo with his sister Billie Eilish and he joined us to talk about his brand new solo album project. We also learned all about his favourite food spots in LA, his love of musical theatre, the orange birthday cake his mum used to make him and he does a phenomenal impression of TM’s friend Benny Blanco! Mum also tried to send him all the way to New York with an opened tub of coconut yoghurt and left over guacamole… of course. Finneas' new album ‘For Cryin’ Out Loud’ is out now. He will also be touring worldwide through 2025.

Season 17! We’re back! We couldn’t kick off the brand new series without an icon joining us, and who better than the excellent Gillian Anderson. Gillian joined us to talk about her new book ‘Want’, all about sexual fantasies… not a conversation I thought mum & I would ever have. We also heard about the tuna fish casserole with crisps her mum made her while growing up, playing Blanche Dubois, her favourite green jello thanksgiving side dish (it’s giving Ghostbusters!), the future of The Fall and she teaches us all about her G Spot! Gillian, thank you being our dream guest to kick off an epic series and for navigating us through our sexual fantasies! Gillian’s new book ‘Want’ is available now.