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Episode 130 - ADHD & Restaurants: Food Theft, Fringes and Plate Boundaries
45 Plays13 days ago
Ever sat down at a restaurant, looked at the menu, and felt your brain short-circuit? 🍝⚡
Welcome back to ADHDville. We’re your ex-mayors, Martin and Paul—two neurodivergent idiots who planned to record a serious episode about the chaos of ADHD life… and then immediately got derailed by Easter eggs, chocolate economics, and the emotional trauma of someone stealing food off your plate.
In this episode, we dive fork-first into the glorious, overstimulating, borderline-traumatic experience of eating out with an ADHD brain. From the horror of an over-attentive waiter (yes, the one with the fringe dangling in your beef Wellington) to the deep psychological battle of sharing crisps (spoiler: we don’t), and why a three-Michelin-star spaghetti bolognese costs €80 but somehow ruins your life.
We also tackle:
🍽️ Why “I’ll have the lot” is a valid order.
👀 The silent judgment of couples on phones (while texting each other).
🧠 Food snobs, corked wine power moves, and the one dish that decides if a restaurant lives or dies.
Plus: a quiz where Martin guesses which sweets Paul didn’t buy, which 12-inch vinyl he’s ashamed of, and whether he really wiped out an entire family of sea urchins in Greece.
It’s chaotic. It’s relatable. It’s ADHD in a restaurant booth. Pull up a pork scratching and press play. 🍻
🔔 Subscribe for fresh ADHD chaos every Tuesday. Be fucking kind to yourself.
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Transcript
Living in ADHDville: Embracing Chaos
00:00:00
Speaker
Oh, back in the room, mate. Back in the room. Bloody hell. It's a bit yellow. but It's a bit yellow. oh it's a podcast. I forgot. It's a podcast. Yeah, this is this is the point, Martin, when we we suddenly become really slick podcast producers.
00:00:19
Speaker
Who'd have known it? I know. that yeah why we yeah i mean, that that just goes to so show if this is slick, then the rest of our lives... uh our fucking chaos which yeah uh is what this episode is uh all about it's our fucking chaotic adhd life so uh yes so let's go to a place where the distractions are landmarks and the detours are on the main roads welcome to adhdville yeah let's go there Yeah, let's go.
Easter vs Christmas: A Humorous Debate
00:00:48
Speaker
And it's team metal at Easter with the bunnies and the eggs and the bunnies and the eggs and the bunnies and the eggs and the bunnies and the eggs and the little baby Jesus.
00:01:05
Speaker
Right, because this comes out on Tuesday. So Easter would have just gone if you were listening to this fresh, fresh when it comes out.
00:01:20
Speaker
um In a way, Easter should be more important than Christmas because this is when the baby Jesus was born. ah Well, no, that's Christmas.
00:01:31
Speaker
Of course it is. No, I put it the wrong way around. is the other end.
Living Near the Shroud of Turin: A Missed Opportunity?
00:01:37
Speaker
This is where it was huffed to death. this is this is This is where he was put in the cave.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah. And then he came out again. Right. I used to live without knowing it. This is how autistic I am.
00:01:55
Speaker
I used to live in Turin. used to live opposite the museum where they keep the Shroud of Turin. Wow. and And I taught was talking to an Italian and said, oh, where do you live, Paul?
00:02:08
Speaker
In Turin. Oh, I live in such and such. Oh, you mean in front of where the museum is for the Shroud of Turin? What? Really? Yes. know that that if You know, if you don't, anyone doesn't know what the shroud of tune is. It's like it's where the the piece of cloth is supposed to be, where it was like laid on on his face and it left some kind of print. So have you seen it?
00:02:35
Speaker
Have you seen it? Did you go in? I never went in. No, that was way too convenient.
Easter Eggs and Childhood Nostalgia
00:02:41
Speaker
LAUGHTER
00:02:43
Speaker
i would know I would never even think of it even I wouldn't even think of it wouldn't become a debate yeah I mean i was i was talking about Easter the other day and it it occurred to me that well i mean obviously Italy where you live is a very Catholic country so I'm imagining Easter is a BFD it's a yeah big fucking deal Big fucking deal. And literally, I've just come, was watching, having dinner, and at the same time, there was the the Pope in the Vatican having a big-ass meeting with all the cardinals from all around the world. It's impressive.
00:03:32
Speaker
It's impressive. It's a big deal, Easter, in the the Vatican, as it turns out. as it turns out. um I mean, over here, obviously, there's a lot more diversity. So it feels to me more like a sort of a retail event more than that. Of course it is, yeah.
00:03:54
Speaker
But, yeah. and ah let Let's have and a quick conversation about the the the travesty, the the con job. That is the Easter egg chocolate deal.
00:04:09
Speaker
All right. Okay. In terms of quantity of chocolate, normally you'd pay, you know, well, you know, pay chocolate is really expensive now. It's real chocolate. It's quite expensive, right?
00:04:20
Speaker
All of sudden, you make an egg out of it. All of a sudden, it's like $30. Yeah. yeah i was It's a total rip-off. I was remembering when I was a kid, so in the UK, the main thing about Christmas as a kid was that you would wake up on ah Easter Sunday and you would get a load of crisp of Easter eggs, right? Right.
00:04:47
Speaker
you'd get about five or six. I mean, that was my haul, usually. You
Dining with ADHD: Challenges and Etiquette
00:04:53
Speaker
did, mate. got one, if I was lucky. One? I got one. bunch mate and it was like one oh maybe i'm just over over remembering if my but if my brother andrew if you're if you're listening How many Easter eggs did we used to get at Christmas? Perhaps it was like three or four. Maybe you were just more popular with your family than I was. ah
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, i was yeah. was a bit of an outlier. it was ah It was a real shoving chocolate in your face day. really, really was. But those were the days, Martin. Didn't your brother work for Cadbury's?
00:05:34
Speaker
ah Yes, I think so. Something like that. Or he visited the Cadbury's... I think he visited the Cadbury's... remember you telling a story about your brother eating chocolate at the moment that it comes out of...
00:05:51
Speaker
No, but way before we get to see it or even eat it. Right. And it tastes differently. I believe you tell me he ate a Mars bar that was fresh off of the the out of the factory Mars bar making machine. yeah And is yeah, he said it it tastes different and it was and it was great.
00:06:15
Speaker
But yeah, the rest of us mere mortals just don't get into taste fresh Mars. the recipe changed. It's full of palm oil and there's like almost zero chocolate in there at all. Yeah. It's just sugar and palm oil and shit.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yes, that's what I have heard. um Anyway. Anyway. This is, ah so if you if you wonder what the hell this episode is about, it's where... I've forgotten as well.
00:06:45
Speaker
it's ah It's where Paul and I catch up on our ADHD slash ADHD lives. um Yeah. and And this is the point where I say, hello, I'm Paul Thompson. I was diagnosed with the combined... ADH and the D again two and a half years ago.
00:07:04
Speaker
oh Thank you for for getting us back on track. And I'm and Martin West and I was diagnosed with combined ADHD poopy plaster in 2013 and self-diagnosed autistic bastard.
00:07:18
Speaker
It's creeping up to three years since I was diagnosed. Can you believe that? Jesus malode. That's incredible. That's crazy. Incredible. um Yeah. And we are the mayors of ADHDville and oh of the ex-co-mayors, I should say. And we we are sitting here in the yeah in the King's Agitated Head pub in ADHDville where we sit at the back and take care of business. And I think um we're probably just going to stay here.
00:07:49
Speaker
let's take the pen <unk> a supper pint. sup a pint. Yeah. um And have a bag of pork scratchings. Yes. We'll create it later with the acid reflux. kill
00:08:06
Speaker
That's killer. what was always in in impressed by? and And I don't know why this necessarily is. But you'd be sitting there with your mates and you're having a drink and then someone would buy some packets of crisps or chips. Yeah.
00:08:21
Speaker
in in america And then and they would they would open the bag so that it was fully flat. know, like you would just open up and then then somehow open up the sides. And then and then and then the the the the packet that became like a sort of a plate. And then there'd be like a pile of chips in there. This is but this is interesting because I i remember... both This is is a bit of a confession here. I remember watching people do that kind of thing m and and having an element of shame.
00:08:56
Speaker
Oh, no Yeah. Because um I would always think, oh, fuck, that's what it's like to be nice. because i oh yes.
00:09:09
Speaker
Because would be like, no, these are my crystals. Right? Right. right Go and get your own bacon crisps. There was a sketch show done in the UK. It became quite famous. There's this is bloke saying they decide at one point, one evening, to or have a ah takeaway from the Indian restaurant. Right.
00:09:34
Speaker
And the guy says, oh, we're going to have a takeaway from the Indian restaurant. What do you want? He said, I want a chicken booner. I want this. I want with that. i want six naan breads. I want the mint sauce. I want a chicken biryani.
00:09:48
Speaker
um And that's it. Okay. and Then he turned around and said, what what what do you want? Oh, I don't know. maybe ah Maybe you can share some of your chicken biryani. No. He said, no.
00:10:05
Speaker
No. He said, look. this I want to get straight on it because I'm sick and tired of saying, what do you want? And then everyone's saying, oh, I'll have a bit of his. and of And you put it all in the middle. But you all know, in reality, yeah the other stuff isn't going to get any touch and everyone wants my fucking chicken biryani.
00:10:26
Speaker
Fuck off. Fuck off. So when I used to see people like get the packet of peanuts or the crisps and open it up, and I would think,
00:10:37
Speaker
Is he doing that just to provoke me? you know what i mean? Just to say you're a really stingy person. I feel i not bad because, oh, I can't do that. I can't share my crisps.
00:10:53
Speaker
That's way beyond me. They're too precious. Oh, God. I mean, mate, you know what? it's we We can't be the only ones. And I think ADHD and autism has something to do with it, where if you're out in a restaurant and you're ordering food...
00:11:13
Speaker
And you know that you like that food and it's going to be the only food that you eat. And then you're like, no, no, no, I'm not sharing this. And you have um and you have to like have that conversation. It's like, oh, are we ordering like to share the table? Yes. are we just doing our own? Because, you know, I'm just saying that what I order, i'm I'm just eating.
00:11:41
Speaker
I'm not sharing. And you feel like a bastard. Worst thing is if someone takes their fucking fork and starts helping themselves to start directly from my plate. And you're like, what are you doing?
00:12:03
Speaker
what are you doing i'm not having that mate or or yesterday happens because my girlfriend she's much nicer than i am she was saying oh paul do you want some of mine And, you know, she's really generous, right?
00:12:22
Speaker
It's like if I get a block of chocolate, like good chocolate, I'll consume it all by myself. And on a I'll share it with other people, but it kind of hurts. Oh, it hurts in your heart. Whereas my girlfriend, she will happily share it.
00:12:40
Speaker
No problem at all. No problem at all. Yeah. No problem at all. I was like, you know Oh God, I wish I was nice like that. This is, I could almost retitle this episode as ADHD and restaurants.
00:12:57
Speaker
Yeah. home base four I don't like someone, someone saying, Oh, like let's say for example, you, you get a risotto and you're, and the people that someone you're, you're, you're at the table with also has a risotto. They've decided they're finished with their risotto, but they, and and they're scraping their plate off onto yours. Here, finish my risotto.
00:13:23
Speaker
Who does that? Italians. Who does that? And it's like, what are you doing?
00:13:33
Speaker
Because the difference is if I did, if I said, okay, give me your plate. Right. Or probably what I'm more likely to do is like, Leave your plate where it is. yeah I'll finish mine. Yes. And then if I've got some room, I'll take your plate and eat the rest of your risotto.
00:13:54
Speaker
She's already like, like spreading it all over my plate. So here you finish it.
00:14:03
Speaker
That's my personal space. it that But that's the point. That's it. That is it. You see my space. You see the edge of this plate that that is my world.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:14:18
Speaker
See the flowers all around the rim of my plate and the little silver border? That's my territory. Yeah. that yeah everything would away Everything within that is mine. yeah just so that with Boundaries.
00:14:34
Speaker
This is boundaries. That's right. It's like the Straits of Hamous at the moment in Iran. Oh, right. You know. No, it's not like that. That would be ridiculous. That's not even funny.
00:14:48
Speaker
Fucking hell. You know what? i'm umm i am i am I am better at that. in in that in that i so if if me and my wife go out and eat in the ah out at a restaurant, i I am already pre-prepared to literally...
00:15:12
Speaker
only half of my meal. She will only eat half of our meal and then we'll literally swap plates. Right. And then we'll just carry on. we just Yeah. eat i I'll just finish off.
00:15:26
Speaker
I'm okay if it's like that we did this last weekend and um Both of our plates arrived at the same time, different plates, okay? Right. I said, would you try some of mine? And I'll take a little sub with my fork and offer it to her. Take some of this, you know?
00:15:45
Speaker
Yeah. Take a little bit of the rice. A little bit of the grain. And a bit of this and a bit of that. And it's like, oh, she'll be sure that she's got in and she's getting like a a balanced kind of sample of what I'm eating.
00:16:04
Speaker
And if she offers me some of hers, I'd say, no, no, no, no. Oh, what, really? Yeah. Oh, man, I am. i am ah i am but I don't like eating other people's food.
00:16:16
Speaker
I ah don't mind that, but I have to add, i but I go into these things already knowing that that's the, that is the deal. So it's like no surprise to me.
00:16:31
Speaker
So, um so for example, uh, quietil I mean, i I sometimes don't care about what I order. Like, I'm not actually that bothered. I will literally, like most things I i will eat. so my So my wife will order what she wants and then her second choice And then, um you know, like how you'd be like, oh, I can't decide between, know, the the yeah the ah the the ri the seafood
The Psychology of Dining: Michelin Stars and More
00:17:06
Speaker
risotto and the lasagna. And you kind of go, well, you know what? Just order both.
00:17:15
Speaker
Right. And then I'll just eat half of each plate. Yeah. And this reminds me of something you used to say back in the day. Back in the day.
00:17:26
Speaker
You would say, you would look at the menu and the waiter would come up and you would say the waiter, I'll have the lot. The lot. The lot. The whole fucking menu.
00:17:42
Speaker
Just, you know, start, you know. start lining them up. Yeah. You know, like that was a, yeah that was ah a Harry Enfield sketch.
00:17:55
Speaker
no it comes it Yes, it was. When he he had these two characters who, who he called the, these, the, these slobs. They were basically like, you know, lower, lower class people. And they somehow had money and,
00:18:11
Speaker
Yes. They'd won the lottery or something. So they were in a restaurant and he's holding up holding up the menu and the waiter says, what do you want? And says, I'll have the lot. so it was Harry Enfield with Kathy Burke.
00:18:24
Speaker
Yes. Both great actors. Cool. Right. We should probably... Have we got time for the rest of it? I mean, this is a point where we can either go, let's just carry on talking about restaurants.
00:18:45
Speaker
Right, fair enough. And then we'll but but we'll just keep going down this line. Yeah. All right. Okay, I've got an offer for this one. We've got a restaurant near us. It's like it's the closest one to us, which is good because it means we don't have to drive. Because in Italy now, the um laws now are really strict with drinking and driving. If you get caught, oh, my God, you're in trouble.
00:19:14
Speaker
And so we kind of try to avoid that stress. And we go to a local one. And the food is great. But the lady, this family-run restaurant, the lady, the mother, she's like, in in Italian, she'd say she's like a communal concert. She's like a ah muscle or a limpet.
00:19:35
Speaker
She attaches herself herself to your fucking table. Oh. And you're like, your plates arrive the first place. orders arrive you think oh she's gonna leave us alone now so we can have a nice chat no she stays there oh what the fuck fuck off like a limpet
00:19:57
Speaker
oh no but the food is really good and the son who's the waiter he's a really nice guy and he kind of is really cool So over-attentive, that's the this theme, Martin, over-attentive waiting on tables.
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like ah in this in the States as far as sort of as far as far as ah waitresses go, the classic is when you're in an American diner right Right. And then you get the waitress comes over. and She's been there forever.
00:20:40
Speaker
Right. She's big hair. She's big hair. Right. And she's all right. laughing yeah and yeah and and And she'll even kind of sit, sit, sit down next to you. Okay. That's a challenge. Kind of go, and can and kind go okay, right. What do you want? yeah oh and ne lights down She sits down next to you.
00:21:01
Speaker
It's like your mum or your auntie kind of like, you know, coming in and sitting down next to you and going, how you doing, my love? All right. Okay. Well, can I, can I kick get you a coffee?
00:21:14
Speaker
You know, yeah it's, it's, it's, uh, they are, they are amazing. and like and And I quite like it when, when that happens, because it's, it's, so it's almost like being at home, weirdly.
00:21:27
Speaker
Do you ever, do you ever do this thing, you know, um, because, because we are doing it, uh, We are going to turn this into a restaurant episode. Yes. um Count the options, Juan.
00:21:40
Speaker
i I know that some neurodivergent people that I know um can't go to the restaurant without...
00:21:51
Speaker
going online, seeing what the menu, what the option, what the food options are, and then literally deciding way before they actually go to avoid that that in it that time when you pick up the menu and you've got like, i don't know, five, ten minutes where you have to decide what what you're going eat and the pressure that right is involved in that.
00:22:16
Speaker
Is that something that you do or are you more spontaneous? interesting. i I had a conversation with my old man about five or six years ago. um We don't talk that often on the phone, um but I called him and i said, oh, are you doing, Dad? How's things? said, oh, we just got back from holiday. Oh, where have you been?
00:22:38
Speaker
Tuscany. Oh, okay nice in Italy where I live. And he didn't say anything anyway. Okay. okay just let that flight a bit okay oh tusky nice how long you stay it oh three weeks oh nice okay all right okay how did it go oh the food was terrible oh chi what's you talking about well yeah come on this is where i would
00:23:11
Speaker
If I'm going to a different town, even in Italy, where the food is good, pretty much wherever you go, right? Right, okay. It's pretty much a guarantee. But in more touristic areas, I tend to look go online to see if their menu is too big, Martin. Oh, yes, the big menu. The big menu. If it's a big menu, you think nothing's going to be fresh.
00:23:38
Speaker
Nothing. I'm going to avoid it. Absolutely. Absolutely. um Yeah, there is a a there is a New York thing, which is you don't go to a a a restaurant that that isn't full.
00:24:00
Speaker
So if you've got two if you've got two restaurants next to each other and you're looking for something to eat, one restaurant is full and they can't seat you for half an hour and the and and the other one has got plenty of seats, you don't go into the one with plenty of seats. You put your name down and you for half an hour.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, right. Yeah, because it's a sign. Generally, what else would i look for and in a menu? I don't look at reviews. They're bullshit. the Reviews are total bullshit.
00:24:35
Speaker
Right. um Right. I tell you what. It depends where you go. If you go to Venice, in Venice, for example, it's very hard to find a genuine Venetian restaurant. Okay. Traditional Venetian. every Like 90% restaurants in Venice, because it's very touristic, um it's a kind of a classic Italian menu, right?
00:25:04
Speaker
If I'm going to Venice, I want something Venetian. I want something regional. Right. It's actually quite hard to find. But if you do some research, you'll find them. All right. i got But yeah, I mean, it it's as far as when you look down the menu goes, I don't necessarily feel any urge to like find out what to pre to go online and find out what the food is. I'm quite happy to kind of just go go there and make spontaneous choices right for one. But also, yeah, to to to your point,
00:25:39
Speaker
The more restrictive the menu, yeah better it is. just that they're really confident about what they're serving. Right. and i And I also find that they, um i don't know what it's like over there, but chefs will have a point of view about something. It's like if you like you'll you'll you'll look at it and there's like it's mostly seafood, for example, and then there'll be like one or two meat things.
00:26:10
Speaker
and then you And then me and my brain goes, well, this guy clearly likes seafood and yeah and and yeah and he's only got meat on there because some people don't eat fish. So I'm going to ignore all all the meat.
00:26:24
Speaker
I'm going to go with with what he looks like. He really, the the chef really is into. Right. Here's the other thing, right?
00:26:34
Speaker
there's um I'll be interested to know what I really like. There's there's a psychology with restaurants, okay? Now, there's I'll give you an example.
00:26:47
Speaker
there's There's a restaurant about two hours drive from me It's got three Michelin stars, okay? Ooh, yes. um And they've got a dish on there that is ah is a It's a dish. It's a classic Italian dish. It's a bit like you'd say spaghetti bolognese. Okay?
00:27:08
Speaker
Right. Classic dish. This one is actually tali-tali-talirego. Okay? Okay. Got it. Similar to spaghetti bolognese. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Oh, okay. 80 euros.
00:27:26
Speaker
All right. So here's the thing. It's like, You eat it and you maybe for the first time, you've made because maybe in the past you've had eaten spaghetti bolognese or talitilli rego.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah. A hundred times. But because you're paying 80 euros for it, all of a sudden you get out and you're freaking, you taste it for the first time.
00:27:52
Speaker
Like really taste it. And you have an inner dialogue with yourself. Like, hmm, what's this like? What am I tasting? And it's like your girlfriend or your partner, whoever cooked it for you before, is it you know, actually, I'm really pissed off.
00:28:09
Speaker
o Why? Well, if you never took that amount of effort when I do it. because Just because you're paying 80 euros for a fucking spaghetti bolognese.
00:28:22
Speaker
Oh, it's this psychology with restaurants, especially three Michelin star restaurants. Oh, come on, mate. No, but imin I mean, I would, if there was an $80 three Michelin star restaurant and that was one of their signature dishes, yeah I would have it, but I would basically kind of go, right, this is this is what is considered in the restaurant industry as like one of the best restaurants you could possibly go out and die. Oh, I'm definitely curious.
00:28:57
Speaker
I'm massively curious. Right, because Just to put it in context, a good spaghetti bolognese in Italy... would cost you about 15 euros, 15, 1, 5. Right. five right In this restaurant, it's 80. And I'm definitely curious.
00:29:14
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. It's like um because i like to have – when I go out, I like to find things that set the bar. So if – so when I'm down south in the the Maryland area, they are famous for their for their there for their crab cakes. got And when you've had a a proper Maryland crab cake, you go, but that's the bar, right? right any Any other crab cake, I ah can now like yeah measure against that crab cake. Right.
00:29:49
Speaker
It's like if you go to pesto sauce, okay? All right. If you go to Liguria, which is the west coast of Italy, Okay, where Italy meets France on the Mediterranean, okay, where the pesto sauce comes from.
00:30:06
Speaker
oh my God. Like, just forget anything that you've tasted before that related in any way to to pesto sauce. You go to Ligordia, where they really make pesto sauce. It's like, just cancel everything else you've eaten before.
00:30:26
Speaker
ah know. You see, what but the the the downside of it is it ruins every other pesto sauce that you'll ever have again. Exactly. It
Dining Etiquette and Annoyances
00:30:37
Speaker
ruins them. Exactly.
00:30:39
Speaker
It's like if you fly, the the example I give, it's like if you get if you get one day your flying economy, okay, like I did. I was flying economy 36 years ago back from Cuba to Madrid, and I got upgraded to first class.
00:31:00
Speaker
I was there, mate. No, the first time. ah was it? Okay. All right. Yeah, the first time in 1990. I got upgraded, and it was the worst thing they could possibly have done.
00:31:13
Speaker
Because afterwards, everything else was piss poor. I know. I know. was disaster. I know. ah what what What else can we can we say about ah restaurants? Restaurants. Obviously, like there's the thing of – there's the thing of of um of choosing the wrong thing. You know, like, so are you someone who generally, you know, like when you're eating somewhere new and and you don't really know what it is and you've got a choice of a couple of things, are you the one that generally chooses good
00:31:51
Speaker
or when that Or when you choose something and and the and the and the food arrives, you go, oh, God damn it, I chose the wrong fucking thing. I should have got the other thing. Are you generally... like that with... Yeah. are you Are you a good picker or or or a bad picker?
00:32:07
Speaker
True. It depends, right? Yep, go on. I... Here's the thing. My relationship with food...
00:32:19
Speaker
um has totally flipped over since I moved to Italy. I've had way more sensitive and way more dialogue with what am I eating and blah, blah, blah. So the whole experience is completely different. In England, it's a bit of a mentality. You go to a restaurant, and you eat something, have a chat, and you leave.
00:32:42
Speaker
And no one has a discussion about, oh, what are we eating? Is it good quality or not? Right. So in that sense, what from going back to what you were saying, I've developed my skills in choosing the right things at the right time, I think.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah. I am generally a good food chooser. like Yeah, okay. I will generally pick the right thing. I will generally be happy with what I picked.
00:33:16
Speaker
I think that's the... Okay. So I've got a question. Let's say you've picked and you're happy with your choice, Martin. Yes. You've picked. You picked the Talley de Regu. Okay. Yeah. $80. $80. It arrives, right?
00:33:34
Speaker
And it's got a hair in it. Right. what's What's your take on that? Well, if it's a three-star Michelin restaurant with a hair, it's,
00:33:50
Speaker
If it was any other restaurant, I would probably not worry about it. I would just pull it out and kind of go, oh, look, there's there hair, and carry on. i' If it was a three-star Michelin, though, um I will probably say something because that would be like – that's that Because then ah in my head, I'm pointing out there's a flaw in their system somewhere, like in the back of the house where there where there is something going wrong back there.
00:34:24
Speaker
yeah and i And I know that the chef wants it to be perfect. So I'm just, all I'm thinking about is is he wants it to be perfect. I'm pointing out that there's a flaw somewhere and then he will go, oh shit, um this this needs to be sorted out. But any other restaurant where the chef doesn't really give a shit... Yes. You know, like...
00:34:47
Speaker
he He won't care. No one's going to care. I actually don't particularly care. I've actually found i've actually found like fingernails in the food.
00:35:00
Speaker
Oh, my God. And then that was like, fuck off. No, no, that's not good. I'm not eating that. That is wrong. That's disgusting. So wrong. Shut them down.
00:35:11
Speaker
I once went into a posh... It was a posh restaurant that my father had reserved a table yeah at or in or both.
00:35:24
Speaker
And the waiter came over he had a bit of a stoop. He was like stooped over. And he was bringing some ah ah roast, kind of I think it was a Wellington, beef Wellington or something. And he had such a long fringe and he such a stew that his fringe was literally dangling into the beef Wellington.
00:35:54
Speaker
i I would wrap it in the headlines like, what the hell am I seeing? What is am I seeing? There is a hair in my food. but Someone pinched me. Someone slapped me. This is some kind of weird, you know, this is some kind of weird, like, dream you just had because you've eaten too much gorgonzola or something.
00:36:16
Speaker
Jesus Christ. Yeah. ah All right. I want to chat about restaurants, as it turns out. Okay, as it turns out, this is where this episode went. Yes.
00:36:30
Speaker
All right. Well, in that case, um we could rate... I wasn't going to do... rate restaurants. But let's rate ordering at... at oops of these lets let's Let's rate toenails.
00:36:46
Speaker
Oh, please. No.
00:36:53
Speaker
All right. Ordering at restaurants. Is it that specific? Well, I don't know. I mean, ordering and getting food and eating.
00:37:06
Speaker
I really like it. I have said... i really like it I'm going round it off to like a 9.16. Oh, wow. that is That is very rounded off.
00:37:18
Speaker
um yeah ah yeah obviously Yeah. I mean, i i definitely i mean like you can't be eating at a quality restaurant. like that It's just like um fantastic. Yeah, I will but won't go quite as high. I'm to go like a 9.15.
00:37:35
Speaker
Oh, okay. yeah so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. yeah right and't And then, and then right. So that's like, cause there is the possibility. There was two old couples in the, and on the table behind me last weekend. Yeah. And they were in their eighties having very loud conversation, voice messages.
00:38:00
Speaker
Right. With someone. Viva Voce, live voice conversations with someone on their phones. And I had to turn around and ask them to please turn down the volume. or you know So the point there being people tend to act you know quite in a bad way in restaurants. I think there's so there's a potential for me to get annoyed with people, with over-attentive waiters as well.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, ah bad bad food, getting ah getting the wrong food. um Paying too much for bad food. Yeah. So it was potentially, so burnout, it could be a six and half. Okay, all right, that's not good. Too bad. um your Your story there did did rim ri remind me of, like like, sometimes I'll be sitting there in a restaurant with my wife on well um and we'll and we'll both be on our phones like that, just kind of like, you know, tapping away, both of us.
00:39:09
Speaker
and and i'm And I'm thinking, oh, yeah, yeah, that that couple over there, over there is looking at us and thinking, oh, look at those two. They're just on their bloody phones.
00:39:21
Speaker
Right. I'm not even talking to each other. and And what we're actually doing is we're talking to each other via text about that couple over there. Oh, that's a nice, that's the thing I really like doing. When you see couples and you weirdly instinctively know how long their relationship's been going,
00:39:44
Speaker
Right. I like playing that game. It's like, oh, this is there on a first date. Or look at that couple. They've clearly been married for about 30 years.
00:39:56
Speaker
Right. but it's It's the ones who are having effect and where you kind of get like a a guy and then a a woman and there's no and there's no matchup, right?
00:40:11
Speaker
is it a father what's going on there and there's like this is incompatible oh yeah well what's going on with that couple over there that just is yeah raising so many questions yes um so do anyway they're good places for people watching i suppose oh yeah absolutely uh so um burnout score for me Oh, I guess, you know what? I think i think um'm I'm going to be about the same as you and say it it a burnout score of like a 8.1.
00:40:42
Speaker
that's high. oh less high I know, i know. it Because gu at at the end of the day, it's like, it's so expensive to kind of go out and eat. and yeah And you and you it takes a lot of effort to, you know, to ah book the fucking place, go to the fucking place, park the fucking car.
00:41:07
Speaker
deal with deal with the person at the front of the house and then you know like you've've you've got all of that and if you're paying 80 bucks in your yeah queen and in your bloody ragu has got someone's toupee someone's wig is just literally swimming around in it I'm like fuck the hell but also in in Italy you get the flip side of what I was saying about before of people you know being very good at at kind of having a conversation about what they're eating.
00:41:42
Speaker
Is good quality? Is it bad? Could it be improved? Is it perfect? um you know Was the quantity right? Is it missing one... critical ingredient that could improve it little bit more, you know, that conversation, but it can get too much and you get food snobs.
00:42:04
Speaker
ah food the breath And it's a nightmare. nightmare i had a ah a friend of mine And he knew the owner and he ordered a very expensive bottle of wine and said it was, cut he made them open it.
00:42:20
Speaker
Okay. Tasted it, said it was corked and it clearly wasn't. He just wanted to impress on me that he knew his wine stuff and it was bullshit.
00:42:33
Speaker
o Total bullshit. And I was looking to thinking, you arsehole. Right, because restaurant margins are like razor thin. Yeah.
00:42:44
Speaker
He made them open a really good bottle of red wine and he just, you know, tried to play, you know, this some kind of, you know, um food guru or something.
00:42:58
Speaker
Right. it it was It was like some sort of power move. that Yes, exactly. In a restaurant. and Come on. but tell I tell you what I, what conversations about food that I do have, which is like, Ooh, that's a nice sauce. What's in it? Oh, i see it's like mayonnaise. I think there's some sriracha in there. um I think I can taste some, like, you know, some lemon juice, you know, because, because I'm like, oh I wonder if I can make this at home.
00:43:28
Speaker
i want to do this at home. I have to like, and I will, and I will like eat a soup and kind of go, what's in it? What's in it? What's in it? What's in it? Why, what, why do I like this?
00:43:40
Speaker
Yeah. Or I like to say, having a debate, like, is it fine as it is? It's like, doesn't need any modification oh Maybe it needs one tiny little element added to it and it will make it even better. Like maybe it needs a little slightest kind of little bit of Dijon mustard.
00:44:02
Speaker
All right. Perfect. Right. All right. Or if it had a little on the side, a little bit of a rocket. All right. All right. Or whatever.
00:44:13
Speaker
I like that conversation. So, all right. So the the waiter comes over, starts clearing away your plates. you it was was it was was it Was everything fine? You're like, yeah, it was perfect. except can Can you tell the chef?
00:44:28
Speaker
this This could be improved with a little bit of rocket on the side and some Dijon in the sauce. And I think that'll be epic, mate. So if you can just go back and tell him, that would be great.
00:44:41
Speaker
No, I don't. But last time, last week I was in a restaurant, I did ask the waiter just to compliment the chef. All right. To say what they served was amazing and complimented a little chef.
00:44:58
Speaker
Compliments to the chef. Nice. said. Nice. Because we had both worked in kitchens. That's true. By the way. And we've seen the chefs. I mean, they're all different. It's a mad world. They're mad.
00:45:16
Speaker
It's fucking crazy in the kitchen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
Personal Anecdotes Quiz
00:45:21
Speaker
mean, like, you know, respect to anyone who has managed to survive working in in a kitchen, especially as ah as a chef, which I know um Alexandra has.
00:45:33
Speaker
um which is ah where we should we should go actually we we should get in in in in in the tractor And make away every- Are we skipping the quiz?
00:45:44
Speaker
No. When what is the quiz? Where? think it's now. No. It's after Alessandra. Alessandra.
00:45:55
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, okay. I can't remember. No. Let's see. the best Just clunk up the tractor. Come on. Right.
00:46:07
Speaker
Right. Oh.
00:46:14
Speaker
and ah So last week's episode was about um ADHD and video games. All right. Yes. and And she wrote, ah so much fun.
00:46:26
Speaker
And she's just saying that she met some of her favorite people through playing video games. um like like like Like her partner, her her her deceased partner, um oh ah whom ah you know they were talking a lot you know ah for about two years while they were playing.
00:46:50
Speaker
video games on online before they actually met in person. Holy moly. In Athens. I know, and I'm just thinking, have I met anyone specifically playing video games online? No, because...
00:47:06
Speaker
that i don't I don't tend to like that wasn't ever a thing for me to kind of play video games online to to that extent to to kind of like meet people by for don'tno but i could but I would be the type of person who would anyway she says ah yeah looking forward to the next episode hey or this is the next episode yeah welcome to the next episode Right.
00:47:34
Speaker
And then this is the point where you say Where say, I say, Martin, when you say where i say i do say martin Your feedback is vital to us and we read all of your comments. And we do, by the way, read all of your comments and um give us, write to us, send us your comments and we may read out your comments on a future episode. Right. So what do you love and hate about restaurants? What do you, what do you have like safe foods? Do you like, um you you know what, like, you know, like, and this is probably the same in Italian restaurants, probably the same everywhere world worldwide. But,
00:48:13
Speaker
It's like there is one dish that if you can't nail it as a restaurant, everything else is going to be like not worth it. so So if I go to a new Thai restaurant,
00:48:28
Speaker
I will generally really early on get the Pad Thai because if you can't nail a Pad Thai, then yeah nothing else is going to be... It's all pointless.
00:48:40
Speaker
Okay, here's another discussion about restaurants. Are you happy eating by yourself in a restaurant? Yes. Me too. Absolutely. Okay, next.
00:48:52
Speaker
Next. Some people who really find that really... Intimidating. Eating by themselves in a restaurant. i'm not at all. I think if if you're a man, if you're a guy, it's easier.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah. think if i was if if If I was a woman on my own, i but i would i will I may have a different point of view. but Yeah. Depends on the country because, like, in France, women, it's much more of an accepted thing that a woman can eat by herself in France.
00:49:25
Speaker
In Italy, you never see a woman eating by herself in a restaurant. Right. I think America's a little bit like like that. Unless you're in, like, a in unless you're in like ah say you're in a big city, Manhattan, and it's lunchtime,
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's different, isn't it? Yeah, it's a whole different kind of thing. whole different ball game then. All right. Well, let's go to the quiz. Let's her hit that quizy, quizy, quizy, quiz button.
00:49:57
Speaker
It's the quiz. It's the quiz. Okay. All right. I've got a quiz based on what by now has become quite tradition.
00:50:12
Speaker
It's basically theme of, Martin, you've known me for 40 man and boy. Man and boy. boy But how well do you know me really, Martin?
00:50:24
Speaker
I've got three sets of questions of which there's a false statement that you have to recognize. All right. have to recognize.
00:50:37
Speaker
All right. Three different themes. First theme. Yes. Right? When I was a little boy and I went to school, okay, and my mum, and it was always my mum, gave me, she put in my little hand yes my dinner money for that day.
00:50:57
Speaker
Oh, 25 pence. yeah So in her crazy mind, i would go and spend that, Martin. Mm-hmm. At the school canteen and get a nurse some sausage and chips or something like that.
00:51:11
Speaker
Right. I didn't. I went to the sweet shop. Right. And I would get, you remember the old style sweet shops where get a quarter of stuff? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a choice of about 30 to 40 different things. Mm-hmm.
00:51:26
Speaker
a choice of bow all thirty to forty different things h I've got a list here of my go-tos, Martin. Okay. Oh, I see.
00:51:38
Speaker
Jesus Christ. The things that I would get quarters of. ah Right. And i have to pick out the one that you didn't order. Yeah. And to make he it even harder, I've got a choice of, there's four.
00:51:50
Speaker
Oh, four. Okay. One of which is not true. Okay. All right. Go on then. Yeah. Yes. First one's a simple one, ah a quarter of sherbet, lemon sherbet.
00:52:04
Speaker
All right. A quarter of sherbet. Yeah. Right? Yeah. OK. A quarter of lemon sherbet, you know, like the um like the kind of football shape. Boiled sweets, yeah. Boiled sweets, exactly. Yeah.
00:52:25
Speaker
A quarter of aniseed drops. Oh, jeez Christ. Who likes those? No one. Yes. A quarter of rhubarb and custard.
00:52:36
Speaker
You see, i oh that is, again, another boiled sweet. um Another boiled sweet. I would say lemon sherbet, yes. Sherbet, yes.
00:52:47
Speaker
ah Who doesn't like rhubarb and custard sweets? I'd say aniseed drops. who who Who likes those? No one.
00:52:59
Speaker
I must have been the only one that liked them. ah they got them in for you special. Yeah, didt no, but and you're you're right. It was to they haven't the false one. Oh, yes. I should work harder on these. Okay, I'm going to wrap it up now. I'm going to make it way more difficult, right? Jesus Christ, yes.
00:53:17
Speaker
I have, going back to my 12-inch vinyl collection, Martin. Yes. Right? I dug out, because the last the last time it was about um um the shame of some of the vinyl that I had. Okay?
00:53:36
Speaker
Yeah. This time, i was going through my vinyl again, thinking, I don't remember buying that. Where the hell did I get these from? It's got So little to do with my choice, my my taste in music. So I've got three records, Martin, one of which is fours that I do not own. All right?
00:54:01
Speaker
Right. ah By the way, all of dubious heritage, I might have just got them from my sister's at some point and just kept them. Right. I mean, like... And my sister had terrible taste of music. Right. I mean, like, in in those days, you would take records to parties, right? Yes. And you wouldn't always get them all back. And sometimes you would have extras ah because you accidentally picked up someone else's...
00:54:29
Speaker
Anyway. right well then So I've got these these this three, a choice of three. Okay. okay First one is from 1990, Martin, because I checked the dates. Okay. I checked the dates. I'm a very thorough person.
00:54:42
Speaker
I checked the dates. 1990. MC Hammer, you can't touch this. 12-inch.
00:54:50
Speaker
You can't touch this.
00:54:53
Speaker
1983. Dex's Midnight Runners, Gino. Fucking hate that song. Fucking hate Right. Thompson Twins, your hands me.
00:55:00
Speaker
texas midnight runners she now fucking hate that song fain hate it right yeah nineteen eightyfour thompson twins lay your hands on me Right, okay. So I think you will like Thompson Twins because it has the word Thompson in the title. so That would make me very shallow.
00:55:29
Speaker
ah the that So that would be like, yeah! Alright, okay. But also, ah it's it's a it's a really good track. um i m m MC Habits Martin. 12-inch, not I laid out a twelve week i laid out money for these in theory right the 12 inch oh yes shall get the seven inch or shall i splash out a little bit more cash on the 12 inch right because back in the day it was 99 pence for a single 199 for the inch true that's true it was like double
00:56:10
Speaker
Double your money. Yeah. um so Less money for your show, but dib dabs. Right. and Exactly. I'm thinking that you, that you um um because you put in so much emphasis emphasis on the fact there's a 12 inch, I'm thinking that you generally didn't buy 12 inches. You would either buy the single or the album.
00:56:32
Speaker
And your 12-inch collection is possibly quite quite small. So I'm saying that the... I'm loving your logic. Very good logic. Yes. And so I'm saying m MC Hammer is is ah is you didn't buy it.
00:56:47
Speaker
You're wrong, Martin. You've been right. I hate Gino, Dex's Midnight Runners. That did not get into my collection. Even if MC Hammer, you can't touch this...
00:57:01
Speaker
dubious quality right i would say okay all right all right so it's one one yeah yeah so it's all on this button my god the tension it's all riding on this one the tension okay martin yes i was hospitalized three times okay in my life Yes.
00:57:27
Speaker
Right. One of these is not true. Okay. Right. Yeah. I once on holiday in Greece. Okay.
00:57:39
Speaker
I stepped on an entire family of sea urchins. Family? Like mum, dad and the whole family. The whole family. Grandparents, aunts, uncles. That's a tragedy. They were distant cousins.
00:57:57
Speaker
Whole family and had to go to A&E to have them plucked out. okay Detail. Okay. Right. yeah I once gorged a little bit too much, Martin, on some oysters and developed a norovirus and had to go to A&E to have my stomach pumped out with the aid of charcoal.
00:58:22
Speaker
Oh, that is grim. Because apparently, if you catch it quickly enough, you can pump charcoal. You can put charcoal in, and it'll reduce the amount, lessen the effect of toxification.
00:58:38
Speaker
i think that's I think you're you're you're right there. OK. Right. That sounds sounds horrific. OK. Third one, you could choose this option, Martin. Mm-hmm. once got out. I woke woke up one morning. And the room was spinning.
00:58:56
Speaker
okay al i don't mean like, oh, it was like spinning literally. It was spinning violently. all right. And I let it go I let it go. And eventually I thought I'm going to have to take myself to A&E. But there was no one to take me. I was living in Turin at the time. All right.
00:59:14
Speaker
Right. Luckily, the A&E was only about, ooh, 800 meters away and i had to walk zigzagging i was struggling the whole my whole world was spinning right and i had to take myself Zigzagging through Turin to the A&E department.
00:59:37
Speaker
Right. so So you can manage to zigzag when you're feeling really ill all the way to A&E. but but But when you're healthy and normal, you can't just go over the road to the Turin in Museum.
00:59:54
Speaker
No, exactly. Yeah. All right. I think, um did you step stepping on us stepping on a family of sea urchins, gorging on too many oysters, or the dizzy shenanigans in Turin?
01:00:14
Speaker
I would say, mate, that the too many oysters, it isn't really that there were too many oysters. It's just you had a bad oyster in there somewhere. Yes. I ah i have I'm nor a virus. Jesus Christ. um All right. I'm, I'm, I'm going I'm, I'm just going to take a guess and say that you didn't wipe out a family of, of, of sea urchins on their, on their annual vacation to core, core food.
01:00:43
Speaker
um And that, and that wasn't, that didn't happen. Right. I did wipe out a whole family sea urchins. Oh, oh my God. The pain.
01:00:55
Speaker
It took about three months to get all of the spines out. And Alexandra will know about them. They're really hard to get out. They stay there for for weeks.
01:01:06
Speaker
ah Yeah. So I didn't have, I didn't gorge on oysters. Oh, right. Okay. I didn't gorge on the oysters. All right.
01:01:17
Speaker
All right. Not yet, anyway. All right. Well, so um so as we've started, the ah the scoring system has reset to 0-0. to zero zero You are point.
01:01:29
Speaker
Come on. 1 ahead. there we go I could almost smell victory. If you just keep it up, mate. Right.
01:01:40
Speaker
This second game could be in the bag. Could be in the bag. Okay. All right. Well, let's go on to what are we going to do next week? Well, I think basically, what the hell, we we have to do the episode that we were going to do today, but we didn't. Okay, good point. We're going to sidetrack ourselves into a whole different episode. And we'll next week, we'll catch up on our ADHD lives, the good, bad and the ugly. Yes.
01:02:06
Speaker
So that just leaves me. Actually, you know what I really want to find out next week is you did a photography interview with. Oh, yes. And so we'll have to find that out.
01:02:20
Speaker
what happens there next week.
01:02:24
Speaker
In the meantime, ADHD Ville is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all perverts and fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us ah most edible. And feel free to correspond at will in the comments. But wait, there's more if you wish to see our beautiful, beautiful faces.
01:02:39
Speaker
Then then head over to Sally Forth, I should I say to the Tik Toks and the YouTube is and you can pick up a quill and email us at ADHD bill at gmail.com But in the meantime be fucking kind to yourself sat And
01:03:05
Speaker
Ah, there we go. this is This is the first episode that we've ever done where we've kind of... where we've started out... and then we've taken the left-hand turn.
01:03:18
Speaker
Where completely ignored the thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Ah, well, there we
01:03:27
Speaker
go. There we go. oh