Sir Keir Starmer may not be flavour of the month for some in the UK, but his taste has aroused passions thousands of miles away.
A Beijing restaurant has reported being fully booked since the prime minister dined there during his visit to the Chinese capital in January.
Yi zuo yi wang, known in English as In and Out is a hot spot for delicacies from Yunnan, a southwestern Chinese province.
Located in the city’s trendy Sanlitun area, the restaurant also has an unusual specialism for serving up hallucinogenic mushrooms.
An entourage of around 140 officials, business and press figures ate at the unique restaurant, chosen by Starmer on recommendation by the UK ambassador in Beijing.
Starmer’s visit has made In and Out such a site of pilgrimage that patrons can now order from a special ‘prime minister’s menu’, according to the Guardian.
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The list, which mirrors what Starmer ordered, includes dishes such as pork ribs in plum sauce, deep fried goat’s milk cheese and asparagus with porcini.
However the PM did not opt of the restaurant’s signature jian shou qing mushrooms, also known as lurid bolete, which are said to have hallucinogenic effects.
The Chinese name literally means ‘turns hand blue’, referring to how the fungi quickly turn bluish when sliced.
But the mushroom featured on the cover of the bespoke Starmer menu, which features a cartooned member of the King’s Guard wearing the fungus instead of trademark black bearskin cap.
Waiters at the Yunnan restaurant report that guests now frequently ask what the ‘British prime minister’ ate.
Fascination with the PM is but one aspect of Chinese interest in British culture, which spans from the Royal Family to Harry Potter and Premier League footballers.
It’s also a rare bout of popularity for Starmer, who has taken criticism on several fronts as his party trails in the polls and the cost of war abroad threatens to put up prices back at home.
According to the latest YouGov polling, 70 per cent of Britons think the PM is doing a bad job.
Just 22 per cent of respondents said otherwise.
And with Labour on course to lose hundreds of councillors in Thursday’s local election as well as face defeat in Wales for the first time, Starmer may need a magic mushroom to cling on in office.
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