The musician and actor on perfect days, perfect food and his culinary hotspots in Belfast
The best time to get up at the weekend is?
Filming or time in a music studio can be a mixture of very early starts and super late finishes. It’s always an interesting adjustment coming out of these jobs/time frames and back to what you’d call ‘everyday life’.
So Sunday I will lie in and definitely make a point of ‘a lazy Sunday’ with no alarm clock or trip to the gym.
Saturday, I like to be out of the house by 10am. Make the most of the day. Treat myself to a coffee and a pastry before a long walk or a trip into town. It’s nice to treat Saturday as a chance to wander, but with a purpose.
Breakfast or brunch?
Breakfast. Over the weekend it will be eggs on toast (any style of eggs, even an omelette) with some form of green, usually avocado, HP sauce and a cup of tea. Oh and chillis. If it’s a treat, it will be a Desi breakfast. Chana, roti and omelette. Again with chilli, I love chilli. During the week it’s coffee and porridge, which, if I’m on set or in the music studio, can often turn into just a coffee as I can’t think on a full stomach.
What does an ideal Saturday look like?
An ideal Saturday would be a 10am train from London Euston to Liverpool, just in time for the 3pm kick-off at Goodison Park. Post match, depending on the result, I’d stop off at the Jacaranda Club on Slater Street for some live music with food down Bold Street. Music, football and food. Then back home to London.
Andrew Gower
What would your perfect Sunday be like?
The day always starts with Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. The rest would all revolve around a roast dinner. A morning walk to pick up some last minute fresh veg from the market. A vinyl of mine playing whilst I’m cooking. Maybe a glass of red wine. My grandad was a chef and used to cook with his record player on in the background. I was given his vinyls, so I like to keep that tradition going.
Do you prefer to be indoors or outdoors?
It’s always nice to come home having been outdoors all day. I just love to walk, whether it’s around a new city or in the countryside. Though I’m from the northwest, I think the northeast of the UK has some of the most unspoilt and underrated coastlines. Robin Hood’s Bay is just one. As does Scotland.
How have weekends changed as you have got older?
I definitely attend fewer gigs and struggle to get to the theatre as much. That was my whole lifestyle growing up. If you needed to find me, you could call The Jacaranda record store. I’d be sat in one of their record booths with a Coca Cola and a new vinyl on loop. I’d also be gigging every other weekend in Liverpool or Manchester.
Gustaffson (my band) are a bit more site specific with our gigs these days — we have to be more efficient in our 30s. I also think the whole music venue/ticket sales system has changed a lot since I was in my teens. Everything is now, of course, online and with fewer risks involved.
If you could eat out anywhere tonight in NI, where would you go and why?
100pc Yugo. I’d have miso aubergine, prawn bao bun and the lamb massaman curry, with their house negroni.
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Do you sometimes work at weekends?
With Gustaffson’s autumn singles and debut album (produced by Elbow) landing early 2025 there’s been a lot of work at weekends. We recorded the album from the beginning of December 2023 to the first week of January 2024. It included weekends, so we could finish in under three and a half weeks.
We also have a UK tour that takes us to Manchester (Deaf Institute, November 15) and London (SJQ Dalston, December 4). These gigs are to support the release of our upcoming singles On Broadway and Flowers, featuring Bear McCreary (November 15). So I’ll definitely be working weekends then!
On a rare occasion we’ll film a project on Saturday or Sunday. I was lucky, while on my latest project Ellis over in Belfast, to have no weekend filming. In fact, we were blessed with the back-to-back bank holiday weekends.
Who would you most like to go for a drink with and why?
George Harrison. My favourite Beatle.
Are you a weekend cook? If so, what’s your speciality dish?
I’m in charge of the roast dinner and the omelettes in our house. So I’d say I’m weekend only cook/a two trick pony.
What’s your dream Sunday dinner?
A roast dinner. Roast chicken and all the works. Extra sprouts and veg that has been given some love. Oh, and kale. Condiments are mustard and gravy. Colman’s is the OG of all the condiments.
Who do you normally eat Sunday dinner with and where?
With my family at home in London. Or sometimes Liverpool and Glasgow.
Too tired to cook – what are you ordering from the takeaway?
Fish and chips. With curry sauce. Or sushi.
Heading for the cinema? What are you going to see?
I am always drawn to actors like Sam Rockwell, David Thewlis, Frances McDormand, Toby Jones, Alison Janney, Colin Farrell. If there’s a Yorgos Lanthimos, Edward Berger or Mike Leigh project I’ll be booking a ticket — real character led films with ample nuance and behaviour. Also a traditional story or grim tale that’s been flipped on its head and doesn’t spoon feed the audience.
Staying in… what TV is on the menu?
Recently I’ve been on an M. Night Shyamalan journey, watching all of his stuff chronologically. I’ve done this with a lot of directors, as I find it really interesting to see their early works, how their stories have changed over the years. But when I was in Belfast, I found a channel that had Come Dine With Me on repeat 24 hours a day. So there was that.
M. Night Shyamalan
What are you reading?
I’ve always been a sucker for an Ernest Hemingway novel. Also William Boyd. Currently catching up with Bob Mortimer’s debut book The Satsuma Complex.
Bedtime is…?
Bedtime is 10pm latest. Camomile tea (it can vary) and most probably read my book or a script until I fall asleep. If it’s good, I’ll be up until midnight.
Flowers by Gustaffson will be released on November 15 with an album to follow early next year. Ellis is on C5 on Thursdays at 8pm