I'm ready to rock and roll if you are.
Take three restaurants... Cheers.
..aiming for culinary excellence... Da-da da-da!
Yeah.
Yes. Let's go.
..ask each to host a three course meal...
It's beautiful. I'm hooked.
..which will be scored in secret.
Stop.
On today's show... Eat me, eat me!
..generational joviality...
This is my mum. This is my mum right here.
This is my mum! THEY LAUGH
And you know we had immediately something in common.
..family firings...
Dad comes up the stairs and he's, like,
"Right, that's it, never again, you're not coming back."
Maybe John really wanted Rosie to work in the restaurant
and she found the perfect way of getting out of it.
..and partying pros...
I could barely move after that meal but she got us moving.
..as they compete for a £1,000 in beautiful banknotes.
Probably wasn't the best that I had Axel Rose's private parts on my mind
going into dessert.
This week the Professionals cooking competition comes from Glasgow,
a city bursting with multicultural cuisine.
Come on then, where's the comedy name?
Aha! There we go.
The first restaurant on the Glaswegian gastronomic adventure is
Saffron by Paradise, run by mother and son, Mozhgan and Mehrab.
We wanted to open a restaurant that really emphasised what was great
about Persian cooking, about Persian culture.
So what's the pecking order?
I am the boss when it comes to the cooking. I will be the captain.
Yes, captain. Yes, captain.
Who's going to not listen to their mum?
And is he a good boy, Mozhgan?
He is a dream boy, he is.
He's absolutely whatever I wanted for a son.
He's my boy and I love him to bits.
Hopefully none of that's getting used.
Wouldn't dream of it. To avoid any further embarrassment,
let's get on with some cooking.
We can't wait to get started today.
And show them what the Persian food is all about,
how to cook it, how to serve it.
And they're kicking things off with the main:
I'm not sure about the butternut squash. If that's overcooked,
it's just a mess. If it's undercooked, it's just unpleasant.
Meet our second parent and child combo, John and Rosie from
the Red Onion. There's a theme developing here.
Got a cheque for you here for table nine. Cool.
We are a family-run city centre restaurant,
contemporary Scottish cuisine.
Think global... Eat local. Eat local.
I'm imagining haggis teriyaki.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
My cooking is probably informed by my previous existence as a rock
and roll touring chef. It was supposed to be a six week tour
with Tina Turner which was Simply the Best,
but it turned out to be six months and from Tina then,
it went onto Guns n Roses
and then I was a private chef to Bryan Adams,
and that was me for the best part of five years,
catering for a vegan who didn't like vegetables.
I'm sure your cooking was straight from the heart.
Yeah. What's your dad like when he's not celeb cheffing, Rosie?
He's very chatty, always, like, leads the conversation and he tells
a lot of stories, a lot of stories that I've heard a million times
before, I'm sure, so...
So you're going to have to listen to them again.
I'm going to have to listen to them again.
It certainly sounds like it.
Now, what's the story with your main, Mozhgan?
It's not a dish that you see in your day to day menu
so I think they will be looking forward to try it.
Well, it's all starting with onions, sauteed with turmeric.
They are telling us they are so happy to be in the competition.
Yes, of course they are.
Lamb goes in.
The fact that there's some meat in it looks like
I will enjoy it, if it is well cooked.
It's a family affair this week then as completing
the line-up are mother and son,
Steven and Elizabeth from the Calabash in the city centre.
We try to bring the whole continent of Africa into our plates in
the middle of a Glasgow street.
After a night in the Calabash, you will go home with
a belly full of food and a heart full of joy.
That is quite the summary. So, who's in charge here, then?
In the kitchen, there's no contest. Mum is definitely the boss.
OK. Good to go? Ready to go.
He's not a good cook, to be very honest.
It's not doing well. I know you are not very good at this,
could I help you, please?
So I'll not let him make a lot of the food
because I don't want people to be disappointed.
Nothing like a mother's love, eh?
And what's going to bring the cash to the Calabash then?
The reason why we are going to win is
because we've got the best food, we've got the best vibe. Yes.
At least your mum approved of that.
Back at Saffron, Mozhgan's taking the reins of the main
and sauteing squash,
which she spices up with paprika and cardamom...
A tiny little bit of grounded rose petal.
..before adding orange and lemon juice.
Oh. It's yum.
It's combined with the meaty mix and finished off
with soaked apricots and saffron water.
Smells perfect.
You are doing brilliant, darling.
Good girl.
It'll be left to stew and served with bejewelled rice tonight.
Onto dessert:
This just sounds wonderful.
If they fail in any department on it,
then it might just go down and we'll take it right downtown.
I don't even know what that means.
I've been eating this since I was about five years old,
this ice cream, and it just brings back up
all these childhood memories. Mehrab?
Oh, you're back. For the ice cream, cream, milk,
sugar and eggs are combined with saffron water.
Beautiful yellow colour, it's just the sunshine of Iran.
Which needs a few nuts.
We've got some almonds... Almonds... Pistachio...
It's all tipped into an ice cream machine
and Mozhgan pours cardamom essence over peeled pears.
I'm not very sure as well that the cardamom and pear will...
Will work together. Will work together.
Mozhgan?
Oh, oh, oh. "Pear"fect.
"Pear"fect, very good. Got any more like that?
We do make a very good "pear".
Oh, mums, eh? After a fry in butter and sugar,
the pears are popped into tins and topped with pastry.
Pearrrrr-fecto!
OK, stop it now.
There we go, and I see you later, my babies.
They'll be cooked just before serving.
Time for the starter:
A new thing to me, looking forward to taste it.
I could see myself enjoying that, yeah. Definitely.
First dip to do is a smoked aubergine
and mum's left Mehrab to it. No pressure.
My gran used to make this.
I went back to Iran a couple of years ago
and I got to have it again and it's just absolutely amazing.
After a smoke on skewers,
tomatoes and aubergines are skinned and squashed,
and then stirred with garlic and tomato puree.
So good. We just gradually mix this in.
While it simmers, Mehrab moves onto the batter
for the sticky spicy aubergines.
Sticky how?
How would a spice be sticky?
Nothing sticky about this so far.
We've got our special pomegranate molasses sauce that's
going to go on top which is going to make it super sticky
and super spicy. That's that.
Just in time, Mum's back to judge the dip.
Let's see if you made your grandma proud.
Drum roll please.
Just don't spill it on your shirt. Good?
That's what you're talking about, yeah.
Well done, you. Job's a good'un. Well done, you.
You are well trained by your mama. Bring on the guests.
Good boy, Mehrab.
It'll be served alongside pistachio and beetroot dips later.
I would say we're in for a bit of competition here. Yeah.
Personally I think it will not challenge because we have a variety.
Mum, you haven't seen it yet. You haven't eaten it.
Yes, but I've seen the menu.
First to the Persian party are John and Rosie.
Hello. Hello, there, how are you? Nice to meet you.
Welcome to our restaurant. Let me get you some drinks.
Cheers. I hope we have a brilliant week.
Yes, absolutely. So here's the thing,
we actually love this restaurant, yeah. - That's amazing.
Yeah, we come, we love it, we come as a family all the time.
No way!
Yeah. Yes, you've served us. I have?
But he doesn't remember you.
So, you work with your dad as well?
Only like a year I've been working with him since I graduated uni.
Here are Steven and Elizabeth.
I'm Rosie, nice to meet you.
I'm John. Have a couple of drinks, guys.
Thank you. Are you guys, are you guys related at all?
Yeah, this is my mum. It's your mum? Yes.
This is my mum right here. This is my mum here.
Yeah, early start on the dad jokes.
No, this is my daughter. Yeah, this is my dad.
It was great to find out that everybody was a family unit
because I knew that we had immediately something in common.
Cheers to having a really good night and an even better week. Yes.
Coming up, equine embarrassment...
One time he said talking about, like, me and my sister
and how we have so much hair
and how there was like all this hair in the shower,
and he says, "They're like horses."
I can't believe they let him in the house after that.
..and rock and roll recollections.
I was a chef to the Bee Gees, Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams.
Everything I cook, I cook for you.
Everything I chew, I chew for you.
We are in trouble!
It's night one in Glasgow... Cheers.
..where Mehrab and Mozhgan's Saffron by Paradise is
the first of three family-run restaurants in the running
for this week's £1,000 prize.
Let's do it, let's crack on. Let's do it.
With their diners having a drink,
Mehrab and his mum get set
for their culinary Persian excursion,
and while Mozhgan fries quail's eggs, aubergines are dropped
into a vat of hot fat.
They are looking cracking. Oh, no.
No, they always talk to me and they are just saying, "Crack, crack."
"Out. Take me out."
Mozhgan does what her eggs are asking and while they go on
the aubergine dips, feta is added to the beetroot.
Beautiful.
The fried aubergines get a glaze of pomegranate molasses,
chilli and nigella and sesame seeds.
Are you happy? Yeah, I'm absolutely happy.
Let's get this served up.
Here's the starter:
..with a selection of dips, aubergine, pistachio and beetroot.
Looks very nice. Pretty.
Oh, look at the size of that wee egg. Look at that egg.
Bon appetit.
What do you guys think? How is your food so far?
Delicious. Yeah, the flavour of the aubergine is incredible.
All the dips complement each other. Mission accomplished.
It was kind of like they were throwing their biggest flavours
at us all at once and this was going to impress us the most.
Yeah, it was like... When...
It was like the best of Iran in three dips basically.
What you've done with the aubergine is very unexpected
but it's a pleasant unexpected. I'm loving it.
Oh, I'm glad. This was a good surprise then.
Yeah. It's nice, it's nice, it's nice. OK.
I liked all their starter. It was beautiful.
Yes, I think we are off to a good start.
Do you have real authentic dishes from Persia?
We do, yeah. Actually one of the dishes for our main course is
something my mum used to cook when she was younger.
It's not the same dish that you cooked... - No, no, no.
..when you were younger? It's fresh?
The dad jokes are out. Rosie's hiding with that one.
Well, that's our job. That's our job, to embarrass you.
Oh, yeah, I'm really good at that.
It's obviously a thing that all parents are embarrassing
to their kids. It's a no-brainer.
In the restaurant I don't know what's the most embarrassing.
Maybe just calling me over to every table
and introducing me to every customer
and one time he said, talking about, like, me and my sister
and how we have so much hair
and how there was like all this hair in the shower
and he says, "They're like horses", to the customers.
And I'm listening, "Did he just call us a horse to the customers?"
John calling his daughters horses,
I can't believe they let him in the house after that.
You just try to do something and they're like,
"Mum, please, no."
Like now I could have done the dance moves but Steve had told me,
"Mum, you must not dance anywhere."
Mum. I don't want you throwing shapes, Mum.
There is no way we're not going to
let you dance before this week is over.
Well, mum dancers are definitely better than dad dancers.
Yes. Sounds like you've had some feedback before.
And all this performance patter has jogged John's memory.
I was, ten years of my life,
I was a chef to various rock and roll stars.
Amazing. And I toured the world, yeah.
You're not going to drop any names for us?
Don't get him started. Well, this food reminds me of
the time I was cooking for Bryan Adams. I was his...
Oh!
Yeah, I was his...I was his private chef
for the best part of five years. Prior to that I worked
for, you know, the Bee Gees, Paul McCartney.
That's only the beginning.
Is that a Bryan Adams song? Everything I cook, I cook for you.
Everything I chew, I chew it for you.
Yes, John. Like that very much.
He serves food for the likes of the Bee Gees and Bryan Adams...
Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney, seriously.
We are in trouble.
Yes, it could be a Hard Day's Night. How's your stew?
They are saying, "Eat, eat me, eat me!"
OK.
You happy with it? I am very happy with it, yeah.
Serving it to Bryan Adams' chef?
Oh, ho, don't scare me.
Here's the main:
Lamb, butternut squash and saffron stews served with a bejewelled rice.
There you go. Thank you.
Look at that.
Let's dig in.
What do you guys think of the food?
Yeah, do you like it? Yeah.
I think it's delicious. It's a wonderful contrast of
the sweet and savoury.
I thought it was very nice and very tasty.
I enjoyed it apart from the apricots, the sweet apricots.
It was a lovely plate of food but it just lacked the wow factor.
I think the main course went really well.
Everybody was surprised by the different flavours
so I think success all round.
Who's the boss in this relationship then?
Officially on paper, he's the boss but...
But not just officially on paper, but...
..I am the boss. It's my name on your wage cheque.
Yes, so... I don't hesitate to tell him how it's done sometimes.
Yeah, and I think it's like working with family, the benefits are
the honesty that you've got between each other, you know? Yeah.
When your children tells you something,
you know that it comes from the heart so you accept that.
Even when they're shouting and bawling at you, and calling you
everything? - Yes, they have the best in their heart.
You've got to take it.
You can sack us, we can't sack you.
But they're becoming indispensable in the job, you know,
so it's like they're not the bosses...
Who else are you going to phone... But they're definitely...
..at nine o'clock in the morning on their day off.
"Hi, what are you up to today? Oh, nothing? You know,
"can you go and buy this, can you buy me 3kg of that,
"and can you just go to this fishmonger and this butcher?"?
You know, you can't do that to any other member of staff
on their day off. No, this is true.
I enjoy being in the kitchen
but I like spending more time with my grandchildren.
How many do you have? 16.
No way! 16 grandchildren?
16 grandchildren.
Wow, lucky you.
It sounded like she would quite like to be a grandmother
so young man's got some work to do there.
THEY LAUGH
How many have you got?
Me?Zero. THEY LAUGH
A big fat zero...
..thanks to you.
I think Mehrab is going to have to get his finger out some day soon,
maybe not his finger but you know what I mean.
Moving on! Time for dessert, I think.
Da da-da da-da!
I knew you could do it all.
You happy? I'm very happy.
The puds are plated up with ice cream.
These are looking great. I think these are going to win us the
competition. Let's hope so. We'll find out.
Here's dessert: Pear and cardamom tarte tatin
with home-made clotted cream and saffron and pistachio ice cream.
For you, madam. Thank you very much.
Wow. A lot of savoury elements going on in it as well
so it's going to be interesting.
OK.
It's lovely, so my pastry has all gone.
I feel that the pastry could have just been a bit,
cooked a bit longer.
Unfortunately it's got a bit of a soggy bottom.
Whilst the flavours, again, were interesting, it was quite diverse.
They weren't sweet enough for me at all. No. For a dessert.
It looked very nice and the little I tasted was delicious.
I think we've definitely done our restaurant justice.
I think we're in the running to win this competition.
Let's find out. Scores out of 20, please.
So, tonight we've had a great evening.
The food was cooked really well
but some of it wasn't to our personal taste
and for that reason, we are scoring Saffron...
..a 17.
Hospitality was first class, service was excellent,
but I felt that the food just missed the mark here and there.
And for that reason we are giving Saffron by Paradise a 15.
Meaning Saffron by Paradise starts the week with
a thoroughly respectable 32.
It's the second day in Glasgow
and the turn of the Calabash to stake their claim to the cash.
Who's in charge in the kitchen today?
I am the boss in the kitchen today and Steve is my assistant.
Yes. You do what I tell you. No problem.
So, we think tonight might be African food.
We've just got a hunch about that.
I think it's going to be a lively atmosphere from
the impression that they gave. Hopefully there's some dancing.
Hopefully my mum doesn't join in with the dancing.
Our mission is to bring the entire continent of Africa to one table and
wow our guests with how amazing an experience it is and give them the
night of their life experiencing what Africa has to offer.
That is quite an ambition.
The main's not exactly simple, either:
It's totally unknown territory for me. I have no idea.
So much on that menu that I have never heard of
and I've cooked in 60 different countries.
First up it's the nyama choma.
Nyama choma is grilled meat. It is the signature dish in Kenya.
We are going to show you how we marinate it but we're not going to
tell you the ingredients - those are a secret.
The secret spices get a rub on lumps of lamb.
In Kenya really what we like to eat is goat but
because there's usually a supply problem in Scotland,
we find that this is the best suitable alternative.
The marinated meat will be cooked tonight
and will also be used in
the mshikaki which is skewered meat with peppers and onions.
Steve, can you go and get me the seasoning?
There's none left.
Stop it, that's a dry joke, Steven.
Get the seasoning or I sack you as my assistant.
And she might give you a calabash over the head too.
While Steve chills the chopped veg,
Elizabeth brings out the boerewors.
And we make it here, at The Calabash,
and we grill it and serve it with a special salsa.
I think we're going to be eating big tonight, by the looks of it.
Yeah, and I'm not going home hungry tonight.
No, and it's going to be meaty.
Yeah, definitely going to be meaty. Well, it's going to be lamby.
The meat sweats might come out. Lovely!
I think they might have put themselves under
a lot of pressure -
hosting and cooking four or five dishes at
the same time could be a little bit tricky.
The multi-course feast will be finished off tonight.
On to dessert,
plantain with custard and mango with chilli.
I love mango and chilli. It is a great combo.
That is like my favourite snack.
I don't think it's a very complicated dessert.
Looks like it's your time to shine, Steven.
The custard I'm not sure he'll make it right, so... Oh.
That's why I've decided to do the custard.
At least he knows where he stands,
which is over there.
With Steven on the sidelines,
Elizabeth beats milk and double cream...
All in? Yeah.
..which she lets him pour in a pan with vanilla pods to heat.
The custard is coming to a nice boil.
Plantain I know well
but I don't associate it with dessert.
It's an interesting choice.
I can't say it's something I've had before so...
Ready? Yeah.
The mix is added to egg yolks and sugar
before Steven sticks in a spoon.
It tastes absolutely fantastic.
The custard will be served with fried plantain
and ice cream alongside mango and chilli tonight.
On to the starter, githeri salad,
mixed beans with sweet corn, lettuce and African seasoning.
They're pretty basic salad ingredients so I'm interested
to see how they make it their own.
If you can add something amazing to a salad,
to take the boringness out of the salad, it's amazing.
Nothing too wild so far, as Elizabeth fries onions.
So it's all about what the African seasoning is.
Yeah, and I'm excited to try something new here with this.
Absolutely.
This is our seasoning.
The secret seasoning from earlier's in
with chilli powder, mixed beans and sweet corn.
Come on, Steven, give it a taste.
It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it, you know.
Somebody has to do it.
You haven't let him do much else, to be fair.
What do you think? I love it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It'll be served on lettuce with salsa this evening.
That's us, everything ready, waiting for the guests, ready.
Let's get ready to party.
# Party after party Party after party. #
Yeah, I'm excited actually now.
I am really excited by this menu, you know.
I'm excited because it's stuff I've never heard of. Totally.
Food I've never eaten before.
I think it's an interesting menu,
full of surprises and I can't wait to try it.
Wow, I'm excited for this one. Here we are, cool.
First in are John and Rosie.
Hi. Hey.
Hey, nice to see you again.
Good to see you. Nice to see you.
Here are Mehrab and Mozhgan.
You well?
Hi, how's it going?
Welcome to Calabash.
ALL: Cheers.
Wow!
Coming up, spectacular spreads...
You attack, you just attack.
You decide where you want.
It's an absolute riot of food here, it's incredible. It really is.
It's a credit to Mum's skills in the kitchen.
THEY CHEER
..and prancing parents.
I saw some great dancing tonight.
Not you.
It's night two in Glasgow where at the Calabash,
Steven and Elizabeth are putting on
an African extravaganza in the centre of town.
With their guests guessing about the menu...
I had to google a lot of it.
Same!
..the hosts serve their starter.
We are looking forward
to see their reaction. We cannot wait.
Here it is, githeri salad - mixed beans with sweet corn,
lettuce and African seasoning.
This is our githeri salad. Enjoy.
Thank you. Thank you.
It's warm. Mm!
I really like this, I think it's a nice jumping-off point.
It's a great refreshing start to a meal.
Yeah, and I also like
the heat in the background. It feels very mellow.
It's really nice, it is so nice.
The starter was lovely but it was a very simple dish.
Very refreshing and very tasty.
I think this is a great introduction hopefully
to what we've got to come.
Oh, thank you, thank you. Yes.
We're really pleased how much,
how well the starter has gone.
So can I ask, what does calabash mean?
I'm glad you asked, I'm glad you asked.
One second.
So guys, this is one version of what a calabash is.
It's typically a gourd.
Once you've got your calabash and you cut it in half,
it becomes a very versatile tool. You get thirsty,
you can use it to scoop some water from the river.
If someone offers you some food,
they can put it in your calabash
and then, you know, once you are sitting round
the camp fire with a group of friends,
you could use it as an instrument as well.
So Calabash has been named after that ethos
and that concept of versatility of eating and drinking
and having a good time together.
Ah. It was a perfect description.
I loved actually that kind of story and the note that was in that.
That was such a nice sentiment. Yeah.
Time for the main and all the meat gets
a heat while Elizabeth fries her mumma special.
I'm very, very happy about the way it has come out,
exactly the way I wanted it to be.
It is the opportunity for us to present Africa,
African continent, on the table.
Well, it's about the same size!
Here it is - Jumbo tapas, including mumma special,
boerewors, mshikaki,
nyama choma, and more sides than you could cram in a calabash.
ALL: Wow.
Wow, wow, wow. This looks amazing.
Look at this presentation.
And is there any way of starting the meal or do we just dive in?
You attack, you just attack.
You decide where you want to go first.
Yeah. Fill your boots.
This dish is beautiful.
I love, everything is nice, I love it.
What do you think?
It's an absolute riot of food here you know,
like colour, texture, flavours.
In general I am overwhelmed here.
There's nothing on this table that
I've actually eaten before so this is a brand-new experience. Exactly.
It's a brand-new experience. It's incredible, it really is.
Everything you put your fork in, your spoon in,
you had no idea what that was going to taste like.
You had not idea whether it would be hot, cold... Spicy.
As a couple of lamb snobs,
the meat let us down a little bit.
However, they made up for it with the rest of the
flavours on the table.
That is a huge success,
and it's a credit to mum's skills in the kitchen.
So Elizabeth,
what type of clientele do you usually get?
You should come here on a Saturday evening
and you will meet every person from every different part of Africa.
But of course it's taken a lot of work to get to that stage.
Different cultures coming together sometimes can cause friction.
You'd get, for instance, one guy from
Rwanda from one tribe that's currently in war
with another tribe and it would be like, whoa.
Yeah, and they even want to start fighting.
Oh, really? In the restaurant? Yeah, yeah.
And now they are all one big family.
Yeah, like now you will find on one table a Somalian guy
and a Kenyan guy having the time of their lives drinking
a beer together, keeping each other company.
You're creating a whole community in here... I know. Yes, we have.
..in a basement on Union Street in the middle of Glasgow.
Hats off to you. Hats off, exactly.
I think Steven and Elizabeth are so admirable.
The business that they've put together
and the atmosphere that they've created,
the way that the sense of community, it's amazing.
It's a good night. So, yeah, we've put out the best of
the spread that we possibly can manage
but hopefully the sense
of adventure flows through to dessert as well.
We'll soon find out, as it's all plated up
and finished with a squeeze of chocolate sauce.
This is the last part of our African meal.
Let's hope they love this. Yes. Let's go.
Pudding time!
Plantain with custard and mango with chilli.
Oh, it looks beautiful.
We hope you enjoy.
Thank you.
Whoa, that's chilli, that's really chilli.
It's lovely. I think the flavours are amazing.
I love it. It's really tasty.
The ice cream and the custard and everything is so sweet,
and vanilla and delicious.
I can't believe I'm enjoying chilli!
LAUGHTER
I loved the flavours of the pudding.
I absolutely loved the home-made custard
and the home-made ice cream
and I just drenched everything in that and it worked for me.
Fair enough.
I cannot wait for you guys to finish the dessert
so that we can start our night.
Start our night? The night is just beginning.
Next door, come on, guys, follow me.
JINGLE: You're listening to the sounds of DJ Manu.
I do love a DJ who's not afraid of a jingle.
# Party after party Party after party... #
I could barely move after that meal but she got us moving.
I know, that's why I just love this woman.
I loved it, I just was so excited
and I was clapping and I was dancing.
THEY CHEER
Are we calling that dancing?
I saw some great dancing tonight.
Not you.
THEY SING ALONG TO THE MUSIC
If you're going to party with anyone,
you want to party with some African people.
Yes.
THEY CHEER
Oh, don't try that please, John.
It was just so spontaneous
and everybody was genuinely having a great time.
Especially DJ Manu.
THEY CHEER
It would not have been complete without the dance
because that is who we are and that is what we do.
Well, you've certainly put the bash into calabash.
We could not have done it any better. We did our best.
So we have had a riot of a time tonight
and a true taste of Africa, and for that reason...
We are scoring The Calabash
a 16.
We've had a great night, there's been some really good food,
some really fun dancing, great service.
Couple of little niggly points but for that reason...
We score Calabash 18.
Meaning The Calabash's night
of African authenticity puts them in
the lead with 34 points.
It's the final day of the competition
and at the Red Onion,
John and Rosie are getting set for a Glasgow gastro show.
We're all about the food
and our food is going to knock them out the park.
John could not have gotten a job to cook
for celebrities if he was not a good chef.
I'm expecting something quite contemporary,
something quite modern,
and something maybe a little bit chic.
Like this?
Tonight we're going to give the guys a real taste of Red Onion,
food that's been, you know, informed and influenced by my world travels
and the best of Scottish produce and I think tonight,
we could slay them. Yeah, we're going home £1,000 richer tonight.
They kick things off in
the kitchen with the main,
five-spice Gressingham duck breast
with tamarind glaze
and shiitake mushroom jus.
I love duck breast,
especially if the skin is nice and crispy.
This dish actually is a,
was inspired by my first visit
to Singapore when I was cooking for Bryan Adams.
Wasn't in the summer of '69, was it?
John starts with the sauce.
And so in goes our ginger, garlic, star anise, bay leaf.
It's really the star anise that's the star of this show.
The only thing I do not want to see in the duck is blood.
It's going to be served pink
and I'm afraid there's no other way of serving duck, you know.
A duck breast in particular.
After a score, they're ready to be seasoned.
It's a Chinese five-spice and sea-salt mix.
With the duck done, it's on to a glaze.
Tamarind paste, hoi sin sauce
and fresh orange zest, so it really is
the piece de la resistance of this duck dish.
On to dessert,
vanilla cheesecake
with bruleed banana
and salted passion fruit caramel.
This dessert doesn't look like much on paper
but I think it's going -
it's one of those that's going to be a real showstopper.
I love, love, love, love, cheesecake,
especially, like, home-made cheesecake. It's amazing.
The cheesecake is banana. It's bruleed, it's passion fruit.
It's rich, it's delicious, it's creamy,
it's everything you want in a dessert. It's a winner.
Aiming for a tiptop topping, cream cheese, double cream,
lemon zest and sugar are whisked with vanilla bean paste.
Good.
Cool.
On to the biscuit base.
It's quite a sexy shot, this.
Apart from the blue roll in the background.
The biscuits are blitzed with butter and golden syrup.
Yeah, cool.
Teamwork's making the dream work here.
Now for the topping.
Beautiful, if I say so myself.
OK, good. I'm happy with that.
High praise indeed.
On to the starter,
seared Barra scallops with plum tomato,
Highland chorizo and aioli dressing.
Scallops, tomato and sausages are pretty - it's a pretty safe bet.
Safe bet.
We've had a lot of meat
and it will be really interesting to see how they react
to seafood and scallops cos they're quite an acquired taste.
I've never tasted them,
I don't know how they are cooked so it will all depend on the taste.
Yeah, they really are little,
little jewels of the ocean, are scallops.
"Scollops"? Scallops. "Scollops". I don't know...
You say scallops, I say "scollops".
Whatever it is,
you're talking molluscs, and they'll be pan-fried tonight.
On to the aioli.
Well, I hope you're going to wash that.
Allioli is a garlic mayonnaise,
you know, Spanish garlic mayonnaise
and this dish is really sort
of inspired by my summer holidays in Spain,
growing up in Spain in the '60s and the '70s.
Grated garlic goes in for a whisk with egg whites,
mustard, paprika and olive oil.
OK, stop.
Isn't it about time you embarrassed your daughter again?
More salt. So embarrassing...
That is so... Stop it!
There we go.
The aioli will join the other ingredients tonight.
I'm ready to rock and roll, if you are.
I'm ready to rock and roll, too.
This could be a real experience, yeah.
We could be in a little bit of trouble if they can manage
to pull out everything perfectly.
First to arrive are Steven and Elizabeth.
Hi, how are you?
Welcome. Hi, Rosie. Good to see you.
Nice to see you.
Hey, you have a very beautiful place.
Welcome to Red Onion. We're delighted to, have you? Thank you.
So we have this little canape that we've prepared here for you.
Oh.
It is haggis and white truffle bonbon.
Thank you, thank you.
It's like a Scottish boerewor.
It really is. Amazing.
Here are Mehrab and Mozhgan.
How are you? Good. Good, welcome.
Hi. Nice to see you.
Long time, no see.
I know!
I think I'm going to have another one.
You've got three courses to come, Steven.
You have three courses so you are not allowed another one.
That's you told.
Welcome to Red Onion and I hope you all have a wonderful evening.
ALL: Cheers.
Coming up, hairy anecdotes...
Axel had a man who used to, a roadie,
who used to dry his private parts.
This is not dinner table conversation!
Rosie, give the people what they want!
THEY CHEER
..and a pair of pros take home the dough.
ALL: Ooooh!
In third place...
It's the final night in Glasgow where at the Red Onion,
John and Rosie are aiming to rake in this week's readies.
While their guests shoot the breeze in the bar,
the hosts get set for their starter.
As long as we get that scallop seared properly
and the balance of all the flavours is there,
then we should rock and roll it.
The scallops get a sear with lemon and parsley butter...
Sizzle, sizzle.
..and are plated up with the other elements.
It's a winner, so fingers crossed. Mm.
Here it is, seared Barra scallops
with plum tomato, Highland chorizo
and aioli dressing.
Ah, lovely.
My first time to have scallops.
Oh. Love a challenge.
Please tuck in and enjoy, guys.
I'm loving it. The scallops are cooked perfectly,
nice and crispy on the outside and the allioli is beautiful as well.
Thank you.
The scallops were perfect.
Elizabeth, your first time with a scallop?
Exactly. Will it be the last?
Ah, this is just the beginning...
LAUGHTER
..and I'm hooked.
Very nice.
It was delicious
and I'll go for it again and again and again.
Didn't like it at all. LAUGHTER
Fibber.
Clean plates. Starters went down so well.
After a clean sweep on the starter,
Rosie reels off some service stories.
We had about 45 French tourists in the restaurant,
and they were having chocolate brownies
and ice cream with their dessert, and salted caramel sauce.
That day we did have a corned beef hash on.
Oh, a corned beef hash...
And we had it with HP sauce.
..with HP sauce on the side,
and I think you can see where I'm going with this one.
But they did not say a thing and it was only...
Oh, no. They ate the whole thing?
So we gave them hot chocolate brownies with ice cream
and HP sauce...
HP sauce!
..instead of salted caramel sauce.
No wonder we've got a bad name all over Europe
for not having tasty food in Scotland.
We're serving them brown sauce with ice cream.
That's disgusting.
I did start working, when I turned 16,
you know it's time to get a job.
Dad gets me in one Saturday afternoon
and gives me a tray of drinks and was like,
"Right, take that to that table."
They had to be these women in cream suits
and Prada handbags, and everything, like, it was just -
anyways, I went over to the table, took one thing off,
didn't realise the whole thing about it has to balance,
and it spilled all over the back of this woman's white jacket,
and Dad comes up the stairs and he's like,
"Right, that's it, never again, you're not coming back," and I left
and I didn't come back for five, six years after that.
So you lost your job that day?
So I lost my job on day one
and it hurts when it's your own dad!
THEY LAUGH
Maybe John really wanted Rosie to work in the restaurant
and she found the perfect way of getting out of it.
THEY LAUGH
Well, she's still here tonight, while her dad does the main.
This is the wow factor that's going to go on this dish,
and it's a tamarind glaze.
Let's hope it's not brown sauce.
The addition of the tamarind's just taking it up another notch,
into another dimension.
Cosmic, man.
Is it pink? Oh, it's pink.
Yeah!
It's finished off with a splash of sauce,
crispy kale and sweet potato crisps.
So I've been cooking this dish for the best part of three decades
so let's hope it doesn't let me down tonight.
Here it is, five-spice Gressingham duck breast with tamarind glaze
and shiitake mushroom jus.
The main course.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
And I hope you enjoy.
What do we think?
Very delicious.
The only thing, the Africans, we eat well done. OK.
I'm surprised how well I enjoyed the pink meat
and that is credit to John because of how well he made it.
I wish the skin was a little bit more crispy
but the rest is really nice.
I think that's a very... Very fair point.
A very educated fair point.
The skin and the jus let them down a little bit.
I take that criticism 100%.
Six duck breasts in the pan, there was not enough heat so maybe
with hindsight we should have done it in two or three different pans.
Having taken it on the chin about the skin,
John regales with some tales of life on the road.
Every member of Guns N' Roses,
you know, had these little strange requests, you know?
And Axel Rose in particular had many, many strange requests.
You close your ears here, Rosie.
THEY LAUGH
Axel had a man who used to,
a roadie who used to dry his private parts.
What? Dry?
Dry his private parts. So...
This is not dinner table conversation!
Rosie, give the people what they want!
So Axel was famous for wearing little, sort of, tight pants
and he would jump about the stage, you know, and after about
an hour he'd jump into his little side stage bothy
and he'd say, "Dry my private parts."
And the roadie had gaffer taped three hairdryers together,
taken out the heating element,
put them down his pants, and dried his private parts.
Well, I've just played tennis, let's give it a try.
HAIRDRYER DRONES
Oh! I might have to switch that to cold.
To be fair,
there could be worse ways of drying someone's private parts.
Yeah.
It sounds effective. It was effective, yeah.
It's amazing how many celebrities he's cooked for
and he remembers all the details of most of them.
It's hard to forget that one.
Probably wasn't the best
that I had Axel Rose's private parts on my mind going into dessert.
I feel personally that the starter got us off to a flyer
and we really hit the ground running there,
and we just took our eye off the ball slightly
and we've got a bit of ground to make up on the dessert.
John starts by bruleeing sugary bananas.
You couldn't do that with a hairdryer.
I thought it was just going to be the...
Cherry on the cake. ..cherry on the cake
but now it's actually got to be a showstopper. No pressure.
No cherries on these cakes.
These are vanilla cheesecakes with bruleed banana
and salted passion fruit caramel.
Thank you.
Please, enjoy.
The passion fruit and the lime zest really make it.
I think the tartness of it - so no complaints from me.
I really enjoyed dessert. The presentation was amazing.
I like the caramel as well,
I like the zing of the lemon so it's really, really nice.
The passion fruit took me far away to my village.
Aww.
Which makes me... And my childhood, which makes me feel very, very good.
The dessert was wonderful.
Overall, I think we were really happy with our dessert.
But has it done enough to like tip the scales?
I'm really not sure. I think this is still totally in the balance.
Let's find out.
John and Rosie need 35
to take top spot.
The company was fantastic,
some of the food wasn't to our liking
but we still enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless, so for that
reason we are scoring a...
17.
We've had a really good night tonight.
The food and the cooking was exceptional.
Unfortunately it wasn't perfect
and for that reason we're going to score the Red Onion...
Hold your hairdryers!
THEY CHEER
As hosts, it's up to John
and Rosie to reveal which set of pros is taking home the dough.
In third place...
..Saffron By Paradise.
THEY CHEER
Where did they come from?
In second place we have...
..Calabash! THEY CHEER
Which means in first place,
Red Onion.
THEY CHEER
Mehrab and Mozhgan scored the Red Onion 18,
giving them a final score of 35
and pipping The Calabash by one point.
Well done, mate!
We've had a really good week, met some really nice people
and had some great food, so I think everyone's a winner here.
No winners, all winners. OK? Yes.
No, no, no, no losers, all winners.
Just open the fizz, John.
We are very happy for John and Rosie for being the winners.
It's been a great week and we congratulate them.
CORK POPS, THEY CHEER
Met new friends, had some wonderful food
and at the end of the day we won, which is just superb.
It's the icing on the cake.
To us. ALL: Cheers!
THEY CHEER
MUSIC: Paradise City by Guns N' Roses
# Take me down to the paradise city
# Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
# Won't you take me home
Take it!
# Take me down
# Send me down
# Take me down to the paradise city
# Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
# Won't you take me home. #
HAIRDRYER DRONES
Subtitles by Red Bee Media