Life jackets at the ready! Famed for its beautiful beaches and wicked waves, this week the South West also tossed up a trio of chefs thrown in at the deep end. Call them fledglings, newbies or just GBM virgins, everyone’s in the same boat as they make their debut appearance in the competition.
Fresh from an idyllic spot on the isle of Jersey (for picky viewers this heat really should probably be renamed ‘The South West and anything remotely off its coast’), principally self-taught chef Joe Baker has his own restaurant, No 10, in St Helier. He’s joined by the second of our ‘Jersey Boys’ (a moniker that’s been mercilessly milked all week), classically trained Lee Smith, head chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Samphire.
This week’s unlucky chef was Emily Scott, proprietor of the St Tudy Inn in Cornwall. Emily turned out (and, in her ice cream dessert, literally churned out) some fairly flawlessly executed dishes but her self-proclaimed ‘fuss-free’ and ‘pared back’ style seemed sadly at odds with the necessary wow factor expected of a banquet.
Joe’s Beatles-inspired starter, ‘My Octopus’s Garden’ is strikingly served on an upturned cymbal. Braised and pan-fried octopus is accompanied by whipped cod’s roe, deep-fried cockle skewers, sea vegetables, fresh grapes and pickled dulse. The cymbal centre acts as a bowl for his sheep’s cheese sauce, split with lovage oil. Guest judge, the Reverend Richard Coles asks about the sauce and Matthew takes typical pleasure in savouring the words ‘Ossau-Iraty’. Andi admires ‘the richness it adds to the dish’ but Oliver finds it ‘problematic’ and adds ‘I don’t like the collaboration of flavours’.