New series, new theme, new location, new door knocker – it’s all looking very fresh in the Great British Menu kitchen as we kick off with chefs representing London and the South East. Competing to cook a banquet at Abbey Road Studios are Michelin-starred Luke Selby, head chef at Hide Above in the West End and Ben Marks from Perilla in Hackney – the youngest chef in the competition and a man whose face has the endearingly doe-eyed, doleful earnestness of a Dickensian urchin.
Missing out on a slot in the judging chamber this week was Paul Walsh from Michelin-starred restaurant City Social. Paul took a clear lead in the name stakes with his pun-tastic fish dish, ‘What’s the Story Morning Dory?’ but his dreams of reaching this culinary oasis sadly disappeared in a blur.
Luke vegetarian starter, ‘British Invasion’, takes its title from events of the mid-1960s when British bands stormed the American charts. He translates this phenomenon into a bowl of Gouda custard, topped with a slow-cooked egg yolk, barbecued sweetcorn, hazelnuts and black truffle sauce. Hiding his work under leaves of kale, Savoy cabbage and finely sliced truffle, he moves on to pipe black garlic purée into crispy cheese-and-onion-flavoured potato baskets. Luke presents his dish in a bowl of meadowsweet, hay and dry ice, along with lyrics from the song ‘Till There Was You’.
The judges praise the contrasting textures and general mellowness. Guest judge and legendary bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield says it’s ‘not a punch in the face – more Burt Bacharach’. Andi adds ‘it’s a fantastic start’.
Ben’s menu is inspired by an impressive personal pop music provenance, as his grandfather helped to design the embossed detail of the Beatles’ White Album cover.
He starts with a literal interpretation of the album track ‘Glass Onion’, presenting soup in a pretty onion-shaped bottle. Into Ben’s bowls of hollowed out charred Spanish onions go a scoop of crème fraiche, chestnut shavings and a light dusting of pungent black onion powder. More powder and pata negra fat go in the soup itself. The dish is served with slices of sourdough toast, which have been soaking in a little bath of classic coq au vin sauce. The croutons are topped with cep duxelles and lardons and presented in a cassette case.