Take three restaurants...
So, welcome to Rapsa, guys. ALL: Cheers!
..aiming for culinary excellence...
What is that?!
..ask each to host a three-course meal...
It's a little bit risky trying to do something like a pig's head.
..which will be scored in secret.
Hi!
On today's show, piggy problems...
The ears, the cheek, the snout.
When they said tongue, I was like, "Eurgh!"
..fiery foolishness...
Oh, God!
You're going to really, really regret that.
..and cracking crockery...
We smashed a good 30 quid's worth of plates.
..as they compete to win a £1,000 prize.
I'm just very uncomfortable around bananas.
This week's professional competition comes from East London,
home to a countless collection of cultural cuisines.
And looking to travel straight to the top spot are our first duo,
owner Andrew and head chef Francis
of Filipino fusion restaurant, Rapsa.
A lot of our customers call it elevated Filipino cuisine.
It's not too heavy, it's not too rich.
You know, you can still function afterwards.
You're not going to be like holding your stomach at the end of the evening.
I keep it traditional, the flavour, you know,
I change a little bit the ingredients,
but all the flavour is still there,
as you would have it back in the Philippines.
Kitchen is mine.
Yeah. The front of house is his.
Not today it's not, as Andrew is on sous-chef duty.
First course to tackle is the traditional Filipino main,
Sisig, aka pig's head. Brave choice. Ooh!
That makes my belly churn. Like, yeah, oh.
I hope they serve the eyes and the ears and everything along with it.
Oh, stop it, stop it.
Meet Nic and his squeamish fiancee,
Elena, proud owners of Touch of Greek.
See you on Saturday.
We're a family-run Greek restaurant selling modern cuisine.
Authentic but modern.
Yeah, authentic but modern. Yeah.
Me and Elena took over the restaurant...
January last year. January of last year.
And when it comes to dining out, Elena has an eye for detail.
I'm there looking at what the staff look like,
their uniforms, how they approach us to the table,
so that's my kind of feel on when I go out.
Nic on the other hand looks at the food.
Probably best to keep it that way tonight.
It's the first time I've seen him butcher a pig's head.
I am normally hiding in another room when he does it.
We use every part of the head.
Every part, every part of this.
From the brains to the ears to the cheeks. Skin?
Take the skin, everything.
If you work in hospitality,
I don't think you can be too squeamish.
You've not met Elena yet.
The diced pig's head will be fried
and then cooked through with an egg tonight.
Onto the starter, Kinilaw platter of salmon kilawin,
prawns and oysters.
Love an oyster. Yeah, me too.
WOLF WHISTLES Sexy food.
Meet our final professional duo of the week,
chicken wing impresario Nick and his chef Joe,
who run The Orange Buffalo pop-up kitchen and restaurant franchise.
Started as a food truck essentially,
with a love and passion for hot sauce.
We make all our sauces from scratch, six different flavour sauces.
We just want to keep it New York style,
straight up, hot sauce on fried chicken.
One of our first customers was Helena Christensen
and she was just like, "This is amazing,
"I've eaten wings all over the world
"and you guys have got this amazing sauce,"
and I was like,
"Super model likes it, that's good enough for me."
Well, let's see if THIS is good enough for you.
Andrew finely slices fresh salmon.
Treat them with... With respect. ..a bit of love.
I love you, fish.
Love you too, mate! He tucks them in nice and tight,
don't let the bedbugs bite, whilst Francis rinses off
the oysters they'll prepare later. Oysters, Elena.
Oysters make me gag.
Terrific. Still there's always dessert,
the intriguingly titled Ube leche flan.
I don't know what the dessert is but I hope it's saucy
because I love it saucy. Oh!
I hope we're still talking about the flan.
Never made a flan, I don't know,
is it like an egg custard? Yeah. A custard tart, is it?
No, a flan's more sponge.
A flan's more of a sponge-based kind of dessert.
Well, you're both kind of right.
The boys start the flan by whisking egg yolks
with condensed milk and vanilla essence,
then pouring onto caramel in a ramekin.
Whilst that cooks in a bain marie,
they prepare a sponge with bananas
and purple yam extract. That's the ube bit.
The whole thing goes back to
the warm bath whilst Francis knocks out some caramel tuiles.
The pressure's on, chef.
Very diverse and very adventurous and...brave.
This isn't a winning menu. No. They haven't seen mine yet.
All the prep went well and it's just a waiting game now.
Bring on the customers.
Quite right. Looks quite quirky.
First restaurateurs to arrive at Rapsa are Nic
and his meticulous fiancee, Elena, from Touch of Greek.
When we arrived at Rapsa,
the first thing I noticed was their windows - weren't clean,
but I let that go.
Until now of course.
Nice to meet you. Nic.
Francis. Nice to meet you, Francis. Hi, Andrew, I'm Elena, nice to
meet you. You OK? Nice to meet you, Elena. Hi, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, I'm Francis. Hi. Welcome to Rapsa. It looks lovely.
It's lovely. Thank you. Really lovely.
I don't think they were very hospitable when we arrived.
I mean, when someone comes to my restaurant, I'm like, "Hi!"
Yes, no jazz hands here.
Maybe a lovely little drink will break the ice.
Cheers, guys.
Cheers. Lovely to meet you. Thank you for having us.
Good luck.
You're going to need it. Oh, that's cocky!
Finally, it's the boys from The Orange Buffalo, Nick and Joe.
We're going in. Yeah. Windows look fine to me.
Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Elena. I'm Nick. How are you?
Nic, nice to meet you.
You're Nick? Oh, come on, easy peasy. How's it going?
This is chef Francis. What happened to the finger?
Chopping and I chopped a significant chunk of my nail off.
So I ate it. THEY LAUGH
I presume he's joking.
So, welcome to Rapsa, guys.
Hope you have a lovely evening with us. Cheers.
ALL: Cheers!
Coming up - gagging guests...
Oh! Number one, I don't like oysters.
Number two, he told me to do some crazy manoeuvre.
..and howling hosts.
# ..My way! #
When Andrew went down, I thought about jumping on him.
ALL: Cheers. Cheers indeed.
It's the first night of the Professionals' cooking competition
in East London, with Andrew and Francis treating their guests to
a night of Filipino-inspired dishes at their restaurant,
Rapsa, in a bid to win the £1,000 prize.
Come on, team, let's get on with it.
Right, let's crack on. Let's do it. High five. Whoo!
Exactly.
Andrew cracks on by freeing oysters from their shells.
You need to go faster, mate. You've got two more.
While chef Francis dresses
the marine molluscs with his special sauces.
Couple of wedge of lemon.
Out comes the kilawin salmon
and boom! Starter, ready for service.
Ooh, yes! That looks absolutely gorgeous.
Not sure Elena agrees.
So here we have our Kinilaw platter.
We have oysters,
we have prawn and then we also have salmon.
How do you feel about oysters?
Not happy. LAUGHTER
I'll give it a go.
Go on, Elena, that's what I like to hear.
When we eat oysters at Rapsa, it's obligatory we do that kind
of New Year's Eve thing where you interlock your arms
and down the hatch.
Yes, I don't think he means the whole shell, Nick.
That way? Ready? I'm going to feed you, you feed me.
Hold on, I don't get it. Go on, feed me. No.
LAUGHTER
Oh, you've got it in your hair.
As long as it doesn't end up in her lap. Uh-oh, gip alert.
Oh, come on, Elena, that is tasty. You can't taste the oyster,
it's all...That was lovely. SHE RETCHES
Clearly. Heh-oy!
Number one, I don't like oysters. Number two,
he told me to do some crazy manoeuvre to eat it.
I didn't know how to eat it.
There's so much effort gone into that.
Usually it's like a bit of tabasco, squeeze of lime,
down the hatch but there's so many different flavours.
For me, one of the things with oysters is you really want to,
you want to taste the oyster. You want to feel like you're by the sea
and I felt a little bit like some of
the other ingredients covered up the natural flavour of the oyster.
The oyster taste,
I mean, experience is, you know, you put it in your mouth,
you know, you can taste the ocean.
Ingredients that we add to it are jalapeno,
patis, the fish sauce, it gives that little bit more kick.
He's eaten all the oysters
and I've only had one, so God help me tonight.
Yes, but before that, you've still got two courses to go,
one of which is the main. Pig's head, anyone?
I know it's a little bit risky trying
to do something like a pig's head
and serving it to people that you don't know,
but I still think they'll love it.
Having fried up the piggy portions in herbs and spices,
chef Francis eggs up his mix,
bowls out some rice
and then takes a bit of a liberty with some heat.
A little bit of chilli for the kick.
I hope they don't mind a little bit of a kick.
Fingers crossed. There it is, pig's head or Sisig to the locals.
That is not what I expected.
No, me neither.
I was actually hoping for
a pig's head with an apple in its mouth.
Yes, I bet you were.
Right, see what do you think, have a go.
Bon appetit, guys.
So, yeah. You mix the whole thing up, yeah?
Look at that. The pig's head really kind of got my...
It got me going a bit, like I like ordering weird stuff.
I like offal and all that sort of stuff, so...
It's a good marriage of the richness of the meat,
the egg just ties it together. I could eat it all night long.
I haven't even thought that it's pig's head while I'm eating it.
Best not to.
What is actually in there? What parts of the pig is in there?
It's basically the whole part of the pig.
It's the ears, the cheek, the snout.
The tongue is in there and also the brain is in there.
Oh, wow. You did ask.
When they said tongue, I was like, "Eurgh! I'm going to gag!"
They had part of the trotter, the cheeks.
No, the trotter comes from the foot, love.
The feet, yeah, that's what I mean.
The snout. The snout, that's it.
NIC SNORTS No.
Do you know what? With me, with my food, I like to stay safe.
Honest opinion?
It wouldn't be something I would order off a menu.
I can't take heat. Taste-wise, yes, it has the taste,
the tastes are there, but for me, just that heat, for me.
It wasn't spicy at all,
just a little kind of like, you know, tickle on the tongue.
With the food proving to be somewhat of a curiosity,
Nic wants to know exactly how adventurous everyone is.
So, Francis, what's the weirdest food that you've ever had?
Back home is a delicacy, the duck embryo.
Ooh, lovely.
In Cambodia, I ate scorpion and tarantula.
I've had monkey sausages.
You ate a monkey?!
Monkey sausage.
How do you even eat monkey sausage?
What is monkey sausage?
A sausage made out of monkey meat?
Why would you kill a monkey and eat that? That's weird.
There's just no way it was really monkey meat, no way.
Yeah, they definitely saw you coming.
Anyway, time for pud.
Andrew blowtorches the flan cases
to loosen their contents. Careful, that'll be hot!
BLEEP. I told you.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Yeah, leave it to the pros. Out it comes,
little fruit garnish and tada! Ube leche flan.
Does not contain monkeys or spices.
All right. So what we've got here is ube and banana,
and there, some orange segments.
Oh, my God, that's lovely.
It's nice, isn't it?
Really yummy.
At last she likes something!
Did you say there's banana in there? Yes.
I know I like said earlier,
I ate tarantulas and scorpions, but banana is like,
it's my weird thing.
I've always felt the word phobia is a bit strong
but it's definitely, it's like,
I'm just very uncomfortable around bananas.
I'm going to eat the top sort of flan custard-y bit,
but I'm really sorry, I can't,
I really can't make myself eat the bottom bit,
I'm really sorry. Understandable.
The dessert was unbelievable. The presentation on first glance...
Can I just butt in? Yeah.
When we looked at the menu and it said flan,
I said a flan was
an egg or custard-based dish and you said it was...
I said it was a spongey thing. You said it was a sponge, yeah.
It was quite spongey.
Yeah, but the flan was the custard bit. That's the flan.
Dessert was divine. It was lovely.
Yeah, I cannot fault them on their dessert.
So the flan might have been the horrible base you didn't like.
The flan, no the flan was the top bit, that was the bit that I ate.
It was all right, it was nice.
Yeah, it was like sponge.
No, the bottom bit was the sponge. The flan bit was the,
the word flan is a custard tart. Yeah.
A custard tart?
I've got one complaint, boys.
Can't get this little bit off the bottom of the bloomin' plate!
Leave it for the dishwasher.
You've got bigger fish to fry now.
It's Rapsa's very own karaoke chamber. Earplugs at the ready.
# And now the end is near... # Oh, not near enough.
# ..And so I face the final curtain... #
My Way is one of the best songs of all time,
certainly one of the best karaoke songs of all time.
Well, it used to be.
# ..I'll state my case Of which I'm certain... #
No, I just... I felt uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable.
You're not the only one. # ..And did it... #
Oh, he's gone! # ..My way! #
When Andrew went down,
I thought about jumping on him and then,
and then I realised he was actually trying
to hit one of Sinatra's high notes.
When I sing karaoke, it feels like there's
a devil that wants to come out inside me.
A devil? A devil?! Why a devil?
I don't know, I don't know.
He's certainly not an angel.
I think we've definitely done well enough
to compete very strongly. You know, when you're hosting,
there's always a temptation to take over
the conversation. I felt that we, me and chef,
we allowed them to talk, allowed them to have a nice time, you know,
and still was interactive, so I think we got a nice balance.
I don't think they're competition for us.
I'm actually even more confident now.
I've had a good night. I think the food was,
the food was exceptional overall.
Scores out of 20, please.
I think their hosting skills let them down a little bit.
Their food wasn't great,
so we're scoring them an 11.
Tonight, we're scoring 16.
Which gives Rapsa a not unbeatable 27 out of 40.
It's the second day of the Professionals' competition
and the turn of The Orange Buffalo boys, who are hosting from one
of their pop-up kitchens.
I think our dinner party tonight is going to be
a little bit more fast and loose than last night.
We're not fine dining, you know. We're kind of eat with your hands.
We believe that you don't enjoy it unless the sauce is in your ears.
Sounds messy. And all over your hair and shoes.
Thoughts, Andrew? I'm imagining the place could possibly be like
a gastropub or something along those lines.
I think Nick and Joe are more of a bistro/pub food.
Quirky. Yeah, quirky pub food.
Less quirky,
more turkey, but actually,
chicken wings with sides and house sauces.
Let's be honest, that main is what I'm in a rush,
I've got to stick some food on for my kids,
goes in the oven, out the door.
In the house sauces I can see there being some serious heat in at least
a couple of them.
You're not wrong, Andrew.
So this is our signature sauce,
this is something that we've done for nearly ten years now,
sticking to the same recipe that we originally did.
The boys shred up a mountain of Scotch bonnets,
to which they add sugar, extra hot chilli powder,
white vinegar and water.
That lot is then boiled before
Nick applies his outboard motor.
Thoroughly whisked, the hot sauce is decanted into bottles ready for use.
If anything's going to win us that bag of sand, it'll be this.
We'll see. Onto the starter...
I like mackerel, yeah.
Mackerel wouldn't be the first choice that I would put in a bao bun
but I'm a fish man, so... Yeah, I like mackerel.
..I suppose it could work.
It's a little bit tricky to make bao bun, you know.
I made it maybe once or twice before, but it's got a little...
Do you think they're ordering them in or they're going to make it?
Probably they buy it in the bunch.
That's where you're wrong. These boys know what they're doing.
They're making their baos from scratch.
When the milk is at temperature,
we're going to put the yeast and sugar in there.
Wait for that to bubble up for about five minutes
and then we're going to knead everything all together.
The yeast mix is added to flour and salt. Once thoroughly churned,
the bao dough is put to one side to prove.
It'll be shaped into buns and steamed before serving with
the boys' own line
of specially tinned mackerel. Onto dessert.
Beautiful British strawberries, look at them.
I reckon it's coming out
the freezer and it's a strawberry sorbet.
Yeah, I do.
So, the antivenoms, yeah, the venom must be the heat.
The heat that's coming from the main, starter
and the main and then, cool it down with the strawberry.
Maybe something a bit creamy there, maybe like a strawberry mousse.
Good detective work. Strawberries are roasted in sugar.
Beautiful, Joseph.
Condensed and whole milk are added to the strawberries,
and blended. Then shaken not stirred.
Please be careful. Thank you.
Any good?
It's like a dream, Jo.
A happy one, I hope.
Chopped strawberries are then added to the mix and there it is,
Strawberry Antivenom, ready for the freezer.
Put them on there.
Food prep done, the chicken wing slingers have
an extra surprise for their guests.
What we're known for at Orange Buffalo is our Viper Sauce.
Now, here I have our extract, which goes into one
of our other base sauces.
It's about 2.5 million Scovilles, something like that.
Which is equivalent to police grade pepper spray. Sounds fun.
Now, I want them to have a little taste of that,
so I've got a cheeky little treat and a little game to play.
You'll enjoy that then, Nic.
On paper, it's a basic menu
but I think we could be pleasantly surprised tonight
with Nick and Joe's personalities.
I was expecting something that would look more of
a winning menu than what I see right now,
but it's just a menu,
it's just words on a piece of paper.
What comes out could be completely different.
Prep done, feeling good.
Yeah, all good. Come on, let's wow, them guests.
Give me that. Come on then.
First to roam up to
The Orange Buffalo, Andrew and Francis.
Fellas! You all right, guys?
How are we? How you doing, mate? How you been?
We have some... A margarita.
..margaritas ready for you here. Thank you very much.
Tequila always gets the party started.
There you go. Thank you very much. It definitely does.
Last in, spice shirker Nic and his betrothed, Elena.
Hey!
Hey! How are you, buddy?
Come here, love. How are you? I'm good. How are you?
Hi. You OK? Nice to see you.
Cheers, everyone. Let's have a good one. Cheers. We're in good hands.
Coming up, bad bao bun puns...
Joe, take a bao, son. Ha-ha!
I think Andrew's got quite a quirky sense of humour.
..and a not so nicey spicy surprise-y.
Let's see how the Viper does.
Oh, my God! HE COUGHS
That was the hottest thing I've ever put into my mouth.
It was like fire. Do you need a bucket?
Cheers, everyone. It's the second night of the Professionals'
competition in East London
and the turn of chicken wing vendors Nick and Joe
to impress with their poultry offerings,
in an attempt to win the £1,000 prize.
Feeling nervous about the pressure of hosting for the evening.
Don't worry, I'm doing that.
And because of Joe's finger, a lot of the cooking, I'd wager.
Our guests might have bao buns with chicken, pork.
They've never had it with Orange Buffalo tinned mackerel.
My bao buns should be called wow buns.
Check out my wow buns.
Lovely. Anyway,
Joe rolls out the bao dough with a tiny roller
and Nick's tinned mackerel in special sauce gets heated through.
This is no sardines on toast.
This is wild Scottish mackerel fillet,
skinless and boneless. It's succulent.
The sauce makes it.
They're going to absolutely love it.
The baos are steamed and then the whole lot plated
with pretty little side garnishes.
Oh, wow.
Thank you. Guys, this is our dish called What Are You On A Bao?
It's a bit of a play from where I'm from in Hull,
it's kind of what you say, "What you on about?"
Pretty sure that's not just a Hull thing.
Handmade bao bun
and the special part
of it is our very own tinned mackerel.
We like to call this, on our menu, the K-town sauce is like
a medium spice. I'm going to give it a go.
I've got a feeling it's going to be a bit spicy.
Dig in. There's a lot of sauce in the tin, so get the fish out
and then you can pour a little sauce on afterwards.
I'm ashamed to say I thought
the bao bun would be... Assembled. ..bought in.
I didn't think you'd make it home-made. Joe, take a bao, son.
Not a pun man, Nic?
I love mackerel.
Do you really? Love it. Tinned mackerel? Mm-hm. Yeah, amazing.
All mackerel, I love mackerel.
I think she likes mackerel.
I love mackerel. I wouldn't have put it together with the... No,
with the bao bun, but it went nice together though, Nic.
Yeah, because it was saucy and it was bread that you could dip in.
I mean, who doesn't like a bit of dipping with your bread?
Taste-wise, amazing,
can't knock it. That spice? It's just, it's the chilli.
Ooh, here we go! I just can't get past that chilli aspect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just my taste buds.
Oh, good luck with the main!
This is the time now we bring our wings out.
It's what we started our business with,
it's what we're passionate about, it's what we're known for.
Chicken wings are deep-fried,
along with curly fries and onion rings.
Then, special sauces are liberally applied.
Do you want to know why we're called The Orange Buffalo?
That's why. Bright orange, tangy, spicy sauce.
I reckon these will wing their bells.
And get them all in a flap.
Oh, there it is, wings, sauce and sides.
This is a selection of our wings, some of our sauces.
This is our original,
this is our barbecue, Nicky boy's sauce.
Oh, yes!
We created this one for kids and your nana.
LAUGHTER
So get busy.
I'm going for the baby one.
How very brave of you.
There was about five different sauces, wasn't there?
Unfortunately I didn't venture out and try four of them,
but the barbecue ones I give a go and they were tasty.
I mean, you can't really go wrong with a chicken wing.
Nic's our classic customer that we try and educate.
There's more to life than barbecue sauce.
I must admit, Nick, when I saw the menu,
I didn't think you had a wing and a prayer,
but now that I've tried the food
and seen what you've done - good job, mate.
Wing and a prayer, Nic? No? Please yourself.
They were really good chicken wings
and if that's what they specialise in,
then, you know, they really, they really nailed it.
With everyone's spice levels being catered for on the main,
Nick has a question for the table.
If you was to lose one of your senses, what would it be?
I don't think I'd want to lose any of my like normal senses,
but I do have a sixth sense where I can read other people's thoughts,
kind of like a sixth sense of knowing what's going to happen.
You're freaking me out, Andrew. It just happens
to be really, really bad, so I don't mind if I lose it.
Oh, it was a joke!
I think Andrew's come out of his shell from obviously what we
saw of him yesterday and, yeah,
he's got quite a quirky sense of humour.
That's one word for it.
If I could lose one sense,
I'd lose my hearing so he don't whinge in my earholes.
That's exactly what I would do. Mr Nicholas?
My sixth sense, I knew you were going to say that.
Exactly, there you go.
Yeah, let's leave it now, shall we?
Me and Andrew are just on two different wavelengths. I mean,
he's a more serious character than what the other group is.
So they've enjoyed their starters and the mains,
but what we're really known
for at Orange Buffalo is our famous Viper Sauce.
Now I want to give them a little taste of that.
THEY LAUGH I've seen it all now!
The name of the game is,
if it lands on a viper, you do a finger of the Viper. Oh, no.
If it lands on a safe, you put a finger of blue cheese.
This is the cheesiest game I've ever seen.
THEY LAUGH
Oh, you're really not helping. First up, Francis.
Oh!
We have a winner!
Well, that seems all right so far, doesn't it?
Oh, crikey! He's done the lot!
You're going to really, really regret that.
His eyes are off.
Francis, one word of advice -
put the toilet roll in the freezer for tomorrow morning.
Ooh! I think I might do that.
That's something I never really do and I probably wouldn't do it again.
Who's next?
I'll take one for the team, go on, then.
Oh, ho-ho-ho! This should be good. Come on, come on, come on!
Viper, viper, viper, viper, viper, viper...
Oh, no! What a dreadful pity! Oh, Nic!
Let's see how the viper does.
Oh, in one bite.
THEY GIGGLE
Oh, my God! HE COUGHS
Do you need a bucket?
NIC COUGHS
You all right, big dog?
That was the hottest thing I've ever put into my mouth.
It was like fire.
I've started sweating, I've started tapping.
Do you want me to take you for a little walk?
Oh, mate...
I had to go to the loo!
We've had this sauce now for over eight years
and it's still the funniest thing you'll see, when people,
how different people react to it
and it floors the best of them, honestly. It is relentless.
I think you'd better get your dessert out,
the appropriately named Strawberry Antivenom.
Now I see why it's called that.
The proteins in the creams
and the yoghurts in this will break down that capsaicin,
that horrible hot stuff,
that pain that you're feeling now. Dig in.
They have.
Dessert looked great, presented well.
It wasn't the most delicious dessert
but I don't think that matters. I think it was just,
it's there to do the job.
Held my hand up, I ate it because... It made it feel like...
Yeah, my mouth was on fire.
Elena, are you sorry you missed out on the Viper Sauce? No, not at all.
In a word, no. No.
Right now, Joe,
I think it's time for your banana challenge.
I'm not going to eat banana. You won't get me to do it.
It's their turn to host tomorrow.
Let's finish tonight off first, eh?
I think tonight went really well.
I think the guys seemed to really enjoy it.
Essentially we're a street food brand.
We're proud of what we do.
I think everything went out well
and the guests were happy. Let's just hope that's enough.
Time for some scores.
The mackerel was outstanding, the chicken wings were chicken wings,
but they were very well done
and the hosting was exquisite. We're going to score them...
BOTH: ..17.
The food was good. Some I liked, some I didn't
but as hosts they did really, really well,
so therefore we're scoring them... BOTH: ..a 15.
Which means The Orange Buffalo go into the lead with 32.
It's the final day of the competition in East London
and the turn of Nic and Elena to shoot for glory
with their restaurant, Touch of Greek.
I'm not going to lie, nerves are kicking in.
However, having been to the other two establishments,
I'm quite confident. Physically, mentally,
we're raring to go, so bring it on.
I think we can win. I think our food stands up.
I think mine and Joe's chitchat and kind of our hosting,
I think we all had a really good time.
Rapsa is definitely still in the game.
I still think we've definitely got a very good chance of winning.
I'm afraid not. You're currently in last place.
However, if these two get it right,
there will be celebrations on Mount Olympus tonight.
Any ideas on what you'll be eating, boys?
For sure they're going to be cooking Greek food.
Bingo.
100%.
I think Nic and Elena...are something to do with Italian food.
Nothing at all! As will become apparent when they tackle dessert...
That's an Italian dessert, if I've ever heard one, Greek custard pie.
I'm a custard fan although I haven't made custard in
a while, but I love a good custard.
That's good.
Ably assisted by kitchen novice Elena,
Nic whips up a quick custard with extra sugar.
So you needed that extra sugar.
Needed the woman's touch. To make it sweet like me.
Aw! Nic then layers filo pastry into a tin.
I would get you to do this but I'm scared you're
going to slice the filo with your nails.
Well, I'm not taking that responsibility then.
Wise choice, Elena.
So this is my favourite bit.
This is the bit where the custard does its magic
and the dessert starts coming together.
Filo filled and folded, the pies are in to bake.
Bravo, Nico, bravo.
Bravo indeed. Onto the main...
The Mediterranean meats could be with anything,
it could be with any type of sauce,
it could be, you know, a mountain of meat,
it could be little slivers here and there.
I've got no idea. OK, so now I have an idea with Smashing Medley.
It will be like lamb heads or something
and we have to smash it and open it up. What?!
No. I was thinking maybe it was going to be mince.
Well, yes, mince is involved but no lambs' heads,
sorry, Francis.
Meet the first meat of the Mediterranean meat medley,
sheftalia, aka Greek sausage.
Lamb and pork mince are mixed with onions,
herbs and spices before being rolled into sausages.
It's important when you're making a sheftalia
that you don't over-squeeze it.
You want air in between the meat, so when it cooks,
they come out moist and juicy.
Ooh, lovely!
The sausages are then wrapped in
a thin lacy membrane of fat. Looks like cobwebs to me.
These will be cooked later.
Meanwhile, chicken is marinated and, along with lamb,
skewered and slowly roasted over coals.
Oh, yes, and not forgetting the pork kebabs that will join them on
the night. Are there any animals left in Greece?
Land animals dealt with,
Nic then drains the sea for his starter.
'Ello, I'm Bill the octopus.
Ocean's Delight, including...
Absolutely love seafood. Calamari's always something
I order, especially on holidays and stuff.
Octopus, you can get it wrong, you can undercook it.
If you undercook it,
it's rubbery and chewy, or if you overcook it,
it will be like soft and you know...
You need a bit of texture. You need a bit of... Find the middle balance.
Pressure's on, Nic.
What is that?! It's the mouth.
Mouth removed,
the octopus is cleaned and simmered with herbs and onions.
So a little old wives' tale, back home from Cyprus,
when boiling an octopus, add a cork into the water.
Apparently it tenderises the octopus,
so let's put it in and pray. See you soon, Bill.
Once boiled, Bill will be grilled with his mates Colin calamari
and Paul the giant prawn.
Urgh! Look, I'm coming to kiss you!
Stop mucking about, Elena. This is a serious competition.
Prep done and confidence levels are riding high.
We've won already, in my eyes.
Based on the last two nights,
I don't think we have anything to worry about. No.
We'll see about that. First up, the boys from Rapsa,
Andrew and Francis.
Hey! Hey!
How are you, mate? Yasou. Yasou.
Nice bit of Greek, Francis.
So here at Touch of Greek,
we sprinkle the glitter
to give it that little bit of sparkle.
Got to have a bit of glitter... When I'm involved, it has to sparkle.
If it doesn't sparkle, it's not good enough.
A life motto for everyone.
Yamas. ALL: Yamas.
Last up, it's Nick and Joe from The Orange Buffalo.
Looks like it is a Greek then.
I still think it's Italian.
Clue's in the name, Nick.
Hey! Hello! Hi, boys. How are you, mate?
Yasou. Hello, gorgeous.
How's it going? Are you well?
Oh, mind the drink! Well saved.
Was that me? Was that me? It's fine.
I'm getting rowdy already. The Greek Cosmo.
Better to be drunk than worn.
Yamas. ALL: Yamas!
Coming up, desirable decorations...
I'm all about glitz, I'm all about glam.
I wanted to bring the sexiness to Chingford.
There's even more bling to come to Touch of Greek.
Oh, my God. No, there is.
..and the wonga is won.
ALL CHEER It's the final night
of the Professionals' competition in East London,
with Nic and Elena offering their guests
a touch of Greek cuisine in
the hope of bagging the £1,000 prize.
We're going to leave you in the capable hands of our staff
whilst me and Elena go and prepare your starters.
Beginning of the night, I had a little bit of nerves.
Now the boys are here and we've got the hellos out the way,
I'm ready to go. I feel all right.
Nic kicks off his starter by flame grilling Bill and frying Colin.
These are the dog's tentacles.
No, Nic, that's squid.
Fava paste is smeared over plates
and then topped with the seafood, and there it is,
Ocean's Delight, with an edible flower.
Whoa-ho-ho!
#BestItalianInTown. LAUGHTER
That's some prawn, man.
If you're going to do prawns, you've got to do prawns properly.
This is the biggest prawn I've ever seen in my life.
I don't know where he gets them from,
but I don't think it's from this planet.
Back at home, this is what I do, we suck the brains out.
That's your party trick. I'm worried. Are you worried?
He's not worried.
Mm!
That is the best part of the prawn, is the head.
All the flavours is there. Suck the brain, you won't be sorry.
I'll bear that in mind, Francis.
Back to business, and Andrew's keen
to find out more about the restaurant's decor.
Did you design and decorate this place?
I did. When I decided that we should revamp
the restaurant, I had an idea in my head.
I wanted to bring my personality into the restaurant.
I'm all about glitz, I'm all about glam.
I wanted to bring the sexiness to Chingford with my feature wall.
I think it's glam-tastic.
A real touch of Greek.
I want to get a selfie in front of it. Absolutely.
They've picked up on the glamour.
That's exactly what I wanted them to pick up on
and that's not the end of it.
That's just the start of it, so there's even more bling
to come to Touch of Greek.
Oh, my God.
No, there is.
I really enjoyed the starter. I finished the whole plate.
Yeah, seafood, right up my street.
Our starter went down really well. Empty plates,
all I heard is, "Mm! Mm! Mm! Yeah! Mm! Mm!"
Positive review if ever I heard one.
As the guests go snap happy,
Nic cracks on with grilling the main -
a smashing Medley of Mediterranean Meats.
Loosen your belts, everyone. Crikey!
Wow. Oh, ho-ho! Ho-ho-ho!
I don't where to rest my eyes, so many things.
As soon as it come up, I was, "Whoa!" I was overwhelmed.
So what you have here, guys, is a traditional mini mezze.
Mini mezze?
Yeah, this is the mini meze.
Our main meze consists of 28 different dishes.
We haven't got time for that.
Hope you enjoy, dig in.
Thank you so much.
Where does one start?
Nic, I love that lamb, that's really tender.
Thank you, mate.
It's cooked to perfection.
I knew the amount of meat there, I was never going to put back,
but I had a little bit of everything.
Really, really, really pleasantly surprised with everything.
The lamb was lovely, sausage was spicy. That was really good.
I think it plays to their strengths,
charcoal, grilling and slow-cooking.
The lamb was like particularly delicious.
You guys have been in the industry a lot longer than we have.
What advice do you feel that we need to take on board
to run with our show?
Have you thought about selling some of your sauces online?
There's so many on the market at the moment, so many.
I tell you what might be a good idea,
developing a little rub,
selling that online, you know, for the meats.
Virtual massage.
The virtual massage!
And call it Touched By A Greek!
Yeah, the name could do with some work.
I've never actually thought about doing a meat rub.
Don't even think about it.
Why not?
Most restaurateurs never listen to advice.
They always ask for it but they never actually listen to it.
Just create a hot sauce, you know, any hot sauce,
the Greek hot sauce, a mega super mega death hot sauce,
the blue goat from hell from Greece.
HE HISSES
I think I preferred Touched By A Greek.
Main done - well, as much as possible -
it's onto the final dessert of the competition.
This is a Greek old take on a custard pie.
Nic pipes cream over his pie
as Elena sticks leaves in ice cream and there it is.
I'll leave the Greek translation to you, Nic.
What you have here is
a traditional Cypriot dessert called Galaktoboureko.
Say again? Galaktoboureko.
Ah, labradorko. Yeah.
What was that, a Labrador?
Labrador. That's all I heard.
Delle, er...bollocka. I beg your pardon?
Radaledabourocka? I can't remember.
Raba... Rabador... Labradorko.
Radaleb... It was called something Greek.
NIC: Galaktoboureko! Galaktoboureko!
Got that, Joe?
Custard pie, yeah. Custard pie.
Near enough.
That's the pinkest thing I've ever seen in my life.
It's pink to make you wink.
Oh, you tickled me pink with that one. Oh, Andrew!
Andrew's puns tonight,
they're getting worse and worse as the week's going on.
I find it a bit difficult to laugh at, you know,
trying to laugh to be polite,
but it's just not my cup of tea, that kind of,
that kind of thing really.
I am known amongst the family as the pun-master, yes.
Possibly just to your face though.
This is delicious, guys. I think the rose ice cream goes really well with
the custard tart and I think, yeah, it just goes great together.
It's a heavy dessert to have after that big chunk of plate of meat.
It was a bit too heavy for me.
Not to worry, nearly there.
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life,
what would it be, boys? Sandwiches. Sandwiches?
Yeah, you can do everything with a sandwich, you can put anything.
What's your favourite filling in a sandwich?
I know what sandwich he likes. Go on.
A really cheesy sandwich.
He's definitely heard that before.
That's it, lad, that's it.
Yeah, dessert went down well. Everyone seemed,
they said they enjoyed it. Some of them didn't finish it but...
No, but I think that was more because it was,
it was quite a big portion.
Thankfully the Greeks have got some calorie-shedding fun lined up.
Opa!
Saves on the washing-up, I suppose.
Yasou!
We smashed a good 30 quid's worth of plates.
I think I did all my steps for about the next two weeks.
Got to go faster!
LAUGHING: It was really hard work.
A lot of jumping, a lot of dancing, yeah.
That's a work out and a half.
Francis is a good foot smaller than all of us, so he might have got,
he might have got lost in the head of like
a six-foot fellas just like raging around the dance floor,
but I was just focusing on not having an heart attack.
ALL CHEER
Wahey! It's definitely like a normal Saturday night in
the restaurant. You had great entertainment,
great food, drink was flowing
and you had us as hosts. What more could you want?
Some scores maybe.
Touch Of Greek need 33 or more to be this week's winners.
The Greeks pulled it out of the bag tonight.
The entertainment was great, the food was delicious,
slightly big portion size for us, but all round,
a cracking evening so we're going to score them...
BOTH: ..18.
Tonight the Greeks pulled out all the stops.
We had a smashing evening.
The only thing was that the portion sizes were
a touch too big, but we still had a great time.
We're going to give them... Whoa there!
Hold on to your bouzoukis. As all the scoring was done in secret,
let's find out together who's going to win the £1,000 prize.
So, in third place...
Rapsa, so Andrew and Francis.
Second place, it's Orange Buffalo...
Rapsa scored Nic and Elena 17,
giving them a table-topping total of 35!
I think it was a fair result. They put a lot of effort in.
Everything was super polished. They had a good team, good food.
They really pulled out all the stops.
Did I expect it? I didn't expect anything.
We didn't know what to expect. No. No. Oh, yeah, over the moon.
Yeah. Over the moon.
I think the only regret I've got is not putting
the Viper Sauce on our wings
and killing off the competition and winning by default.
# I'm standing on the corner with my feet in my shoes
# Racking my brains how to pay my dues
# My jug was empty of my number one booze
# Along comes a viper and I blew my blues
# I got the elation, hesitation, dissipation, coagulation
# Relation, angzation, emancipation, propagation
# Moppin', soppin', talk about your coppin' blues! #
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