Five Star Chef (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Episode #1.2 - full transcript
[music playing]
Morning, guys.
Hard to fall asleep,
when you're thinking...
-Everything.
-Need a pen?
[Adria] Everything, like...
Now, the competition's got exciting.
They believe you've got something.
Mike said to me
he was frothing at the mouth
at the thought of my concept.
Oh, wow. [laughs nervously]
An original restaurant concept
is important, but not enough.
You need to understand
business and how to make money.
The margins
in this industry are very small,
but in the five-star luxury hotel world,
if you get it right,
the potential is limitless.
Good morning, chefs.
Today it's all about money.
Luxury hotels like this are
the playground for the rich and famous.
To them, money is no object.
I want you to show Chef Roux
your version of the most expensive dish
using the finest ingredients
that money can buy.
And not only
would this dish attract global diners
who just want to splurge,
but it will also create
a bit of a marketing tool for you
to get people into the door
and get them taking pictures
and shouting about
wanting to try this opulent dish.
[Mike] It's so important for a venue
like the Palm Court at The Langham
to have that one dish
that showcases pure luxury.
These are marketing tools,
which can really
set your restaurant apart from the rest.
So think the 24K pizza from New York,
costing just under £2,000
up to the Grand Velas taco from Mexico,
which is wrapped
in a gold-infused tortilla.
It's worth over £20,000.
These dishes
are what makes your brand stand out.
-All right. Let's go.
-[contestant whooping]
[narrator] The chefs have two hours
to create a luxury dish
using rare ingredients
that stays true
to their restaurant concept.
And breathe. [laughs]
You got this, girl.
[narrator] Russian-born Igor
is cooking with Canadian lobster
and 100-year-old balsamic vinegar,
worth more than £600 a bottle.
[Igor] It's quite hot here,
but still I'm thinking,
stay calm and smooth.
No problem, no drama.
This dish is Canadian lobster
with Moai caviar.
After that, we'll have oysters
with 100-year-old balsamic vinegar.
And then we have
the fishcake with the puff pastry.
So it's all about flavours.
I don't want anything overcooked
and it will be amazing on the plates.
Only the best chefs
can cook lobster to perfection.
A lot could go wrong.
No one wants an undercooked lobster
or an overcooked lobster.
It's so important
you get the timings right.
This is five spice with honey.
It's a glaze for the lobster.
So we are creating sweetness.
We are creating a bitter.
We are creating everything in there.
If my guests like haute,
they should come to me
because I am very perfectionist.
Yeah, that one, no.
I'm making a new one, it was too hot.
Shit happens.
[woman] And what's going
to make your dish five-star?
It's cooked by me.
Wow.
Beautiful.
If you're going out for a meal,
I think £150 a head,
I think is a blowout meal for me.
-Which...
-Where do you go?
-Are you saying that's a lot or a little?
-[Anne] No, I'm just thinking.
Don't think you could go out for £150.
What's your idea of a blowout meal?
£1,000.
-£1,000? Bloody hell.
-Yeah.
Jesus. I'd never eat out.
I'm more than aware of what wealthy diners
are looking for in a dish.
[narrator] In keeping
with her nose-to-tail concept,
Anne is cooking every part
of one hugely prized fish.
[Mike] Sturgeon isn't usually eaten.
It's more valuable
if it's kept alive for its eggs,
which produce
some of the world's finest caviar.
[Anne] Today is going to be a challenge.
God. It's like leather.
Can I have a minute
to deal with this fish? [chuckles]
Otherwise I'm gonna mess it up.
I'm cooking sturgeon
in various different ways.
We're gonna make
a little mousse, a little ceviche,
then we also have caviar,
soy sauce meringues,
lots of nice pickled sea vegetables.
The caviar
is the integral part of the dish.
£500 for the caviar.
So, I'm trying to skin this fish
and then I'm going to brine it.
Each element
needs to be absolutely perfect.
I have something up my sleeve
for presenting my dish.
I started off working as an estate agent,
moved on to printing,
property development,
then a drunken falling into owning a pub.
I remember the night
I went into our soon-to-be owned pub,
having dinner.
The owners said, "We're looking to sell."
Very drunkenly said, "I'll buy it."
About two months later then that was it.
I was given the keys.
I'm a very bad girl
when I've had a few drinks. [laughs]
I'm glad we did it.
It's been an amazing 15 years.
Erm, there's a lot going on
in quite a short space of time.
Pressure's really on
for me today, I think.
Because I didn't have proper,
formal training as a chef,
I'd approach it
from a very different perspective.
I've been out to fabulous restaurants
all around the world
and then taking
the best bits from everywhere,
using that as inspiration
to come up with your own thing.
I don't get what Anne is trying to do.
[Ravneet] Well, I've seen mango,
pomegranate and fish.
I'm not entirely sure.
[Michel] It's a lot going on. Too much.
[Igor] I'll start to plate up.
So we have expensive lobster.
I have Moai caviar. This is very rare.
And caviar is eggs.
This is different. It's seaweed.
I'm going to put
some vinegar on the oysters.
It's all about the last garnishes.
And everything looks perfect.
[Mike] Three things I'm looking for.
Firstly, the wow factor.
Is it worthy of social media?
Second is the price.
The higher the price,
the more jaw-dropping the dish has to be.
And thirdly, the taste.
Is it cooked to perfection?
Looks beautiful.
[Ravneet] This challenge
is all about creating dishes
that people will want to take pictures of.
[phone camera clicks]
[Mike] How much would that
be on your menu?
They pay £198.
-I think you can charge, £300, £400, £500.
-[Mike] Yeah.
The technical ability is right up there.
The pastry was outstanding.
The dressing was just five-star, ten-star.
The lobster, slightly undercooked.
I understand that.
Flavour-wise, amazing.
Seriously, well done.
Thank you.
I've never cooked
with some of these ingredients.
It's quite a risk
to cook abalone for the first time,
but I'm up for the challenge.
I'll be doing a king oyster scallop.
That's made with oyster mushrooms.
With that,
heart of palm crab with some saffron.
And then thirdly, I have some abalone.
Abalone represents wealth
and it's a very auspicious sea creature.
[narrator] Abalone
is a precious sea snail
harvested by specially trained
deep-sea divers.
Costing up to £430 a kilo.
When it comes to cooking abalone,
it needs to be simmered on low heat,
sometimes up to five hours.
Abalone takes a long time to cook.
If you don't do it long enough,
it becomes tough and chewy.
I don't have five hours,
but I have my trusty pressure cooker here
to speed that up.
I'm hoping it turns out.
My parents only had
a few aspirations for me.
That was to either be a doctor,
a lawyer, an engineer or accountant.
And I became an engineer.
I always wanted to please my parents.
Quitting my job was not
a moment where they were like,
"Yay. We're so proud of you."
I retrained as a chef
and I just loved it.
Like, I just felt like I was alive again.
If I overcook abalone,
it'll lose a lot of flavour.
-Have you had abalone before?
-Yes.
-Do you like it?
-Never cooked it.
Don't attempt to cook abalone
in a competition like this
when you've never done it before.
[Ravneet] Exactly.
[Anne] This is my plate.
The sculpture is a mermaid,
picking up
all the different elements from the sea.
Little ceviche,
soy sauce meringues, caviar.
I think I've nailed it.
Wow! [chuckles]
Is that a mermaid?
[Anne] Here we go.
[Mike] Wow.
[Mike] You'd be looking at selling it for?
£2,500.
Hmm.
-We should taste this.
-[Ravneet] I think so.
[Mike] Yeah.
I'm looking at this and I'm thinking,
it made me smile. But is that enough?
-[Michel] The caviar's lovely.
-[Mike] Yeah.
But it's caviar. Straight out the tin.
I like my ceviche a bit more acidic,
little bit more lime juice in it maybe.
I love the mermaid. I think it's fun.
But to eat the food, it doesn't match.
I think there's way too much going on.
It's just lots of different little things
that I don't think has been
brought together as a "wow" dish.
Is it instagrammable though?
It pains me to say it,
but I think it's ten years behind,
so I am wondering
whether it's fun and modern enough.
I would never pay two-and-a-half grand
for frozen water.
-[laughs]
-[Michel] No, no.
How did you get on?
"We've seen this before. This is old hat."
And they didn't know whether
it would go big on Instagram.
I'm thinking, "You are joking me."
[Adria] Hmm.
It smells wonderful.
I'm gonna let them dry
so I can really crisp them up
and pan fry them.
What are you doing?
I'm doing a scallop
made from King Oyster mushrooms.
-These are like your replica scallops?
-Yeah, totally. You got it.
I'm just draining
my blanched seaweed here.
It's for presentation, but also edible.
I love a little bit of seaweed.
I'm hoping I can get through
based on creativity and skill level.
-Hello.
-Hello, chefs.
My concept is about
making vegetables the star.
-Hmm.
-I've done three elements from the sea.
[Mike] Adria, tell me the cost
of this dish.
[Adria] We could maybe push it
to £300.
-You get a...
-Big seaweed smell.
[Ravneet] It's, like,
taking over my nose.
-It's bordering on unpleasant.
-Too much.
It's a bit like...
I want to taste the abalone,
see if it's tender.
[laughs]
The abalone is cooked through,
but needed a bit more kick,
bit more oomph.
Is it the kind of dish
that you can command £300?
No.
It's so underwhelming
in every way, unfortunately.
The abalone,
it was cooked well, and tasted of nothing.
I think you just need to go back,
think about your concept again,
reign it in a bit,
and start trusting your gut a bit more.
Yeah.
-I thought I was gonna gag, eating that.
-Yeah.
-I was like... [sighs]
-It was weird.
Oh, man. Not good.
-No? Oh, no, baby.
-[Anne] Why?
-[Anne] Oh, what happened?
-It's fine.
I could see they wanted me
to have done better.
-Almost like...
-Yes.
...you're trying to impress your parents.
[sniffles]
-[Dominic] Yeah.
-And they tell you it's not good enough.
[sniffles, sighs]
[Lara] Let it out.
[Jordan] So I'm making
the world's most exclusive taco.
I'm more tense than usual.
Using ingredients
I've not worked with before.
So the soy sauce is £220.
It's aged in a barrel
that's 100 years old.
This is the soy sauce for royalty.
We're going with blue corn taco
that has yellowfin tuna, sriracha caviar.
Then I've got
soy sauce that is 38 years old.
It's just taking the ingredients
you would find in your normal takeaway,
and getting the best quality
rarest ingredients I can get my hands on.
Going to feel like the world's best taco.
So the caviar is already quite salty,
but I'm just adding the soy marinade
to bring it all together.
Guests ordering these high-end dishes
understand what they're eating.
They won't be impressed
by lots of it on the plate.
You will impress them
by clever use of that ingredient.
Soy is nearly gone,
so it's an expensive dish for sure.
This is taking Puerto Rican food
to a place it normally doesn't go
but should be brought more often.
Today I'm making
Chilean sea bass seared with uni butter.
A yuca nest. Beluga caviar.
King crab leg. And a caldo santo broth.
I'm also adding 14-carat gold leaf.
I don't cook with gold much.
I like to wear it
more than I like to eat it.
[narrator] Raquel's
most expensive ingredient
is her Puerto Rican king crab legs
costing £200 a kilo.
[Raquel] I have a small glass bowl
I'm going to lay the stew in
and then put my sea bass on top
with the nest and then the caviar on top,
just to build some height.
And then the broth
will actually be poured in tableside.
So this is yuca,
and this is actually a root
that my mom has always told me
the natives of Puerto Rico
used to poison the Spaniards.
With certain types of yuca,
if it's undercooked, it'll kill you.
Not trying to poison the judges,
maybe just make them a little woozy.
[laughs]
This is my caldo santo broth,
which literally means broth of the saints.
I'm not used to cooking
on these flat tops.
Hopefully, I just turned it down.
[food processor whirrs]
Oh, shit.
Sorry.
Just a little smoky.
[sizzles]
Raquel, I think she's gone way too simple.
Has she stripped it back too much?
What can she
actually achieve at five-star level?
Well, Jordan, it's like,
"Jordan, you've made a taco."
One taco on a plate,
is that what you were envisioning?
Not at all.
[Mike] I also worry
that he's used too much soy sauce.
[narrator] To represent
his Caribbean concept,
Dom is cooking with two key ingredients.
I'm celebrating breadfruit
which is a fruit
eaten as a vegetable in the Caribbean,
and I'm also celebrating rum.
So I've got Appleton's 21-year aged rum.
So I'm making three dishes,
I've got scallops with a rum butter.
I'm going to make a breadfruit mash.
Some Canadian lobsters,
served with a breadfruit dauphinoise.
And a Caribbean-style fish and chips
with duck fat-cooked breadfruit
and a rum aioli.
It's a really great rum.
It's going to give all three of my dishes
a nice mellow rum taste.
When using rum, getting the balance
right can be difficult.
Too much
and it can overpower the rest of the food
and too little,
it will get totally lost in the dish.
[Dominic] This here is the base
for my lobster bisque.
That smells amazing.
It's just onions and garlic!
-[laughs]
-That's it.
[laughing]
So today I'm going to be
elevating the classic Spanish omelette.
I want it a bit runny,
that's how we like it in Spain.
I'm going to be making
a creamy, white asparagus gelatin.
I'll mould it into little diamonds.
We wanna be pretentious today
so I'll give you a bit of bougieness.
Michel Roux should like a diamond.
Who doesn't like a diamond?
So I'm going to do
Spanish omelette as a base,
then I'm going to do caviar,
I'm going to do white asparagus jelly,
and then I'm going to do Kobe beef.
[narrator] Kobe beef from Japan
is so rare,
it can cost up to £500 a kilo.
-My God, a freaking gold bar.
-[Ravneet] I know.
[Michel] I think that's what
Lara's all about.
Presentation.
The wow factor will be there.
But will it be good eating?
I hope it's not too tacky.
No. A tortilla's got to be
nice and runny and oozing in the middle.
Chefs, you've got 13 minutes left.
-Yes, chef.
-Yeah.
I've got the blue corn taco
which is going on the bottom.
Appearance is everything.
I'm expecting people to pay
a lot of money for this dish.
I want people to think, "Wow,
I'm not going to get this anywhere else."
I'm almost done.
This is definitely
the most expensive thing I will ever make.
So I'm just going with the Kobe now.
-Don't want it too done.
-[sizzles]
So I'm just getting the scallops
ready for pan frying with the aged rum.
[dramatic music playing]
My breadfruit dauphinoise.
Er. Don't think it's set very well but...
-So you're finished?
-Yeah, I'm ready.
I never thought I'd be ripping money.
The money is edible as well.
[Raquel] I'm actually done.
I'm trying to make it really pretty.
[Dominic] Here's the lobster
and the bisque.
Ah! Shit.
[Ravneet] Jordan and Raquel,
are you sure you've nailed the brief?
Smashed the brief.
[Mike] Hmm.
So, what would you
sell this for then, Jordan?
I would like to sell it between
the £400 and £500 mark.
I know that sounds like a lot, erm,
but there's things on there
that you just don't see every day.
Being honest, I don't think
anyone would take a picture.
Looks like something
I'd get at my local brunch spot.
It's gonna have to taste damn good.
If this was on your menu for £400, £500,
your restaurant
would shut within three months.
[scoffs] Three weeks.
Jordan, I'm... [blows raspberry]
not best pleased with that.
I mean,
that soy sauce is like liquid gold.
Using it for a marinade, I think is wrong.
Is this style of food
something that you've done before?
-No.
-[exhales]
[Jordan] Erm.
-Jordan!
-Completely went out the box on this one.
-[Lara] Dun, dun, dun.
-Hi, guys.
-[Anne] Hey.
-Hi.
-I saw that taco, bro. It looked sexy.
-Yeah.
-So beautiful.
-No?
-Not good, no.
-[Lara] Really?
Ripped me a new one.
She said it look like something
you'd get at your local brunch spot.
-Savage.
-Yeah.
It's certainly
punching the eyes, beautiful colours.
-[Mike] Yes.
-[Raquel] Thank you.
-How much would that be on your menu?
-About £300.
Hmm.
I'd pay big money,
the kind of price that you would pay
in the top Japanese restaurants
for the best quality sushi.
The crab as well.
It's luxurious to the point
where you don't even need the caviar.
Forget your gold leaf.
It is an outstanding plate of food.
-Thank you.
-But I don't think it hits the brief.
Oh! Mike was impressed
by an ice sculpture earlier.
How is that 'grammable?
Is it going to be spoken about
from here to Dubai to LA?
-Yes.
-[Mike] No, it's not.
Raquel is redefining an entire cuisine.
Her story, her food is 'grammable.
[Jordan] Go in, go in.
-I did good.
-Hey.
-Was it good?
-I did well.
-Good.
-Mike was trying to knock me.
She was, like,
totally disagreeing with him.
She was like "This is Instagram-worthy."
[Adria] Nice.
She said no one
would take a picture of mine.
[Michel] We have colour.
Bit worried about this,
because this was a full bottle.
And this is very expensive rum.
I mean, we sell this
in the bar here for £50 a shot.
Oh, wowee.
[Mike] Your selling price
would be, chef?
£180 mark.
[Michel] The lobster and the bisque,
I really enjoyed that.
I'm not so keen on
the dauphinoise of the breadfruit.
Doesn't feel buttery.
I couldn't really pick up the rum notes.
I wanna eat more of your food
and I would happily pay,
no matter the cost to be honest.
You haven't quite hit the brief.
This isn't the most expensive dish.
This is a collection of dishes which would
sit perfectly on a tasting menu.
-Thank you.
-You need refinement.
Yeah.
[sighing] Oh, wow.
[Ravneet laughs]
[beeping]
-Oh, yes. [laughs]
-All right. Okay.
-Here it comes. I'll put it there.
-[Mike] That's nice.
What's the cost of this dish?
I've decided to sell it at £200.
It's nice and soft inside the tortilla.
Tortilla was lovely and moist. Flavourful.
Me, I'm a die-hard classic.
I like food on a plate, but this works.
Lara, you're miles ahead
in terms of anyone else
when you come to thinking of ideas.
But I'm still grappling
with the fact that it's an egg dish.
I wouldn't pay that much money for eggs.
But that's okay. It's eggs elevated.
Whoo! Time to breathe.
[dramatic music playing]
We asked you to make spectacular food
and get social media going crazy.
Lara.
Igor.
-Raquel.
-[sighs softly]
[Michel] You three have shown
you've got a business brain.
You've produced a dish that can sit
as the most expensive on the menu.
Have a day off tomorrow. Congratulations.
Off you go.
[Dominic] Congratulations, guys.
Smashed it.
-Well done, you three.
-Thank you.
So we've got another challenge for you.
Chefs, in the five-star world,
our bread and butter is lunch.
I want you all to come up
with a two-course set menu for £30
to see who can cost
a menu that's creative,
but will still make money and profit.
And tomorrow, you'll be doing
service in The Langham, live.
The chef who makes
the least profit will be going home.
We'll get to see what you're made of.
-Yes, chef.
-Yes, chef.
You need to rise to this.
[dramatic music playing]
-Good morning.
-Good morning, chef.
[narrator] In three hours,
each chef will be serving their version
of a two-course set menu
for £30 a head
in The Langham's exclusive bistro,
The Landau.
Whoever makes the least profit
will be sent home.
This will be a true test.
First real service, proper guests.
[Ravneet] Lunch set menus
are so difficult
because it's that line between
wanting to be appealing enough,
but also slightly healthy.
Healthy, yet indulgent.
It's going to be interesting
to see what menu sells the best
and then obviously what menu
brings in the most money.
And it looks like Jordan has decided
to cook stuff that he understands.
Today I'm cooking a pan-fried fillet
of hake with a vichyssoise sauce.
It's made with leeks and potato.
For dessert, lemon tart.
The costing
for both of my courses is £9.53.
After yesterday, I'm not overly confident.
Erm... No, in fact, yeah, I am.
That's what I'm here to do, so yeah.
I've got some fish and chips, basically,
so quite a simple dish.
So, we've got some cod in here brining,
some triple-cooked chips and pea foam.
-Then for afterwards, a panna cotta.
-[whirring]
My cost today was £10.16.
Spent quite a bit of money,
but I'm sure it will be well ordered.
[Dominic] Feel quite nervous today.
I'm handling this fish
like, [laughs] I've never had a fish
in my hand before.
My dish that I'm serving today,
I've named Hellshire Beach.
Hellshire Beach is in Jamaica
and I had the best mackerel I've ever had.
I wanted to recreate that.
So I'm cooking brown stew spiced mackerel.
And I'm using ackee in a cheesecake.
Ackee is a fruit from Jamaica,
so I thought it'd be quite nice
to give both the customers
and the judges something new.
The cost for my menu is £4.61.
I think that if my dish sells well today,
I should be doing quite well.
[Adria] I'm trying to recover
and redeem myself from yesterday.
Lunch is my kind of domain.
I understand lunch diners,
having my own business.
My menu came in at £6.69.
I'm gonna do moong usal today,
which is sprouted mung beans
with Indian spices.
Charred baby gems.
And just a little bit
of mackerel garnish on top,
and pair that with some
mint and walnut dressing.
The dessert, chocolate ganache
and then the poached peach on top.
Those sprouted mung beans
are packed with nutrition.
It makes it digestible
and a bit crunchy as well.
[narrator] With the set menus
priced at £30 a head,
Dom's is the most profitable
making over £25 per menu,
while Anne's is the least,
coming in at just under £20.
[Adria] How's your fish coming along?
If I ever say
I'm pin boning mackerel again,
just punch me in the face.
This is gonna be the most important bit
about this dish being refined.
It's definitely something
all the judges are going to pick up on
is how well this fish was prepped.
[narrator] The chefs now have two hours
before more than 40 guests
arrive for lunch.
Are you more
in your comfort zone now, Jordan?
Apart from the pastry,
I'm feeling more on it,
so I'm gonna take some time now,
start rolling out my pastry,
make my tarts.
I don't enjoy pastry.
I don't have the patience for it.
When I'm cooking,
I'm a bit of this, bit of that.
Pastry is very much a science.
It has to be exact.
[Mike] That's an hour-and-a-half
till your guests arrive.
[Jordan] Right, that's not going to work.
-Are you all right? Calm down.
-Yeah.
-Take a minute.
-Yeah, that's not gonna work like that.
Think outside the box.
I'm gonna do it slightly different.
Pea salad. Not done that.
Pea, crushed peas, somewhere.
There. Those are done.
Chips. Oh, shit,
I've got to peel a bag of spuds.
I want to win it now.
I've got to really make sure
this works today, otherwise,
I think I'm going home.
Lots of aromas over here.
[Dominic] So this is going to be
my brown stew sauce.
Let the sauce reduce
and kind of go into the fish.
The last two challenges
I've been hearing refine it, refine it.
I think I'm there today.
-We will see, Dom. We will see.
-Yeah. [chuckles]
One hour to go.
We should be doing final touches.
-Are we ready?
-[Anne] No!
[dish clatters]
-[Mike] Are we close?
-No!
-[Mike] There's a lot of "no's" there.
-I know!
What's going on?
I just kind of, need a moment.
Take a deep breath.
You've got recipes on the floor,
you've got cloths on the floor.
-Right. Okay. All right. Thank you.
-Reset, yeah?
[Mike] Final checks, Adria?
Can't have those pin bones in service.
[Mike] One bone is all it takes
for the dish to come back.
You got it, chef.
Are you hiding out the back
getting your pastry done, chef?
It's cooler over here.
[Mike] Weren't you doing
individual tarts before?
I was, chef,
but I'm really struggling with that
so I'm just doing a bigger one.
As soon as this is baked, I can get it in
and straight in the blast chiller.
[dramatic music playing]
[sighs]
Okay, chefs.
We have ten minutes to go till service.
I want your sections clean.
I want you organised.
Quite often in the kitchen,
you're fighting fires all day long.
The pressure is very stressful.
That feeling just here,
where you're trembling, it's just awful.
Absolute carnage.
[Anne sighs wearily]
Chef. You okay?
Sorry, I've let you down terribly
and I'm not going to be ready
[voice breaking] and I feel awful.
You haven't let anyone down yet.
I've sat exactly
where you're sitting right now,
but it's how you react to it
which makes the chef.
[Mike] Guys, we literally have
guests arriving in the restaurant.
Are we going to have food to serve?
-[Jordan] Yes, chef.
-[Anne] Yes, chef.
Good afternoon. Welcome to The Landau.
[narrator] Each diner must choose
a set menu of two courses from one chef.
It's the vichyssoise sauce for me
and the fried fillet of hake,
it sounds yummy.
Oh, my gosh, an ackee
and nutmeg cheesecake sounds incredible.
Guests are in.
Tickets are about to come through.
I want you to cook your hearts out.
I'm gonna go with Anne's please.
-Can I have Dom's menu?
-Of course.
Could I have Adria's menu, please?
-[woman] Could I have the hake?
-[waitress] Yeah.
When I start to call dockets,
I expect a silent kitchen.
When I call a check, I want one answer.
What's that answer?
-"Yes, chef."
-[Mike] Thank you.
Running the pass,
it is your job to keep the food flowing,
make sure the guests are all fed.
I always liken the kitchen to the army,
because it's so hierarchy-based.
It's so intense.
That's the first check, guys.
Check on two hake,
one moong usal, one fish and chips.
-Oui, chef.
-Yes, chef.
Adria's menu please.
-[man] Dom's set menu, please.
-Dom. Perfect.
There's a real buzz, isn't there?
Yeah? I wonder if there's the same buzz
in the kitchen.
I hope Mike is sweating.
Ça marche, one fish and chips,
one moong, one beach, ça marche.
-Yes, chef.
-Yes, chef.
-[Jordan] How long on the pass, chef?
-How long? You tell me.
How long do you each need
to cook your dish?
Shall we say 15 minutes
for the first one, chef?
-Yes, okay.
-[Jordan] Yeah, okay.
Great. Let's do that.
I'll set a timer now.
-You won't need a timer. You have me.
-We have a timer here.
Ça marche, one moong usal,
one beach, one hake, ça marche.
[Dominic] Yes, chef.
Okay, guys, I've got
the first dish up for the first table
-so I need to push you now please.
-Yep.
[Mike] Are you happy
with these chips, Anne?
-Didn't hear you. You happy with that?
-No, I'm not.
So what are you going to do about it?
You need to talk to me, chef.
Sorry, I can either not send or send them.
It's not necessarily the quantity.
The colour of them is not right.
Rather than a bowl of chips on the side,
why don't you introduce
a couple of pont neufs on the plate?
You can pick out the best ones,
you're frying them in less batches.
Dom, let's go, mate.
-I've got hot food on the pass.
-[Dominic] Yes, chef.
Yes, chef, right now.
No, that's not good enough.
One of each, chef.
One hake up, chef.
[Mike] All right, service please.
Not sold as many as I'd have liked to.
-[waiter] Enjoy.
-That looks lovely. Very pretty.
-[cash register trills]
-[Mike] All right, check on.
One fish and chips. One beach.
Guys, you're not answering.
You're head down and you're losing it.
Check on, one fish and chips, one beach.
-[Dominic] Oui, chef.
-Yes, chef.
Feeling the pressure.
Feeling the lack of space.
I feel like I'm trying to do
the job of ten men in a cupboard.
We're going table two.
Sorry, I forgot to put
the tartare sauce on it.
[Mike] Elegant, yeah?
[Anne] Not happy with any of it, really.
It's just cooking too hot,
too fast or not hot enough.
Oh, God, horrible.
[Mike] I want table six,
one moong, one fish and chips.
[cash register trills]
[Mike] Table five, one beach, one moong.
One hake up, chef.
Vichyssoise sauce is so lovely.
[Ravneet] Fish is cooked well.
Everything seems to work
quite nicely together.
Jordan's played to his strengths.
I wouldn't be surprised
if it's one of the bestsellers.
[Mike] How's the fish, Anne?
Sorry, Anne, I'm talking to you.
-Yes, sorry. Yes, all good.
-[Mike] How's the fish?
Gorgeous.
That's a very generous piece of fish.
[Ravneet] Very generous.
I wonder what her costing is like
if a piece is this large.
Peas are lovely
and the pea shoots as well.
The chips are a little bit oily.
Not the best chips I've tasted.
Really tasty. I really enjoyed it.
A lot of taste in this dish.
A lot of flavour.
I would come back
again and again for this.
-[Mike] Adria?
-Yes?
You're getting compliments on your food.
-Thank you.
-[Mike] Well done.
I won't cry just yet,
but I hope it's a recovery from yesterday.
[Mike] Where's this beach, Dom?
Erm...
Forty seconds, chef.
I don't believe your times any more,
Chef Dom.
[Dominic] One beach, chef.
-[Ravneet] This is beautiful!
-[Michel laughs]
Way more refined.
[Michel] That is lovely.
We know Dom can deliver flavour
and I think he's done it again here.
There's quite big bones
in my hake, here I've taken out.
[Adria] Yes, chef, 30 seconds.
Sorry, chef, one of the tables
found bones in the hakes.
Jordan. We just had hake with bones in it.
I was told it was already
prepped by the fishmonger, chef.
You trust the fishmonger?
-No, chef.
-Hey, five-star, you check it yourself.
Get your hake on the bench and check it.
Yes, chef.
[Mike] Start sending
some desserts, please.
One cheesecake,
one strawberries and cream.
What do you think about the strawberries?
-She's left the little tip.
-I... don't like that.
It could do with a bit more sugar.
I completely agree.
I thought you'd slate me for saying it.
There are stalks on the strawberries
that were just really irritating.
-Sorry to disturb you, chef, again.
-Tell me.
-Strawberries have too many stalks.
-[Mike] Thank you.
-So, Anne?
-Yep.
-[Mike] Feedback on your dessert.
-Yeah.
-Too many stalks on the strawberries.
-[Anne] I did those. I like those.
-Say again?
-I quite like those.
-Somebody said that?
-[Mike] Yeah.
Would you like to change this?
No way, it's amazing.
The feedback from your guests
is incredibly important.
But everybody else has enjoyed it
and not said that?
[Mike] Well, everybody else
hasn't complained.
-It's your call.
-[Anne] I'll change it.
I need this cheesecake.
[Dominic] Sorry, chef. The plate needs
a little wipe there, please.
-I'm here for you.
-Thank you, chef.
-That was sarcasm.
-[laughs]
Nice one,
flavours that you've never had before.
[Ravneet] I love the cheesecake.
-Almost a bit salty and I love that.
-There's a bit of salt there, really nice.
[Mike] I need this lemon tart, mate.
What's the issue with the lemon tart?
-Is it frozen?
-Yes, chef.
[Mike] How badly?
-It was in the blast chiller, so...
-How badly?
[Jordan] Quite badly to be honest
with you, chef.
[Mike] Oh, mate, you can't serve that.
[Jordan] That's why
I'm not sending it out, chef.
[Mike] Then tell me.
Yeah, I'm gonna need five minutes, chef.
Can you get me Luigi please?
Chefs, there is no way
you can cover up mistakes during service.
-Yeah?
-[Anne muttering]
Honesty is so important...
Do not talk while I am talking!
I have only half the desserts to serve,
and you two are having a chit-chat.
I don't understand
what's going on right now.
Listen to me when I'm speaking. Yes?
-Yeah.
-[Anne] Yes, chef.
-Talk to me and we can fix it together.
-[Jordan] Chef.
Yeah? I can tell the manager,
"We have a wait, we have a delay."
"Please give them a coffee,
a cheese, whatever, on us,
buy them a glass of wine,"
and we manage the situation.
That's how you deal
with things in a restaurant.
We're gonna have a delay
on all lemon tarts at the moment.
We need at least eight minutes,
before we serve another one.
Erm.
Well, there's been
a problem, obviously, with the lemon tart.
Anything I can do?
-Defrost my lemon tart!
-Yeah. [chuckles]
[Michel] I'm okay with it,
but I'm not blown away.
Very rare to get a good vegan dessert.
This hasn't quite worked.
[Jordan] One lemon tart, straight up.
-Are they ready to be served?
-[Jordan] Yes, chef.
[Michel] Hmm.
I just think that this dessert
wasn't carefully thought out enough.
It's not good pastry.
I want more butter in there.
I want it thinner and I want it
-more consistent through the tart shell.
-Mmm.
-Maybe it was a rush job to get that.
-[Michel] My word, yeah. Looks rushed.
[Mike] The last check will be
a strawberries and cream and a lemon tart.
-Oui.
-[all] Yes, chef.
Can I just have an update
on lemon tarts please, chef?
-How many are we waiting for?
-We've cleared.
-Done? Thank you.
-[Mike] Yeah.
Just in time for it to defrost.
Yeah. [chuckling]
How was your main course?
[Anne] Shit.
They taste good.
-[Michel chuckles]
-Oh, that was tough.
On the whole,
two excelled and two struggled.
I think with Dom,
did you guys like the mackerel?
-Mmm.
-It was extremely refined, I thought.
-He stepped up to the plate.
-[Mike] Yeah.
Adria was confident. She was in her zone.
Tell us about Anne.
-She was very messy.
-[Michel] Mmm.
Very unorganised.
She was all over the place.
So how did Jordan do?
The main course,
there was bones found in the fish.
-Oh, no.
-[Mike] Yep.
Almost unforgivable.
He may have alienated
some potential customers.
[narrator] This challenge
ultimately comes down to profit.
And the final figures are in.
Wow!
Not what I thought.
This just proves that there was
some clever cooking in that kitchen.
I've seen enough.
[suspenseful music playing]
Right, chefs.
We set this task to see if you knew
how to compose a menu
that was going to bring in enough profit.
-Adria.
-Yes, chef.
£279 profit, you came first.
Congratulations.
Thank you, chef.
Dom.
You made £253 profit.
-Well done.
-Thank you, chef.
[Michel] Jordan.
You made £245 profit.
Which leaves Anne.
£178 profit.
The figures don't lie.
Anne, I'm afraid you will be leaving us.
-Terribly sorry.
-Thank you.
-But you're gonna have to go.
-Okay.
[Dominic] Come here.
Well done.
Bye-bye.
Yeah, you can hug.
[all exclaiming]
[laughing]
Get some rest.
It's only going to get a lot, lot tougher.
-Off you go.
-[Adria] Thanks, chef.
And, Jordan,
that was a close shave, yeah?
Pull your socks up.
Yes, chef.
Mate.
I'm so happy.
[Jordan chuckles]
-[Dominic] Gonna call my mum.
-[Jordan] Yeah.
[Anne] I am sad to leave.
I'm very proud of what I've done,
but at the same time,
you can always improve on everything.
You never stop learning.
I don't care how old I get,
I will always love
the five-star experience
because it makes you feel special
and it brings me pleasure.
[Dominic] It was a scary moment,
full of drama.
-You pipped me to the post there.
-[Adria] I know.
-I'm never making a lemon tart again.
-[Adria] Lemon tart!
Yeah. [laughs]
[music playing]
Morning, guys.
Hard to fall asleep,
when you're thinking...
-Everything.
-Need a pen?
[Adria] Everything, like...
Now, the competition's got exciting.
They believe you've got something.
Mike said to me
he was frothing at the mouth
at the thought of my concept.
Oh, wow. [laughs nervously]
An original restaurant concept
is important, but not enough.
You need to understand
business and how to make money.
The margins
in this industry are very small,
but in the five-star luxury hotel world,
if you get it right,
the potential is limitless.
Good morning, chefs.
Today it's all about money.
Luxury hotels like this are
the playground for the rich and famous.
To them, money is no object.
I want you to show Chef Roux
your version of the most expensive dish
using the finest ingredients
that money can buy.
And not only
would this dish attract global diners
who just want to splurge,
but it will also create
a bit of a marketing tool for you
to get people into the door
and get them taking pictures
and shouting about
wanting to try this opulent dish.
[Mike] It's so important for a venue
like the Palm Court at The Langham
to have that one dish
that showcases pure luxury.
These are marketing tools,
which can really
set your restaurant apart from the rest.
So think the 24K pizza from New York,
costing just under £2,000
up to the Grand Velas taco from Mexico,
which is wrapped
in a gold-infused tortilla.
It's worth over £20,000.
These dishes
are what makes your brand stand out.
-All right. Let's go.
-[contestant whooping]
[narrator] The chefs have two hours
to create a luxury dish
using rare ingredients
that stays true
to their restaurant concept.
And breathe. [laughs]
You got this, girl.
[narrator] Russian-born Igor
is cooking with Canadian lobster
and 100-year-old balsamic vinegar,
worth more than £600 a bottle.
[Igor] It's quite hot here,
but still I'm thinking,
stay calm and smooth.
No problem, no drama.
This dish is Canadian lobster
with Moai caviar.
After that, we'll have oysters
with 100-year-old balsamic vinegar.
And then we have
the fishcake with the puff pastry.
So it's all about flavours.
I don't want anything overcooked
and it will be amazing on the plates.
Only the best chefs
can cook lobster to perfection.
A lot could go wrong.
No one wants an undercooked lobster
or an overcooked lobster.
It's so important
you get the timings right.
This is five spice with honey.
It's a glaze for the lobster.
So we are creating sweetness.
We are creating a bitter.
We are creating everything in there.
If my guests like haute,
they should come to me
because I am very perfectionist.
Yeah, that one, no.
I'm making a new one, it was too hot.
Shit happens.
[woman] And what's going
to make your dish five-star?
It's cooked by me.
Wow.
Beautiful.
If you're going out for a meal,
I think £150 a head,
I think is a blowout meal for me.
-Which...
-Where do you go?
-Are you saying that's a lot or a little?
-[Anne] No, I'm just thinking.
Don't think you could go out for £150.
What's your idea of a blowout meal?
£1,000.
-£1,000? Bloody hell.
-Yeah.
Jesus. I'd never eat out.
I'm more than aware of what wealthy diners
are looking for in a dish.
[narrator] In keeping
with her nose-to-tail concept,
Anne is cooking every part
of one hugely prized fish.
[Mike] Sturgeon isn't usually eaten.
It's more valuable
if it's kept alive for its eggs,
which produce
some of the world's finest caviar.
[Anne] Today is going to be a challenge.
God. It's like leather.
Can I have a minute
to deal with this fish? [chuckles]
Otherwise I'm gonna mess it up.
I'm cooking sturgeon
in various different ways.
We're gonna make
a little mousse, a little ceviche,
then we also have caviar,
soy sauce meringues,
lots of nice pickled sea vegetables.
The caviar
is the integral part of the dish.
£500 for the caviar.
So, I'm trying to skin this fish
and then I'm going to brine it.
Each element
needs to be absolutely perfect.
I have something up my sleeve
for presenting my dish.
I started off working as an estate agent,
moved on to printing,
property development,
then a drunken falling into owning a pub.
I remember the night
I went into our soon-to-be owned pub,
having dinner.
The owners said, "We're looking to sell."
Very drunkenly said, "I'll buy it."
About two months later then that was it.
I was given the keys.
I'm a very bad girl
when I've had a few drinks. [laughs]
I'm glad we did it.
It's been an amazing 15 years.
Erm, there's a lot going on
in quite a short space of time.
Pressure's really on
for me today, I think.
Because I didn't have proper,
formal training as a chef,
I'd approach it
from a very different perspective.
I've been out to fabulous restaurants
all around the world
and then taking
the best bits from everywhere,
using that as inspiration
to come up with your own thing.
I don't get what Anne is trying to do.
[Ravneet] Well, I've seen mango,
pomegranate and fish.
I'm not entirely sure.
[Michel] It's a lot going on. Too much.
[Igor] I'll start to plate up.
So we have expensive lobster.
I have Moai caviar. This is very rare.
And caviar is eggs.
This is different. It's seaweed.
I'm going to put
some vinegar on the oysters.
It's all about the last garnishes.
And everything looks perfect.
[Mike] Three things I'm looking for.
Firstly, the wow factor.
Is it worthy of social media?
Second is the price.
The higher the price,
the more jaw-dropping the dish has to be.
And thirdly, the taste.
Is it cooked to perfection?
Looks beautiful.
[Ravneet] This challenge
is all about creating dishes
that people will want to take pictures of.
[phone camera clicks]
[Mike] How much would that
be on your menu?
They pay £198.
-I think you can charge, £300, £400, £500.
-[Mike] Yeah.
The technical ability is right up there.
The pastry was outstanding.
The dressing was just five-star, ten-star.
The lobster, slightly undercooked.
I understand that.
Flavour-wise, amazing.
Seriously, well done.
Thank you.
I've never cooked
with some of these ingredients.
It's quite a risk
to cook abalone for the first time,
but I'm up for the challenge.
I'll be doing a king oyster scallop.
That's made with oyster mushrooms.
With that,
heart of palm crab with some saffron.
And then thirdly, I have some abalone.
Abalone represents wealth
and it's a very auspicious sea creature.
[narrator] Abalone
is a precious sea snail
harvested by specially trained
deep-sea divers.
Costing up to £430 a kilo.
When it comes to cooking abalone,
it needs to be simmered on low heat,
sometimes up to five hours.
Abalone takes a long time to cook.
If you don't do it long enough,
it becomes tough and chewy.
I don't have five hours,
but I have my trusty pressure cooker here
to speed that up.
I'm hoping it turns out.
My parents only had
a few aspirations for me.
That was to either be a doctor,
a lawyer, an engineer or accountant.
And I became an engineer.
I always wanted to please my parents.
Quitting my job was not
a moment where they were like,
"Yay. We're so proud of you."
I retrained as a chef
and I just loved it.
Like, I just felt like I was alive again.
If I overcook abalone,
it'll lose a lot of flavour.
-Have you had abalone before?
-Yes.
-Do you like it?
-Never cooked it.
Don't attempt to cook abalone
in a competition like this
when you've never done it before.
[Ravneet] Exactly.
[Anne] This is my plate.
The sculpture is a mermaid,
picking up
all the different elements from the sea.
Little ceviche,
soy sauce meringues, caviar.
I think I've nailed it.
Wow! [chuckles]
Is that a mermaid?
[Anne] Here we go.
[Mike] Wow.
[Mike] You'd be looking at selling it for?
£2,500.
Hmm.
-We should taste this.
-[Ravneet] I think so.
[Mike] Yeah.
I'm looking at this and I'm thinking,
it made me smile. But is that enough?
-[Michel] The caviar's lovely.
-[Mike] Yeah.
But it's caviar. Straight out the tin.
I like my ceviche a bit more acidic,
little bit more lime juice in it maybe.
I love the mermaid. I think it's fun.
But to eat the food, it doesn't match.
I think there's way too much going on.
It's just lots of different little things
that I don't think has been
brought together as a "wow" dish.
Is it instagrammable though?
It pains me to say it,
but I think it's ten years behind,
so I am wondering
whether it's fun and modern enough.
I would never pay two-and-a-half grand
for frozen water.
-[laughs]
-[Michel] No, no.
How did you get on?
"We've seen this before. This is old hat."
And they didn't know whether
it would go big on Instagram.
I'm thinking, "You are joking me."
[Adria] Hmm.
It smells wonderful.
I'm gonna let them dry
so I can really crisp them up
and pan fry them.
What are you doing?
I'm doing a scallop
made from King Oyster mushrooms.
-These are like your replica scallops?
-Yeah, totally. You got it.
I'm just draining
my blanched seaweed here.
It's for presentation, but also edible.
I love a little bit of seaweed.
I'm hoping I can get through
based on creativity and skill level.
-Hello.
-Hello, chefs.
My concept is about
making vegetables the star.
-Hmm.
-I've done three elements from the sea.
[Mike] Adria, tell me the cost
of this dish.
[Adria] We could maybe push it
to £300.
-You get a...
-Big seaweed smell.
[Ravneet] It's, like,
taking over my nose.
-It's bordering on unpleasant.
-Too much.
It's a bit like...
I want to taste the abalone,
see if it's tender.
[laughs]
The abalone is cooked through,
but needed a bit more kick,
bit more oomph.
Is it the kind of dish
that you can command £300?
No.
It's so underwhelming
in every way, unfortunately.
The abalone,
it was cooked well, and tasted of nothing.
I think you just need to go back,
think about your concept again,
reign it in a bit,
and start trusting your gut a bit more.
Yeah.
-I thought I was gonna gag, eating that.
-Yeah.
-I was like... [sighs]
-It was weird.
Oh, man. Not good.
-No? Oh, no, baby.
-[Anne] Why?
-[Anne] Oh, what happened?
-It's fine.
I could see they wanted me
to have done better.
-Almost like...
-Yes.
...you're trying to impress your parents.
[sniffles]
-[Dominic] Yeah.
-And they tell you it's not good enough.
[sniffles, sighs]
[Lara] Let it out.
[Jordan] So I'm making
the world's most exclusive taco.
I'm more tense than usual.
Using ingredients
I've not worked with before.
So the soy sauce is £220.
It's aged in a barrel
that's 100 years old.
This is the soy sauce for royalty.
We're going with blue corn taco
that has yellowfin tuna, sriracha caviar.
Then I've got
soy sauce that is 38 years old.
It's just taking the ingredients
you would find in your normal takeaway,
and getting the best quality
rarest ingredients I can get my hands on.
Going to feel like the world's best taco.
So the caviar is already quite salty,
but I'm just adding the soy marinade
to bring it all together.
Guests ordering these high-end dishes
understand what they're eating.
They won't be impressed
by lots of it on the plate.
You will impress them
by clever use of that ingredient.
Soy is nearly gone,
so it's an expensive dish for sure.
This is taking Puerto Rican food
to a place it normally doesn't go
but should be brought more often.
Today I'm making
Chilean sea bass seared with uni butter.
A yuca nest. Beluga caviar.
King crab leg. And a caldo santo broth.
I'm also adding 14-carat gold leaf.
I don't cook with gold much.
I like to wear it
more than I like to eat it.
[narrator] Raquel's
most expensive ingredient
is her Puerto Rican king crab legs
costing £200 a kilo.
[Raquel] I have a small glass bowl
I'm going to lay the stew in
and then put my sea bass on top
with the nest and then the caviar on top,
just to build some height.
And then the broth
will actually be poured in tableside.
So this is yuca,
and this is actually a root
that my mom has always told me
the natives of Puerto Rico
used to poison the Spaniards.
With certain types of yuca,
if it's undercooked, it'll kill you.
Not trying to poison the judges,
maybe just make them a little woozy.
[laughs]
This is my caldo santo broth,
which literally means broth of the saints.
I'm not used to cooking
on these flat tops.
Hopefully, I just turned it down.
[food processor whirrs]
Oh, shit.
Sorry.
Just a little smoky.
[sizzles]
Raquel, I think she's gone way too simple.
Has she stripped it back too much?
What can she
actually achieve at five-star level?
Well, Jordan, it's like,
"Jordan, you've made a taco."
One taco on a plate,
is that what you were envisioning?
Not at all.
[Mike] I also worry
that he's used too much soy sauce.
[narrator] To represent
his Caribbean concept,
Dom is cooking with two key ingredients.
I'm celebrating breadfruit
which is a fruit
eaten as a vegetable in the Caribbean,
and I'm also celebrating rum.
So I've got Appleton's 21-year aged rum.
So I'm making three dishes,
I've got scallops with a rum butter.
I'm going to make a breadfruit mash.
Some Canadian lobsters,
served with a breadfruit dauphinoise.
And a Caribbean-style fish and chips
with duck fat-cooked breadfruit
and a rum aioli.
It's a really great rum.
It's going to give all three of my dishes
a nice mellow rum taste.
When using rum, getting the balance
right can be difficult.
Too much
and it can overpower the rest of the food
and too little,
it will get totally lost in the dish.
[Dominic] This here is the base
for my lobster bisque.
That smells amazing.
It's just onions and garlic!
-[laughs]
-That's it.
[laughing]
So today I'm going to be
elevating the classic Spanish omelette.
I want it a bit runny,
that's how we like it in Spain.
I'm going to be making
a creamy, white asparagus gelatin.
I'll mould it into little diamonds.
We wanna be pretentious today
so I'll give you a bit of bougieness.
Michel Roux should like a diamond.
Who doesn't like a diamond?
So I'm going to do
Spanish omelette as a base,
then I'm going to do caviar,
I'm going to do white asparagus jelly,
and then I'm going to do Kobe beef.
[narrator] Kobe beef from Japan
is so rare,
it can cost up to £500 a kilo.
-My God, a freaking gold bar.
-[Ravneet] I know.
[Michel] I think that's what
Lara's all about.
Presentation.
The wow factor will be there.
But will it be good eating?
I hope it's not too tacky.
No. A tortilla's got to be
nice and runny and oozing in the middle.
Chefs, you've got 13 minutes left.
-Yes, chef.
-Yeah.
I've got the blue corn taco
which is going on the bottom.
Appearance is everything.
I'm expecting people to pay
a lot of money for this dish.
I want people to think, "Wow,
I'm not going to get this anywhere else."
I'm almost done.
This is definitely
the most expensive thing I will ever make.
So I'm just going with the Kobe now.
-Don't want it too done.
-[sizzles]
So I'm just getting the scallops
ready for pan frying with the aged rum.
[dramatic music playing]
My breadfruit dauphinoise.
Er. Don't think it's set very well but...
-So you're finished?
-Yeah, I'm ready.
I never thought I'd be ripping money.
The money is edible as well.
[Raquel] I'm actually done.
I'm trying to make it really pretty.
[Dominic] Here's the lobster
and the bisque.
Ah! Shit.
[Ravneet] Jordan and Raquel,
are you sure you've nailed the brief?
Smashed the brief.
[Mike] Hmm.
So, what would you
sell this for then, Jordan?
I would like to sell it between
the £400 and £500 mark.
I know that sounds like a lot, erm,
but there's things on there
that you just don't see every day.
Being honest, I don't think
anyone would take a picture.
Looks like something
I'd get at my local brunch spot.
It's gonna have to taste damn good.
If this was on your menu for £400, £500,
your restaurant
would shut within three months.
[scoffs] Three weeks.
Jordan, I'm... [blows raspberry]
not best pleased with that.
I mean,
that soy sauce is like liquid gold.
Using it for a marinade, I think is wrong.
Is this style of food
something that you've done before?
-No.
-[exhales]
[Jordan] Erm.
-Jordan!
-Completely went out the box on this one.
-[Lara] Dun, dun, dun.
-Hi, guys.
-[Anne] Hey.
-Hi.
-I saw that taco, bro. It looked sexy.
-Yeah.
-So beautiful.
-No?
-Not good, no.
-[Lara] Really?
Ripped me a new one.
She said it look like something
you'd get at your local brunch spot.
-Savage.
-Yeah.
It's certainly
punching the eyes, beautiful colours.
-[Mike] Yes.
-[Raquel] Thank you.
-How much would that be on your menu?
-About £300.
Hmm.
I'd pay big money,
the kind of price that you would pay
in the top Japanese restaurants
for the best quality sushi.
The crab as well.
It's luxurious to the point
where you don't even need the caviar.
Forget your gold leaf.
It is an outstanding plate of food.
-Thank you.
-But I don't think it hits the brief.
Oh! Mike was impressed
by an ice sculpture earlier.
How is that 'grammable?
Is it going to be spoken about
from here to Dubai to LA?
-Yes.
-[Mike] No, it's not.
Raquel is redefining an entire cuisine.
Her story, her food is 'grammable.
[Jordan] Go in, go in.
-I did good.
-Hey.
-Was it good?
-I did well.
-Good.
-Mike was trying to knock me.
She was, like,
totally disagreeing with him.
She was like "This is Instagram-worthy."
[Adria] Nice.
She said no one
would take a picture of mine.
[Michel] We have colour.
Bit worried about this,
because this was a full bottle.
And this is very expensive rum.
I mean, we sell this
in the bar here for £50 a shot.
Oh, wowee.
[Mike] Your selling price
would be, chef?
£180 mark.
[Michel] The lobster and the bisque,
I really enjoyed that.
I'm not so keen on
the dauphinoise of the breadfruit.
Doesn't feel buttery.
I couldn't really pick up the rum notes.
I wanna eat more of your food
and I would happily pay,
no matter the cost to be honest.
You haven't quite hit the brief.
This isn't the most expensive dish.
This is a collection of dishes which would
sit perfectly on a tasting menu.
-Thank you.
-You need refinement.
Yeah.
[sighing] Oh, wow.
[Ravneet laughs]
[beeping]
-Oh, yes. [laughs]
-All right. Okay.
-Here it comes. I'll put it there.
-[Mike] That's nice.
What's the cost of this dish?
I've decided to sell it at £200.
It's nice and soft inside the tortilla.
Tortilla was lovely and moist. Flavourful.
Me, I'm a die-hard classic.
I like food on a plate, but this works.
Lara, you're miles ahead
in terms of anyone else
when you come to thinking of ideas.
But I'm still grappling
with the fact that it's an egg dish.
I wouldn't pay that much money for eggs.
But that's okay. It's eggs elevated.
Whoo! Time to breathe.
[dramatic music playing]
We asked you to make spectacular food
and get social media going crazy.
Lara.
Igor.
-Raquel.
-[sighs softly]
[Michel] You three have shown
you've got a business brain.
You've produced a dish that can sit
as the most expensive on the menu.
Have a day off tomorrow. Congratulations.
Off you go.
[Dominic] Congratulations, guys.
Smashed it.
-Well done, you three.
-Thank you.
So we've got another challenge for you.
Chefs, in the five-star world,
our bread and butter is lunch.
I want you all to come up
with a two-course set menu for £30
to see who can cost
a menu that's creative,
but will still make money and profit.
And tomorrow, you'll be doing
service in The Langham, live.
The chef who makes
the least profit will be going home.
We'll get to see what you're made of.
-Yes, chef.
-Yes, chef.
You need to rise to this.
[dramatic music playing]
-Good morning.
-Good morning, chef.
[narrator] In three hours,
each chef will be serving their version
of a two-course set menu
for £30 a head
in The Langham's exclusive bistro,
The Landau.
Whoever makes the least profit
will be sent home.
This will be a true test.
First real service, proper guests.
[Ravneet] Lunch set menus
are so difficult
because it's that line between
wanting to be appealing enough,
but also slightly healthy.
Healthy, yet indulgent.
It's going to be interesting
to see what menu sells the best
and then obviously what menu
brings in the most money.
And it looks like Jordan has decided
to cook stuff that he understands.
Today I'm cooking a pan-fried fillet
of hake with a vichyssoise sauce.
It's made with leeks and potato.
For dessert, lemon tart.
The costing
for both of my courses is £9.53.
After yesterday, I'm not overly confident.
Erm... No, in fact, yeah, I am.
That's what I'm here to do, so yeah.
I've got some fish and chips, basically,
so quite a simple dish.
So, we've got some cod in here brining,
some triple-cooked chips and pea foam.
-Then for afterwards, a panna cotta.
-[whirring]
My cost today was £10.16.
Spent quite a bit of money,
but I'm sure it will be well ordered.
[Dominic] Feel quite nervous today.
I'm handling this fish
like, [laughs] I've never had a fish
in my hand before.
My dish that I'm serving today,
I've named Hellshire Beach.
Hellshire Beach is in Jamaica
and I had the best mackerel I've ever had.
I wanted to recreate that.
So I'm cooking brown stew spiced mackerel.
And I'm using ackee in a cheesecake.
Ackee is a fruit from Jamaica,
so I thought it'd be quite nice
to give both the customers
and the judges something new.
The cost for my menu is £4.61.
I think that if my dish sells well today,
I should be doing quite well.
[Adria] I'm trying to recover
and redeem myself from yesterday.
Lunch is my kind of domain.
I understand lunch diners,
having my own business.
My menu came in at £6.69.
I'm gonna do moong usal today,
which is sprouted mung beans
with Indian spices.
Charred baby gems.
And just a little bit
of mackerel garnish on top,
and pair that with some
mint and walnut dressing.
The dessert, chocolate ganache
and then the poached peach on top.
Those sprouted mung beans
are packed with nutrition.
It makes it digestible
and a bit crunchy as well.
[narrator] With the set menus
priced at £30 a head,
Dom's is the most profitable
making over £25 per menu,
while Anne's is the least,
coming in at just under £20.
[Adria] How's your fish coming along?
If I ever say
I'm pin boning mackerel again,
just punch me in the face.
This is gonna be the most important bit
about this dish being refined.
It's definitely something
all the judges are going to pick up on
is how well this fish was prepped.
[narrator] The chefs now have two hours
before more than 40 guests
arrive for lunch.
Are you more
in your comfort zone now, Jordan?
Apart from the pastry,
I'm feeling more on it,
so I'm gonna take some time now,
start rolling out my pastry,
make my tarts.
I don't enjoy pastry.
I don't have the patience for it.
When I'm cooking,
I'm a bit of this, bit of that.
Pastry is very much a science.
It has to be exact.
[Mike] That's an hour-and-a-half
till your guests arrive.
[Jordan] Right, that's not going to work.
-Are you all right? Calm down.
-Yeah.
-Take a minute.
-Yeah, that's not gonna work like that.
Think outside the box.
I'm gonna do it slightly different.
Pea salad. Not done that.
Pea, crushed peas, somewhere.
There. Those are done.
Chips. Oh, shit,
I've got to peel a bag of spuds.
I want to win it now.
I've got to really make sure
this works today, otherwise,
I think I'm going home.
Lots of aromas over here.
[Dominic] So this is going to be
my brown stew sauce.
Let the sauce reduce
and kind of go into the fish.
The last two challenges
I've been hearing refine it, refine it.
I think I'm there today.
-We will see, Dom. We will see.
-Yeah. [chuckles]
One hour to go.
We should be doing final touches.
-Are we ready?
-[Anne] No!
[dish clatters]
-[Mike] Are we close?
-No!
-[Mike] There's a lot of "no's" there.
-I know!
What's going on?
I just kind of, need a moment.
Take a deep breath.
You've got recipes on the floor,
you've got cloths on the floor.
-Right. Okay. All right. Thank you.
-Reset, yeah?
[Mike] Final checks, Adria?
Can't have those pin bones in service.
[Mike] One bone is all it takes
for the dish to come back.
You got it, chef.
Are you hiding out the back
getting your pastry done, chef?
It's cooler over here.
[Mike] Weren't you doing
individual tarts before?
I was, chef,
but I'm really struggling with that
so I'm just doing a bigger one.
As soon as this is baked, I can get it in
and straight in the blast chiller.
[dramatic music playing]
[sighs]
Okay, chefs.
We have ten minutes to go till service.
I want your sections clean.
I want you organised.
Quite often in the kitchen,
you're fighting fires all day long.
The pressure is very stressful.
That feeling just here,
where you're trembling, it's just awful.
Absolute carnage.
[Anne sighs wearily]
Chef. You okay?
Sorry, I've let you down terribly
and I'm not going to be ready
[voice breaking] and I feel awful.
You haven't let anyone down yet.
I've sat exactly
where you're sitting right now,
but it's how you react to it
which makes the chef.
[Mike] Guys, we literally have
guests arriving in the restaurant.
Are we going to have food to serve?
-[Jordan] Yes, chef.
-[Anne] Yes, chef.
Good afternoon. Welcome to The Landau.
[narrator] Each diner must choose
a set menu of two courses from one chef.
It's the vichyssoise sauce for me
and the fried fillet of hake,
it sounds yummy.
Oh, my gosh, an ackee
and nutmeg cheesecake sounds incredible.
Guests are in.
Tickets are about to come through.
I want you to cook your hearts out.
I'm gonna go with Anne's please.
-Can I have Dom's menu?
-Of course.
Could I have Adria's menu, please?
-[woman] Could I have the hake?
-[waitress] Yeah.
When I start to call dockets,
I expect a silent kitchen.
When I call a check, I want one answer.
What's that answer?
-"Yes, chef."
-[Mike] Thank you.
Running the pass,
it is your job to keep the food flowing,
make sure the guests are all fed.
I always liken the kitchen to the army,
because it's so hierarchy-based.
It's so intense.
That's the first check, guys.
Check on two hake,
one moong usal, one fish and chips.
-Oui, chef.
-Yes, chef.
Adria's menu please.
-[man] Dom's set menu, please.
-Dom. Perfect.
There's a real buzz, isn't there?
Yeah? I wonder if there's the same buzz
in the kitchen.
I hope Mike is sweating.
Ça marche, one fish and chips,
one moong, one beach, ça marche.
-Yes, chef.
-Yes, chef.
-[Jordan] How long on the pass, chef?
-How long? You tell me.
How long do you each need
to cook your dish?
Shall we say 15 minutes
for the first one, chef?
-Yes, okay.
-[Jordan] Yeah, okay.
Great. Let's do that.
I'll set a timer now.
-You won't need a timer. You have me.
-We have a timer here.
Ça marche, one moong usal,
one beach, one hake, ça marche.
[Dominic] Yes, chef.
Okay, guys, I've got
the first dish up for the first table
-so I need to push you now please.
-Yep.
[Mike] Are you happy
with these chips, Anne?
-Didn't hear you. You happy with that?
-No, I'm not.
So what are you going to do about it?
You need to talk to me, chef.
Sorry, I can either not send or send them.
It's not necessarily the quantity.
The colour of them is not right.
Rather than a bowl of chips on the side,
why don't you introduce
a couple of pont neufs on the plate?
You can pick out the best ones,
you're frying them in less batches.
Dom, let's go, mate.
-I've got hot food on the pass.
-[Dominic] Yes, chef.
Yes, chef, right now.
No, that's not good enough.
One of each, chef.
One hake up, chef.
[Mike] All right, service please.
Not sold as many as I'd have liked to.
-[waiter] Enjoy.
-That looks lovely. Very pretty.
-[cash register trills]
-[Mike] All right, check on.
One fish and chips. One beach.
Guys, you're not answering.
You're head down and you're losing it.
Check on, one fish and chips, one beach.
-[Dominic] Oui, chef.
-Yes, chef.
Feeling the pressure.
Feeling the lack of space.
I feel like I'm trying to do
the job of ten men in a cupboard.
We're going table two.
Sorry, I forgot to put
the tartare sauce on it.
[Mike] Elegant, yeah?
[Anne] Not happy with any of it, really.
It's just cooking too hot,
too fast or not hot enough.
Oh, God, horrible.
[Mike] I want table six,
one moong, one fish and chips.
[cash register trills]
[Mike] Table five, one beach, one moong.
One hake up, chef.
Vichyssoise sauce is so lovely.
[Ravneet] Fish is cooked well.
Everything seems to work
quite nicely together.
Jordan's played to his strengths.
I wouldn't be surprised
if it's one of the bestsellers.
[Mike] How's the fish, Anne?
Sorry, Anne, I'm talking to you.
-Yes, sorry. Yes, all good.
-[Mike] How's the fish?
Gorgeous.
That's a very generous piece of fish.
[Ravneet] Very generous.
I wonder what her costing is like
if a piece is this large.
Peas are lovely
and the pea shoots as well.
The chips are a little bit oily.
Not the best chips I've tasted.
Really tasty. I really enjoyed it.
A lot of taste in this dish.
A lot of flavour.
I would come back
again and again for this.
-[Mike] Adria?
-Yes?
You're getting compliments on your food.
-Thank you.
-[Mike] Well done.
I won't cry just yet,
but I hope it's a recovery from yesterday.
[Mike] Where's this beach, Dom?
Erm...
Forty seconds, chef.
I don't believe your times any more,
Chef Dom.
[Dominic] One beach, chef.
-[Ravneet] This is beautiful!
-[Michel laughs]
Way more refined.
[Michel] That is lovely.
We know Dom can deliver flavour
and I think he's done it again here.
There's quite big bones
in my hake, here I've taken out.
[Adria] Yes, chef, 30 seconds.
Sorry, chef, one of the tables
found bones in the hakes.
Jordan. We just had hake with bones in it.
I was told it was already
prepped by the fishmonger, chef.
You trust the fishmonger?
-No, chef.
-Hey, five-star, you check it yourself.
Get your hake on the bench and check it.
Yes, chef.
[Mike] Start sending
some desserts, please.
One cheesecake,
one strawberries and cream.
What do you think about the strawberries?
-She's left the little tip.
-I... don't like that.
It could do with a bit more sugar.
I completely agree.
I thought you'd slate me for saying it.
There are stalks on the strawberries
that were just really irritating.
-Sorry to disturb you, chef, again.
-Tell me.
-Strawberries have too many stalks.
-[Mike] Thank you.
-So, Anne?
-Yep.
-[Mike] Feedback on your dessert.
-Yeah.
-Too many stalks on the strawberries.
-[Anne] I did those. I like those.
-Say again?
-I quite like those.
-Somebody said that?
-[Mike] Yeah.
Would you like to change this?
No way, it's amazing.
The feedback from your guests
is incredibly important.
But everybody else has enjoyed it
and not said that?
[Mike] Well, everybody else
hasn't complained.
-It's your call.
-[Anne] I'll change it.
I need this cheesecake.
[Dominic] Sorry, chef. The plate needs
a little wipe there, please.
-I'm here for you.
-Thank you, chef.
-That was sarcasm.
-[laughs]
Nice one,
flavours that you've never had before.
[Ravneet] I love the cheesecake.
-Almost a bit salty and I love that.
-There's a bit of salt there, really nice.
[Mike] I need this lemon tart, mate.
What's the issue with the lemon tart?
-Is it frozen?
-Yes, chef.
[Mike] How badly?
-It was in the blast chiller, so...
-How badly?
[Jordan] Quite badly to be honest
with you, chef.
[Mike] Oh, mate, you can't serve that.
[Jordan] That's why
I'm not sending it out, chef.
[Mike] Then tell me.
Yeah, I'm gonna need five minutes, chef.
Can you get me Luigi please?
Chefs, there is no way
you can cover up mistakes during service.
-Yeah?
-[Anne muttering]
Honesty is so important...
Do not talk while I am talking!
I have only half the desserts to serve,
and you two are having a chit-chat.
I don't understand
what's going on right now.
Listen to me when I'm speaking. Yes?
-Yeah.
-[Anne] Yes, chef.
-Talk to me and we can fix it together.
-[Jordan] Chef.
Yeah? I can tell the manager,
"We have a wait, we have a delay."
"Please give them a coffee,
a cheese, whatever, on us,
buy them a glass of wine,"
and we manage the situation.
That's how you deal
with things in a restaurant.
We're gonna have a delay
on all lemon tarts at the moment.
We need at least eight minutes,
before we serve another one.
Erm.
Well, there's been
a problem, obviously, with the lemon tart.
Anything I can do?
-Defrost my lemon tart!
-Yeah. [chuckles]
[Michel] I'm okay with it,
but I'm not blown away.
Very rare to get a good vegan dessert.
This hasn't quite worked.
[Jordan] One lemon tart, straight up.
-Are they ready to be served?
-[Jordan] Yes, chef.
[Michel] Hmm.
I just think that this dessert
wasn't carefully thought out enough.
It's not good pastry.
I want more butter in there.
I want it thinner and I want it
-more consistent through the tart shell.
-Mmm.
-Maybe it was a rush job to get that.
-[Michel] My word, yeah. Looks rushed.
[Mike] The last check will be
a strawberries and cream and a lemon tart.
-Oui.
-[all] Yes, chef.
Can I just have an update
on lemon tarts please, chef?
-How many are we waiting for?
-We've cleared.
-Done? Thank you.
-[Mike] Yeah.
Just in time for it to defrost.
Yeah. [chuckling]
How was your main course?
[Anne] Shit.
They taste good.
-[Michel chuckles]
-Oh, that was tough.
On the whole,
two excelled and two struggled.
I think with Dom,
did you guys like the mackerel?
-Mmm.
-It was extremely refined, I thought.
-He stepped up to the plate.
-[Mike] Yeah.
Adria was confident. She was in her zone.
Tell us about Anne.
-She was very messy.
-[Michel] Mmm.
Very unorganised.
She was all over the place.
So how did Jordan do?
The main course,
there was bones found in the fish.
-Oh, no.
-[Mike] Yep.
Almost unforgivable.
He may have alienated
some potential customers.
[narrator] This challenge
ultimately comes down to profit.
And the final figures are in.
Wow!
Not what I thought.
This just proves that there was
some clever cooking in that kitchen.
I've seen enough.
[suspenseful music playing]
Right, chefs.
We set this task to see if you knew
how to compose a menu
that was going to bring in enough profit.
-Adria.
-Yes, chef.
£279 profit, you came first.
Congratulations.
Thank you, chef.
Dom.
You made £253 profit.
-Well done.
-Thank you, chef.
[Michel] Jordan.
You made £245 profit.
Which leaves Anne.
£178 profit.
The figures don't lie.
Anne, I'm afraid you will be leaving us.
-Terribly sorry.
-Thank you.
-But you're gonna have to go.
-Okay.
[Dominic] Come here.
Well done.
Bye-bye.
Yeah, you can hug.
[all exclaiming]
[laughing]
Get some rest.
It's only going to get a lot, lot tougher.
-Off you go.
-[Adria] Thanks, chef.
And, Jordan,
that was a close shave, yeah?
Pull your socks up.
Yes, chef.
Mate.
I'm so happy.
[Jordan chuckles]
-[Dominic] Gonna call my mum.
-[Jordan] Yeah.
[Anne] I am sad to leave.
I'm very proud of what I've done,
but at the same time,
you can always improve on everything.
You never stop learning.
I don't care how old I get,
I will always love
the five-star experience
because it makes you feel special
and it brings me pleasure.
[Dominic] It was a scary moment,
full of drama.
-You pipped me to the post there.
-[Adria] I know.
-I'm never making a lemon tart again.
-[Adria] Lemon tart!
Yeah. [laughs]
[music playing]