August 26, 2024 • 37 mins
This week on Ruthie's Table 4, we're delving into the archives to revisit one of our favourite guests, David Beckham.
David featured in two episodes all the way back in season one. We could listen to him speak of his love for food and family forever, so now we've compiled them both into a special extended episode.
Stories of Madrid, Milan, memories from his childhood. We invite you to share some more time in his company.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio
and Adami's Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm sitting here in the River Cafe garden with David Beckham.
He has just cooked an exquisite tagatelly with fresher rolls,
butter and parmesan. It's a bit much, really, as I
don't go around scoring free kicks. I know David has
a lot of friends, a lot of colleagues, and certainly
(00:29):
a lot of fans, but when he comes to the
River Cafe, it's with his family, Victoria and their four children,
always sitting at table one, basking and family, love, sharing
food and always having his favorite wine, Sassakia.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you, David, You're welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You were describing cooking as one of the great pleasures
the other night.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
It's one of my biggest passions, you know, along with wine. Now,
I love to cook. You know. I was in the
kitchen the other day cooking for the kids and Victoria
was like, can I help?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What can I do?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
And I was like, honestly, sit down, have a vogron tonic, relax,
be with the kids.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
This is what I love to do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I really relate to that because you kind of far.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
There's a method, isn't there.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
But it's also creative, and it's also you're doing it
for your kids who haven't seen all day, and there's
the anticipation, and I think that is something why you
probably like to cook and I like to cook.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's just one of the main reasons why I love
to cook, because it's why I love lego also, you know,
because it relaxes me, you know, and I'm forty seven
years older and I'll still sit there with you on
my own actually till two, three, four in the morning
doing lego because actually it relaxes me. And it's the
same cooking for the kids. I love to cook for
my parents. I love to cook for my friends. And
(01:48):
I think that it's obviously come from, you know, my upbringing.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
What does your mother a cook? Cooking?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
My mum cooked for me and my sisters every single night,
and I had hard working parents, working class parents. When
my dad was out from six in the morning till
seven in the evening. My mom was a hairdresser and
still is a hairdresser. She used to spend her evenings
obviously cooking for me and my sisters, and then at
about eight or nine, o'clock in the evening, some old
(02:15):
ladies would arrive and she'd be doing their hair to
eleven twelve at night. So yes, my mom used to
cook for us every evening, every Sunday lunch. And my
grandma was exactly the same as well. So that's really
my childhood with my grandparents. And my granddad was Jewish,
so every Saturday when we turn up, my grand would
(02:37):
have this most amazing chicken noodle soup with the motsameal dumblings.
So I was brought up That's what I was brought
up on. And the jelly deals. One of the delights
of been from the East End of London was pie
mash and jelly deals and liquor. That was what I
was really brought up on. It was the one treat
(02:58):
that I used to go with my nan my grandad.
We used to go down to Chapel Market. There was
the most amazing pie and mash shop there and we
used to sit in there, sawdust on the floor, sat
on wooden seats and eating our pie mash and jelly deals.
What was in the pie Actually, it's just mince meat.
(03:18):
It's just mince meat. The pies are the most amazing pastry,
and I always get them to turn them upside down
on my plate. And then it's a big dollop of mash.
And the mash is literally there's no there's hardly any
butter in it. It's just salt and the potatoes. And
then the liquor is this most amazing green sauce. It's
(03:38):
made with parsley and stewed eels, and then I put
some spicy vinegar over the top, with some a little
bit of salt and lots of pepper. But the jelly
deals are the thing that not many people that I
know love the jelly deals. My grand used to like
them stewed. I literally like them in the jellatine.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So they come.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Up in slices, so the earls are cut up, and
they come in this this plastic pot and I just
pour vinegar and pepper on it, and I have it
at least once a week.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Many people that I talked to talk about the food
of their parents, but the memory of their grandparents is
really important to them.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
We used to go there every weekend because my dad's
parents actually had passed away before we had all grown up,
so we always used to spend weekends at my man
and grandad's house.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
So my mom's mom and dad and we.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Used to turn up at their at their flats in London,
and the first thing that I would do and I
walked through the door in my grand's flat would open,
I'd open the fridge and there she'd have fresh strawberries.
Every Saturday morning that we turned up, she'd have fresh
strawberries and a big pot of sugar.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's interesting that you talk about that because my husband,
Richard designed house which was a very strong route from
the park through the garden, through the courtyard into the
house and into a garden. But my route, I always
used to say, was from the courtyard into the house
and into the fridge. You know, my first stop was
always at the fridge because again his mother always had.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Food for us.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah. Well, they had a very They had a very
small flat, so as you walk in, literally the toilet
was on your left and just slight a foot further.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Was the fridge. So you open the fridge.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And there there was, you know, the most amazing fresh
strawberries every Saturday morning.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Every Saturday morning.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Because my grandfather used to go to work at about
eleven o'clock in the morning. So what we'd do is
we'd arrive really early, like nine o'clock. My grand would
have this thick, freshly cut bread. She'd make the most
amazing sandwich. I'd sit and watch like the football on
a Saturday morning before my grand had left, and then
(05:56):
he'd go to work and then go and watch Spurs play.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
They do.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
He was in the print.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So he was in the print, and he worked up
until he was eighty eighty one eighty two. He still
went to work. And yeah, he's an amazing man. And
he was a Tottenham fan. So he used to go
and watch Tottenham in the afternoons. And that's where my
gran and my mom used to take me down to
Chapel Market and we used to go and have piemash.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
How old would you have been?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Oh my god? We went there from.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
As long as I can remember, I mean two three
years old and up until up until they passed away.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
So's your mother.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
That's interesting that she worked all day and she cooked
for you at night, so you sat at the table
and then worked again. Would she have done a weekly
shop or would you stop at the market or how
would she do all that?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Do you think I mean she'd do.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
She'd probably do a weekly shop shop, I'd say, But
you know, my mom, like I said, she'd drop us
to school in the mornings. Then you know, you'd do
hairdressing throughout the day, pick us up from school, bring
us home, cook us, you know, whatever we were going
to eat that evening, which was either she used to
make the most amazing gammon and chips, which again it's
(07:13):
one of.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Those things that I still have now.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
It was amazing gammon, fried egg, pineapple from a tin,
coleslaw and chips, and it was one of my favorite
meals and she still cooks that for me now.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So yeah, that was one of the things that I
used to love.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
When you left home and you were no longer had
your mother to cook, but you also you had such
a love for food and an understanding of the connection
of food and the importance of sitting at the table.
What was that like when you left that?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I was actually quite excited because I left home when
I was fifteen years old to move up to Manchester
fifteen when I was fifteen wo and then I was
in lodgings. So I was in lodgings for about four
years and then I bought my first house, and actually
I was quite excited about it, because in all honesty,
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with
(08:06):
my mum, you know, helping her with the dinners, and
then when she would do her hairdressing in the evenings,
I used to make the cups of tea and bring
the biscuits or the cake for all my mum's ladies
that she was doing their hair. So I used to
love that kind of thing. So getting my own house,
having to cook for myself, actually I was very excited about.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Did you entertain would you cook for I would.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Entertain I'd have a few friends around, you know. I
did like to go out for dinner, but my favorite
evenings were and still are, you know, cooking for the kids,
cooking for friends, you know, especially when I have when
I have like a lot of time, you know. Pretty recently,
I was in isolation actually for five days because I've
(08:52):
just been to Italy. So I came back and on
one of the last days, Victoria's parents had a party
and I and actually go to it, so everyone was
out of the house and I actually secretly loved it.
So I literally had two most amazing cuts of meat,
and one was a t bone and I had some
(09:15):
English wagou. I poured one glass of the most amazing
red wine that I treated myself too, because I was
on my own, feeling sorry for myself, looking forward to
watching the football in the afternoon. On my own, I
set the barbecue up, and I think there's nothing better
than when you have time to get everything right you have,
(09:36):
you know, I had a nice tomato and onion or
shot salad, and I literally had the meat and a
glass of wine, and it was the most amazing meal
that I'd had for a long time. So those are
my perfect afternoons or evenings. It was actually quite thick.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't like to brag absolute perfection.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Well, I've been watching Chefs Table that more and it
gave me the idea of obviously doing you know, the
barbecue in the afternoon. So I've been watching the butcher.
There was a there's an Italian butcher on the chef's table.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So I put it on the.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Grill, cooked it for six or seven minutes either side,
and it was quite a thick piece, a bit of salt,
bit of pepper, and I like I like my meat.
I like it rare, medium, a push but rare, more rare,
and it was it came out perfect, and it was
only me in the house, so I ate it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I like it when it's when if it's thick enough,
then you can get it really black on the outside bay,
so there's that contrast and you think of the the strong.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So that's that's what it was like that day. So
that was the perfect day.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And I had a bottle of Italian massetto, so I
had Cora vanned it and bought a couple of glasses
for myself.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Tell me, we've been talking about food, what do you
feel about wine?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
You know, I'm at the end of the dawn from
the East end of London, so really I only saw
my mom and dad drinking either you know, blue Nana or.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Lambrusco, and that was as good as it really got.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
So then when me and Victoria actually first started dating,
we used to go to this restaurant in the Midland
Hotel in Manchester called the French Restaurant, and it was
very fancy and we used to go in there and
we used to sit in the corner and we used
to order the most expensive bottle of champagne and the
most expensive bottle of wine.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Not knowing what we were drinking. We were just wanting.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
To have a nice night out and know that we
were drinking something great, even though we had no idea
what we were drinking. And I think that was my
first introduction into tasting a grape wine. One of the
first weddings, remember, I want to say it was either
a sixty two or sixty seven tour, and that was
(12:02):
my first introduction into tasting something that I thought was great,
even though I had no idea whether it was great
or not, I knew that I was tasting something special.
So at that point, obviously I was still, you know,
a professional player, so I never really I was never
a big drinker. I used to have a glass of
wine or you know, every now and again, but I
(12:23):
never really drank throughout my career. But then I really
started loving wine when we first moved to la and
we used to go to Napa Valley a lot, and
I used to sit with people like Bill Harlan or
An Colgan, and I think that there's nothing better than
actually sitting at a table with someone that knows what
(12:43):
they're talking about and what they're drinking, and what they're
smelling and what they're tasting annoyingly.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Victoria is very good on that. It is annoying.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Actually, she can say this wine tastes of cigarette smoke.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yes, that's exactly what she can say.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And I'm like, yeah, it really does. And I'm like,
I don't taste that, but no, but annoyingly. She's very
good at that, and she'll never admit it. She'll always say, well,
David's the expert. Then then you know, all of a
sudden she'll come out with all that smell that tastes
a little bit smoky, and you know.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So yeah, but you know I love wine.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Does it matter to you if you order a wine
that you might not be happy with that?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Do you know what I have? How does it make
me feel? Actually?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think it can make or break an evening in
my I really do think it does. Even though you
know that you're going to get great food in the
restaurant wherever you are. For me, if I have picked
the wrong wine, wrong glass of wine, or the wrong
bottle of wine, I wouldn't say it ruins my evening,
(13:53):
but yeah, it does ruin my evening. And I get
quite emotional about food and wine, you know, when I
when I'm eating some think great. I want everyone to
try it, you know, And that's unfortunately I'm married to
someone that has eaten the same thing for the last
twenty five years since since I've met Victoria. She only
(14:13):
eats you know, grilled fish, steam, vegetables. She will very
rarely deviate away from there. The only time that she's
ever probably shared something that's been on my plate was
actually when she was pregnant with Harper, do you remember,
And it was the most amazing thing. It was one
of my favorite evenings. I can't remember what it was,
(14:35):
but I know that she's not eating it.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Since the River Cafe Cafe are all day space and
just steps away from the restaurant is now open in
the morning an Italian breakfast with cognetti, chiambella and cristada
(14:58):
from my pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, ice creamed coops
in River Cafe classic desserts. We have sharing plates Alumi Missti, Mozzarella, Brisqueto,
red and yellow peppers, Vitello, tonado and more. Come in
the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar.
No need to book see you here.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
To be honest, I've been so lucky because in a way.
When I left Manchester and I had to leave Manchester United,
I was obviously devastated at the time, but it's really
really educated me in living in different countries, eating different foods,
trying different things. And when I was playing in Italy
(15:47):
for eleven months, I was on loan at AC Milan,
so I'd train in the morning and in the afternoon.
I decided to take a culinary course in Italian cuisine.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And I absolutely loved it. So I did that.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Private lesson or was it in a class.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I had a few private lessons and then it was
in a class, but everybody was very you know, focused
on what they were all doing, so they weren't even
bothered that I was. Obviously at the time. It's a
big deal to be playing for an Italian team. Yes, course,
So I did the culinary course because my kid's favorite
(16:23):
food is Italian. So I wanted to perfect making the
perfect ragu. I wanted to perfect doing the perfect risotto.
I always had it in my head that doing a risotto.
Making a risotto was difficult. Actually it turns out not
to be that difficult. So why did they teach you
about making Obviously the stock is really most important, and
(16:48):
literally you're stood there for twenty minutes kind of making
sure that you're keeping an eye and everything that's not
going too dry, that it's not going it's not got
too much liquid in it. And then obviously the ending
is the part where every think comes together with the parmesan,
you know, So that I just loved that time because
I got to perfect the perfect well I think it's
(17:09):
the perfect ragu, making fresh pasta from scratch, and obviously
the risotto. So that was one of the things that
I loved about living in Italy, you know, And it's
the one thing that I love about Italians and the
Italian food and the culture because for a start, it's
all about family. It's all about food and the wine,
(17:29):
of course, but whether you go into a small cafe
on the side of the street or you're in the
middle of Tuscany with an old Italian mama making the
most amazing pasta, everything that I ate and I have
always eaten in Italy has always been astonishing.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Everything I would say when you say that it's family,
I always tell the story that I was once in
a room in a house with Richard and with his
family in Tuscany, I heard this huge argument going on
downstairs in Italian and I thought, oh, no, you know
what's going on. So I kind of made my way
downstairs and there were two sisters and they were in
(18:10):
the kitchen and they were having this unbelievable argument about
whether or not with a papa pomodoro, which is a
bread soup of just bread and tomatoes. One wanted to
add a bit of water at the end and the
other one didn't.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
And you know, so.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's not even village to village, family to family, region
to region. It can be sister to sister. You know
that there's the right way to do it, and they
care so much.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You care so much, and even when they're not arguing,
it sounds like they're arguing because they're so passionate about it.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
I hope we'll cook together more.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
And they loved having you in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Kitchen.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, we'll plan that.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Okay, let's get this on the road, shall David Beckham?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
So she's head chef, what are you everything?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Okay, whatever you want to do.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I want a job, it was Beckham.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I would love to job. I need a job.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
You need a job.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
So I'm here today with Sean wowing the head chef
the River Cafe and my friend David Beckham.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
And it's now twenty.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
To six and people are coming in soon, so the
two of you better get going.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
What are you going to make? We are making? Can
you telly you're happy with that, chef?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'm more than happy with that.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Yeah, David. Okay, David, it's going to cook.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Okay. Oh yeah, give it a really good shake, Yeah,
shake it, shakey, gotta go.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And a bit of parsley.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
What do you like cook at home?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
David?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
What do I like cooking at home? To be honest,
my kids are obsessed with Italian food, so the majority
of the time they get me to make like a
raggedy because the kids love I could tell.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
When you're shaking the planet you work just in office.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Quite impressive you made it?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, yes, I think we could turn them into quite
useful shop. And it has done a cooking course. It transpires.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Collapse. I'm really impressed by that. Actually, So that was good.
Now it's time talk. Stop beating and we'll talk.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Can I take you with me?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You finish journey, we'll take it with us.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
We have an open kitchen and one of the great
pleasures for me is being able to see the reaction
of people eating now, whether they love it or they
don't love it, whether they share it or they don't
share it, whether they talk about it.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
You know, it's part of the whole joy of eating out.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And I love open kitchens, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I like the interaction that you can have with you know,
what's going on around you.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You know, I like to see what.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
The chefs are doing. I like to see what's being prepared.
To be honest, I've been so lucky because I lived
in Spain for four years, then I moved to America.
Then I spent eleven months in Italy, and then I
was back in America, and then I moved to Paris
for six months. So I had all of this kind
of education in you know, living in different places, eating
(21:47):
different foods, trying different things.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
When I was living in Paris, I was again Victoria,
and the kids kids would going to school in London,
so they obviously couldn't live there with me. They'd come
out of the weekends. So again, one of my favorite
restaurants in the world is Lammy Luis.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I agree, I mean absolutely agree.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It is literally I would say it's probably one of
my favorite restaurants in the world for atmosphere, food, enjoyment,
everything about it. You know, from the moment I walked in,
and you know, all the waiters are dressed in those
white jackets, and whether you're wearing a bomber jacket or
(22:30):
whether the most elegant lady walks in and the chanelle coat.
They take your coat off, they fold it up and
they throw it above the head on the car. It's
like a train carriage. And my record for eating es
cargo is I've eaten thirty two es cargoes at one dinner.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
To the listener, can I tell you those are big.
I've had them many times.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Big and they come on trays of six or nine,
I think, and they come and I was in there
for about four hours with Victoria once and we had
the most amazing wine and everything about that restaurant. And
I used to go in there, and I shouldn't have done,
because obviously I was a professional athlete, and you know,
I tried to watch what I eat, but I just
made sure I ran harder the next day. So I
(23:14):
used to go in there once a week. They used
to let me come in the first the service was
at seven thirty. I think it was in the evening
that was. No one was there at seven thirty either,
So I used to turn up at seven, and by
the time the first people were coming through the door
around called it to eight o'clock, I was walking out.
So I used to do that once a week. I
(23:34):
used to go on my own. I didn't care that
I was on my own. I just didn't drink the wine,
but I just sat there and I ate the most
amazing food.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I love it, and the pond freed, the little potatoes
used to take.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
The bread and everything about. It's just unbelievable. Crim Fresh
at the end, they bring that tub of crim fresh
out and they just dollop it on the plate and
the small strawberries.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
One of the high points of my career.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
As you know, the headway to they're the one with
the black hair. It's not called Louis, I can't remember
his name. And he came to the River Cafe with
his family, with his wife and his children, and it
was really such It was such a moving experience for
me to have them there. So you actually had the
experience of living in Milan in my marriage and Madrid.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yes, I lived in Madrid.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
When I first moved to Spain, I was twenty seven
years old and I lived there for four years, and
I became really obsessed by wherever I would live in
the world. I decided in my head, Okay, this is
where I'm going to be for the rest of my life,
because I had to look at it like that, because
I wanted to throw myself into the culture, into the language,
(24:48):
into the food, into everything that I was doing in
that country. So Spain was a big you know, food
kind of family kind of cult, you know I have.
For a start, I couldn't believe how long the lunches
went on for. You know, we'd start lunch at two
and still we sat there at seven, and then they'd
(25:09):
go for a sleep, and then we'd come back and
have dinner at eleven, and I'd be like falling asleep
at dinner. But I loved everything about Spain, you know,
from the ham On to the Loma to you know.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
To everything that I ate in Spain.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
I lovedz It's like the it's the barnacles and you
put them in hot boiling water, only for it not
for long. Yeah, and then you kind of twist the
end off and it's like it's very chewy, but they're
very salty. So they're called buth thebz and yeah they're
(25:46):
they're barnacles and they're very difficult to get. Literally, the
guys tie theirselves onto the side of these rocks. They
then wait for the waves to go out. They go
down get them and then come back up before the
wave comes in. So it's quite dangerous. And still now
(26:08):
every time that I go to Spain, every time that
I go to Madrid, I always come back with a
leg of ham on.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Always.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
It goes in the middle of the kitchen Ireland and
every time that the kids walk past, they slice a
piece off.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So yeah, but how was it being an athlete with
a discipline? How did you marry your passion for food
with the discipline of having to be absolutely fit for
a game?
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Did food affect you? Did you eat a cera?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
To be honest, I was lucky.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Food never really affected me, but I did, you know,
as much as I am sat here saying, you know,
the cram fresh, the escargo, everything that I've talked about,
I still try to eat in the most healthy way
because obviously being.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
An athlete I have to eat in the right way.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
But then I think the dietary requirements now for athletes,
especially in football, have totally changed over the last twenty years.
When I first joined Manchester United, you know, the canteen
was all about having steaking chips and beans and then
you'd have a jam roly poly or you'd have a
(27:19):
slice of chocolate cake. No like after training so you'd
have a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate custard. But
now it's totally different, you know. Now it's totally different now. Well,
it depends where you play, what manager you know you're
playing under. You know, there were certain managers that would
only want us to eat boiled chicken, which disgusting, but
(27:42):
that's that's how they felt that we should be eating,
you know, no ketch up, you know, and then you
have the opposite. When I was living in Milan, I
was kind of thinking, how am I going to be
fitness wise because I'm going to be eating a lot
of pasta, a lot of olive oil, a lot of
you know whatever. But it was actually one of the
(28:03):
fittest that I'd ever been in when I was playing
in Milan, because I think the produce is so clean,
it's so good. The quality of it was just incredible.
So over the years, it's definitely changed for sportsmen. You know,
I've been lucky that I could kind of eat whatever
I wanted, but I've always been careful knowing that I
can't have a glass of wine four days before a
(28:25):
game because I don't want it to affect anything that
I'm doing at the weekends, even though it was only
a glass, you know. So I'd always be very disciplined
on that.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
And do you think that athletes now are much more
very I think that that's part of the culture now.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I think if you start it early enough, then it
becomes part of your life and part of your culture.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's what we try and do with our kids, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
We try to educate them that, you know, if they
eat the right things and drink the right things and
look after theirselves now, you know, at such a young age,
then they'll continue it through through their life. And I
think it's an important part of life.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
It's education, isn't it. And I guess I could ask
you a question of George Best goodn't I about One
of my great memories of the park was at Parkinson
and the two of you there, and I think, you know,
I probably fell in love with you that night because
you were so respectful and so generous to him that
(29:22):
you know, I think there.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
Was a point in the interview.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I don't know when that was, but Richard and I
watched where Parkinson asked your question and you said, I'm
in the presence of you know, this man, and I
think we should let him talk. And that was very,
very moving to me. But he wasn't really taken care of,
was he.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
In the way.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But I think that he was part of a culture,
you know, and I was part of really the start
of my career, and a culture that was totally different
to what is right now and these days, you know.
But you know, George was the most amazing player, the
most amazing talent, and the most amazing person and as well,
(30:03):
you know, I think that I was. I felt so
honored to even be sat, yeah, you know, on the
same sofa next to him, in his presence, and he's
such a special person. He was, you know, he was
one of my dad's heroes. My dad was always a
Bubby Chilton fan, but obviously George best.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You know, he's a Manster United fan.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
At the end of the day my dad, So having
me on the same program as George Best probably was
one of the highlights of my dad. One of my
most favorite restaurants is He's in Brooklyn, New York, and
it's this old pizza place that's been there for a
(30:47):
long time called Luke Carly's, and it's run by Mark
and he owns He owns lu Carly's and it's just simple,
simple pizzas. He doesn't sell any alcohol in there. So
you turn up and he brings these amazing muscles out,
amazing clams. He makes this spicy rigatoni, and then he
(31:11):
brings the pies they call him pies. And I always
take like a great bottle of wine because I love
eating pizza with great wine. I do like to go
to fancy places from time to time, but I'm more
about the family style, you know, sitting there, great atmosphere.
(31:33):
You know, it doesn't like I said, it doesn't have
to be fancy, doesn't have to be the most expensive
meal in the world, doesn't have to be the most
amazing bottle of wine in the world. Just has to
be good people around the table, good food, and you know,
atmosphere is important.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
That's it when we thought when we opened the River Cafe,
there was this feeling in the eighties that you either
had the choice of eating really, really well but being
terrib that you were dressed well enough that you might
be late, that you might insult the chef, that you
didn't know the wine the summer. It make you feel stupid,
(32:09):
but you would have a good meal, or you could
go to the local and have a fantastic atmosphere but
maybe not the greatest food. And it wasn't just Rose
and myself. There was Alice Waters, and there was Roly
Lee and Wolfgang Puck, and there's a whole generation that said,
why can't we do both? You know, I don't want
a dress code in my restaurant, but I want to
serve really good food. And I don't want an intimidating
(32:31):
wine waiter, but I want to have really great wine.
You know that you could have both, and that you
can have fun and have the drama and eat really well.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
I think that's what's so special about here, in all honesty,
you know, I think the atmosphere, you know, you're you're
you're going to always eat great, thank you. The menu
is constantly changing. You're not intimidated. Whereas you know, I
suppose in the early days where I wasn't used to
going to great restaurants or eating great food or drinking
(33:02):
great wine, I suppose there was a certain part of.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Me that felt intimidated.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
But this is a place where you walk in and
there's not one part of you that feels worried about
ordering a bottle of wine or order in a glass
of right wine, or order in the wrong wine, or
you know, it's special.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I know what I want the people who work for me,
or how I want them to eat, and how I
want to make them come to work in an environment
where they can look out a window where they can
feel that there rest, you know, in the end, where
they want to come to work. Do you feel that
that is a responsibility to people who are.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
In management without doubt?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
You know, I think that I've been lucky over the
years to have been part of some great teams, you know,
obviously with the teams that I've played for, playing for
my country, representing my country, I've been very lucky to
be around great management, great teams, great support, you know,
my family, my friends, and now I have my own
(34:02):
team within my own office, and I want them to
be as happy, you know, as they are at.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Home and when they come to work.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
I think that's a really important part of running a business.
And I tried to do the same as Victoria tries
to do the same with the kids as well. You know,
we want them to be happy, we want them to
be healthy.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Do they cook with you?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
They do?
Speaker 5 (34:24):
They do.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Actually, Brooklyn Brooklyn actually loves cooking. He posts a lot
of the moment about things that he's making, things that
he's creating, but all the kids actually love it, you know.
And I think in the last eighteen months, with all
the lockdown and everything that has been happening, you know,
whether we were baking and whether we were you know,
creating herb gardens. Me and Harper, you know, built our
(34:48):
own herb garden, you know, with whether it was a
rocket and we had some mint and we had some rosemaries,
so we'd kind of created that. And actually we got
very excited when we saw it all come together. And
then you know, every time that Nana has a gin
and tonic, you know, Halfer goes out into the herve garden,
she cuts some rosemary off and puts rosemary into the glass.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So it's we had a little bit of fun with that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
We've you know, talked about so much about food as
love as food as a connection. But I suppose before
we say goodbye and I go, what would be David Beckham,
you're a comfort food?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
After me talking about all of this great food that
I taste and all of these great restaurants that I
go to, you know what my comfort food would be
A packet a sort of vinegar discos.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Good, I think that's what it would be.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
And maybe a toasty made in the brevel toaster with
baked beans. That so the brevel toaster that you so,
I put the bread in a little bit of butter
on the outside actually so it doesn't stick, and then
I put the baked beans in revel toaster for about
four or five minutes, open it up and it's so
(36:06):
that actually in a packet of discos no cheese, discos O.
I know, after all this great food, that's what comfort is.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Yeah, you know, comfort is.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
More of a crisp man that makes you feel like, well,
thank you, David, that is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Thank you for You're welcome, Love you too.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
To visit the online Sharp of the River Cafe, go
to shop the Rivercafe dot co dot UK.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
River Cafe Table four is a production of iHeartRadio and
Adamized Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership
(37:07):
with Montclair
Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio
and Adami's Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm sitting here in the River Cafe garden with David Beckham.
He has just cooked an exquisite tagatelly with fresher rolls,
butter and parmesan. It's a bit much, really, as I
don't go around scoring free kicks. I know David has
a lot of friends, a lot of colleagues, and certainly
(00:29):
a lot of fans, but when he comes to the
River Cafe, it's with his family, Victoria and their four children,
always sitting at table one, basking and family, love, sharing
food and always having his favorite wine, Sassakia.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you, David, You're welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You were describing cooking as one of the great pleasures
the other night.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
It's one of my biggest passions, you know, along with wine. Now,
I love to cook. You know. I was in the
kitchen the other day cooking for the kids and Victoria
was like, can I help?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What can I do?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
And I was like, honestly, sit down, have a vogron tonic, relax,
be with the kids.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
This is what I love to do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I really relate to that because you kind of far.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
There's a method, isn't there.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
But it's also creative, and it's also you're doing it
for your kids who haven't seen all day, and there's
the anticipation, and I think that is something why you
probably like to cook and I like to cook.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's just one of the main reasons why I love
to cook, because it's why I love lego also, you know,
because it relaxes me, you know, and I'm forty seven
years older and I'll still sit there with you on
my own actually till two, three, four in the morning
doing lego because actually it relaxes me. And it's the
same cooking for the kids. I love to cook for
my parents. I love to cook for my friends. And
(01:48):
I think that it's obviously come from, you know, my upbringing.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
What does your mother a cook? Cooking?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
My mum cooked for me and my sisters every single night,
and I had hard working parents, working class parents. When
my dad was out from six in the morning till
seven in the evening. My mom was a hairdresser and
still is a hairdresser. She used to spend her evenings
obviously cooking for me and my sisters, and then at
about eight or nine, o'clock in the evening, some old
(02:15):
ladies would arrive and she'd be doing their hair to
eleven twelve at night. So yes, my mom used to
cook for us every evening, every Sunday lunch. And my
grandma was exactly the same as well. So that's really
my childhood with my grandparents. And my granddad was Jewish,
so every Saturday when we turn up, my grand would
(02:37):
have this most amazing chicken noodle soup with the motsameal dumblings.
So I was brought up That's what I was brought
up on. And the jelly deals. One of the delights
of been from the East End of London was pie
mash and jelly deals and liquor. That was what I
was really brought up on. It was the one treat
(02:58):
that I used to go with my nan my grandad.
We used to go down to Chapel Market. There was
the most amazing pie and mash shop there and we
used to sit in there, sawdust on the floor, sat
on wooden seats and eating our pie mash and jelly deals.
What was in the pie Actually, it's just mince meat.
(03:18):
It's just mince meat. The pies are the most amazing pastry,
and I always get them to turn them upside down
on my plate. And then it's a big dollop of mash.
And the mash is literally there's no there's hardly any
butter in it. It's just salt and the potatoes. And
then the liquor is this most amazing green sauce. It's
(03:38):
made with parsley and stewed eels, and then I put
some spicy vinegar over the top, with some a little
bit of salt and lots of pepper. But the jelly
deals are the thing that not many people that I
know love the jelly deals. My grand used to like
them stewed. I literally like them in the jellatine.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So they come.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Up in slices, so the earls are cut up, and
they come in this this plastic pot and I just
pour vinegar and pepper on it, and I have it
at least once a week.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Many people that I talked to talk about the food
of their parents, but the memory of their grandparents is
really important to them.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
We used to go there every weekend because my dad's
parents actually had passed away before we had all grown up,
so we always used to spend weekends at my man
and grandad's house.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
So my mom's mom and dad and we.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Used to turn up at their at their flats in London,
and the first thing that I would do and I
walked through the door in my grand's flat would open,
I'd open the fridge and there she'd have fresh strawberries.
Every Saturday morning that we turned up, she'd have fresh
strawberries and a big pot of sugar.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's interesting that you talk about that because my husband,
Richard designed house which was a very strong route from
the park through the garden, through the courtyard into the
house and into a garden. But my route, I always
used to say, was from the courtyard into the house
and into the fridge. You know, my first stop was
always at the fridge because again his mother always had.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Food for us.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah. Well, they had a very They had a very
small flat, so as you walk in, literally the toilet
was on your left and just slight a foot further.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Was the fridge. So you open the fridge.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And there there was, you know, the most amazing fresh
strawberries every Saturday morning.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Every Saturday morning.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Because my grandfather used to go to work at about
eleven o'clock in the morning. So what we'd do is
we'd arrive really early, like nine o'clock. My grand would
have this thick, freshly cut bread. She'd make the most
amazing sandwich. I'd sit and watch like the football on
a Saturday morning before my grand had left, and then
(05:56):
he'd go to work and then go and watch Spurs play.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
They do.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
He was in the print.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So he was in the print, and he worked up
until he was eighty eighty one eighty two. He still
went to work. And yeah, he's an amazing man. And
he was a Tottenham fan. So he used to go
and watch Tottenham in the afternoons. And that's where my
gran and my mom used to take me down to
Chapel Market and we used to go and have piemash.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
How old would you have been?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Oh my god? We went there from.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
As long as I can remember, I mean two three
years old and up until up until they passed away.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
So's your mother.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
That's interesting that she worked all day and she cooked
for you at night, so you sat at the table
and then worked again. Would she have done a weekly
shop or would you stop at the market or how
would she do all that?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Do you think I mean she'd do.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
She'd probably do a weekly shop shop, I'd say, But
you know, my mom, like I said, she'd drop us
to school in the mornings. Then you know, you'd do
hairdressing throughout the day, pick us up from school, bring
us home, cook us, you know, whatever we were going
to eat that evening, which was either she used to
make the most amazing gammon and chips, which again it's
(07:13):
one of.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Those things that I still have now.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
It was amazing gammon, fried egg, pineapple from a tin,
coleslaw and chips, and it was one of my favorite
meals and she still cooks that for me now.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So yeah, that was one of the things that I
used to love.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
When you left home and you were no longer had
your mother to cook, but you also you had such
a love for food and an understanding of the connection
of food and the importance of sitting at the table.
What was that like when you left that?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I was actually quite excited because I left home when
I was fifteen years old to move up to Manchester
fifteen when I was fifteen wo and then I was
in lodgings. So I was in lodgings for about four
years and then I bought my first house, and actually
I was quite excited about it, because in all honesty,
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with
(08:06):
my mum, you know, helping her with the dinners, and
then when she would do her hairdressing in the evenings,
I used to make the cups of tea and bring
the biscuits or the cake for all my mum's ladies
that she was doing their hair. So I used to
love that kind of thing. So getting my own house,
having to cook for myself, actually I was very excited about.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Did you entertain would you cook for I would.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Entertain I'd have a few friends around, you know. I
did like to go out for dinner, but my favorite
evenings were and still are, you know, cooking for the kids,
cooking for friends, you know, especially when I have when
I have like a lot of time, you know. Pretty recently,
I was in isolation actually for five days because I've
(08:52):
just been to Italy. So I came back and on
one of the last days, Victoria's parents had a party
and I and actually go to it, so everyone was
out of the house and I actually secretly loved it.
So I literally had two most amazing cuts of meat,
and one was a t bone and I had some
(09:15):
English wagou. I poured one glass of the most amazing
red wine that I treated myself too, because I was
on my own, feeling sorry for myself, looking forward to
watching the football in the afternoon. On my own, I
set the barbecue up, and I think there's nothing better
than when you have time to get everything right you have,
(09:36):
you know, I had a nice tomato and onion or
shot salad, and I literally had the meat and a
glass of wine, and it was the most amazing meal
that I'd had for a long time. So those are
my perfect afternoons or evenings. It was actually quite thick.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't like to brag absolute perfection.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Well, I've been watching Chefs Table that more and it
gave me the idea of obviously doing you know, the
barbecue in the afternoon. So I've been watching the butcher.
There was a there's an Italian butcher on the chef's table.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So I put it on the.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Grill, cooked it for six or seven minutes either side,
and it was quite a thick piece, a bit of salt,
bit of pepper, and I like I like my meat.
I like it rare, medium, a push but rare, more rare,
and it was it came out perfect, and it was
only me in the house, so I ate it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I like it when it's when if it's thick enough,
then you can get it really black on the outside bay,
so there's that contrast and you think of the the strong.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So that's that's what it was like that day. So
that was the perfect day.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And I had a bottle of Italian massetto, so I
had Cora vanned it and bought a couple of glasses
for myself.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Tell me, we've been talking about food, what do you
feel about wine?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
You know, I'm at the end of the dawn from
the East end of London, so really I only saw
my mom and dad drinking either you know, blue Nana or.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Lambrusco, and that was as good as it really got.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
So then when me and Victoria actually first started dating,
we used to go to this restaurant in the Midland
Hotel in Manchester called the French Restaurant, and it was
very fancy and we used to go in there and
we used to sit in the corner and we used
to order the most expensive bottle of champagne and the
most expensive bottle of wine.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Not knowing what we were drinking. We were just wanting.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
To have a nice night out and know that we
were drinking something great, even though we had no idea
what we were drinking. And I think that was my
first introduction into tasting a grape wine. One of the
first weddings, remember, I want to say it was either
a sixty two or sixty seven tour, and that was
(12:02):
my first introduction into tasting something that I thought was great,
even though I had no idea whether it was great
or not, I knew that I was tasting something special.
So at that point, obviously I was still, you know,
a professional player, so I never really I was never
a big drinker. I used to have a glass of
wine or you know, every now and again, but I
(12:23):
never really drank throughout my career. But then I really
started loving wine when we first moved to la and
we used to go to Napa Valley a lot, and
I used to sit with people like Bill Harlan or
An Colgan, and I think that there's nothing better than
actually sitting at a table with someone that knows what
(12:43):
they're talking about and what they're drinking, and what they're
smelling and what they're tasting annoyingly.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Victoria is very good on that. It is annoying.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Actually, she can say this wine tastes of cigarette smoke.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yes, that's exactly what she can say.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And I'm like, yeah, it really does. And I'm like,
I don't taste that, but no, but annoyingly. She's very
good at that, and she'll never admit it. She'll always say, well,
David's the expert. Then then you know, all of a
sudden she'll come out with all that smell that tastes
a little bit smoky, and you know.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So yeah, but you know I love wine.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Does it matter to you if you order a wine
that you might not be happy with that?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Do you know what I have? How does it make
me feel? Actually?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think it can make or break an evening in
my I really do think it does. Even though you
know that you're going to get great food in the
restaurant wherever you are. For me, if I have picked
the wrong wine, wrong glass of wine, or the wrong
bottle of wine, I wouldn't say it ruins my evening,
(13:53):
but yeah, it does ruin my evening. And I get
quite emotional about food and wine, you know, when I
when I'm eating some think great. I want everyone to
try it, you know, And that's unfortunately I'm married to
someone that has eaten the same thing for the last
twenty five years since since I've met Victoria. She only
(14:13):
eats you know, grilled fish, steam, vegetables. She will very
rarely deviate away from there. The only time that she's
ever probably shared something that's been on my plate was
actually when she was pregnant with Harper, do you remember,
And it was the most amazing thing. It was one
of my favorite evenings. I can't remember what it was,
(14:35):
but I know that she's not eating it.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Since the River Cafe Cafe are all day space and
just steps away from the restaurant is now open in
the morning an Italian breakfast with cognetti, chiambella and cristada
(14:58):
from my pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, ice creamed coops
in River Cafe classic desserts. We have sharing plates Alumi Missti, Mozzarella, Brisqueto,
red and yellow peppers, Vitello, tonado and more. Come in
the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar.
No need to book see you here.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
To be honest, I've been so lucky because in a way.
When I left Manchester and I had to leave Manchester United,
I was obviously devastated at the time, but it's really
really educated me in living in different countries, eating different foods,
trying different things. And when I was playing in Italy
(15:47):
for eleven months, I was on loan at AC Milan,
so I'd train in the morning and in the afternoon.
I decided to take a culinary course in Italian cuisine.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And I absolutely loved it. So I did that.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Private lesson or was it in a class.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I had a few private lessons and then it was
in a class, but everybody was very you know, focused
on what they were all doing, so they weren't even
bothered that I was. Obviously at the time. It's a
big deal to be playing for an Italian team. Yes, course,
So I did the culinary course because my kid's favorite
(16:23):
food is Italian. So I wanted to perfect making the
perfect ragu. I wanted to perfect doing the perfect risotto.
I always had it in my head that doing a risotto.
Making a risotto was difficult. Actually it turns out not
to be that difficult. So why did they teach you
about making Obviously the stock is really most important, and
(16:48):
literally you're stood there for twenty minutes kind of making
sure that you're keeping an eye and everything that's not
going too dry, that it's not going it's not got
too much liquid in it. And then obviously the ending
is the part where every think comes together with the parmesan,
you know, So that I just loved that time because
I got to perfect the perfect well I think it's
(17:09):
the perfect ragu, making fresh pasta from scratch, and obviously
the risotto. So that was one of the things that
I loved about living in Italy, you know, And it's
the one thing that I love about Italians and the
Italian food and the culture because for a start, it's
all about family. It's all about food and the wine,
(17:29):
of course, but whether you go into a small cafe
on the side of the street or you're in the
middle of Tuscany with an old Italian mama making the
most amazing pasta, everything that I ate and I have
always eaten in Italy has always been astonishing.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Everything I would say when you say that it's family,
I always tell the story that I was once in
a room in a house with Richard and with his
family in Tuscany, I heard this huge argument going on
downstairs in Italian and I thought, oh, no, you know
what's going on. So I kind of made my way
downstairs and there were two sisters and they were in
(18:10):
the kitchen and they were having this unbelievable argument about
whether or not with a papa pomodoro, which is a
bread soup of just bread and tomatoes. One wanted to
add a bit of water at the end and the
other one didn't.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
And you know, so.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's not even village to village, family to family, region
to region. It can be sister to sister. You know
that there's the right way to do it, and they
care so much.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You care so much, and even when they're not arguing,
it sounds like they're arguing because they're so passionate about it.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
I hope we'll cook together more.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
And they loved having you in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Kitchen.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, we'll plan that.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Okay, let's get this on the road, shall David Beckham?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
So she's head chef, what are you everything?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Okay, whatever you want to do.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I want a job, it was Beckham.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I would love to job. I need a job.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
You need a job.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
So I'm here today with Sean wowing the head chef
the River Cafe and my friend David Beckham.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
And it's now twenty.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
To six and people are coming in soon, so the
two of you better get going.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
What are you going to make? We are making? Can
you telly you're happy with that, chef?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'm more than happy with that.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Yeah, David. Okay, David, it's going to cook.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Okay. Oh yeah, give it a really good shake, Yeah,
shake it, shakey, gotta go.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And a bit of parsley.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
What do you like cook at home?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
David?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
What do I like cooking at home? To be honest,
my kids are obsessed with Italian food, so the majority
of the time they get me to make like a
raggedy because the kids love I could tell.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
When you're shaking the planet you work just in office.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Quite impressive you made it?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, yes, I think we could turn them into quite
useful shop. And it has done a cooking course. It transpires.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Collapse. I'm really impressed by that. Actually, So that was good.
Now it's time talk. Stop beating and we'll talk.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Can I take you with me?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You finish journey, we'll take it with us.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
We have an open kitchen and one of the great
pleasures for me is being able to see the reaction
of people eating now, whether they love it or they
don't love it, whether they share it or they don't
share it, whether they talk about it.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
You know, it's part of the whole joy of eating out.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And I love open kitchens, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I like the interaction that you can have with you know,
what's going on around you.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You know, I like to see what.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
The chefs are doing. I like to see what's being prepared.
To be honest, I've been so lucky because I lived
in Spain for four years, then I moved to America.
Then I spent eleven months in Italy, and then I
was back in America, and then I moved to Paris
for six months. So I had all of this kind
of education in you know, living in different places, eating
(21:47):
different foods, trying different things.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
When I was living in Paris, I was again Victoria,
and the kids kids would going to school in London,
so they obviously couldn't live there with me. They'd come
out of the weekends. So again, one of my favorite
restaurants in the world is Lammy Luis.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I agree, I mean absolutely agree.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It is literally I would say it's probably one of
my favorite restaurants in the world for atmosphere, food, enjoyment,
everything about it. You know, from the moment I walked in,
and you know, all the waiters are dressed in those
white jackets, and whether you're wearing a bomber jacket or
(22:30):
whether the most elegant lady walks in and the chanelle coat.
They take your coat off, they fold it up and
they throw it above the head on the car. It's
like a train carriage. And my record for eating es
cargo is I've eaten thirty two es cargoes at one dinner.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
To the listener, can I tell you those are big.
I've had them many times.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Big and they come on trays of six or nine,
I think, and they come and I was in there
for about four hours with Victoria once and we had
the most amazing wine and everything about that restaurant. And
I used to go in there, and I shouldn't have done,
because obviously I was a professional athlete, and you know,
I tried to watch what I eat, but I just
made sure I ran harder the next day. So I
(23:14):
used to go in there once a week. They used
to let me come in the first the service was
at seven thirty. I think it was in the evening
that was. No one was there at seven thirty either,
So I used to turn up at seven, and by
the time the first people were coming through the door
around called it to eight o'clock, I was walking out.
So I used to do that once a week. I
(23:34):
used to go on my own. I didn't care that
I was on my own. I just didn't drink the wine,
but I just sat there and I ate the most
amazing food.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I love it, and the pond freed, the little potatoes
used to take.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
The bread and everything about. It's just unbelievable. Crim Fresh
at the end, they bring that tub of crim fresh
out and they just dollop it on the plate and
the small strawberries.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
One of the high points of my career.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
As you know, the headway to they're the one with
the black hair. It's not called Louis, I can't remember
his name. And he came to the River Cafe with
his family, with his wife and his children, and it
was really such It was such a moving experience for
me to have them there. So you actually had the
experience of living in Milan in my marriage and Madrid.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yes, I lived in Madrid.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
When I first moved to Spain, I was twenty seven
years old and I lived there for four years, and
I became really obsessed by wherever I would live in
the world. I decided in my head, Okay, this is
where I'm going to be for the rest of my life,
because I had to look at it like that, because
I wanted to throw myself into the culture, into the language,
(24:48):
into the food, into everything that I was doing in
that country. So Spain was a big you know, food
kind of family kind of cult, you know I have.
For a start, I couldn't believe how long the lunches
went on for. You know, we'd start lunch at two
and still we sat there at seven, and then they'd
(25:09):
go for a sleep, and then we'd come back and
have dinner at eleven, and I'd be like falling asleep
at dinner. But I loved everything about Spain, you know,
from the ham On to the Loma to you know.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
To everything that I ate in Spain.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
I lovedz It's like the it's the barnacles and you
put them in hot boiling water, only for it not
for long. Yeah, and then you kind of twist the
end off and it's like it's very chewy, but they're
very salty. So they're called buth thebz and yeah they're
(25:46):
they're barnacles and they're very difficult to get. Literally, the
guys tie theirselves onto the side of these rocks. They
then wait for the waves to go out. They go
down get them and then come back up before the
wave comes in. So it's quite dangerous. And still now
(26:08):
every time that I go to Spain, every time that
I go to Madrid, I always come back with a
leg of ham on.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Always.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
It goes in the middle of the kitchen Ireland and
every time that the kids walk past, they slice a
piece off.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So yeah, but how was it being an athlete with
a discipline? How did you marry your passion for food
with the discipline of having to be absolutely fit for
a game?
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Did food affect you? Did you eat a cera?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
To be honest, I was lucky.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Food never really affected me, but I did, you know,
as much as I am sat here saying, you know,
the cram fresh, the escargo, everything that I've talked about,
I still try to eat in the most healthy way
because obviously being.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
An athlete I have to eat in the right way.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
But then I think the dietary requirements now for athletes,
especially in football, have totally changed over the last twenty years.
When I first joined Manchester United, you know, the canteen
was all about having steaking chips and beans and then
you'd have a jam roly poly or you'd have a
(27:19):
slice of chocolate cake. No like after training so you'd
have a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate custard. But
now it's totally different, you know. Now it's totally different now. Well,
it depends where you play, what manager you know you're
playing under. You know, there were certain managers that would
only want us to eat boiled chicken, which disgusting, but
(27:42):
that's that's how they felt that we should be eating,
you know, no ketch up, you know, and then you
have the opposite. When I was living in Milan, I
was kind of thinking, how am I going to be
fitness wise because I'm going to be eating a lot
of pasta, a lot of olive oil, a lot of
you know whatever. But it was actually one of the
(28:03):
fittest that I'd ever been in when I was playing
in Milan, because I think the produce is so clean,
it's so good. The quality of it was just incredible.
So over the years, it's definitely changed for sportsmen. You know,
I've been lucky that I could kind of eat whatever
I wanted, but I've always been careful knowing that I
can't have a glass of wine four days before a
(28:25):
game because I don't want it to affect anything that
I'm doing at the weekends, even though it was only
a glass, you know. So I'd always be very disciplined
on that.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
And do you think that athletes now are much more
very I think that that's part of the culture now.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I think if you start it early enough, then it
becomes part of your life and part of your culture.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's what we try and do with our kids, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
We try to educate them that, you know, if they
eat the right things and drink the right things and
look after theirselves now, you know, at such a young age,
then they'll continue it through through their life. And I
think it's an important part of life.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
It's education, isn't it. And I guess I could ask
you a question of George Best goodn't I about One
of my great memories of the park was at Parkinson
and the two of you there, and I think, you know,
I probably fell in love with you that night because
you were so respectful and so generous to him that
(29:22):
you know, I think there.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
Was a point in the interview.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I don't know when that was, but Richard and I
watched where Parkinson asked your question and you said, I'm
in the presence of you know, this man, and I
think we should let him talk. And that was very,
very moving to me. But he wasn't really taken care of,
was he.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
In the way.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But I think that he was part of a culture,
you know, and I was part of really the start
of my career, and a culture that was totally different
to what is right now and these days, you know.
But you know, George was the most amazing player, the
most amazing talent, and the most amazing person and as well,
(30:03):
you know, I think that I was. I felt so
honored to even be sat, yeah, you know, on the
same sofa next to him, in his presence, and he's
such a special person. He was, you know, he was
one of my dad's heroes. My dad was always a
Bubby Chilton fan, but obviously George best.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You know, he's a Manster United fan.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
At the end of the day my dad, So having
me on the same program as George Best probably was
one of the highlights of my dad. One of my
most favorite restaurants is He's in Brooklyn, New York, and
it's this old pizza place that's been there for a
(30:47):
long time called Luke Carly's, and it's run by Mark
and he owns He owns lu Carly's and it's just simple,
simple pizzas. He doesn't sell any alcohol in there. So
you turn up and he brings these amazing muscles out,
amazing clams. He makes this spicy rigatoni, and then he
(31:11):
brings the pies they call him pies. And I always
take like a great bottle of wine because I love
eating pizza with great wine. I do like to go
to fancy places from time to time, but I'm more
about the family style, you know, sitting there, great atmosphere.
(31:33):
You know, it doesn't like I said, it doesn't have
to be fancy, doesn't have to be the most expensive
meal in the world, doesn't have to be the most
amazing bottle of wine in the world. Just has to
be good people around the table, good food, and you know,
atmosphere is important.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
That's it when we thought when we opened the River Cafe,
there was this feeling in the eighties that you either
had the choice of eating really, really well but being
terrib that you were dressed well enough that you might
be late, that you might insult the chef, that you
didn't know the wine the summer. It make you feel stupid,
(32:09):
but you would have a good meal, or you could
go to the local and have a fantastic atmosphere but
maybe not the greatest food. And it wasn't just Rose
and myself. There was Alice Waters, and there was Roly
Lee and Wolfgang Puck, and there's a whole generation that said,
why can't we do both? You know, I don't want
a dress code in my restaurant, but I want to
serve really good food. And I don't want an intimidating
(32:31):
wine waiter, but I want to have really great wine.
You know that you could have both, and that you
can have fun and have the drama and eat really well.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
I think that's what's so special about here, in all honesty,
you know, I think the atmosphere, you know, you're you're
you're going to always eat great, thank you. The menu
is constantly changing. You're not intimidated. Whereas you know, I
suppose in the early days where I wasn't used to
going to great restaurants or eating great food or drinking
(33:02):
great wine, I suppose there was a certain part of.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Me that felt intimidated.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
But this is a place where you walk in and
there's not one part of you that feels worried about
ordering a bottle of wine or order in a glass
of right wine, or order in the wrong wine, or
you know, it's special.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I know what I want the people who work for me,
or how I want them to eat, and how I
want to make them come to work in an environment
where they can look out a window where they can
feel that there rest, you know, in the end, where
they want to come to work. Do you feel that
that is a responsibility to people who are.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
In management without doubt?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
You know, I think that I've been lucky over the
years to have been part of some great teams, you know,
obviously with the teams that I've played for, playing for
my country, representing my country, I've been very lucky to
be around great management, great teams, great support, you know,
my family, my friends, and now I have my own
(34:02):
team within my own office, and I want them to
be as happy, you know, as they are at.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Home and when they come to work.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
I think that's a really important part of running a business.
And I tried to do the same as Victoria tries
to do the same with the kids as well. You know,
we want them to be happy, we want them to
be healthy.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Do they cook with you?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
They do?
Speaker 5 (34:24):
They do.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Actually, Brooklyn Brooklyn actually loves cooking. He posts a lot
of the moment about things that he's making, things that
he's creating, but all the kids actually love it, you know.
And I think in the last eighteen months, with all
the lockdown and everything that has been happening, you know,
whether we were baking and whether we were you know,
creating herb gardens. Me and Harper, you know, built our
(34:48):
own herb garden, you know, with whether it was a
rocket and we had some mint and we had some rosemaries,
so we'd kind of created that. And actually we got
very excited when we saw it all come together. And
then you know, every time that Nana has a gin
and tonic, you know, Halfer goes out into the herve garden,
she cuts some rosemary off and puts rosemary into the glass.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So it's we had a little bit of fun with that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
We've you know, talked about so much about food as
love as food as a connection. But I suppose before
we say goodbye and I go, what would be David Beckham,
you're a comfort food?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
After me talking about all of this great food that
I taste and all of these great restaurants that I
go to, you know what my comfort food would be
A packet a sort of vinegar discos.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Good, I think that's what it would be.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
And maybe a toasty made in the brevel toaster with
baked beans. That so the brevel toaster that you so,
I put the bread in a little bit of butter
on the outside actually so it doesn't stick, and then
I put the baked beans in revel toaster for about
four or five minutes, open it up and it's so
(36:06):
that actually in a packet of discos no cheese, discos O.
I know, after all this great food, that's what comfort is.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Yeah, you know, comfort is.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
More of a crisp man that makes you feel like, well,
thank you, David, that is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Thank you for You're welcome, Love you too.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
To visit the online Sharp of the River Cafe, go
to shop the Rivercafe dot co dot UK.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
River Cafe Table four is a production of iHeartRadio and
Adamized Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership
(37:07):
with Montclair
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