‘I’d give it an eleven if I could,’ said Michael O’Hare in the series trailer, promising an episode to truly look forward to. Revealed as this week’s veteran on Tuesday, expectations were high for the chefs from south west England.
Back for a second attempt at the competition, Charlotte Vincent had a poor start with starters on Tuesday and, despite scoring higher for fish, was the first to leave. Amber Francis, head chef at the Zebra Riding Club in Hertfordshire was a front runner for most courses but then got pipped at the post by Nick Beardshaw, head chef at Kerridge’s Bar and Grill and Andi Tuck from the St Kew Inn in Cornwall.
As Tom Kerridge is Nick’s boss, his seat in the judging chamber is temporarily occupied by Marcus Wareing, resulting in an atmosphere that’s noticeably more reserved than usual. Marcus advises guest judge and animator Suzie Templeton to ‘taste, don’t eat’, which Ed Gamble believes will take the fun out of the whole experience.
Now, just on a point of Andi clarification, the food coming up will be from Andi T, but expect any shady comments to be primarily Andi O’s.
For canapés, Andi serves a little tartlet of smoked beef, horseradish and truffle. Nick’s is a crispy pig’s head cube, topped with pickled apple and truffle mayonnaise. Suzie, who reveals she’s never had anything like pork with apple before, cautiously decides she likes it. Nisha and Marcus agree, but mildly rebellious Ed favours the beef.
Michael O’Hare judged Nick’s Wallace and Gromit-inspired starter, ‘The Golden Carrot’ to be not carroty enough. He has a point, as the ‘carrot’ is actually made of potato, filled with whipped vegan feta, sitting on a bed of carrot royale and powdered black olive soil. A cute little tin of ‘Anti-Pesto’ completes the dish. Nevertheless, Marcus praises the ‘huge amount of skill’ and Nisha says ‘it’s genius’.