- What you got going on here? Ham, egg and chips? - Great British food.
'As a chef, food is my life.'
Lovely.
Don't try that at home.
'But as far as my mate Len goes, we're on a different planet.'
My rules are this - never eat anything you can't spell
and never eat anything you wouldn't want to step in.
- This is the chicken's feet. - Chicken's feet? - That's right. - No.
'I've travelled the world,
'but never had the courage to experience new cuisine...
'and always stuck with what I know.'
- What's your favourite? - Chips.
'But after using a pancake once to wipe my face...'
What is he like?!
'..me family decided enough was enough
'and that my taste buds needed to be brought into the 21st century.'
Hot!
There is a lot more to this culinary world of ours
than pickled walnuts.
'It's time for me to show Len a whole new culinary world...
'that will make his palate purr!'
- You're not talking food adventure. - Food adventure indeed.
What's that I see? Is it a tandoori chicken?
- I liked it. - And that's all I need to know.
For the last decade, I've been a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.
London born and bred 71 years ago,
my taste buds have been influenced by my nan's cooking.
I've never eaten spaghetti, had a curry,
and even pizza - well, looks a bit exotic.
I was also born and brought up in London.
But as a chef, my palate has experienced and travelled
to every part of the globe.
Over the last 20 years, there's been a food explosion across Britain.
And now, no matter what you desire, every cuisine is catered for.
For me,
I have ten favourites
that are never far away from the table at home.
And my perfect dinner?
Well, prawn cocktail to start,
full English breakfast
and a jam roly-poly.
It's food heaven!
My mission during our time together is to educate his taste buds
and see if I can replace anything on the ten from Len board
and show him that there is more to life
than a prawn cocktail from 1976.
Today, Len and I have pitched a kitchen
in the effervescent and multicultural city of Manchester.
And we're hungry.
Yes, and according to my mate Ainsley,
the streets are lined with a multitude of exciting eateries,
and apparently my taste buds are going to be spoiled for choice.
'On today's menu...
'Ainsley really pushes my palate, and my stomach, to its limit.'
Chicken feet.
'And I get a shock when I dip my toes into some Chinese delicacies.
'I have to hold on tight
'when confronted with creatures from the garden.'
I'm not having the worm.
No.
Roll up, roll up, Manchester!
'And I try to get my mate back onside
'with a dish inspired by today's food adventure.'
- Give Ainsley a clap, everyone! - Wahey!
With a population of around 2.5 million people,
Manchester is a dynamic city,
famous for its football clubs,
musical exports, architecture and food culture.
And it just happens to be a city very close to my heart.
When I come to Manchester I get quite excited,
because my dad used to live here -
and now, practically every other shop is a restaurant
or a food outlet of some type.
What are you expecting from this city?
Well, it's Lancashire, so I'd like a Lancashire hotpot,
but I know I'm not getting that -
and the thing is, Manchester, like all big cities,
you could probably get every type of food in the world.
- Yes, it's a little melting pot of cuisine here. - Exactly.
But today, it's going to be something slightly crispy,
- something slightly velvety, moist, familiar... - I've got it. - What?
Pancakes. It's Shrove Tuesday.
Oh... Stop it! Stop it!
'With what I've got in store today,
'I think I'm going to have to ease him in a bit,
'so I think an early pit stop in Manchester's northern quarter
'is the way to go.
'The vibrant neighbourhood is home
'to some of Manchester's hippest shops, bars and restaurants...
'..and award-winning cafe Home Sweet Home is no exception.
'This place is known for their coffee, wildly decadent cakes
'and for their amazing breakfast.'
This could be exciting.
- This could be exciting. Very nice. - Wow. Look at that.
Are you into having a good breakfast?
I think breakfast is a very, very important part of the day's food.
So are the ingredients.
That is the most important because it could be something awful.
Yeah. That's all I'm saying.
'Well, one thing's for sure - I've got my work cut out today.'
'To me, a good breakfast is all about the selection on the plate,
'so I can vary my mouthfuls from start to finish.
'But one thing I've never got my head round is black pudding.'
'Black pudding - oatmeal, onions, pork fat and pig's blood.
'What's not to love?
'And in Lancashire, they have some of the best in the country.
'Len, you are about to be educated in black pudding.'
- Thank you very much. - Enjoy. - Thank you.
- I'm going to make out I'm Quincy. - Yeah, all right, then.
- Take that hat off. Let's analyse it. - OK, then.
- Don't tell me, that's black pudding. - Yeah. - It's made of blood.
Yeah, but it's the quality of stuff. Now it's become so trendy.
You go into restaurants, all the top restaurants are using black pudding.
Chefs love serving it with belly of pork.
You get a bit of apple, a bit of black pudding with it.
The combinations that are working with it now.
It's kind of - it's got its own identity. Got to try it.
It's one of the classic Lancashire products.
I'm in Lancashire, I'm going to give Lancashire its best shot.
I don't think you sum up Lancashire with a bit of blooming black pudding.
I don't know how you can say that.
You know what they call this?
They called this the Marmite of the meat world.
You either love it or hate it.
'Well, Ainsley, I've tried it and I'm still not convinced.
'If it was on Strictly, I'd give it a four.'
'Seriously? It's going to be one of them days.
'Well, he may not have got his head around that,
'so with that in mind, it's time for a cuisine
'that is well-known by just about everybody - apart from Len, that is.
'Chinese.
'The first Chinese settlers arrived in the early 1900s,
'choosing Manchester as an alternative to nearby Liverpool
'where another community were already beginning to grow.
'And now, this bustling city is home to around 14,000 Chinese people.'
'Many original settlers arrived alone to work in the laundry trade...
'..until the 1950s when the growth of home washing and chain launderettes
'forced them to look for other types of employment.
'Manchester's first Chinese restaurant, Ping Hong, opened in 1948
'and, over the next decade, a further 16 sprang up in the area,
'providing welcome jobs for the community.
'By the 1970s, Manchester's Chinatown began to take shape.
'Now it has grown
'to be one of the largest provincial Chinese communities in Britain.'
'Today, Manchester's Chinatown is centred around the magnificent arch
'which stands astride Faulkner Street
'and is surrounded by a myriad of Chinese restaurants.
'I thought this would be the perfect place
'to bring Len for a bite to eat.'
You ever had Chinese food before?
- No. - Wok cooking or anything like that?
Stir-fry and all that, do you mean? No.
Funnily enough, I wondered what it was in our house.
- So, we have got a wok, but I've never seen it in action. - Really?
- Yes, never used. - Never used.
Shame, really,
because we're in Chinatown and I'm going to take you to Yang Sing,
which is probably the most established Chinese restaurant here.
'This multi-award-winning restaurant has been serving
'southern Chinese cuisine with a modern twist
'to the Manchester locals since 1977.
'Now run by the third generation of the Yeung family,
'this restaurant specialises in dim sum,
'which are bite sized portions of food, including steamed buns,
'dumplings and rice noodle rolls stuffed with a variety of fillings.
'I really think this is a good way into Chinese food for Len.
'Owner and head chef Harry is renowned for his skills
'in creating these gorgeous little dumpling pillows.
'And daughter Bonnie runs the front of the house.'
Hello, how are you doing?
- Nice to see you. - You too.
- Len, how are you doing? - Nice to meet you.
- I think I'm going to the kitchen, aren't I? - You are indeed.
You're probably going to have another one of your chats.
I'll see you later.
We're going to take a little walk around Chinatown
- and I'll show you the area. - After you. - Thank you.
'Great.
'Now Len is off for a stroll with his own personal tour guide,
'I'm hoping Harry can give me a crash course in the art of dim sum.'
- How you doing? - I'm all right. - Nice to see you. What are we making here?
- Dumpling. - What's the secret of dumplings? - First, the ingredient.
Second is the processing.
The filling is king prawn, winter bamboo shoots.
It's more crunchy than the normal bamboo shoot. It's firmer, harder.
- And there's sesame in here. I can smell... - Yes, sesame seed oil. - Yeah.
This one is half wheat starch and half potato starch.
And that gives it that lovely texture.
- The potato starch gives it elastic... - Elasticity. - Yes.
I'm looking forward to trying this. Beautiful.
'Out and about in Chinatown,
'and Bonnie is about to show me a little fishmonger's, Chinese style.
'And, boy, it's a bit different, it's more like a pet shop.'
- We have lots in here. - Oh, wow, yes.
These have all been locally sourced.
These are crab from British shores.
Let's have a look at one. This one looks quite lively.
It is a lively little devil.
Oh, yes.
Oh!
Don't do that again!
We've got some live lobster.
Again, these will all be local, native, they're quite big as well.
- That's a whopper. - I know, it's huge.
What you tend to find is that native lobster,
they have thinner shells so they have juicier meat.
- Let's have a look at these. Prawns are they? - Yeah, langoustines.
- Langoustines. They've got the little... - Pincers.
- You don't want to get the wrong side of those. - No.
I think it's absolutely fascinating.
'I wonder if Ainsley is learning as much as I am.
'Well, there is a definite art to the shaping of dumplings
'and I'm dying to have a go.'
I just love that.
Look at that little rabbit, look.
- That takes years. - I'll show you one.
I'll try and make one.
- Don't be too greedy. - Don't be... - HE CHUCKLES
- That's enough, isn't it? - Yeah. - OK.
And this finger is pushing.
- Not too bad, Harry. - Not too bad.
How do you get that lovely edge, though?
You know, I'm working since I was 13,
I'm 60-odd years old now,
- so it's experience. - Yeah.
That's your first one, so...
- Not yet, takes a bit of time. - Yeah, takes a bit of time. - Yeah.
Clever lad like you, I think it would take two years.
Oh, golly. I'm going to give this one to Len.
'Bonnie surprises me again with a bakery - Chinese style.'
- Wow! - So, look... - Ooh!
We get ourselves a tray.
- And then... - A clawer. - Yeah.
And we come and take anything you like.
Are these all sweet buns?
No, some of them are savoury.
My favourite is this one, the honey roast pork pineapple bun.
On top, you've got like a crusty, sweet layer,
then you've got a real soft brioche bun
and then, inside that, you've got a sticky pork filling.
- Really? - It's really tasty.
Hold on. Let me look at this one. Is that a sausage roll?
- That is a Chinese sausage roll. - A Chinese sausage roll.
- Like a frankfurter... - In a sweet bun. - ..in a bun. Lovely.
I've got to ask, because something has caught my eye. What is this?
- It's like a herb cream, so a sort of sweet bun, really. - Just a sweet one.
This is like a savoury doughnut. This is the real bad boy stuff.
- You get a lot for your money. - I know. - I'm going to pick one.
My in-laws like the honey bun.
A sweet bread with a custardy coconut filling.
- Shall we have one? - Yeah.
- I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to treat you. - Thank you.
That's what I'm like. SHE LAUGHS
I don't care what it costs.
Hello.
- 1.20, please. - 1.20. Lovely jubbly.
- OK? - We're going to enjoy this, aren't we? - We are indeed. - Come on.
'Our dumplings are assembled and ready for steaming.'
- It's about four or five minutes? - Yeah. - Yeah? Not long at all.
- Not long. - No.
Longer than that, they will be over-steamed and collapse.
- Ah! It starts to break down. - Yeah.
- How many different varieties do you serve here? - Hundreds. - Hundreds? Wow.
- Later on, we do some chicken feet. - Chicken feet!
That sounds brilliant, I love the idea of that.
- Len's dancing feet, chicken feet. - HE CLUCKS
Come on, Harry.
'Time for my first taste of Chinese baking.'
- Fancy a bit of this bun? - Yes.
- I've got us a fork. - Thank you. Very civilised.
I'm a civilised little devil.
- I didn't bring my chopsticks! - What a pity. Have a go at it.
You've got your lovely bun, and then a nice honey custard in the middle.
- Honey custard. - Could do with a nice cup of tea. - I can handle it.
- So, this is really a large Chinatown, really. - Mm.
- How many stores do you think there are, and cafes? - Gosh...
I know we've got over 40 restaurants.
It's a really close-knit community. Whereas in London,
it might be really tourism led, lots of tour groups,
in Manchester's Chinatown, everyone knows each other.
There is a real sense of community.
I think that's lovely.
How was your bun?
This bun, I've had a little bit, and I tell you what, it's lovely.
Is there a large Chinese community generally throughout Manchester?
Growing. Growing by the day.
Because it's such a vibrant, exciting city,
and it's an affordable place to live, it attracts so many people.
And because Chinatown has such a wealth of restaurants,
eateries, stores, it's a great place to live.
I think we'd better go back and see what Ainsley is up to in the kitchen.
'Harry is now preparing the dish that I know will test Len -
'the chicken feet.
'This could go either way.
'They are coated with potato starch
'to keep them succulent during cooking
'and now it's time to make the sauce.'
Black bean.
- Seasoning. - You've got sugar in there, salt in there? - Sugar, salt.
- Some ground bean sauce. - Ah! Lovely.
Oil.
Smells fantastic already.
This is the thing about Chinese food, it's just so well established,
it's so well thought out, it's been like this for hundreds of years.
Just perfect.
I know we like chilli, so I put a few more.
There you go.
Chicken feet.
I wonder what Len is going to think of that!
Let's get steaming, Harry.
'Now cooked, it's time for Len's first Chinese banquet.
'I just hope he's not put off for the rest of his life.'
'Well, it all looks fairly harmless,
'but, as with everything Ainsley puts in front of me,
'I know that he is out to get me.'
First of all, what does dim sum mean, Harry?
Dim sum means touch of your heart.
Touch of your heart?
So when I share this food with you,
it's a little piece of my heart that I'm sharing with you.
Oh, wow, that's nice.
Try this. That's with spinach.
We used the green juice on the pastry...
- Oh, that's nice. - ..and chopped the stem
and mixed with prawn and seafood.
It just sounds fantastic to me. I just love it.
I really would love to like Chinese food, because my wife loves it.
- Does she? - My son adores it.
You must miss out.
And they go off and leave me with a ham sandwich.
- This might inspire you. - I'm going to do it.
'This mouthful could change the Goodman family outings forever.'
- Very nice. - You like that? - Tasty. - There you go, excellent.
'Those ham sandwiches can stay in the fridge
'because, finally, my whole family
'are going to be heading for the Chinese are together.'
- That's nice. What is this one here? - That's a home-made chilli oil.
- I'm going to give it a go. - What do you think, it's best with the fish?
- Yeah, have it with the dumpling. - Can I eat one of these, please?
These are so delicate and so lovely. I just love them all.
- Did you like that? - I'm going to have two of them.
What I like about this, this is so pure, white and innocent
that it doesn't hurt to have a bit of that chilli oil with it.
- It is sort of yin and yang. - That's right, yeah.
Very good.
This is what a lot of Chinese food is based on -
yin and yang, the balance of flavours.
So where you have sweet, you always have savoury.
Where you have sour, you always have sweet, or salty and sweet.
- And this one here? - This is the cuttlefish bumblebee.
Bumblebee.
There is no actual bumblebee in it,
but the symbol of Manchester is the bumblebee,
representing Manchester's industrial past.
And inside this little bumblebee is squid?
Cuttlefish, which is very similar to squid, isn't it?
'Oh, no, is this the bump? He's not a fan of the squid.'
'I don't normally do anything with tentacles, Ainsley,
'but as it's hidden in a bumblebee, I'm going to give it a go.'
- Lovely. - Did you like that? - Lovely. Cuttlefish.
There's a little bit of a crunch as well from the breadcrumbs.
I can tell everything has been prepared with absolute TLC.
Very, very tasty.
Now, I like the look of this.
A bit of jollop.
- Here you are. - Yeah, you can give me a bit of that jollop.
I don't mind that at all.
- You've gone for it. - I love all of this.
- This is the chicken's feet with black bean sauce. - Chicken's feet!
- That's right. - To help you dance.
- I'm not having that. Why would she say that to me? - Why?
Chicken's feet? No.
In Chinese culture, when you eat feet, this will help your feet.
When you're dancing, this will really improve your skills.
I can't eat it, I do apologise.
I'm more than happy to steam into a couple of those and the green one.
But no chicken feet, Len?
If you say chicken feet again,
- I'm going to take one of these chopsticks... - All right.
Thank you so much.
'Uh-oh. Time for a sharp exit.'
- What a pleasure, what an absolute pleasure. - Thank you for your time.
You have given us such a special introduction to Chinese food
- and certainly stimulated this man's taste buds. - That's brilliant.
- I've enjoyed the whole experience. - Wonderful, thank you. - Thank you.
So proud of you, mate. So proud of you.
You really went for it. Really lovely.
- A bit of an experience, Chinatown, for you? - Chinatown was great.
I had a lovely walk round, a lovely chat,
it was great to have somebody explaining this and that. Lovely.
How did the food work out?
Obviously, chicken feet, no-one in their right mind...
You were thinking about it.
- I saw you... - I was going to do it, and then somebody mentioned feet.
Once feet came into the conversation, I was snookered, I couldn't have it.
- I'm sorry. - But the lovely little spinach dumpling, lovely.
And the white with the prawn and the bamboo shoots, lovely.
But chicken feet!
Anyway, it is what it is, come on. I can't help it, can I?
I can totally understand it. Sometimes things work out like that.
'Next on the menu are some baked goods,
'which Len might enjoy a bit more than chicken feet.
'And they are produced locally.
'Established in 1864, Robinsons the Master Bakers
'is Manchester's oldest family-run craft bakery.
'They make over 17 types of bread
'and, according to boss David,
'their most popular is the Manchester loaf.'
It tastes completely different to any other mass-produced loaf
that you can buy in the shops.
It's got a long fermentation process,
so it's got a flavoursome crumb in it as well as the nice crusty crust.
It's a proper loaf, it's how bread should taste.
'Created in 1973 when the Manchester Bakers Association
'held a competition for local bakers,
'the winning loaf was named after the city
'and has been made ever since.'
I love it, yeah. Put one of those on the bread board at home,
it lasts about five minutes, with some proper butter, of course.
'Daughter Grace has always wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps
'and is now carving out a career
'as the sixth generation master baker.'
I've learnt everything about running the bakery from my mum and my dad.
My dad sort of forced me to go to college
in case I decided one day that I didn't want to be a baker,
that I'd have something to fall back on.
I did what he said and I went to college,
but when I finished, I still came back to the bakery and said,
"I'll have a full-time job now."
'They are one of the few bakeries left making the Manchester Tart.'
I'm just blocking out the bases for the tart,
which is a shortcrust sweet pastry.
'After baking, the bases are piped with raspberry jam,
'covered with a smooth custard and topped with flakes of coconut
'and then a maraschino cherry.'
Everybody remembers it as a school dinner,
the pudding that they get at school
and when they see them on the market, they come and say,
"I haven't had one of them since school dinners!"
And then they buy it and then they love it again.
So now goes some icing on it.
This is the last stage of the Manchester Tart.
The making, anyway.
You then get to enjoy them.
'Back in the centre of town and we are heading to another restaurant
'and something with one heck of a tangy kick.
'Yeah, let's spice things up with a little trip to Mexico.'
Manchester offers all sorts of culinary ideas,
what about Mexican food, how does that grab you?
As you know, I've been to Los Angeles a lot
- and there is a huge Mexican... - Presence there, yeah.
- Exactly. - Absolutely. - And I've never, ever sampled the food.
A lot of people think it's just going to be
a good old chilli con carne, a bit of guacamole,
a bit of cheese on top. There is so much more to it.
We're talking about real, authentic Mexican food.
And when you taste it,
it will completely change your attitude towards good Mexican food.
- Come on, mate. - No toad in the hole? - No, no toad in the hole.
'There are now close to 300 Mexican restaurants in the UK.
'And over 10% of Britain's Mexican population
'are based here in the north-west of England.'
'Pancho's Burritos started life in Mexico as a typical taco stand.
'Then five years ago, Mexico city born Enrique and his wife
'decided to bring their taste of Mexico to the UK.'
'Enrique uses real family recipes
'that have been passed on to him over the years
'and hopes to educate the people of Manchester
'about authentic Mexican flavours
'by introducing them to traditional ingredients.
'Business is booming with two successful food stalls
'and a recently opened restaurant,
'which is where I have brought Len today.'
- Hello. Nice to meet you. - How are you doing? - Not too bad.
Pleased to meet you.
I've been telling Len all about Mexican food and how special it is.
You have to convince him.
Just leave it to me.
- See you later. - OK, we'll have a chat.
'Leaving Len in Enrique's capable hands,
'I'm off to the kitchen to meet chef Miguel.'
- Miguel. - Hi, how are you?
- This is smelling good already, what have we got here? - Spicy beef.
- Some refried beans. - What do you put in there, Miguel?
Dried beans, some oil, salt, some habanero chillies.
Ah! This, this is it.
There you go.
'With Len still getting over the old Chinese chicken feet,
'those chillies might be the end of him today.
'So I think we need a dish with a little less fieriness in it,
'and I'm hoping Michael's pork and lime dish
'will be easier on his palate.'
Would this be a good introduction to the flavours of Mexico?
Because Len, who I'm showing the food to,
he doesn't like things too spicy,
he doesn't like things too saucy, but he loves flavours.
- So maybe this will be a good idea. - This is perfect for Len.
- This is completely mild. - Fantastic.
Some onion.
Four pinches of oregano.
I love a chef's pinch.
- Cloves... - I love your pinch.
Thanks.
- Annatto. - The annatto is a Brazilian seed shell.
All over... If you start talking about Mexican food,
they love to put this in the marinade. Wonderful flavour.
Some customers, they say, thank you or congratulations, beautiful,
this is a proper Mexican flavour.
I feel really, really good.
'And finally, to give the marinade a sharp kick,
'in goes some pink grapefruit juice.'
Enrique, now, tell me, the Mexican food that you can have here,
- is it exactly how you would get it in Mexico? - Definitely.
Basically, the recipes, half of that are my mum's,
the other ones are from the region that I used to live.
- Is the food hot and spicy, or is it...? - No. Definitely not.
We've got all sorts in Mexico. Mild, hot and spicy.
- Just to suit anybody's taste. - Exactly.
This is amazing, look at this. Look at that.
All night marinade and, the next day, the flavour is really good.
Fantastic. Quite often,
people think of Mexican food as just chilli con carne, with cheese.
And this is funny because, really,
chilli con carne is not a Mexican dish.
I make chilli con carne here in the UK, because in Mexico...no.
Beautiful.
I put in the oven 160 degrees, more or less, for one and a half hour.
What are the things you can have in a Mexican restaurant, tortillas?
Tortillas are made of corn. Tostadas. They are...
Tostadas. I like the word tostadas.
Basically, it is the same tortilla,
but just flat, deep-fried, flat
and, on top, you can put all sorts of things.
This is my first attempt at Mexican food,
so I want you to make it very special for me. Keep your eye on Ainslie.
- Make sure it's not too hot. - No problems. No problems.
- Well. - Fantastic. - It's ready.
Beautiful. The smell, man. The smell.
'Really beautiful.
'Miguel piles the juicy pork onto the cornflour tortillas,
'spoons on Mexican vegetable rice
'and adds a red onion and chilli salsa.'
- Fantastic. - Ready?
So I hope Len likes pork and lime, Mexican rice, some spicy onion.
Come on, let's go and feed him.
Uh-oh...
Uh-oh. Look at this.
Get your gills around that, as they would say, Len.
This is tacos with pork and lime.
It's an absolute classic dish, slow-cooked in banana leaf.
Are you going to have a bit of a try?
- So, what do you do, get a hold of that, I'm assuming? - Yeah.
So, here we are.
A little bit of that... That's a nice little moist bit there.
'Here we go, folks, my first taste of Mexico.'
What's your impression of it?
It's very tasty.
- It's tasty. - And not too spicy? - No, this isn't spicy.
- Has it been cooked slowly? - Yeah. - Slow-cooked. - Slow-cooked.
- It's very nice. - Quite limey. - You're right. - Very citrusy.
- What have we got here? - This is tamarind water.
So, it's a fruit. In Mexico, it's really popular
because it's fresh with some ice.
It's like a sherbet, Len.
That's nice, too. That's nice.
'For someone whose taste buds
'have never been outside the East End of London,
'Len just keeps surprising me.'
Look at this.
I've got to ask, what is that?
- Those are worms. - They are worms? - Yes.
I'm not having the worm.
- That's the traditional way. - Yeah, I'm not traditional.
No, I like the... No.
- Hold on, Len, it's all right. - No worm, no.
- I'm not having the worm. - OK, I'll give you just the liquid.
I want to hold your hand.
I'm not having the worm.
- All the best. - All the best. - Salute.
- It's firewater. - Very nice. - Delicious. It was delicious.
Wow. Woooh.
Thank you very much...
LAUGHTER
Hey, listen, I've enjoyed your food,
it's been lovely to come here.
- Thanks for your hospitality. - Thank you very much, guys.
- Thank you. - Nice to meet you.
- Thank you for allowing me in the kitchen. - It was a pleasure.
And what fabulous... I can see why you're here.
- Good luck for the future. - Yeah, good luck. - Thanks, guys.
Just down the road there is a fountain.
I'm going to...
I'm going to jump in next to it.
- Ohh... - Come back here!
Oh, dear! I can't take him anywhere.
Authenticity. Authenticity.
I told you, when you walk out of a place like that, you think wow!
'Another food barrier knocked down.
'I thought Mexican food would blow my head off, but, no, actually,
'that was left to the mescal.'
'Well, what a day. But today's food tour isn't over yet.
'It's my turn to take charge of the kitchen
'and be inspired by our earlier trip to Chinatown.
'I'm cooking Len my velvet beef in oyster sauce with steamed pak choi.
'Ho-ho!'
It's a really simple dish, but delicious and rewarding.
I've got some wonderful ingredients
to make a marinade for the beef first.
To start with, take one tablespoon of cornflour,
it doesn't matter if it's a heaped tablespoon.
Put that into a bowl along with a tablespoon of sugar,
white sugar is absolutely fine.
Then we've got a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce.
And a teaspoon of sesame oil.
Just blend that all together.
And a teaspoon of chilli oil.
And just blend that all together.
Of course, the star ingredient is fillet steak.
It doesn't have to be fillet steak, you can use sirloin.
You want a really good cut, though,
something that is going to cook really quickly
and will take on those flavours.
I'm cutting the beef into nice, long, thin strips.
Don't get too fussy,
but you want them roughly about the same size.
I'm going to pop that into our marinade.
And just give that a little bit of a rub,
making sure that is well combined.
OK. Leave it to marinade
and soak up some of those lovely flavours.
If you want to, you can put it in the fridge overnight
and give it a little bit of a turn now and then,
or like me, cooking it in a minute. Just wash my hands.
Next up, delicious pak choi.
Cut that into wedges, like that is fine.
You'll see I'm just packing that into my saucepan here.
Then I'm just going to drizzle on a little bit of water,
two or three tablespoons of water, not too much,
and a little bit of sesame oil.
No more than about a teaspoon of that. OK, that's enough.
Pop the lid on top and I'm just going to steam that off.
Heat a good few centimetres of vegetable oil to fry the meat.
Now, velveting the beef.
That's an expression you don't hear too often,
but it's a way of taking your steak, if you like, and putting it through
the cornflour and the egg white, just a combination of those two.
You toss it through and that gives it that lovely, velvety coating,
and then we'll fry it off.
So two egg whites,
I'm going to add a couple of tablespoons of cornflour.
And also a teaspoon of dark soy.
Just whisk that together.
And what you're looking for here is almost like a smooth batter.
That's the best way of describing it.
Until it looks something like your favourite coffee shake,
or something like that.
It's just got that appearance.
Dip the marinated beef strips into the velvety coating.
There we are, give them a good shake.
It just smells so, so lovely.
The beef has taken on all those lovely flavours.
Once again, use your hands. Don't be frightened.
Get in there, give that a little bit of a toss like that.
That's what we're looking for.
We're going to take our beef and, very carefully,
drop that into our hot oil.
You're going to cook it for about three minutes.
Try to keep moving it around the pan.
You don't want it sticking together.
Get that beef lovely and crispy.
Don't forget to check on the pak choi.
And before the velvet beef cooks through,
heat a pan with a dark oyster sauce.
Once your beef has been in there for three minutes,
you can see it's lovely and crispy. That's what we're looking for.
I'm going to take that off now
and drain that onto our kitchen paper.
Lovely, crispy pieces of velvet steak.
Onto there. Perfect.
Time to serve it up for our Len.
Just lay that on the base of your dish.
You can see that's still lovely and crunchy.
You've got that wonderful smell of the sesame oil.
Just a touch of that.
You don't need loads of it.
Just look at that.
Top that with our beautiful crispy beef.
Take our oyster sauce,
drizzle some of that on the top.
And then we're going to garnish it with our chilli...
..spring onions and sesame seed.
And there we have it.
Crispy velvet beef in oyster sauce with sesame-steamed pak choi.
Ho-ho! Now, this dish is a winner in my book,
but what really matters is what Len thinks.
What have we got here?
We've got a little bit of crispy velvet steak
in a nice warm oyster sauce
and I've served that with some steamed pak choi.
Funnily enough, my old Sue ordered a takeaway
- because she likes Chinese, and she had crispy beef. - Wow.
- And that looks a bit like crispy beef. - Very much so.
And I didn't mind it. I had a couple of nibbles and it was good.
It's like a... Yeah, like an eyebrow.
Like an eyebrow!
- That's great. - Do you like that? - Yeah, I do.
I'm going to have a bit of this, as well, while I'm at it.
- The old pak choi. - I've never had it, but I like the name.
Oh, well!
It's all steamed together beautifully.
Oh, it's lovely.
- What's that juice? - That's the oyster sauce.
The oyster sauce is lovely, I must say.
You know what happens when you enjoy it? I do a little bit of this.
- Oh, lovely. - I think it's great.
Do you think the people of Manchester will like it?
- They'll love it. - Right.
Manchester, we've got some beautiful crispy velvet beef here.
- Here you are, bit of sesame. - Here we go.
Now, get ready for this. It's going to be gorgeous.
All right, roll up, roll up, roll up, Manchester,
- for a wonderful Chinese treat. - Here you go.
Take a fork. Go on.
There you are.
- There is a little spoon for you, - mister. Thank you.
Here you are, mate.
- That's it. Want a spoon thing? - Thanks. - What do you reckon, mister?
- It is beautiful. Really nice. - You steamed into that quick enough.
- Ainslie, this bloke says it's beautiful. - Thank you very much.
- What do you reckon, was it nice? - Nice, yes. - Lovely.
- Crispy outside, and the inside is soft. - Lovely.
- Thank you. - Exactly what I thought.
- Go on. - Has it got oyster sauce on? - Oyster sauce - she's got it!
- Wahey! Beautiful. - Spring onions... - Spring onions, peppers, oyster sauce.
- Chilli. - Chilli.
Oh, you know your stuff.
- What do you think, madam? - Beautiful.
- You're liking it? - Yes, very much.
What do you reckon?
- Mmm! - Nice, isn't it? - It's really good.
- Spicy. - Too spicy for you? - Nope. - No?
Do you like it? Good.
Delicious.
Ainslie, this lady says it's delicious.
Ooh!
Give Ainslie a clap, everyone.
- Thank you very much, Manchester, we love you. - Wahey!
Overall, Len, was Manchester a surprise, a shock,
or a complete disappointment?
Not a disappointment at all. The city, I think, is great.
It's vibrant, full of hustle and bustle and people working.
- Energy is everywhere, isn't it? - Energy is everywhere.
That lovely walk around Chinatown - great, I loved that as well.
So, Manchester, I salute you.
'So, after our day of delicious Chinese dim sum...'
Everything has been prepared with absolute TLC.
'..topped off with a Mexican adventure...'
- You hold on, it's all right. - No worm, no.
- You hold on. - I'm not having the worm.
'..will any of today's dishes make it into Len's top ten?'
'I certainly munched my way through Manchester's finest.
'But, for today at least, nothing has knocked any of my
'favourite dishes off the top spot.
'But I must say, Ainsley, I've loved my north-west adventure.
'You've really opened my eyes to Manchester's food scene.'
'Glad to hear it, my friend.
'Now, about them chicken feet...'