Take three restaurants...
ALL: Cheers.
..cooking up their finest fare...
Et voila.
..ask each to host a three-course meal...
Let the battle of the scallops begin.
..which will be scored in secret.
On today's show, feline fascination.
Are you romantic with your cats?
Now, that just sounds so wrong!
The curiosity killed the cats. Remember this, it's true.
And a seafood skirmish...
Lobster again, yay.
Good combination of flavours, it's lovely.
I think we've won the lobster-off.
..as they compete for a cloche full of cash.
Should have bingo-ed the crab.
Today's professional competition is from in and around Liverpool,
where the word "scouse" came from "lobscouse",
a meat and potato stew once eaten by sailors.
Hmm, hearty.
And hoping to sail away with the prize money tonight
are our first hosts, married couple Rosaria and Maurizio,
owners of the Italian Club Fish.
The Italian Club Fish is
a specialist Mediterranean Italian fish restaurant.
Pasta dishes is the one that we sell.
We specialise in pasta.
I'm super respectful of the kitchen.
It's the only time that I do as I'm told,
when I go into the kitchen.
I do not say a word to Maurizio in the kitchen.
Well, sometimes yes, sometimes not, but...
And when you're out of the kitchen?
Maurizio, how long for table 11?
You make me angry now, it's coming now, OK?
Ah!
Table 11, I say five minutes.
Five minutes have passed. Please just send me the table.
We talk over each other all the time. Yeah. But to be fair to Mauri,
he doesn't really get a lot of time to speak so...
Because she speaks a lot.
Careful, Maurizio.
Probably best if Rosaria tells us about tonight.
We have a tried-and-tested menu that we know is very popular
with our customers but, naturally, if you don't like lobster
and you don't like scallops, we're in trouble.
We are a seafood restaurant, that's what we do. I know.
And they're kicking off with their starter...
They'd better be caramelised
and perfectly... Nice and bouncy. ..bouncy.
Say hello to manager Vicky
and chef Ashleigh from our second fish restaurant
in the competition, the Seafood Kitchen.
The Seafood Kitchen is a small business and we're trying
to get more people interested in seafood.
Yeah, we like to give people...
You know, we might slide them the odd oyster, "Try that." Yeah.
Check on. What have you got?
Small mussels mariniere with chips and breads. Just one?
Yeah. They're sharing because your portions are too big.
Sharing a small? Blimey.
We do like large portions here.
We want people to feel like they're getting good value for money.
Mussels are like a bottomless pit.
They just keep coming, like Mary Poppins' handbag.
And Maurizio's feeling
supercalifragilistic about his tomatoes.
These are a nice summer salad tomato.
Some nice Italian mixed heritage tomato.
Front of house Rosaria is lending a helping hand for today.
First job, chopping.
So we cut this like that,
nice and square piece, yeah, OK?
Am I chopping acceptably for you? Acceptable.
Doesn't need to be precise precise, but you know a nice square?
Tomatoes sort of squared, it's onto the burrata.
Interesting - scallop and cheese together.
Completing the line-up of professional duos
are general manager Dimitri and head chef Dave
of Chinese restaurant Lu Ban.
It's Chinese food but it's modern Chinese food.
I'm still in training now with one of China's top, top chefs
and we're trying to showcase the real flavours
that I saw out in Tianjin in China.
Oh, Jesus.
I think Dimitri's got a very similar personality to me.
Work really hard but also, let's have a bit of banter as well.
Yeah, a bit of fun. You've got to enjoy it. Yeah, definitely have.
I like a bit of theatre, and that's where Dimitri comes in.
It's about me bringing that aspect of fun, excitement.
It's quite important that we work together on that.
In the kitchen, Maurizio's cheesy balls are in hand.
Burrata is a creamy mozzarella with a centre,
with a cream centre inside,
and it's typical for our region, Puglia.
PUG-liese - that sounds like a breed of dog
so I haven't got a clue about that one.
You're barking. Sorry.
For the basil crust, he blitzes his ingredients
and wraps them up like a Christmas cracker.
Ecco fatto. Nel frigo, please. OK. Thank you.
Pop that in the fridge? It's got to be.
Next, dessert...
I like a bit of chocolate, bit of hazelnut cake as well
so creme Anglaise, sounds very, you know, classic.
Maurizio kicks off by separating egg yolks.
I can't say all the things because it's a secret recipe so...
You need to leave that one ingredient out,
Mauri, so that nobody can replicate it.
Oh, what a tangled web you weave!
So you can put the icing sugar if you want. OK.
Icing sugar mostly in the bowl, Maurizio adds the butter and mixes.
In our personal life, he's very laid back and very chilled out,
but when he gets into the kitchen,
that reverses, so he's very dominant in the kitchen.
He then masterfully slops in egg yolks,
spoons in his dry ingredients,
tickles in vanilla paste and folds in stiff egg whites.
Bit of this and a bit of this.
Anyone recognise this tune?
TAPS TO: In The Hall Of The Mountain King by Edvard Grieg
Yeah, you've all got it.
It says it's served warm so it's going to...
I should imagine it's going to be gooey.
Nice?
It's nice. Yeah, perfect. Perfect? Yeah. Okey-dokey.
They'll serve with an amaretto creme Anglaise tonight.
Last to prep, the main...
I feel like this is going to be a battle of the lobster dishes.
Definitely. We've got an epic Chinese lobster dish coming, so,
yeah, this is going to be quite interesting.
Oh-oh, two nights of lobster.
So on our main course, it's not just half a lobster.
Ours is half a lobster and then some.
No, wait, three!
But tonight's lobster will be cooked in a sauce.
OK, let's crack on. Open some tomato. OK, no problem.
First, the duo chop onions and basil and pop them in to cook.
Hmm, yeah, that's it, that's the smell of Italy.
The smell of every Italian child that grew up in Britain.
Are you sure that's what it's meant to smell like?
Then Maurizio adds a whopping great tin of tomatoes,
followed by another whopping great tin.
Shove me out the way, why don't you!
That should do the job.
And this is the sauce for the base of a lot of our dishes.
Oh, he's gone for a third, crikey!
On to the homemade pasta.
Homemade spaghetti will be delicious, hopefully.
Maurizio claws his flour, semolina and eggs, then kneads.
I'm a nightmare at eating spaghetti.
Talking of nightmares...
Playing my guitar...
It's more like a banjo than a guitar, I think.
Don't call us.
He uses the chitarra to shape the pasta
and the prep's done. What are the thoughts on tonight?
I think if we're on our best day, we'll be hard to beat.
Let's hope so, let's hope so. Let's hope so. OK?
Italian food, it speaks for itself, but there's nowhere to hide,
nowhere to hide at all.
It's basic ingredients done really well. Yeah.
I am just worried about eating the spaghetti.
Could be a bit of a mess,
and I'm definitely not wearing white!
Well, Dave and Dimitri are. Brave! And they're first to arrive.
Ciao. Welcome to the Italian Club Fish, nice to meet you.
I'm just looking at you thinking you look like Maurizio with hair.
There's no chance he looks like me.
Sorry, but there's no way he looks like me.
Next in, Vicky and Ashleigh.
How are we? Hi, guys. Pleased to meet you. I'm Rosaria.
I'm Vicky. Vicky. Hi, I'm Maurizio. Hi, I'm Vicky.
And I'm Rosaria. It's very pretty, isn't it?
Yeah, it's warm and welcoming.
Nice decor, lots of natural light, you know.
If it gets out of hand, we've got...
BELL RINGS ..the crab.
Let's hope no one gets crabby.
We definitely don't want to get crabby, Mauri.
Should have bingo'ed the crab.
You what? "Bingo'ed" in Scouse means "hit the crab".
If I had a penny for every time I've said that.
There you go, you'd be a rich man.
I'd have nothing.
ALL: Salute!
Coming up - gawking guests...
We have a look. We just kind of stare at each other.
I lift the checks up and we just...
LAUGHTER
..and a miffed musician.
She's a singer anyway, she's a proper singer.
I feel like that was you getting me back for 17 years of something.
It's night one of the professional competition from Liverpool,
where Rosaria and Maurizio at the Italian Club Fish
are hoping to hook the £1,000 prize.
We are feeling great, yeah. Great, yeah.
Let's hope you know they enjoy the food.
We can only do our best. Exactly.
And Maurizio does his best
to appease Rosaria by carefully de-shelling the scallops.
It's a bit of a long process
but it's the things that you need to do.
Yes, it's interesting but we also, remember,
we need to respect timings. Timing is ready.
Five minutes, all this we are going to be ready. OK, five minutes.
Well, five, six minutes.
We know your five minutes and six minutes
are Italian five, six minutes.
They're very, very sort of flexible.
Blimey.
Six minutes? Yeah. OK.
While the scallops sizzle,
Rosaria plates up the tomato concasse,
then Maurizio tops it off with the cheese and shellfish.
Et voila.
It's good to go,
a scallop with burrata and a basil crust.
Ladies first.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
So it's nice to enjoy with the food a nice piece of focaccia
because, you know, it's traditional.
The scallop's really well cooked, it's got a good bounce.
I like the bounce.
Flavour-wise, it was delicious.
The scallop was cooked well. The balance of flavours was good,
the cheese worked really well with it.
I think it's very different to what I've had before.
I don't know whether
the scallop would match up really well with the burrata
and the tomatoes.
It kind of worked for me. I enjoyed the flavours.
I think we were really happy with the combination of the burrata
and the scallop. The burrata, yeah. It's a modern thing.
Yeah, I think burrata now is in... How you say, everybody's...?
It's not a super-strong cheese. It's not super strong.
It's very subtle. It's not overpowering.
Starters mostly a success,
Dave wants to know more about his hosts.
So you two are married, then? Yes, we are very married.
Very married. Work together. How does that work?
Don't get me wrong, we are Italian, and I'm Scottish,
we fight all the time, 50,000 times a day.
You know, it's very intense, our relationship,
but I wouldn't want it any other way.
How long have you been married for?
Well, we... We've been together for a long time.
We've only been married for three years. We've been together for 17.
Did he have hair then, or was he still bald?
Are you trying to insinuate that he lost his hair when he met me?
He was just as bald when I met him. So...
I changed my colour!
Thank God he's not sensitive about it. Exactly. He doesn't care.
You mean he doesn't HAIR.
I'm so sorry.
The way our dynamic works is that everything is dead calm,
really chilled out. No shouting, no swearing.
How long have you been together? Only a few months.
Aw, wait a minute, give it time. Give it time!
You're looking at Vicky and Ashleigh and maybe thinking to yourself
that they're sort of quite quiet and unassuming,
but they could be silent assassins.
We're not a couple.
Definitely not that.
Not with that hair.
Leave Slim Shady alone, you.
Slim Davey, I'll have you know. Slim Davey.
I was doing this before Eminem was about.
You trendsetter.
I thought afterwards it's a good job he's a good sport
because I should have thought about that. Probably.
We kind of work around finding a solution
rather than going back and forward with the situation.
I don't believe that, I believe you two swear at each other.
No, we've got the look, haven't we? We have a look.
We just kind of stare at each other.
I might lift the checks up and we just...
And then it's forgotten about.
Yeah, push the tickets... Move the tickets and it's like...
Anyone else got a look?
That's the look.
It's a bit strange.
Vicky? Ashleigh?
Ooh, that's terrifying.
Back in the kitchen,
Maurizio fries his lobster under Rosaria's watchful eye.
I do love watching Mauri in the kitchen, yeah.
It's a thing of beauty.
And it means you don't have to help.
The important things about lobster is to cook
from the side of the shell, not from the side of the meat.
The fresh pasta is cooked,
and the chilli and white wine sauce is ready to test.
Gorgeous.
Perfecto. The main is ready - homemade spaghetti with lobster.
Thank you.
The fresh pasta, you can tell the difference,
can't you? 100% every time.
I'm enjoying it with the lobster as well.
The sauce goes with it really well,
good combination of flavours. It's lovely.
You had that hint of chilli but I think it was a little...
A bit more of that chilli would have been nice.
A bit more of that heat could have been better.
The chilli for me was very much the right amount of chilli.
I think we couldn't have gone further than that
because if we'd gone further than that,
some people might not have liked it.
If you weren't restaurateurs, what would you be doing?
What would be your ideal job?
As well as being a restauranteur at the moment,
I do work in a school as well.
When do you ever sleep?
She doesn't. She's like superwoman, honestly.
She's a glutton for punishment. She is.
Sleep is for the weak.
Rosaria is easy because she's a singer anyway,
she's a proper singer.
Nobody knows but she's a singer. Are you going to sing for us later?
Yeah, she's a star. You have to give us a song.
Let's get her some wine now. Give her a drink, go on.
Why would you bring that up?
Because you really are a singer.
Yeah, I understand, right,
but I feel like that was you getting me back for 17 years of something.
So tonight, do we get a rendition tonight?
If you get anything, it would be Abba, nothing else.
I like a bit of Abba. Are you joining in, though?
Yeah, we'll join in, we'll join in.
# Everyone listens when I start to sing
# I'm so grateful and proud
# All I want is to sing it out loud
ALL: # So I say thank you for the music... #
She was great. I think we need to book Rosaria
next time we do a wedding.
We should get her into our restaurant. Yeah.
# ..Who can live without it? #
She's got a gorgeous voice.
How she's never sang in the restaurant, I don't know.
# ..So I say thank you for the music
# For giving it to me... #
Oh, bravo.
There's no redeeming coming back from that.
Still thinking about it? Yes.
Yes, I am still thinking about it. You know that... Yeah.
See if you can redeem yourself with dessert.
Mauri, you've done so well tonight. Been amazing. Kiss.
Well, that was easy.
Buonissimo.
Good, perfect. Perfecto.
Buonissimo. Perfecto.
Perfecto? Get on with it!
Warm chocolate cake served with an amaretto creme Anglaise.
It's nice, it's warm.
I was worried it could have been a bit dry when I read the menu,
but this is really nice. Really moist, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
Spot on for me.
For me, it was spot on because it was so light.
It does run the risk of being stodgy or something like that,
but it's not, it's lovely.
The cake was nice. It was... I don't want to use that word,
not nice, because that's not nice,
and I don't want to use that other word - moist -
because it's not good, but it was a very tasty cake.
Yeah.
The reactions and the conversation, we're in with a shot.
Do you think we're in with a shot? Yeah, I think so,
I think we are pretty confident. I think we're in with a shot. Yeah.
Scores out of 20, please.
So we had a great evening tonight, pleasantly surprised.
Yeah, great hosts tonight, made us feel really welcome,
lovely Italian traditional cooking.
Just thought it was missing a bit of a wow factor for us,
so we're going to give them
a 16 out of 20.
We've had a lovely night and the food was really good.
But there's just a few little niggly things that let them down a bit,
so we're going to give
Rosaria and Maurizio 17.
So the Italian Club Fish
are off to a strong start
with 33 points.
It's day two and we've headed to the seaside town of Crosby
and the Seafood Kitchen, where chef Ashleigh
and restaurant manager Vicky are getting geared up.
Nay.
Must be a seahorse. Ha-ha!
Sorry.
When you come to the Seafood Kitchen,
you come as a stranger and then you leave as our family.
The food is simple, tasty but amazing.
And what are your guests expecting?
Something made me feel it might be vegetarian.
No, not vegetarian. No? They were eating fish yesterday.
Oh, God, that's right. No, but that doesn't mean to say they don't run
a vegetarian restaurant. No, they're not vegetarian.
There are people who are not vegetarians
that run vegetarian restaurants. They don't...
They don't look like they are vegetarian. For me. OK.
We'd like to see a bit more from them tonight.
They're the hosts, so the pressure is on them
to keep conversation flowing and keep everyone interested
and we're looking for them
to take the bull by the horns tonight and lead.
And they're leading with the starter...
Well, that's interesting, two scallop starters.
Scallops, yeah.
So that's... Yeah, because that's obviously going to bring up
the whole which scallop starter was better.
Yes! Yes, it will.
Theirs was a very classic Italian dish with a twist,
whereas ours is maybe a bit more traditional.
Ashleigh starts by removing the roe.
Last night, we only got one scallop,
whereas tonight I'm actually giving three.
Oh, three, eh? Small or big?
So we've got some rather massive ones!
And we'll put these in the fridge ready for service tonight.
Probably wise.
Oh, reversing.
For the puree,
chopped onions go into a pan with oil and seasoning
and will be blitzed with a dash of cream tonight.
That's my favourite part of the dish.
Well, whatever's left, you can take home.
Thank you very much.
On with the main event...
Wow!
I just have to hide my expression because it's BLEEP lobster again.
Rude.
The quality of the lobster is important.
It'll come down to a knowledge thing as well,
because you need to know your lobster really well.
Intimately, you might say.
He's a big one. He is. Well, hopefully he's a he anyway.
Yes, so we need to check that it's male
because in this country it's illegal to land the females,
so you do that by checking how far apart these bottom legs are.
Yeah, he's definitely a boy.
Once cooked, the lobsters are rinsed and halved.
All nice and clean, perfect.
And they'll be served tonight along with langoustine and mussels.
For the cold items,
Ashleigh rinses oysters while Vicky deals with the prawns.
I'm not a massive fan of cold prawns.
Good that you can't see this, then.
So just sliced down the back and took the poo chute out.
Ooh, charming! Everyone likes salmon, right?
I've never had salmon so I'll give it a try. Never?
Never had salmon.
You haven't lived. It'll be sliced and served tonight.
See you guys later.
They're finishing off with dessert...
Another chocolate cake.
Another chocolate cake, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scallops, lobster and chocolate last night,
and scallops, lobster and chocolate tonight so...
Classic. Well, yeah, but hot chocolate fondant is difficult.
That's a classic. Lots of people get chocolate fondant wrong.
The special thing about this pudding is it melts in the middle,
so it had better melt in the middle. It will.
No pressure. Ashleigh pours a chicken coop's worth
of eggs into brown sugar, then sieves in flour.
Oh, I feel like Fanny Cradock.
You don't look like her. Thank God.
She folds the mixture with a tiny spatula.
MAURIZIO: It depends of the quality of the chocolate.
Yes, if it's not good chocolate...
No. Chocolate has to be at least the 60% of cocoa. At least.
One goes into the restaurant and everyone sees it,
and then they go, "I'll have what she ordered."
I'll have what she's having, surely?
It's a Meg Ryan moment.
Uh...almost. The melted chocolate goes into the mix
and is poured into cocoa-powder-lined bowls.
They'll bake tonight and be served with ice cream.
I think that went really well.
Yeah, been a nice chilled day, hasn't it? Nice chill.
As always. High-five?
Come back.
Get this all spot on,
it does have the potential to beat last night's menu.
Similar ingredients.
It's all down to how it's served now and how it's looked after.
First in and waving at his own reflection,
it's Maurizio and wife Rosaria.
Hi. Hello. Can I get you a drink?
Um, yeah. Yeah.
Oh, lovely bubbly.
Mange tout, Maurizio!
Oh, you meant lovely jubbly.
The thing is that Maurizio's catchphrases catch on.
Spontaneous. Nationally, we probably have a lot of people now
will be saying "lovely bubbly" instead of "lovely jubbly".
Probably not.
Next to the shindig are Dave and Dimitri.
How are we doing, guys?
Hi. Lovely to see you.
And you. How are we, Chef? Are we good, are we all set?
Scallop, lobster again?
There are worse things than having lobster two nights in a row.
I think there's worse positions to be in.
ALL: Cheers.
Have a lovely night, and whatever you want, just ask.
Oh, whoopsie!
LAUGHTER
Coming up - vexed Valentines...
We have a lovely scene every year where
the pizza chef goes off and gets my flowers, right?
Hands them to him. It's like, "Why don't we just cut that out?"
It's like he's got his own PA. What's wrong with that?
That's what we do in these modern times.
..and sparring servers...
You and me on the floor would be quite a dangerous combo.
That'd be a good team, that.
I think I'd lap her twice, being honest, but, yeah. Ohh!
It's night two of the professionals' competition in
and around Liverpool, where chef Ashleigh
and restaurant manager Vicky are hoping
the Seafood Kitchen will wow their guests and grab them the grand.
It's time for the scallop-off.
Let's get cracking.
Ashleigh fries the scallops while Vicky sings to herself,
then pops them on the puree.
Let the battle of the scallops begin.
Starters up.
Three scallops with crispy pancetta and a white onion puree.
Thank you.
What do you think? Obviously, it's quite different to yours.
Yeah. Scallops are not something that I would ever order
in a restaurant and I've had them two nights in a row,
which I would never order in a restaurant.
They could do with a bit more cooking, for me,
but they are OK. I mean...
Maybe similar to Maurizio's comments,
I'd like maybe a little bit more cooked
but I enjoyed everything, everything worked really well.
I did purposely do it slightly under
because it's so easy to go over with them.
When it comes to the scallop-off, we've got the edge, you know.
That white onion puree is amazing.
I would say... I would say our starter was better.
I think we rated Maurizio's just that little bit higher.
Just that little bit higher, I'd say so, yeah.
At the table, love is in the air.
Do you feel like you're on a date night?
Because I bet you don't get many times to go out and eat,
just the two of you. Yeah. I'm very romantic.
Yes, yes. Date night with another four people,
yes, very romantic!
Maurizio does not do contrived romance
but he's very romantic on a daily basis. Aw!
If you're going to say, "Is he traditionally romantic?"
Absolutely not. D'oh.
We have a lovely scene every year
where the pizza chef goes off and gets my flowers, right,
and then he goes... I'm busy, I'm busy.
I don't want to go and buy the flowers.
Yeah, and then he like this.
Then he goes round the corner and he goes, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"
No, I don't go like that. And hands them to him.
Like, why don't we just cut that out?
I organise it the day before.
"Would you please go in the morning and buy...?"
You can't win, Maurizio. What more does she want?
It's like he's got his own PA. What's wrong with that?
That's just modern. That's what we do in these modern times.
Speak for yourself.
What I like to do is, the following Tuesday normally is my day off
and that's when I'll have Valentine's Day so...
You need to be romantic every day, not just for one day.
One day in a year but for the rest of the day...
That's a great philosophy, babe,
but can I ask you what your excuse at Christmas and my birthday is?
Ohh!
They were on good form, weren't they? Definitely.
They were on really good form.
There was a little bit of tension, a little bit of argument,
little bit of niggling at each other. I thought it was great.
I won't say I'm a particularly romantic person,
to be honest. I'm more... I don't know,
I'm not really into that sort of thing, really.
That's probably why I'm single. I like being on my own.
You're romantic with your cats. No, that just sounds so wrong.
The curiosity killed the cats.
Remember this. It's true.
No, I'm affectionate with my cats. I'm not romantic.
Affectionate, there you go.
Much better.
We wanted to see the girls come forward
a bit more in their restaurant, tell us a bit more about them.
A little bit more reserved
but I think obviously it's the second night in,
pressure night as well, it was their night as well tonight
so I think we'll probably see a bit more of them tomorrow night.
Maybe we're still a little bit quieter
but I think we're just a quieter couple out of the three,
to be honest. Yeah.
Meantime, Ashleigh shucks away while front of house Vicky pops
the lobster in the oven and the langoustine in a pan.
Is that OK, Chef? Yeah, lovely. Just make sure you pour
some of that garlic butter back onto them.
Yes, Chef.
Ashleigh puts the finishing touches to the mussels
and the seafood superstructure is ready.
Fruits de mer,
including hot garlic-buttered lobster, oysters and smoked salmon.
There you go. Wow.
There you go, keep you nice and clean.
Oh, yes, Chef, that's better, that's better.
Thank you very much. Thanks, girls. Dig in.
I've never tried salmon. Have you not? Ever.
I will give it a try.
Big of you.
There we go, buddy.
OK... OK, guys, here we go.
What do you think?
Amazing?
Awful?
OK? It's not too bad, no.
Was that it?!
Yes, I'm really pleased that Dimitri tried the salmon.
If you don't like something and you try it,
at least you know you've tried. Yeah.
I suppose my only criticism is I don't know where to go next
and I'm a bit like... I'm almost overwhelmed.
No-one's ever finished it, to be fair,
so, you know, we had one guy that sat here for two hours and tried.
I have got a name!
Still failed. So, you know...
It's really very...executed incredibly well
but I would love to see you cook something
in terms of a full plate dish.
That would be my only thing in terms of showcasing
you and what you can do. Yeah.
I completely understand what she's saying,
like obviously it's more...
She wanted to see what I can do, which is fair enough.
Obviously I can do a lot more than a fruits de mer. Moving on...
If you could work with someone else around the table,
who would it be and why?
I would love to work with Rosaria because I would feel like,
you know, you'd protect me from all these crazy customers.
I think it would have to be you as well.
Oh, yeah. Everybody wants to work with me.
We can all go home now, thank you.
I'm a bit torn between these two chaps here,
because I think you and me on the floor
would be quite a dangerous combo.
That would be a good team, that, might have to put that into action.
I think I'd lap her twice, being honest with you. Ohh!
Big words.
Maybe on alternate nights, could I have you both?
Don't be jealous, babe.
I need to choose two girls
so I'd like to choose both of them
because...
You make me jealous now.
I love you to death.
Two courses down, I think we're doing really well. We are, yeah.
I'd say we're definitely at least on par with last night. Yeah.
All to play for with dessert,
Ashleigh pops the fondants out the moulds.
They just need to have a melty middle...and perfect.
I can guarantee they do.
And they're ready -
chocolate fondant complete with a melty middle guarantee.
Hello. That's got a lovely gooey centre.
Oh, definitely it's got a gooey centre. Yes, lovely.
Beautifully gooey in the middle.
Lovely, not too sweet.
That's good, though.
Very good, very balanced but...too full.
So it was good, it was good.
It was huge and wonderful, it was wonderful
but it was obviously too big for me.
My fondant has just finished me off.
We always tell people, if they get the fruits de mer as a main,
to share a pudding because...
Of course we can still win this.
It's anyone's game. Anyone's game. But we're winning.
We'll see.
Vicky and Ashleigh have produced some great tasty food tonight
and plenty of it.
I just needed to see a bit more cooking on the scallop
and maybe a few more cooked elements on the main course as well,
but with that in mind,
we're going to go in with a 15.
We enjoyed the atmosphere, we enjoyed the company and...
..but, but, but there were a bit of the technical...
Technical errors in the cooking,
and for that reason we're giving Vicky and Ashleigh
a 13.
So the Seafood Kitchen
earn a respectable 28 out of 40,
putting them in second place.
It's the final day in Liverpool
and on hosting duties are executive chef Dave
and general manager Dimitri of Lu Ban.
Tonight, Matthew, we're going to be...
Snoop Fogg? Misty Elliott? Steamy Wonder? I'll stop.
Lu Bans, it brings food from the region of Tianjin
in northern China to the UK
in a fantastic vibrant setting.
It's fun, it's creative, it's theatrical,
it's interactive. It's just brilliant.
If it's scallops, lobster
and a chocolate-based dessert, I'm not going to be happy.
I probably never want to see a lobster again
because we've had it two nights in a row, you know,
but it is a high-quality food so I suppose we're lucky.
You sure are, because the main is lobster - again!
This time a Szechuan version with...
Szechuan lobster! Lobster again, yay.
Lobsters three nights in a row.
Probably need to start to grow the claws, you know.
Couldn't pick your coffee up with them!
I know we've had lobster all week
but I think this is the winning lobster right here.
Dave removes the meat and pops his spring onion
and garlic butter in the shell.
I want it to be able to be picked up with chopsticks
or a fork, so we're taking the meat out,
slicing it all up, back into the shell.
It's going to be delicious. Can't wait. Boom.
He'll grill tonight.
Oh, I thank you, sir.
Get on with the prawn toasts, sir.
Nearly everybody loves a prawn toast.
I love prawn toast,
I love prawn toast!
I think she loves prawn toast.
Into the mixer go soy sauce, ginger,
garlic, greens, green onions, sesame oil,
Chinese black vinegar and egg white. Terms and conditions apply.
In with the prawns...
His prawn-paste sandwiches will be deep-fried tonight.
Next the starter...
It's soup, you know. It's essentially a drink.
Don't let Dave hear you say that.
This is an incredible recipe, direct from China.
This amazing hot, spicy, sweet, sour broth
served with these amazing local vegetables.
You get peeling them and I'll get chopping on them.
Yes, Chef.
I don't like things too spicy so if it's spicy,
as a diner, that'll rule me out.
I'd say that massive chilli might just rule you out.
The final bit of prep is
to rehydrate these mushrooms in this lovely little chicken broth.
Mushrooms bathed,
Dave will pour the soup for his guests this evening.
Dessert time...
Could be a tree, couldn't it?
Maybe he's giving us, like, a chocolate tree.
Don't be ridiculous. Oh, yes, he is making tiny chocolate trees.
Next, Dave pipes morello cherry into moulds.
The cherry blossom dessert is
probably our signature dish here at Lu Ban,
but it's also going to be, the final dish of the week
so it has to be absolutely banging.
While they go in to freeze,
he cracks on with the ruby chocolate element.
This is the fourth type
of chocolate after milk, dark and...? White. White.
You're welcome.
And this is made with fermented cocoa beans,
and what we've done is add a little bit of red food colouring as well.
Ruby chocolate? Yeah, you've got to be careful with that.
It can be quite sickly. It can be really sickly.
They need to balance the flavour.
I really thought we'd be the only one to do chocolate cake
because I thought everybody would go really adventurous,
and everybody's come back
to the staple crowd-pleaser of chocolate cake.
They have not. This one's custard based.
Dave pours his ruby chocolate custard mix into moulds,
then plops in the cherry centres,
freezes and dips into more ruby chocolate.
Sure there's a joke about a dipstick in here somewhere.
There had better not be. Dessert done,
Dave will plant his chocolate trees tonight.
So this week has kind of become
a bit of a battle of the lobsters, hasn't it? Definitely.
The claws are out.
Not you as well.
We're not worried but...
Two different styles. Two different styles.
It'll come down to people's tastes
but being a great lover of Chinese food,
this could potentially be a contender.
I do still think we're in with a good chance.
We're still in with a good chance of winning.
Oh, I'm afraid you're not. Rosaria and Maurizio are
the ones to beat and they're first to arrive.
So...last night. Yeah. Yes. It was all right, wasn't it?
No, I meant last night. Oh, OK. As in, this is the last night.
Oh, yeah, last night, it is, yeah.
What about last night? ROSARIA LAUGHS
How do you say salute in Chinese?
Ganbei.
ALL: Ganbei.
Topping off the trio, it's Vicky and Ashleigh.
Ladies, how are we doing?
How are you? Are you OK? Good to see you. You OK?
It's lovely to see you. Nice to see you again.
Thank you all for coming so much.
We're honoured to have you here in our restaurant tonight.
It's going to be a fantastic night and with that,
I'll say ganbei.
ALL: Ganbei!
Cheers. Salute.
Coming up - a blazing broth.
Dear God,
that's spicy. If people don't like chilli, what can you do?
It's a hot and sour soup.
And someone wins the wonga. CHEERING
It's the final night of the professionals' competition
in and around Liverpool, and at Lu Ban,
executive chef Dave and general manager Dimitri are pulling out
all the stops in a bid to win the £1,000 prize.
Hello. Wow. Welcome to Lu Ban, welcome to the chef's table.
More importantly, welcome to the kitchen.
Gorgeous. This is probably our most exclusive dining experience.
So I'm really happy to share it with you tonight.
I don't know if I'm in love with the interactive chef experience,
watching it all, I suppose maybe just because it's a bit of
a busman's holiday for me because we're in it.
Thought you loved watching Maurizio work.
Emergency exits are situated here and here.
Safety demo over,
Dave heats his broth and pops it in a teapot.
Tip it up and pour it out,
it's hot and sour soup with baby veg.
Ashleigh. Thank you very much.
My advice for this soup is a little taste at first,
let your palate acclimatise to it.
There is a big kick to begin with of chilli
and then that fades away and the other flavours come through.
All OK?
Lots of fresh, nutritious vegetables. Dear God.
That's spicy!
It's beautiful but, oh, that's got a kick.
If there's too much heat, don't worry.
You can taste the sweetness in it and it's taking away the heat.
I'm not great with heat, but the soup for me is phenomenal.
It was a bit too spicy.
I enjoyed the flavour inside, the ginger.
Did you like the raw vegetables?
The mushroom and the raw veg,
but I like a bit of crunch, otherwise it's all mushy.
If people don't like chilli, what can you do?
It's a hot and sour soup. What else are we meant to do?
I like the flowers in it as well. It's all very pretty,
really well presented.
I love hot and sour soup and that was lovely,
but it doesn't compare to a hot and sour soup you get in a chippy...
Oh-oh.
..where it's gloopy and it's just... Do you know what I mean?
It's clear, it's fresh. You feel healthy eating it. Yeah.
Oh, right.
I thought she was saying the chippy ones were well better,
and I was mortified. A little bit of me died inside for a second there.
How is everyone with chopsticks?
Horrendous.
First chopstick and it sits between your third
and fourth finger. Yeah.
So now the top one will go like a pencil grip...
I see.
..between the tip of the thumb and the first finger,
and only the top one comes down to it to meet it,
OK? And then you should be able to pick up even the smallest things.
That's the first time I've actually been able to use chopsticks.
There we go. That's a really good tip.
I'm impressed. Thank you very much.
I think I've done a pretty good lesson.
The master has taught his apprentices.
Yeah, not sure they've all cracked it.
I am horrendous with chopsticks.
I tried for a while to use them but, no,
it would have been very messy if I'd continued to try.
Maybe she just needs one more lesson and she'll get it.
She was like a crab like...
Lobster.
Speaking of which, Dave grills his lobster,
stir-fries his pak choi
and deep-fries his prawn toast while Dimitri keeps the guests happy.
It's a white smoked salt.
It's a spiced salt
and it's also a brown demerara sugar. Mmm! Oh, lovely.
It does enhance the flavours.
Pak choi fried, the third lobster dish of the week
is Szechuan style in ginger,
spring onion and garlic butter with prawn toast.
It's beautiful.
Guys, crack on. Thank you. Please enjoy. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
As a connoisseur of breaded and fried things...
ASHLEIGH LAUGHS
this prawn toast...
Coming from Scotland!
This prawn toast is possibly the best prawn toast I've ever had.
Well, that's it, I'm done.
I would agree with that.
Can't beat this.
That, to me, was an excellent main course
and I would come back here for that.
Lobster - absolutely perfectly cooked.
The claw especially, it just melts in the mouth, it's lovely.
It's beautiful, it really is beautiful.
Good, very well executed dish.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate the kind words.
It really means a lot from professionals like you guys as well.
Oh, thank you. No, and it's what makes me do this
and it's what I'm passionate about so...
I'm going to get emotional.
I think we've won the lobster-off.
I still prefer our lobster because I like our lobster claw.
The boys were...
No, no, no, I think we are level.
We were almost on a par, like, it's a whisker's... Par.
Ah, yes, a whisker's par!
So when I went to China,
I actually studied under one of the top chefs in northern China
and he became, like, my master and he's teaching me to become
a master of Chinese culinary art,
so is there anyone around the room who would love
to become a master overnight of anything?
I'd love to be a master of snowboarding.
Jump out of a helicopter with a snowboard strapped
to my feet and just go off piste down a mountain,
that's like the dream.
I hadn't pictured that before but now I can see it, like, yeah.
I can definitely imagine, um...
..Ashleigh doing some crazy snowboarding.
Did you just forget her name?
I did.
I forgot what sentence I was saying.
So you know what I really like to do,
I must say painting, I like painting.
Ah, OK.
I like, you know, I like painting.
Caravaggio?
No, no, probably Dutch.
You know, that kind of Vermeer and you know...
Van Gogh?
..Deira. Deira. You'd like to be a Dutch painter?
A Dutch painter.
So he's going to wear clogs and paint.
Right then, who fancies some Chinese lions?
DRUMMING
They were really good,
especially as, you know, they were only small children doing it.
We're educating, we're celebrating Chinese culture
and what's better to see than the lion dances.
I love all those traditional things. Yeah.
Wonderful. Let's keep the tradition... Alive. Yeah.
Dave and Dimitri's last bid for victory is dessert.
It's very delicate work now.
Planting chocolate trees always is.
He finishes off with apple blossom petals
and would you look at that!
A chocolate cherry blossom tree.
Wow, thank you.
This is ruby chocolate with a dark cherry centre
and this is the ancient symbol of love and beauty in China.
We're going to pour in the cherry tea into here,
you should be able to smell cherries now across
the table as well, so you should be able to see
the cherries and taste the cherries and smell the cherries.
And hear the cherries?
Oh, wow, yeah.
The presentation is absolutely beautiful.
Thank you very much.
I'm just not a mad lover of ruby chocolate. OK.
But I really love the custard and I love the cherry.
Personally, it was a bit too sweet.
I'd have liked a bit more of the cherry. Maurizio?
Nice.
Too sweet, not too sweet?
A bit too sweet.
Is that a bit too sweet for you?
A couple of comments - a bit too sweet.
Bit strange, that, it's not a sweet dessert.
With the competition nearing the end,
the gang chat first impressions.
You two, when you walked into the restaurant,
I was like, "All right, here we go!"
I was like, "Yeah, these boys are bringing it."
Here's Johnny.
We knew Maurizio would come out of his shell, didn't we?
You owned the entire night last night.
I don't think he actually knows how funny he actually is.
No, I don't think he does. I think he... Yeah.
I just think you two are just gorgeous.
Oh, amore.
Like, to work together and live together, it's like...
You are saints.
You're going to make me cry, stop it.
It was because they were so sweet about Mauri
and I love Mauri so much
and when people talk about Mauri, it makes me emotional.
I'm starting to get emotional.
Don't be emotional. SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
ALL: Cheers!
Thank you for a fantastic night.
Difficult to tell if we've won.
Not everyone enjoyed absolutely everything
but we've put everything in.
We've left our heart and souls on that table there. Literally.
Well, not literally.
Dave and Dimitri need 34 or more
to beat Rosaria and Maurizio
to the prize.
So tonight we're going to give Dimitri and David...
BOTH: ..16.
Everything this evening was incredibly professionally executed
but some of the food wasn't to our taste
so that's why we're giving Dave and Dimitri a very well deserved...
Whoa there. We'll find out who's won together.
CHEERING
Third place, we have Ashleigh and Vicky.
Well done, guys.
Second place,
it's David and Dimitri.
Which means our winners are Rosaria and Maurizio.
Rosaria and Maurizio scored Dave and Dimitri 16,
meaning the Italian Club Fish are the winners.
I think this might be the first thing I've ever won.
We may not have won
but we're really happy for Rosaria and Maurizio.
THEY CHEER
A little bit disappointed not to take first place tonight
but we've had a great time.
We know within our hearts we did everything right today.
Ganbei! Salute.
Cheers, guys.
Well done to you. Well done to you.
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