There's a snake in my boot.
Take three restaurants... Cheers.
..aiming for culinary excellence.
They're going to be impressed with this.
Get each to cook three fabulous courses...
Service, darling. Let's go.
..and get them to score in secret.
Ooh. That's some kick!
On today's show, glorious guns.
If you were a wine, what would you be?
He wants to be a full-bodied wine.
You mean you have a lot of muscles, what's going on?
He's working out, you know, looks good.
A squabble of the sexes.
You want to take us girls on?
Aren't most successful chefs male?
Ooh! How dare you! I'm going to step back from this conversation.
He instantly regretted it.
And the chance to compete for a mighty wedge of wonga.
Look at all this money.
Bigger, better, go!
Today's Professional competition comes from Nottingham,
stomping ground of the legendary thief
and wealth redistributor, Robin Hood.
Afternoon, fella.
And hoping to have a merry time tonight are our first hosts,
head chef Bee and director Peter of the Wine Room City.
The clue is in the name.
We're all about wine, pairing that with our amazing, clean, fresh
and great-smelling and tasting food.
I don't like smelling, don't like smelling. Sorry.
What would you prefer?
Fabulous food combined with the wine creates a fantastic experience.
Ah-ha! Now you're talking.
Dark plums, damsons.
Cooked strawberries, blackberries.
Peter's really got a bit of the Medusa about him.
I'm hoping you mean Midas.
In the fact that whatever he touches seems to, seems to work out.
And what's going to give your menu the golden touch tonight?
Our food is very modern.
It's the small plates, this is the new thing,
this is the new way of eating and people love them.
And they're serving three such small plates for their starter -
Gambas pil pil, salt and pepper squid and fish goujons.
"Pil pil"? Never heard of pil pil. "Pil pil"?
Meet all-American girl chef and owner Annie,
and Canadian office administrator Rena,
from Nottingham institution, Annie's Burger Shack.
We specialise mostly in burgers.
No surprise there.
It's authentic and American.
It's the real deal. Yes. Totally real.
And when it comes to being proud of their roots,
these two have got it covered.
We're both from North America,
we both can just talk about it for ages.
Come on! USA! USA!
Canada. THEY LAUGH
Thank you. North America, go.
BOTH: Let's go, Panthers!
It's amazing how many people from around the world come to us.
I got recognised in Sweden in an airport and you're going,
"You're Annie's Burger Shop." I'm like, "Close." Yeah.
Back at the Wine Room City, Bee makes a start on her shellfish.
The gambas pil pil is a beautiful Spanish dish,
fresh king prawns, garlic, parsley and lemon,
and just popping with flavour.
The prawny flavour will be popped fresh tonight before serving.
With Peter helping out in the kitchen, for one day only,
they start prepping their gambas mix.
Bee combines garlic, fresh chilli, lemon, parsley,
oil and chilli powder which is blitzed.
Yeah, it's looking good. They're going to love this.
They're basic seafood things though, aren't they?
Sounds like a posh chippy, don't it? Yeah.
Completing our line-up of professional duos are chef,
Bee - yes, another one - and owner Der of Thai seafood restaurant,
the Lobster Pot.
Known for your muscles, eh?
Me and Der, we were both born in Thailand,
our parents are Thai,
the menu here is Thai seafood so that's who we are,
Thai-infused seafood.
You been to the gym lately, bro?
I've thought about going.
We don't gym together. We don't.
But we talk about going to the gym all the time,
but I do say I'm the Thai Vin Diesel, I do. You do. I do.
He's a little bit too competitive for my liking
because I'm the alpha dog.
It's because I win at everything. No.
It's not that I'm too competitive.
It's just because I win at everything.
Lies, lies. That's total lies.
Well, that remains to be seen.
Back in the kitchen, Peter's getting some instruction.
Right, you want the pips out. You don't want these.
Oh, you want the pips taken out? Oh, OK. Yeah, absolutely, please.
You don't normally take them out. I do.
HE LAUGHS
Right, obviously you haven't been in the kitchen long enough, have you?
They portion cod and squid which will be battered and fried later.
This squid is going to be our good luck charm tonight, Peter. Uh-huh.
My favourite dish, this one.
Next to prepare is the main.
Flat iron steak served medium rare with garlic butter
and a red wine jus.
I'm really glad they said medium rare. Yeah.
So that's really exciting.
Medium rare, I know it's not everyone's preference
but they've got to try it first before they go
"Oh, I want it well done."
I have to have it well done every time. You don't have to get it
well done. I like well done.
Tough, you're getting medium rare.
The steak is seasoned with rosemary and garlic
and will be fried with garlic butter this evening.
With garlic butter, a red wine jus...juice?
Jus. I think they've spelt "juice" wrong.
Peter, that jus is not going to make itself.
What are you doing, Peter? Come on! Get off your phone.
It was work related. Was it?
Yes. We're working now.
To onions, Peter adds bay leaves, rosemary and thyme.
This is not a one-off, but not usually in the kitchen.
And you're doing very well.
In goes a trickle of port.
We are a wine bar.
We're going to kick their socks off tonight.
That sounds painful. The mixture is reduced and sieved.
This is a really expensive sieve.
Sorry, what is it? A... Chinoise.
OK. Makes it more expensive when you call it that.
I'm sure it's worth every penny.
A knob of butter is added, then it's set aside for tonight.
Onto dessert, tarte tatin with honeycomb ice cream
and amaretto Chantilly cream.
"Tatin and amaretto Chantilly cream."
Struggled through that, didn't you? HE CHUCKLES
English is my second language, bro. Remember that.
It's a classic French dish, the tarte tatin,
and it is, when you pair that with the ice cream and the cream,
it's naughty, but nice.
Good combo!
The tarte tatins were made earlier and will be baked this evening.
The amaretto Chantilly, if they're going to be making that from
scratch, there's quite a bit of prep in this so well done.
For the amaretto Chantilly cream,
Bee whips together cream, amaretto and icing sugar.
That's it. Do you want a taste? I think I'll pass.
The boozy cream is put aside until later.
Ready to go? Ready to go. Cool.
How's everyone feeling?
It's definitely a jeans and T-shirt night, innit? Yeah.
It's not a shirt and tie.
Yeah, it's given us some, ooh, competition.
Good, good! Bring it on.
And the first guests are here, Bee and Der from the Lobster Pot.
Hi, guys. You all right? How you doing? Hi. You all right?
Hello. Peter, nice to meet you. My name's Bee.
Nice to meet you, Peter. Bee? Bee, yep. I'm Bee as well.
Oh, right! Nice to meet you. Bee.
Hello. Der. Sorry? Der. Der. How do you do? Nice to meet you.
Finally, it's Rena and Annie from Annie's Burger Shack.
Ooh, Wine Room. I love wine.
Steady.
How's it going? Rena. Oh, wow. Rena. Nice to meet you.
Hi, nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Bee. Hi, how are you?
How you doing, Der. Hi! How's it going?
What's your name? Annie.
Hello, Annie, nice to meet you. Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Bee.
Yeah, I recognised Annie.
She's a regular customer of mine, well she used to be.
Sounds like there's a story there.
Good to see you, welcome to the Wine Room City.
Thank you. ALL: Cheers!
THEY LAUGH
Coming up, perplexing pairings...
Are you a couple? Sorry?
Are you a couple? No. No. Oh!
THEY LAUGH
No, never ever, ever, ever!
..and competitive conversations.
Are you guys in it to win it?
You're all nice. I know.
But we're trying to beat you at the same time.
Are we that nice? Or are we just acting?
It's night one in Nottingham...
ALL: Cheers!
..where professionals Bee and Peter of the Wine Room City
are hoping to wow, their guests with their global small plates menu for
a shot at the £1,000 prize.
In the kitchen, Bee batters and fries cod goujons
along with the salt and pepper squid.
While the others soak up the scenery.
So do you think the decor matches the menu? Yes.
It sort of has like a bistro feel.
I could sit here and have a cocktail.
I was like expecting it to be a posh fish and chip shop.
I felt underdressed. Yeah.
Looking for something?
I cannot find my gambas mix to make my gambas with.
Oh, oh.
What the hell did we do with it? It's here.
Oh, phew! Crisis averted, Bee fries the prawns.
Looks fantastic. I think it looks brilliant, really good.
With the seafood finished sizzling...
Service, darling. Let's go.
..the starter's ready.
Gambas pil pil, Salt and pepper squid and fish goujons.
Enjoy. Thank you.
I'm a New England kid so I'm seafood all the way.
I bet, yes. Fantastic. You know, through and through.
The spice is just right for me. Yeah, not too hot?
Yeah, yeah, not too hot.
The actual dish is not, it's not... Not mind blowing.
Yeah, it's not complicated, is it? Yeah.
I love the sauce. I just tried the squid. It's really nice.
I think a bit more crispy batter on it, but it's amazing.
Very tasty, you know.
The calamari maybe could have done with a bit more salt and pepper
but that's only being tiny picky.
Do you guys normally work in the kitchen together, or...?
No, I am in the kitchen, Peter's in the front, very much.
I do work on the floor sometimes but it's very, it's very infrequent
so I'm behind the scenes a lot.
Are you a couple? Sorry? Are you a couple? No. No! Oh!
THEY LAUGH
How dare you!
I thought you were quite offended by that question. No, sorry,
I shouldn't be offended.
We get on really well. Awkward!
I still thought they was a couple when we met them.
I thought they was a couple. Because
she was like bossing him around and stuff.
Could we be a couple? Absolutely not.
No, never ever, ever, ever!
No, ever, ever, ever.
We get the point.
So, you guys, you met after college? No, at work. At work?
Yeah. He joined the business. Oh, and you just became friends?
Yeah, brothers. Brothers in arms. Brothers, exactly.
I'm trying to guess with, is it Thai? We're Thai.
You're Thai. Are you both Thai? Yes.
Ah!
Oh, my God, that's a great idea. I'm so going to do...
I'm going to do that myself. Made in America.
Yeah, I'm going to do it like
a Navy tattoo that says made in the USA.
USA!
# I was born in the U... #
No, I can't do it, no.
Probably for the best.
I think the starters went really well. Yeah.
I think they all enjoyed it.
On with the main.
Bee adds pecorino to a little gem and courgette salad
and knocks up some patatas bravas,
before frying her flat iron steaks
with a generous helping of garlic butter.
The steak's cooked exactly how I want to present it, medium rare.
Yeah, I'm really pleased with the way that it's turned out.
Flat iron steak with garlic butter
and a red wine jus, served medium rare.
Enjoy.
Mmm! I normally don't order my steak to be medium rare,
but I do quite like this
and I think I would probably order medium rare next time.
I do like the steak. It's very tender.
Yes, it's perfect for me.
When I ask for medium rare,
I want it pink on the outside
and you got it which is really rare.
Mind the pun. SHE LAUGHS
You're excused.
Yeah, I really quite enjoyed that. Yeah, and I think the potato thing
with it was really nice as well. Patatas bravas? Yeah, that was nice.
I could have had the steak a bit more cooked, but the steak was nice.
The steak was nice. The salad paired with it was nice as well.
Would you like to try the wine with the steak, guys?
It's a Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It's a good marriage.
It's a really nice blend. Very good.
So if you were to be a wine,
or a choice of wine, what would you be?
It would be something very oaky, very old.
Something American, no doubt.
Definitely French. Oh, zut alors!
Definitely white, probably the sweetest one.
Sweetest, yeah. Because I'm so sweet.
This is like a dating game answer.
I pick white wine because I think I'm just so sweet.
Because he wants to be a full-bodied wine. Full-bodied... I say.
What do you mean, like, full-bodied?
Do you mean you have like a lot of muscles? What's going on?
If you want to cop a feel. SHE LAUGHS
Is the toilets that way?
He's working out and if he, you know, looks good!
I wouldn't say no to showing off my guns,
but I don't go around purposely showing them off.
They just do that on their own.
Keep them in your holster, fella.
Peter, what would be you, what would you be?
Oh, dear. Put me on the spot here.
Um, I don't know. I was listening to everybody.
Peter, don't get shy. What type of wine? I know...
I'm terrible for thinking on the spot.
Peter, stop being so shy.
I've never known you be that shy before. This is a competition.
That's him told.
Can I take a guess for you? Go on, then. If you don't mind.
A fruity sort of Moselle, a bit green but maturing with age.
Aww! That's nice. Nice one, isn't it?
That was so nice.
That's what makes a good partnership
because you can see him going, I don't know,
and then Bee just kind of came in.
She was like, "Don't worry about it, I'll have that."
"I know you, I've got it." "Don't worry, kid. I'll help you out."
Kind of her, but will it help them
with their final shot at the £1,000 prize?
MUSIC: The A-Team theme
This is just... No, no, Peter, let me just do it, please.
MUSIC STOPS Well, there's no "B" in team.
Very, very happy with this final dish. It is just stunning.
Et voila! Apple tarte tatin
with honeycomb ice cream and Chantilly cream.
Thank you. Enjoy.
I'm liking the dessert, liking the pastry. Very light.
Nice and crunchy. I normally don't like fruit on dessert,
but this is really nice. We've converted you, have we?
Yes, you have. Fantastic, fantastic.
I have to say, hats off to her. She did that...she did
that absolutely spot-on.
I'm not a massive fan of, like,
fruit with food, but the pastry's lovely.
The tarte tatin was really light... Tarte tatin.
I like the name. It was apple pie. THEY LAUGH
Posh French apple pie. Apple pie and ice cream.
This is a competition. Are you guys in it to win it?
How competitive would you say you are? I want to win it.
There's no point finishing second.
It's just first place loser. Yeah.
Second place is first loser.
I'm having that.
Your next tattoo? THEY LAUGH
You're all nice. I know.
But we're trying to beat you at the same time.
Are we that nice? Or are we just acting?
He does know we haven't scored him yet.
Speaking of which...
The food was nice. Yes. The mains was nice,
the desserts was good but the starters let them down.
That's why we gave Bee and Peter a 15.
The main course and the dessert was absolutely wonderful,
but the starter slightly kind of let it down,
but the dessert way brought it back up so on that...
Giving a 17. 17.
So the Wine Room City are off
to a great start with 32 points.
It's day two in Nottingham and at Annie's Burger Shack,
Annie and Rena are feeling confident about their State-side supper.
Last night was good. Yeah.
But I think we're going to bring the American to the table.
Well, you definitely will.
USA! USA! USA!
Need to be bigger, better, go!
Pace yourself. There's still a whole day of cooking to do.
She's going to be out there.
Totally. I mean, she is, she is a bit of a zany character.
I wouldn't be surprised if she
brought in some entertainment midway through.
No, I think Annie is the entertainment. And me, yeah.
Yes, but what about the food?
The food they're going to taste today is going to be the most
authentic American food they've had, I think.
Definitely the most authentic food,
especially considering that they're actually having
a real American cook it.
The stars and stripes soiree begins with the starter,
Annie's traditional Buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dip.
I've never understood why they call it Buffalo.
It's the place. OK.
I don't like using my fingers to eat food like that, or picking meat.
Not finger-licking good for you, then. At least Annie's buzzing.
These chicken wings are the bees' knees.
Having prepped the meat... There we go.
..she dips in a flour, paprika and garlic powder mix.
Nothing is more American than a good old-fashioned hot wing.
Hot wings, baby.
Yeah, baby!
They're left in the fridge to be fried before serving
and it's onto the blue cheese dip.
Blue cheese, I love blue cheese. You love blue cheese?
I love blue cheese. I'm not a fan, you know. Is it? It's the smell.
Ooh! You're going to smell this cheese.
Oh, do I have to? Cheesy! Unsurprising.
The pongy Stilton gets a crumble.
This is my Anglo-American uniting as one.
Such diplomacy.
She adds the UN cheese to mayo
and sour cream before chopping parsley.
You ever notice that parsley smells like lawn?
Not once. In it goes.
Next up, the Buffalo sauce.
You know, I mean, I'd imagine she's probably got her own Buffalo sauce.
Correct. First thing to add?
Butter, butter, butter. Come on.
This is the secret ingredient for
the best Buffalo wings you're going to get.
After the secret hot sauce,
she adds cayenne pepper, garlic powder...
Ooh! That's some kick.
..and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
And now I'm just going to keep it to the side till tonight.
Next up, the main,
the New England Yankee brisket burger with American fries.
Just imagine this big hunk of meat.
Everything I hate. SHE LAUGHS
Not a burger fan, then?
I'm just expecting burger and fries
but I hope she does something to jazz it up a bit.
Over to Annie.
I make these burgers the really old-fashioned traditional way.
You just put a tiny little bit
of pork mince in there that just gives some moisture.
Along with the porky beef mince,
she adds her own blend of spices and breadcrumbs, then mixes.
I went up against a butcher once,
wanted to show me some fandangled patty-making machine
and I could do it faster.
That is woman beating machine.
Bravo! They're shaped, slammed...
OK, let's make America proud.
..and set aside for later.
Next up, the potatoes.
What's the difference between normal fries and American fries?
Made by an American.
Well, technically a Canadian.
I'm leaving you on wedge duty. OK.
Good luck. Sounds good.
Rena chops up wedges, then parboils.
They'll be triple cooked later along with thin cut and curly fries.
Finally onto dessert,
Annie's nut-free chocolate peanut butter pretzel pie.
How does that work?
I like peanut butter, but I don't
know if I like nut-free peanut butter.
It makes no sense at all.
I'd rather have peanut, no peanut butter at all.
I'm sure there's a very good reason.
So this is our peanut-free peanut butter.
It's made of toasted soy instead of peanuts because I'm allergic.
Well, that makes sense.
It's added to tofu, topped with
maple syrup and melted chocolate, then blitzed.
I like chocolate and I like peanut butter. Yeah, I'll give it a try.
For the base, Annie adds butter to blended biccies.
Annie, how's it looking? This is pretty much USA in a dessert. Yeah.
Amazing you can fit it all in one tin.
Finally, on goes the non-nutty mix.
Sounds quite interesting. I do like pretzels.
But do you like pretzel jokes?
Two pretzels walking down the road. One was assaulted.
Oh!
What did the pretzel say when he fell to the floor? What?
That's an unexpected twist!
Oh, man. That's like some weird dad joke.
Yep. They're blitzed and will be added to the pie before serving
and that's the prep done.
So everything's gone really good with the prep.
Yeah, we're going to do it for America! Grr!
USA! USA!
For a food competition, it's basic. Yeah.
I think we're still in a very good chance of winning.
First in, Der and Bee.
Welcome to Annie's.
How you doing, all right?
Hi! Hello! Hi, guys. Nice to see you again.
Yeah, looks very American. Yeah.
Nothing gets past him.
Did you bring this from your house in America?
I couldn't afford anything else so I just took all my brother's.
Does he know?
Next up, are last night's hosts, Bee and Peter.
Hey! How are you? Hello, hi! How are you? Are you all right, Bee?
Did you guys want a Jolly Rancher cocktail?
Is it supposed to be a sweet? Yeah, it's a hard sweet.
Yeah, it's a hard boiled sweet.
Looks like a drink to me.
Yeah, welcome to the Shack.
ALL: Cheers!
Coming up, an assortment of accents...
That purple dog is flah!
That's in Alabama. SHE LAUGHS
I definitely think she could have been a stand-up comedian.
..and memorable music.
MUFFLED MUSIC
Listening to it, I liked the ending.
I think I was quite happy to hear the end of it!
It's night two of our Professionals competition in Nottingham...
ALL: Cheers!
..where Annie and Rena of Annie's Burger Shack are treating
two rival restaurants to an all-American experience.
As Annie fries the chicken wings for the starter... There we go.
..the guests have spotted some snaps.
I think Annie was a rock star before she started making burgers.
She was definitely the head banger. Bang on!
I wonder how long ago it was.
It was last weekend, wasn't it? SHE LAUGHS
The photo of Annie singing. Slightly disturbing.
It was kind of scary.
You need to get out more.
In the kitchen, Annie gently crumbles even more cheese
onto the blue cheese dip.
Is it good? Yeah, it looks nice.
Wings fried, they're topped with the Buffalo sauce...
Oh, it tastes like home, smells like home.
..before dishing up.
If you don't close your eyes
and feel like you're in America, nothing is going to do it.
Service!
Starters up, Annie's traditional Buffalo chicken wings with
a blue cheese dip,
and a side order of wing-eating etiquette American style.
Stick your butt out, got to kind of sit forward,
get your beer ready like that,
you're watching the TV right now,
you've got your football, you're on the bar.
You put your arms on the table
and then all of a sudden you just go in,
and go in. Mm.
Do you fancy doing it?
Are you going to fancy giving it a go?
I liked her explanation of how to eat a chicken wing.
Would I sit and eat
a chicken wing like that with my beer? No.
Never mind the technique, how's the taste?
I'm not a big fan of blue cheese.
THEY WAIL
Oh. Don't worry, though.
I'm so sorry. It's all right, it's not going to waste.
The chicken wing's nice. Yeah? Yeah, the flavour's there.
The chicken wings were definitely better than I thought they were
going to be. It was cooked pretty well.
I'm not the biggest fan of wings
but I like the tang on the flavouring.
Yeah, I love blue cheese, I love Colston Bassett.
Yeah, the spice was good on the wings, nice texture.
Yeah, the chicken wings were nice.
I did like the blue cheese dip, you know?
Had wings before. Wings are wings.
Wise words indeed.
50/50 with the wings and the blue cheese.
Oh, wait, hang on a moment, we are in a competition.
Yeah. They were being actually honest.
Yeah.
Next, Annie serves up a platter of her local patter.
Is that Y'ALL going to be, like, coming from, like,
North Carolina then y'all be talking like this?
SOUTHERN ACCENT INTENSIFIES: But if y'all want to go from Georgia,
y'all be like a snake, you know,
you're all going to be doing like that.
CLIPPED ACCENT: But if you want to go Texas,
you're going to have to talk like that.
NEW YORK ACCENT: New York and your voice gets a lot lower
and then, like, "Purple dawg is flah!" And that's in Alabama.
LAUGHTER
Blimey, that's quite the range.
I love Annie. Do you?
She's funny, isn't she?
Yeah, I definitely think she could have been
a stand-up comedian.
"There's a snake in my boot!"
Oh, my God. That's so cool.
What do you think, Patrick?
She means you, Peter. Anything?
THEY GIGGLE
That's a no.
How YOU doin'?
That's it - how YOU doin'?
How YOU doin'?
No. Still not going to happen.
Go on, go on. Go for it. Absolutely not.
Spoilsport!
How YOU doin'?
How you doin'?
"How you doin'?
Well, the thing is, how I can't do an English accent
because I sound like Dick van Dyke from America.
I'm like, "Hello, guvnor, are you all right?!"
Cor blimey!
I think it's good vibes all round.
Everyone's really happy,
everyone's kind of taking part in the conversation.
Yeah, yeah.
AS DICK VAN DYKE: It's a jolly holiday with Annie,
and it's on to the main.
As the burgers sizzle away, she dunks wedges,
fries and curly fries, not scrimping on the carbs then,
and heats up the slow-cooked brisket.
Hopefully they like it.
Burger assembled and sides plated, it's good to go.
If that's not a winning burger, I don't know what else is.
The New England Yankee brisket burger with a trio of fries.
So eat it any way you like.
I love it, I love the burger.
The bun's really nicely toasted.
The burger was really good.
Wasn't great, having the burger fully well done.
Yeah, that's not my preference.
I'm not the biggest burger fan. You know, just,
just never really been,
I do love the top and the cheese. Yeah?
For me I love the fresh lettuce, the fresh tomato.
The burger and the bun is as expected.
Not sure that's a compliment.
I don't eat burgers.
I don't call that going out for dinner.
I'm quite similar to Bee.
I don't tend to eat those kind of things.
Oh, dear.
Bee and Peter, they are quite particular.
Eating a burger with a knife and fork... Yeah.
Not very rock and roll.
Yeah, we've got loads of burgers named after famous people as well.
Yeah, well, yeah, yeah.
There's a lot of people that have, like, asked
for burgers and stuff. I did Slayer,
I've done, like, Lemmy loved my burger.
Lenny? God rest Lenny. Lemmy!
I didn't want to do this thing like "Hey, do you know who I fed?"
Of course not.
"Oh, yeah, I fed Lemmy," You know, that's cool.
You know, I've fed Kerry King from Slayer.
Come on! That's just... Thin Lizzy, come on, you know?
I actually turned down a few.
Guns N' Roses, I was like, "Ah, no."
You turned down Axel?
I'm not a fan of Guns N' Roses.
I can't believe she turned down Axel Rose.
Who's that?
Guns N' Roses.
I'll have to tell you about that later.
So the pictures from earlier that we saw, were you in a band?
That was the whole reason why I came to England.
I literally came over to Nottingham with a guitar
and a suitcase on my own in my early 20s to play music
and then I just ended up making burgers!
So this wasn't the original plan? So you wanted to do music?
No, this was definitely not an original plan
but now I'm back in a band.
So what, sort of, heavy rock, what sort of, metal?
It's a bit punky.
She could have been the next Suzi Quatro.
You don't know who that is, do you?
I know the name but I can't picture the face.
So you don't know, then.
Would it be possible we heard one of your songs?
10-15 second preview? Come on, Annie.
Yeah, come on!
Ten seconds of fame. Depends how into it you get.
SONG PLAYS ON PHONE
Well, that didn't take much persuading.
SHOUTY ROCK PLAYS
It's the type of singing where it doesn't sound like words.
Yeah. Just shouting. Yep.
SONG ON PHONE CONTINUES
It's not Olly Murs, is it, Peter?
Listening to it, I liked the ending.
I think I was quite happy to hear the end of it.
With everyone's eardrums hopefully still intact,
it's onto pud, which Annie slices while Rena, er, watches.
How are they looking?
Home-made. Ha-ha! Definitely home-made.
OK, Rena, any thoughts? Any thoughts at all?
No? OK, then.
The puddings are drizzled with chocolate sauce,
pretzel pieces and caramel.
So this is our last push.
Hey-ho, let's go.
Dessert's ready,
Annie's nut-free chocolate peanut butter pretzel pie
in a puddle of sauce with three little blueberries.
And here we go.
I actually really like it. I do like that.
I mean, I wouldn't eat it on its own necessarily but with a beer...
It just sort of, yeah.
Yeah, I like it because it's not too heavy
and I like the crunch on the pretzels.
I'm not keen on the pretzel topping.
Pretzels are slightly soft in the middle
so I would prefer something a bit crunchier.
It was good, yeah. I enjoyed it.
A bit on the sweet side for me
but peanut butter and chocolate, wow!
I think dessert was the best part of the meal.
Two lassie chefs are done so now it's up to you boys, right?
We're always up for a challenge so...
Really? You want to take us girls on?
Aren't most successful chefs male?
Oh-ho-ho! How dare you!
Brave move.
Was your mother not a fantastic cook?
My mother was an amazing... IS an amazing cook.
Exactly, so I think you ought to...
Yeah, but his dad is also.
But he only cooks a meal once a week.
LAUGHTER
I'm going to step back from this conversation!
THEY LAUGH
Moonwalk out of here!
I feel like I haven't got any backup from you two!
Yep, I'd stop digging if I were you.
He instantly regretted it.
He was like, "Oh, no, people will probably talk about that."
I just thought I, I really don't care.
Now for the scores.
Tonight we were welcomed by Annie and Rena very warmly,
but the food wasn't quite to our liking so for that reason...
We're giving them a 15.
Tonight we both loved the hosting.
I wasn't too keen on the burger.
I could have had the starters over and over again. Yeah? Yeah.
So tonight we're giving Annie and Rena
a 17.
So Annie's Burger Shack earns
a star-spangled 32 out of 40,
putting them neck and neck
with the Wine Room City.
It's the final day in Nottingham
and on hosting duties are owner Der and head chef Bee.
Last night was good.
The night before was OK.
Our night's going to be the best.
To get top scores tonight,
I'm just going to rely on my smile and from us two, raw sex appeal.
I'd plan some food as well.
You know our competition is going to be from the boys,
I think. The boys are really going to pull it out the bag tonight.
Yeah, they've got two nights on us now.
Meanwhile, the penny has finally dropped for Annie.
It just clicked and I'm like, "I remember you."
Der served me at his place and this was years ago.
Small world. Now, then, what's on the menu?
We're trying to keep it traditional Thai
but then we're adding our Western culture to it
that we've picked up, being here for so long.
First course on their east meets west menu is the starter -
Seafood platter including mussels
in a white wine and cream sauce,
pan-fried king prawns and oysters.
MUSIC: The Trumpet Hornpipe
I mean, we love seafood.
Yeah, I love seafood but where's the Thai element?
There isn't one in this course but there's still Thai-me!
It's going to blow them away. Definitely.
They begin by prepping the prawns.
Just look at the size of the prawns. Juicy as hell.
Very. They're deveined and set aside for later.
Onto the next round of shellfish.
Are these the mussels for tonight?
Yeah, these are the mussels, bro. These are the big ones.
These are bigger than yours!
Size isn't everything!
Next they test their aim.
Bit of competition. I bet you I can get more than you in.
If you beat me, you get a raise. If I beat you, minimum wage.
The stakes are high!
Ooh!
Ahh!
We're bad at this.
Well, you are!
Back to minimum wage, boy!
Harsh. And it's onto cleaning the oysters.
I've never had an oyster before.
You've never had an oyster? No.
Oh, ho-ho! It just scares me, just the thought of it.
I love oysters.
Yeah, so these have been delivered fresh from Scotland.
Rip it up.
Check out that fancy gadget.
Nice, jubbly.
Now for the taste test. How's that?
That's amazing.
The rest of the seafood will be cooked later.
Next up, the main -
Grilled lobster cooked in chilli and basil
with king prawn fried rice.
Grilled lobster, I love lobster
when it's done right and it's still succulent inside.
With serving lobster,
you do get particular people that will make little digs like
"the lobster's overcooked" or the, so you have to,
we have to make sure that we get the lobster right.
All right, lads?
Hi, mate, how we going?
Lobsters for you.
Have we got Canadian or...?
No native, mate, natives now. They're in season.
Best lobsters around, best in Nottingham.
I'm confident this is going to be the winner, mate.
Yeah, mate. That's enough chat, mate. Let's get them cooking.
They're going to be impressed with this.
Of course. They're coming to the Lobster Pot,
they can't expect no less.
They'll be grilled with garlic butter tonight
and served with Thai-style rice.
King prawn fried rice. Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
Bee thinks so.
We've got the best fried rice in Nottingham.
All the awards out there will tell you the same story.
Yeah, yeah, they was won because of the fried rice.
That's what people come back for.
That's got to be some fried rice. They'll cook it later.
Finally, it's pud - mango and coconut sticky rice.
I don't think I've really had Asian sticky rice before
so that will be interesting.
Mango and coconut sticky rice, can't go wrong with it.
Everyone's going to love it, world-famous.
If you've never had it, you're living under a rock.
Not sure all of that's true. Still,
Bee steams the rice while Der chops mango.
So you get the sweetest mango from Thailand.
It can't just be any mango from the supermarket.
Heaven forbid. Ooh, your aim's improved then.
Bull's-eye.
I absolutely love sticky rice. I think...
Annie loves anything coconut.
I know.
Bee heats up the coconut milk and adds sugar.
You see, this is Bee's speciality.
Like, I don't, I try not to touch this.
Nice?
Ooh, yeah.
It'll be mixed with the rice tonight,
and that's the prep done.
Come on, bro. We smashed it in the kitchen today,
so let's go get our Thai on. Yeah.
I'm quite excited about the menu, to see how they cook it all.
Like nil by mouth until we get there, right? Yeah.
That's it, nil by mouth till we get there. This is too good.
First to arrive are Bee and Peter.
Hello. Nice to see you again.
Afternoon. Nice to see you.
Good, thanks, welcome to the Lobster Pot.
Thank you.
The menu does look really good.
Is there anything on there that you're cautious about?
Just the dessert. Have you not had it before?
No. So at least it's going to be the best they've ever had.
Will it be as good as my tarte tatin?
If it comes down to a vote and it's a draw,
we'll do rock, paper, scissors for it.
No. Lady - always wins first.
No, I thought we were equal. I thought we were equal.
Only when, when it comes to winning, women come first.
I'm not getting involved!
Here's Annie and Rena.
Right, ready? Yeah.
Hi! How are you?
ALL: Hello!
Nice to see you.
You look fab, how are you? Nice to see you.
Sabai sabai cocktail for you.
It means "everything is OK" in Thai.
ALL EXCLAIM
I don't think he was expecting that.
Wait, what are we doing?
Careful of your arm there, Bee!
Those muscles are going to stand him in good stead.
Was it me that mentioned them or did they just pop out of my shirt?
Bee just keeps noticing them.
ALL: Cheers!
Coming up, tears at the table...
I remember years ago, you came over and served me,
you were so proud.
She's got it.
Awww!
It was a different side of him and it was like, soft muscle Der.
And someone lands the loot.
Look at all this money!
THEY CHEER
It's the final night of
our professional competition in Nottingham.
ALL: Cheers!
And at the Lobster Pot,
Bee and Der are hoping to snap up the £1,000 prize.
Oysters and mussels prepped,
and prawns fried with garlic butter,
it's time to serve.
Looks good, smells good. It's going to taste good.
Exactly.
And here it is, a seafood platter.
Right, let's dig in.
I'd recommend chewing it because a lot of people,
a lot of people just knock it back, swallow the whole.
All you're tasting is sea water. OK.
So chew it and you can taste the creaminess of the oyster.
Verdict?
God, you either like chewing it or you don't. Yeah!
You definitely chewed that oyster, didn't you?
The oysters that I had were fantastic.
The two oysters were brilliant.
I'm really scared. I've never had oyster before.
Straight in for the deep end.
BOTH: Cheers.
Oh, my God, I'm back on the beach again!
LAUGHTER
I actually loved every single thing.
The sauce was so good. Like, I had nothing to fault.
Who does that on their first oyster?
Yeah. Right?
The starter's a hit
and Bee's not just finding the fishes dishy.
So with the muscles, is it muscle on muscle?
Ooh!
Muscle on muscle on muscle!
LAUGHTER
Thank you, I needed that!
Tell everyone about that review we got.
The review comes in.
It was like everything was great in the restaurant,
the food was nice, so was the muscles behind the bar.
Should have got a phone number, really.
Yeah, he should have replied and said you know,
you've left, you've left your coat.
It definitely pumped him up for the week.
You know, you could tell he was like,
yeah, I got a review about my muscles,
and he was like, "It was no big deal."
It WAS a big deal!
And those guns are also coming in handy
as they're cracking open the lobster main.
They're grilled and Bee's onto the best fried rice in Nottingham.
To eggs, peppers and onion, he adds rice and prawns,
while Der tops the lobster with garlic butter,
all under dad's supervision.
Yeah, he's quality control.
And does it pass the taste test?
With the thumbs-up from the big man,
the main is good to go.
Look at that, that's perfection on a plate right there.
Grilled lobster
with king prawn fried rice.
We was going to go Thai Thai
but then we thought we'd do western Thai
because I feel like that's what we are.
That's what we are. We're a bit... We're Thai but then we're also born
here, so we're Western as well, so...
It's half and half. Two cultures.
We're Tinglish. Tinglish!
Is that what they call it?!
Oh, that's so cool!
Tuck into your full Tinglish, everyone.
I love it.
This is definitely like right up my street. It's nailed for me.
I've never had Thai food, ever, so I'm loving it.
You never had Thai food either? No. This is my first time.
Yeah, I love it. It's amazing.
I really enjoyed it.
The lobster was amazing. I loved the rice so much.
I expected nothing less from the best fried rice in Nottingham!
The rice, I really like it.
The prawns are cooked really, really well.
I've not had lobster before.
Erm, the flavour's great.
I expected the lobster meat to be softer?
It's quite meaty and chewy and quite stringy.
Oh, dear.
The flavours are brilliant
but in the middle he was still a little bit muscly.
I think he's just a little bit...
It's because he's taking after his dad.
LAUGHTER
The lobster for me was just a little bit overcooked.
Just the chewiness of the lobster, it was quite tough.
We knew Bee and Peter were going to be hard to please.
Every time you say, "How was everything,"
there's always a, "Ooh, but I would change this,
"but I would change that." Yeah.
And Annie's got another topic to get her claws into.
I think I know why that you said
that men are better chefs last night.
Ooh.
I remember being here years ago
and you came over and served me.
You just said, "It's my dad's place
"and one day I'm going to,
"it's going to be up to me to take it over."
You remember that kid, that kid that served you?
I remember that kid.
You were so proud.
She's got it! Awww! I've got it.
You were so proud.
I think today when he was talking with his dad,
now, like, he's proud to be taking over,
like, it was a different side of him and it was like, soft muscle Der.
Soft muscle Der! Oh, he's going to love to hear that!
"I am not a soft muscle Der!"
To food and family. ALL REPEAT TOAST
ALL: Cheers!
So when Annie got quite emotional,
it made me want to shed a tear as well, but men don't cry.
We sweat our tears out at the gym, don't we? Yeah!
Course you do.
But may I just say one thing?
That does not make men better chefs, ever!
Ever!
We've all come from that. Thought you was going to drop that!
LAUGHTER
This is a competition!
We've had a winning starter, we've had a winning main.
We've definitely got a winning dessert. Yeah.
Bee adds the coconut sauce to cooked sticky rice
as Der and Dad stand over him. No pressure at all!
He finishes off with a side of mango.
I'm happy. Let's get it. Come on.
Fist pump complete, as is the pud,
Mango and coconut sticky rice
with a cheeky bit of mint.
I hope you all enjoy it.
I really like it, the mango's really sweet.
I love this. Yeah, I could eat about 40 of those.
Not right now, because I'm full, but...
Oh, it was wonderful.
Very fitting, very classic,
very nice. Perfect, I loved it. Yeah.
It's not the same, but the sticky rice reminds me of rice pudding
a little bit... Oh! ..but I do like coconut and the flavours are good.
It's not over sweet.
That's a good point for me and I love the, I love coconut.
The flavour of it all together was really good. Mm.
So my first impressions of you two boys, it was...
"Oh, they're so hot!"
Sorry, sorry, don't mean to be patronising in any way. You are.
When I first met you two men... Men, you hunk of men!
Adonises. Oh, my God, yes, Adonises!
You walked into my world,
bowled me over.
They've had enough flattery now.
Time to find out who's won.
We smashed it, bro. We smashed it.
Come on, give ourselves some credit.
Der and Bee
need to score 33 or more
to bag themselves that grand.
They literally brought it tonight.
They delivered what they were saying.
They were at their top game.
I think tonight's been lovely.
It's been, I think for all of us,
relaxing into each other's company.
They killed it, they killed it.
Yeah. 20.
Really lovely oyster tonight as a starter.
Not so keen on the lobster.
So for that reason we're scoring...
Whoa, there. We'll find out who's won together.
THEY WHOOP
Come on, guys, look at all this money!
THEY CHEER
In joint second place,
we've got the Wine Room
and Annie's Burger Shack!
Which means the winner is the Lobster Pot!
ALL: Yay!
Bee and Peter scored Der and Bee 17,
making the Lobster Pot the winners.
I'm buzzing, I'm absolutely buzzing. I'm buzzing.
ALL: Yay.
So much for those muscles.
They knew what they were doing and I'm so happy,
and there's nothing better than seeing smiling faces.
Best not look this way, then.
Joint second isn't good enough for me.
No. I mean the boys did really well.
CHEERING AND WHOOPING
We just proved that men are still the best chefs.
Ooh! Who needs female customers anyway?!
# This is a man's world
# But it wouldn't be nothing
# Nothing
# Without a woman or a girl
# You see... #
Subtitles by Red Bee Media