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Ruthie’s Table 4
PodcastArtsFoodEnglish

Ruthie’s Table 4

NewHow to Make the Perfect Tomato Sauce, with Steve Martin and Martin ShortNovember 12, 2026 · 12 min
Episodes
306
Released
weekly
Latest episode
Nov 12, 2026

About the podcast

For nearly forty years, The River Cafe in London has been a home-from-home for artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists and politicians. It is also the home of its co-founder, Ruthie Rogers — restaurateur, cookbook author, podcast host and one of the most influential figures in British food.

On Ruthie’s Table 4, Ruthie invites her guests — many of them friends and longtime restaurant regulars — to The River Cafe for a journey through food and memory.

In each episode, Ruthie uses the lens of food to unlock stories and personal histories from an extraordinary range of guests, including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Michael Caine, Dame Tracey Emin, Sir Elton John, Kamala Harris, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, Sir Ian McKellen, Greta Gerwig, Gordon Brown, Tina Fey, Dame Judi Dench, Yotam Ottolenghi, Wyclef Jean, Mel Brooks, Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Jony Ive, Sarah Jessica Parker and many others.

So take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation.

Episodes 306

  1. How to Make the Perfect Tomato Sauce, with Steve Martin and Martin Short

    12 minSeason 6 · Episode 2

    In this episode of Table 4: Chefs’ Notes, Steve Martin and Martin Short bring a little show business to the kitchen as they read our slow-cooked tomato sauce recipe, with a banjo, impressions and plenty of …

  2. Steve Martin & Martin Short on a Lifetime of Friendship, Food and Laughter

    42 minSeason 6 · Episode 2

    What happens when two of the funniest men in the world sit down to eat? On this special episode of Ruthie’s Table 4, I’m joined by Steve Martin and Martin Short. From their early days on The Three Amigos to …

  3. How to Cook the Perfect Sea Bass... Introducing Table 4: Chefs’ Notes!

    13 minSeason 6 · Episode 1

    We have something new for Series 6: Table 4: Chefs’ Notes! Each week, our Executive Chefs, Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli, join me to share the secrets behind our favourite River Cafe recipes. In this …

  4. Nile Rodgers on Madonna, Spices, and Growing Up Amid Love and Addiction

    50 minSeason 6 · Episode 1

    Welcome to Season Six! How did growing up in a household affected by heroin, surrounded by jazz greats, shape Nile Rodgers? How did his Barbadian grandmother’s lessons about spices influence him? And what was …

  5. Season Six!

    2 minSeason 6

    We’re back! The sixth season of Ruthie’s Table 4 begins Tuesday, 3 November. Steve Martin and Martin Short tell us why grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup make the perfect Christmas dinner. Nile Rodgers …

  6. From the Archive: Richard E. Grant on eating the same seven meals growing up, Henry Higgins and coping with loss

    42 min

    With Richard E. Grant delighting audiences on The Traitors, we’re looking back at this special episode of Ruthie’s Table 4. I remember Richard and his wife Joan in the early days of The River Cafe, coming in …

  7. From the Archive: Gary Lineker on Goals, Gnocchi, and Refusing to Stay Silent

    33 min

    This week, we’re looking back at Gary Lineker’s visit to The River Cafe. Over the table, we travelled from his childhood in Leicester and the food of his mother’s kitchen to the football pitches of Barcelona …

  8. From the Archive: Cate Blanchett on growing her own food, multiculturalism, and a disastrous Christmas dinner

    33 min

    This week, we’re looking back to the summer morning we shared with Cate Blanchett, who joined me at The River Cafe after her run in Thomas Ostermeier’s The Seagull. We talked about the pleasures of touring a …

  9. From the Archives: Sarah Jessica Parker on the importance of food in Sex and the City, cooking with her husband, and pork chops.

    44 min

    This week, we’re revisiting our live episode with Sarah Jessica Parker. And what a guest she was. Sarah has always had a deep love of food, so we had plenty to talk about: from the role of food in Sex and the …

  10. From the Archive: Benedict Cumberbatch on Living with Wes Anderson, Imitating Ruthie & ‘Daddy Pancakes’

    35 min

    During our between-season break, we’re revisiting some of our favourite conversations from the Ruthie’s Table 4 archive. This week, we're looking back to when Benedict Cumberbatch joined me at The River Cafe to …

  11. From the Archive: Zoe Saldaña on Growing Up in Queens, Family Recipes & Why NYC Has the Best Pizza

    49 min

    As we look forward to Series 6 in October, we’re revisiting some of our favourite episodes of Ruthie’s Table 4. Zoe Saldaña was a force from the moment she entered the restaurant back in 2025. She told us …

  12. How Food Shapes Our Work… Gayle King, Mark Ronson, Graham Norton, Emerald Fennell, and Patrick Radden Keefe.

    21 minSeason 5 · Episode 46

    Whether in film, music, books or television, food can be a source of inspiration or integral to the way we work. In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about the shared …

  13. Where Food Meets Politics… Jacinda Ardern, Andrew Jarecki, Erin Lyall, Hilton Als, Annie Leibovitz, Kamala Harris

    28 minSeason 5 · Episode 45

    I've always thought we judge a culture by the way we feed our poor, our sick and our prisoners. In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about food and politics, in conversation …

  14. Why Restaurants Matter… Jamie Oliver, Piers Morgan, Marina Hyde & Richard Osman, Tracey Emin & Dara Khosrowshahi

    24 minSeason 5 · Episode 44

    It may come as no surprise that I have a special interest in restaurants. The River Café is where I work, where I record this podcast, and where I spend so much of my life. In this special compilation episode …

  15. The Food That Shaped Us… Kamala Harris, Sadiq Khan, Ab Rogers, Marina Hyde and Richard Osman, and Rashida Jones.

    17 minSeason 5 · Episode 43

    Childhood kitchens, our parents' cooking—the food we eat when we're young stays with us for life. This special compilation of Ruthie's Table 4 celebrates food and childhood, featuring memories from Kamala …

  16. If You Can't Take the Heat… How Does a Restaurant Handle a Roasting Summer?

    41 minSeason 5 · Episode 42

    As a farewell to series 5, I'm joined by Sian Wyn Owen to take you behind the scenes at The River Café during the recent heatwaves this summer—what we cooked and how we served. And Season 6 is on the way …

  17. Dorothée Boissier on Designing Restaurants, Paris, and Creative Partnership

    21 minSeason 5 · Episode 41

    Dorothée Boissier is an interior designer and co-founder of the Gilles & Boissier studio. Together with her husband, Patrick Gilles, she creates exquisite architecture and interiors around the world. Today …

  18. Clare Hornby, Founder and CEO of ME+EM

    34 minSeason 5 · Episode 40

    Good food and good clothes should do the same thing: make you feel instantly comfortable, confident, and completely at home. In this episode Ruthie sits down with Clare Hornby, the visionary entrepreneur …

  19. Bonus: Michael Elias on his new book, Bender's LA

    20 minSeason 5Bonus

    Ruthie speaks to her brother, screenwriter and author Michael Elias, about his latest novel, Bender's LA. In the coke-dusted canyons and deal-making rooms of 1970s Los Angeles, writer David Bender sets out to …

  20. In Conversation With Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist

    22 minSeason 5 · Episode 39

    Zanny Minton Beddoes and I have different professions, and different workplaces. As editor-in-chief of The Economist, hers is in the newsroom mine is the kitchen. But we have much in common, sharing a message …

  21. Bonus: Wine with Ab Rogers

    6 minSeason 5Bonus

    Ab Rogers explains his fascination with wine and why he prefers grapes that have had to fight for their survival. Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved …

  22. Ab Rogers, Designer

    36 minSeason 5 · Episode 38

    Ab Rogers is a visionary designer. He is also my stepson. For over 50 years, we’ve been side by side, taking adventures together. Today, we’re together in the River Cafe to share stories - memories of his …

  23. Bonus: Erin Lyall on Eating With Soldiers

    7 minSeason 5Bonus

    Erin Lyall, a conflict producer for CBS News, reveals what it's like to eat with soldiers, how an army feeds itself, and how she personally recovers after the strain of working in a war zone.See …

  24. Erin Lyall, Conflict Producer For CBS News

    40 minSeason 5 · Episode 37

    As a conflict producer for CBS News, Erin Lyall has eaten with Ukrainian soldiers on the freezing front line, cooked with families in their homes in Gaza, and shared meals on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq …

  25. Bonus: Graham Norton on why you should work in a restaurant

    6 minSeason 5Bonus

    Graham Norton reveals what he learned from working in restaurants, what he noticed about tricky customers, and why he would recommend the experience to everyone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  26. Mel Brooks Turns 100

    20 minSeason 5Bonus

    This week marks a very special occasion. My friend, Mel Brooks, is turning 100. For the best part of a century, he has lit up the world with his warmth and humour, delighting audiences as a writer, director …

  27. Graham Norton

    35 minSeason 5 · Episode 36

    To be a truly great host, as Graham Norton is every week on his television sofa, you have to understand and genuinely like people. It's the same for me at the River Café. There's no such thing as a difficult …

  28. Giulio Bertelli, Filmmaker

    31 minSeason 5 · Episode 35

    Last September, at the Venice Film Festival, I went to see Agon — a radical and powerful film. Afterwards, I immediately changed my schedule to attend a dinner for its director, Giulio Bertelli. Today, Giulio …

  29. Piers Morgan, Broadcaster

    48 minSeason 5 · Episode 34

    Everyone knows Piers Morgan as a journalist, editor, and fearless interviewer. But I also know him as someone who loves food and can describe in detail what makes a great restaurant. Today, we're here together …

  30. Bonus: Ruth Porat - “If We Can, We Must.”

    32 minSeason 5Bonus

    Ruth Porat - President and Chief Investment Officer of Google and Alphabet - discusses the social responsibilities that come with technological advancement and how AI must be used to tackle society’s most …

These are the latest 40 of 306 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.

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