Paddington Bear, Indiana Jones, my sister… some people look good in a hat, and some, like me, just don’t. Veteran chef, Tommy Banks, however, looks absolutely fabulous in a hat. Three times this week, he modelled the millinery, maintaining composure whilst working whatever look was thrown his way by the four London-based chefs. Newcomer Brian Danclair of Danclair’s Kitchen in Brixton headed home after the fish course and beanie-wearing Budgie Montoya, founder of Sarap, followed after treating Tommy to another accessorised dessert.
Left to cook for Ed Gamble, Nisha Katona, Tom Kerridge and guest judge, acclaimed illustrator Dapo Adeola are newcomer Avi Shashidhara, chef patron of Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai restaurant in Fitzrovia and returner Robbie Lorraine, founder of Brixton’s Only Food and Courses pop up concept and now head chef at the Cheshire Cheese pub on the Strand.
Avi’s canapé is a Mangalore bun with spiced crab sukka, Robbie’s is a scallop, truffle, apple and lovage mille-feuille. Tom is unfortunately in for a double helping of celeriac as it’s grated to mimic crab meat and confited to stand-in for scallop. Whilst the judges like the delicacy of Robbie’s, it’s a unanimous thumbs up for Avi’s spicy bite.
Winnie the Pooh’s friend, Rabbit is Robbie’s muse for his starter, ‘Fancy a Little Smackerel?’. With a hay-baked carrot at its centre, it also features a spiced carrot samosa and a crisp cornetto of carrot sorbet. Glazed with star anise and cinnamon, the central carrot is garnished with carrot puree, chive oil, puffed barley, pickled beetroot and baby onion petals. Nisha doesn’t mind the samosa but feels the carrot is ‘a little one-dimensional’ and nearly breaks a tooth on the puffed barley. Despite sporting a snuggly Aran cardigan, Tom says he feels ‘cold’ and thinks the dish lacks ‘a warming start’.
Inspired by the Gruffalo’s favourite meal of scrambled snake, Avi reworks a classic of Indian street food called papdi chaat. The ‘snake’ is actually made of deep-fried powdered chickpea paste, which diners scramble (or rather crumble) over crushed carom seed crackers, soy yogurt, tamarind and mint chutneys, pink beetroot, tomato and pomegranate. Eagle-eyed Dapo spots that the dish is a perfect match to the colour palette of the book’s illustrations. ‘Amazing,’ declares Tom, equally wowed by a ‘rainbow of flavours’.