Neither has lived in China: Hom, who has all the mellow ease of John Malkovich, was brought up in Chicago; Huang was born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, moved to South Africa at the age of five, then to London aged 11. Both outsiders, then, with a mission to rediscover their roots. To which end, first stop Beijing, where they visited the fabled noodle masters – chefs who hand-pull 20 kinds of different noodles “like cat’s cradle”, with the casual artistry of a lifetime’s work.