It’s well documented that Northerners tend to be friendlier than Southerners. My Yorkshire-born husband is nodding as I write this, and whilst many jolly London-dwelling folk may be silently railing against my presumptuousness, this week’s episode of Great British Menu reinforced this observation in spades. Aside from a spattering of the usual banter about wanting to beat each other, we saw hugs, tears and what seemed like a genuine wish for their competitors to do well from all three chefs. And the end of episode Champagne toast was replaced with bottles of beer. Friendly and humble, how could we not root for the North West?
However humble the chefs’ taste in beverages may be, the food this week was anything but. With Tom Parker – the youngest chef to enter the competition at just twenty-six years old – knocked out in the weekly heats after a succession of safe scores of seven, we were left with classically trained Paul Askew and newcomer Ellis Barry. Where Paul’s cooking sits firmly in the classic cooking camp, with stunning ingredients like truffle and caviar, Ellis was this week’s wild card – a self-taught chef who started his own restaurant at the tender age of nineteen and who, as Matthew Fort put it, ‘has come like a meteor out of nowhere’. Heading into Friday’s final just one point apart, this looked set to be an epic match.
As is often the case with Great British Menu, we saw a game of two halves, with Ellis delivering knock out dishes for starter and main, while Paul played it a little safer. Paul’s The Little Wonder was – in theory – a lovely nod to the brief, taking inspiration from Lottie Dodd, the youngest woman to win Wimbledon. However, in practice, it failed to excite both guest chef Daniel Clifford – who scored it a five in the weekly cook-off – and the panel of judges, who criticized the lack of skill and creativity in what felt like little more than a good gastropub starter.
