Espresso: Rory Sutherland vs. Oísin Rogers - Chinese vs. Indian

0:00Yes, yes, people. So, The Hungry Reading List is here. Right? If you listen to the podcast regularly, you know I love reading. I think books are the most beautiful thing in the world. As Stephen King said, they're teleportable magic or something like that. these books I whittled down my gargantuan bookshelf into 46 absolute 30 bangers the link is in the show notes to get the list whatever and it'll also make you a subscriber to our weekly newsletter which I think is sick so yeah get your fucking books buddy

0:33this is why I think KFC is superior to McDonald's okay because McDonald's is kind of fascistic it's de registe this is what you eat and this is how you eat it with the kfc you can kind of mix the gravy up with the fries and everything else okay and halim akbari at a much more elevated level you get little bowls of chili little bowls of ground ginger little bowls of this and you can basically sprinkle it on and vary the flavoring because the personalization increases perceived value isn't it yeah yeah because that's i you know i told you the marketing director of nando's in oz interviewed him the other week he was basically saying half their genius is the personalization.

1:09You go there and each dish, we could all order a half chicken, but we go up to that little fucking station and there's all our different bits and it increases the... That's one of their genius. That's why I love a curry because you can just fucking you get so many different little varieties of... It's combinatory. I totally agree with that. You get variable reinforcement stimulus, which is more interesting. I know every bit of podcast that we ever hear of Rory he always talks about Indian food being your favourite and the best iteration of restaurant food in the UK and of course you're right you've mentioned Gymkhana and Virashwami and Ambassadors Clubhouse but I think that Chinese food is better and I think Chinese food is the most underrated cuisine in the UK because there is incredible Chinese food and most people never get to try it.

2:10That's kind of true. It's actually, you're right. I don't think it's as good as Indian, so I'm not going to accept that. I knew you were a good one. But when you say it's underrated, I think that's fair. Because it became slightly naff through ubiquity and through... Yeah, that's fair, actually. No, I think... Actually, I mean, there probably is scope for someone to actually effectively do a dishoom on Chinese food. There's no doubt about that. What do you think we get? So you said most people in Britain will never get to try it. Where's good to go? What are the misconceptions about Chinese food, in your opinion?

2:49I think the barrier to going into a Chinese is weirdly high because you see these great big menus. So while you know, as a customer, what Singapore noodles is and what beef chow mein is and what dim sum is. You go in there and you can be kind of... There's too much information. There's too many things quite often to choose. And if you go into regional stuff, you might know a couple of bits and you might know what to order. But if you look at the regional menus, whether it's the Sichuan or the jian or... Is Sichuan just a region or is it a spice? it's both then you start seeing things you don't quite understand and there's words you don't get and then you feel a little bit I'm not sure the choice architecture is a total fuck up I would say it is because it's for people who know but most people don't know and I think that's a slight barrier to entry but then when you do find one that you love and you like and you know the dishes that you like and you go back again it's the best restaurant in the world I've got a couple down here that I just absolutely...

4:01I'm still in Queensway. Do you remember that one in Queensway, which used to have fish painted on the window? It's there, because my mate, I don't know if the names escape me, but my mate went for his leaving due. Do you want my most depressing story? So we've just been to Marks and Spencer's in Whiteley's. This is years ago, with my wife. And we walked past that restaurant. She said, oh, should we go in and go and eat there? Well, no, we just bought all this Marks and Spencer's food. So we went home, ate the Marks and Spencer's food. 20 minutes later, bloody Marlon Brando went in. In fact, that was his favourite Chinese restaurant in London.

4:32Now, I think we can confidently say that Marlon probably knew his food. The late Marlon Brando probably knew how to eat. What would you say are the best Chinese restaurants in London?

4:43The best. Well, like the ones that you frequent the most. The ones I like the best. I mean, Dumpling's Legend on J.I. Street is absolutely fabulous. Really, really good. there's a number of four seasons around the place, there's one famously in the Hippodrome, there's one on Gerard Street but the one on Wardour Street, just down from O 'Neill's, for some reason tastes a million times better than all of them and the Singapore noodles in there, the down new with garlic on the Sichuan chicken, the one with all the chillies and the cloud mushrooms and the lotus root, absolutely sensational and they do the barbecue duck as well and rice with that amazing rich sauce on top and you know i just i went i could eat it all the time i went to have you been to beer and noodles oh it's great yeah you like this rory's they've got their you know that you'll do one thing well they've got this hero product which is essentially like a bowl of noodles and they bring up this fuck off big beef shit yeah actually they pull it at the table and they slice it with a pair of scissors and it goes into a dish but it's like but the noodles like thick fat noodles and then it's just beer.

5:50It's such a simple concept. Why is there a foe trend where laxer is much better? What's the thing on there? Malaysian food's underrepresented, isn't it? There's a brilliant relation down here. Oh, right, okay. Come back to me in a second. But of course, you asked me about the best Chinese. Of course, it's Andrew Wong. It's A Wong. I mean, he's just absolutely delicious. I like the good earth, too, but I think that's kind of like Wei Cho's of Chinese food. It is, yeah. It's all the stuff you recognise and it's done well. That's the best way of putting it, the way it shows the Chinese food. My neighbour in Deal said in the late 1960s, he was an ad guy, kind of in the Madman era, and he said in the 1960s, he said there were two questions that were important, which is Indian or Chinese and Beatles or Stones.

6:40And he always believed the correct answer was Indian and Stones. But anyway, we can... What would yours be on that? Yeah, I'd probably, I'd probably, I have to confess, I'd probably be Indian and Stones. Wow, that's right, because I would definitely be Chinese and Beatles. You'd be Chinese and Beatles, interesting. I'm Indian and Beatles, yeah. You're Indian and Beatles, okay, right. Yes, yes, people, we're trying to make Hungary into the most valuable food and drink business podcast on planet Earth, but I really need your help. I want to make this podcast so valuable for you to help you grow your business faster, stronger, better, have way more fun.

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