What was the most surprising thing you learned while filming The Hospital: In the Deep End?<\/p>\n
That I didn\u2019t faint while watching brain surgery. The production team expected I would keel over like a giant redwood in a forest. Actually, I was so fixated by watching what was going on \u2013 did you know the brain actually does pulsate? And they\u2019re cutting bits out and it\u2019s like, \u201cWhat\u2019s that? What does that do? You just cut out an oyster-sized bit of brain \u2013 what do you mean, you won\u2019t notice that\u2019s gone?\u201d And you can actually see the brainstem! Now, the brainstem is where it is at; you don\u2019t fuck around with the brainstem. And you\u2019re literally standing there, wide-eyed, looking at it through a hole. You feel like you are in amongst the pulsing fibres of the human noggin.<\/p>\n
The fact I could talk to that patient the day after I\u2019ve seen his brainstem was bamboozling. That kid has now been seizure free for over six months, so it is a brilliant, life-changing outcome.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have a prostate, but when I watched you watching a prostate removal I started holding my stomach for some reason.<\/p>\n
Ha! The robot surgery stuff is interesting. My personal feeling about that is, the mere fact that so few men still monitor their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels \u2013 come on guys. I don\u2019t understand why Australian men are so particularly bad at actually paying attention, to avoid that kind of stuff. Hopefully if they see that moment in the show, they\u2019ll go, \u201cMaybe I should have an annual blood test to see how my cholesterol is travelling, my blood sugar, blood pressure, PSA, iron levels\u201d \u2013 so you can take action if things are drifting in the wrong direction. So you don\u2019t turn up at the hospital going, \u201cI feel a bit sick\u201d and suddenly the hospital\u2019s dealing with a stage-four cancer.<\/p>\n
Women are sensible about going to have scans and tests. Men, not so much. I just think men have to grow up a bit.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Where is the strangest place you\u2019ve been recognised?<\/p>\n
While washing an elephant at an elephant sanctuary in Sri Lanka, by a group of very hairy-shouldered Bulgarian men who only spoke Bulgarian. And I heard [murmurs in vague Bulgarian with \u201cjudge\u201d and \u201cMasterChef\u201d thrown in]. That\u2019s a beautiful thing about that show, it had a very warm and positive reaction from people in all different walks of life. It\u2019s a real privilege to be stopped by people to discuss food in Bangladesh or Stockholm or Madrid or Naples. It\u2019s the nicest thing because it\u2019s not really celebrity, it\u2019s a familiarity.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ll steal their recipe for their mum\u2019s favourite fish dish. I always get something out of it!<\/p>\n
What is the best meal you\u2019ve had in Australia for under $20?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a favourite Vietnamese place I go to near Prahran Market in Melbourne called Dad Restaurant that does a really good b\u00fan ch\u1ea3. I\u2019m always happy with a burger from Andrew\u2019s Hamburgers in Albert Park, mainly because of the genius idea they had where they shred a little white cabbage in with the iceberg lettuce so it is extra crunchy. I like under $20. I spend my life travelling around the world looking for great cheap food.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your favourite restaurant in the world?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the restaurant, it\u2019s the people you\u2019re with. Full stop. Going with a couple of people you love to a cheap biryani place in Hyderabad and having biryani and marag, which is this amazing yoghurt and coriander soup that makes you go weak in the knees and makes your eyes water; it\u2019s so delicious and so unexpected. Now, that\u2019s not the best restaurant in the world by any stretch of the imagination, but it is, because of who you\u2019re sharing the meal with.<\/p>\n
When my son was studying in Europe, we went to this very good, very cool Madrid restaurant in an old butcher\u2019s shop. It was delicious, we had crispy artichokes. That was pretty special. But that\u2019s because I had the privilege of having quiet, uninterrupted access to my middle son for four hours.<\/p>\n
I was away travelling 38 weeks out of 52 last year and I can tell you right now the best meal I have ever had is that roast chicken that the woman I love makes me when I come home. That is better than any restaurant meal.<\/p>\n
What are you secretly really good at?<\/p>\n