In her deliciously stylish new YouTube series and podcast, Messy Lunch, chef and food writer Gizzi Erskine merges the two great loves of her life: food and music. At a time when restaurants are constantly fighting for social media real estate, the show provides a vital platform for London’s most talented chefs to showcase their craft, while inviting the music industry’s most notable names through the door as patrons. Co-hosted by Erskine and former music journalist and Time Out London restaurant critic Leonie Cooper, the series sees the duo sit down with guests ranging from The Damned to Supergrass’ Danny Goffey at various London hotspots, marrying the culinary and creative worlds in a first-of-its-kind endeavour. Across eight episodes, Messy Lunch showcases the parallels between the frenetic worlds of musicians and chefs, celebrating every bit of mess along the way.
The project was born out of Erskine’s relentless passion for subculture and her own experience as a chef. After a series of personal and professional knockbacks cast a shroud of uncertainty over her future in hospitality, Messy Lunch sees her firmly back in the driver’s seat. Vividly shot using a fixed setup paired with a roaming camera, the series captures the complete atmosphere of the locations it visits – from the food and the drinks to more candid moments, like a trip to the loo or sneaky cigarette break. The launch coincides with her return to East London institution Mare Street Market, where she has taken up the reins as Chef Creative Director – a full-circle moment following her involvement with the original Hackney site in 2018.
Erskine has lived many professional lives, from her early days as a broadcaster to her time as a pioneer of the London pop-up movement. Throughout the peaks and valleys of a notoriously unforgiving industry, she has remained anchored by her twin passions, both of which take centre stage in the new series. Whether exploring the classic glamour of The Ritz or the innovation of the UK’s first vegan Michelin-star restaurant, Plates, the show offers a rare look behind the curtain to the world of fine dining. It gives equal weight to its household-name guests and the hospitality professionals finally getting their well-deserved flowers.
Noctis caught up with Erskine following the release of the first episode – featuring The Waeve dining at chef Stevie Parle’s Town in Covent Garden – to discuss the show’s development, her dream guests, and her advice for those navigating the creative industries.
Hi Gizzi! Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. In the first episode of Messy Lunch, you mention there’s a common misconception that people in the music industry don’t actually like to eat. Where do you think that idea comes from, and how did that inform your approach to developing the show?
I think the idea that bands are too up for getting drunk, taking drugs, getting into mischief has to be reassessed. The people I hang out with, while many have stayed the distance and are icons in music, I also have my boyfriend’s punk band and the scene he’s in the review also and what’s clear is that the importance of food has grown in every side of culture, be it someone playing dive bar venues and wanting to find really good vegan food, all the way to the heritage acts, making sure they book cosmopolitan restaurants when they tour. Food is an important part of touring and if you’re lucky enough, you will have access to culture through how you eat and will have stories of breaking bread with other musicians and the other side of this – the rider which always fascinates me. Then when it comes to drinking – sobriety is rife with musicians. The show has shown me that with alcohol and drugs – you’re either in or you’re out.
How has your own love of music shaped your approach to food? How do you see the synergy between the two worlds playing out in your work?
There is of course a synergy between musicians and chefs. They both live in high-octane creative industries that are driven my ego and passion. There is a mutual sense of respect here too. The first place to start here is that I grew up going to see bands, and while I was always interested in restaurants – chefs weren’t seen as the stars. Now, I have bands coming to my places when they’re in town to see me. It’s wild. We had chef Tom Brown on the show who opened his Michelin restaurant, ‘Cornerstone’, based on the Arctic Monkeys song, only to spot Alex Turner in the restaurant. I had the same thing when I first opened Mare Street Market and suddenly Bobby Gilespie and Thurston Moore used to come in!
How did you go about pairing up specific musicians with specific restaurants? What was the decision-making process like when choosing which London spots to feature throughout the series?
It’s different every time, but we do start from the same spot. My co-host Leonie is really the person in charge here. We look at the artist and think about all the cliches that would be attached and try to offer them the polar opposite, or something you know they will be comfortable in, or if we know they are into food, we try to push the boundaries. Taking the Damned to a Michelin starred Spanish restaurant, happened because they both love European wines, love France and Italy, but weren’t that up on Spain. I really think we sold the concept to them and that was super pleasing. Taking Baxter Dury to something sophisticated and British seemed important too, but the Nova Twins both loved Thai food, so we took them to the most authentic Thai we knew in London and it turned out they only really knew anglicised Thai and we showed them the real deal and it was just such a nice exchange for the chat!
I love the way the episodes are shot, especially the cutaways to the roaming camera around the restaurant. The pacing feels like it’s meant to mimic how chaotic yet sophisticated a restaurant kitchen can be, was this a deliberate choice?
Yes absolutely – I love watching things like “The Trip”, by Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. and I wanted to give that same impression. That the viewer is at the table and experiencing the Messy Lunch with us. It’s as important to me that the restaurant is as well represented as the artists are. We shoot with three cinematic cameras and one that roams, we pick up everything from people going for cigarettes, to the loo, being left alone at the table. It’s really quite a personal journey. The interview also gets deep because it’s over three hours, and food and a couple of drinks really do allow you to see the person as they actually are. I feel so spoiled that we have had such up close and personal interviews. I’m not sure anyone gets this kind of stuff? It really is a new format and way of experiencing your favourite bands and artists.
Who would be your dream guest to have on the show? And on the flip side, is there a restaurant you’d love to feature that you didn’t quite get to visit in Season 1?
I burst into tears when Leonie told me we had The Damned. It was what I was aiming for, and she smashed it and they were our fourth show and arguably the funniest of the lot so far. I am such a HUGE fan of music, I have so many people I want to interview. Tim Armstrong from Rancid, Axl Rose, Sisters of Mercy, The B52s, Devo…
You’ve presented on TV for a long time, but with Messy Lunch, you’re completely in the driver’s seat. What has that change in agency and control meant to you personally?
I’ve been broadcasting for 20 years. In that time, I’ve done some atrocious shows, some things I would love to delete from my brain – let alone the internet. I know that I gave up presenting for business because it never served me or made me feel comfortable. The shows that I’ve loved have been travelogue or interviews. I know I’m good at it. I looked at a lot of my good friends who started self-producing in their music. Lou Hayter is one of my best friends and she does everything herself. I looked at her and thought, I want to do this show, but the only way to get this into the position I’m comfortable with is to produce it myself. I’ve done enough TV to know how it’s made, but I have a brilliant creative team, including Bartleberry Logan, who is a big music show director and has worked with the Prodigy and Interpol, but cut his teeth on interview shows. It’s a real product of mine and Baz’s vision. I’m so proud of us.
Then the actual talent is a combination of my best friends. Rose Dougal and Graham Coxon, of Blur and the Waeve, did the pilot for me because they had no choice. When they said they would write the theme song though – that was friendship taking a different skew. I couldn’t believe it. That theme song is iconic. I’m so spoiled!
You spoke to British Vogue about reclaiming messiness and noted that both the kitchen and the music studio “are both places where women are still asked to prove they belong.” Based on your own experience navigating those spaces, what advice would you give to those aspiring to become chefs themselves or break into more creative fields?
Well also in that piece, I explain how Messy that whole situation has been for me. Frustratingly, being a chef in 2026 is a weird space to navigate, because even now we still work too many hours, in an extremely physical and stressful environment. You have to be really game, be thick skinned and understand that every day is often completely different from the next. If you are high octane and can handle pressure and hard work this is the job for you. Sadly, too many chefs think it’s just about cooking and it’s really mostly about being organised and fluid. Service feels like a sprint, but when you get it right it’s a harmony and there is no buzz like it.
You’ve described Mare Street Market as your home. How does it feel to return as the Chef Creative Director, and what are you most excited about now that you’re taking the reins?
It feels exactly like that – like coming home. We’ve just launched my menu on both sites, and now we are training brunch and the deli. It’s a monster project — they are food emporiums with several strings to their bow. I thought I was done with hospitality as I got so burnt out, but here I get to imagine so many parts of the food industry – making a deli, doing brunches, bar food, an open kitchen menu. It all ended so badly – it feels nice to have all that lifted all that bad feeling and hurt. There’s so much to do though and we are taking our time to make sure we do it well….
Finally, if you were to recommend just one London restaurant, and one artist/album/song, to our readers right now, what would it be?
If you want a bonkers night out with sheer opulence, French food and a bananas time – go to Otto’s in Farringdon. If you want to listen to some amazing punk, listen to my boyfriend’s (yeeps now fiancé’s) band – Luxury Apartments – Weak Spells EP!
Watch Season 1 of the Messy Lunch Show on YouTube
Follow Messy Lunch on Instagram
Follow Gizzi Erskine on Instagram
Words: Madeline Anderson