It’s an easy mistake to make. However, to the best of my knowledge, this week’s veteran chef never starred in ‘Alfie’ or ‘The Italian Job’. After ten year’s absence from Great British Menu, Michael Caines made a welcome return to the competition. It proved to be a great week to come back, as Andi Oliver explains to Tom Kerridge, who in turn reports back to fellow judges Ed Gamble and Nisha Katona. ‘Big scores from Michael Caine!’ says Nisha in amazement. ‘Sharpen my pen here,’ she adds bemusedly.
Principal beneficiaries of the Caines (or Caine) comeback were newcomer Spencer Metzger, head chef at The Ritz, and Surrey-based returner Tony Parkin who runs his own Michelin-starred restaurant, Tony Parkin at The Tudor Room. Faring less well in the marks department were Robbie Lorraine, owner of the cleverly named Only Food and Courses in Brixton and another charismatic newcomer, Angelo Sato, chef patron at his yakitori restaurant Humble Chicken in Soho. Both will surely be back before too long.
Back in the judging chamber, canapés come chiefly in chicken form – Tony’s deep-fried chicken oyster in chipotle and Spencer’s tuile tube of coronation chicken. Pescatarian guest judge Anita Dobson gets a marinated shiitake mushroom and salt-baked kohlrabi. She and Nisha prefer Spencer’s but Ed and Tom agree the tuile is too sweet.
Fake reams of A4 paper hold Tony’s starter, which has award-winning comedy ‘The Office’ as its inspiration. Under a Thai green curry foam go charred cauliflower, roasted baby onions, droplets of lemon gel, puffed rice and lime leaves. Anita finds the sauce too hot, and Nisha agrees it’s missing ‘that whole bandwidth of flavour’ that a little shrimp paste would give. Ed feels that Ricky Gervais’s vegetarianism provides a tenuous link to the brief - ‘I think if you’re doing The Office, you wait for dessert and you do a stapler in a jelly’.
Derren Brown’s ‘Trick of the Mind’ provides Spencer with an opportunity to engage in a little ‘illusion cookery’ for his starter. Faux truffle shells of Parmesan espuma sit on a truffle-rich savoury custard, alongside Gruyere gougeres and jugs of Madeira sauce. The judges admire its artistry but aren’t wholly convinced by consistency. Tom calls it ‘soupy’ and Anita agrees that ‘sort of puts me off’.
‘Fancy a Glass?’ is Tony’s turbot tribute to the late TV celebrity chef, Keith Floyd. It’s served simply pan-roasted on a bed of sea fennel and pickled cucumber with creamy Champagne sauce, a generous spoonful of caviar and a fleck of gold leaf. ‘I’m in heaven – this is delicious,’ says Anita, and Nisha calls it ‘banquet-worthy elegance’.