‘I'd love to cook for the Obamas!'

Gok Wan on how lockdown affected his new cookery series, and his dream dinner guests

- TESS LAMACRAFT

The premise of Gok Wan’s brand-new cookery series started out differently…

‘I was going to travel around the country and chat to different people, then, of course, lockdown happened,’ explains the TV fashion guru, presenter and chef, 45, as he chats to TV Times.

‘We had to strip everything back. We were supposed to be filming in a studio but we ended up doing the whole series in my kitchen with just four of us!’

Beginning on Food Network this week, eight-part series Gok Wan’s Easy Asian will see him show viewers how to rustle up simple versions of mouth-watering dishes from China, Vietnam and Malaysia, from classic curries to delicious dumplings and street-food staples.

Here, Gok tells us more…

The theme of episode one is comfort food. What are your favourite comfort foods?

There’s one dish I cook a lot, which is a miso-based soup. That is comfort food to me and so are noodles and veggies. My taste in food is quite basic. I love watching fine-dining chefs on telly, but if I had the choice of a £6 bowl of noodles or a posh swanky restaurant with all your mousses and infusions, I would honestly take the noodles. They remind me of home and of travelling around Asia.

What are the key ingredients we should have at home for Asian cooking?