‘Bring the Drama!’ Listings would have you believe that BBC 2’s new Wednesday-night search for dramatic talent started at 9pm. Truth be told, drama-wise, it all kicked off about an hour earlier. Leaving the heat on Tuesday, David Millar, executive chef at Jupiter Artland on the outskirts of Edinburgh may have had a lucky escape. ‘Not good energy,’ Andi Oliver observed of the atmosphere in the kitchen.
A prior commitment forced this week’s veteran, Angela Hartnett to opt out of the main course, leaving last year’s champion of champions, Adam Handling to step in. Kevin Dalgleish, head chef at Amuse in Aberdeen had been up against Adam last year. Calum Montgomery, chef patron at Edinbane Lodge on the Isle of Skye had a similar encounter the year before. Kevin smiled bravely with the look of a man trapped in a recurring bad dream. Adam simply looked in his element.
‘It’s all about keeping composure, I think,’ said Calum optimistically, only to almost lose it completely during what Andi described as ‘one of the most tense main courses I’ve experienced in this competition.’ Things still hadn’t improved by the time Angela returned for dessert, as she observed there was ‘no love lost’ between Calum and Ajay Kumar, chef patron at Swadish in Glasgow. The chefs argued for control of the appropriately named blast chiller, although ‘blast’ was undoubtedly the mildest expletive of that exchange.
Hoping for a much better end to the week, Andi gives her pep talk to Kevin and Ajay as they prepare their dishes for Tom, Nisha and Ed and gold medal winning Olympic rower, Dame Katherine Grainger.
Both chefs are serving langoustine for their canapé. Ajay’s is roasted on idli, Kevin’s is a tartare tartlet with peas, wasabi and caviar. Tom, who has a shellfish allergy, gets monkfish from Ajay and seabass from Kevin. There’s muted appreciation for both canapés but a unanimous thumbs up for Ajay’s.