Come and clean my octopus. No, you're all right.
Take three restaurants...
ALL: Cheers! ..aiming for culinary excellence.
Do you need me to do anything? No.
Ask each to host a three-course meal...
Ding, ding. Service, please.
..which will be scored in secret.
Baaa-ye! LAUGHS
On today's show, wonderful worms...
Our very own worm salt. Don't taste any worms.
Yeah, it just tastes like salt, really, doesn't it?
The worm cut through the sweetness of the dessert.
..scorching sauces...
I'm going to get stuck right in.
Oh, my God. Can I have some milk, please?
I thought he was going to pass out at one point.
..and a disgruntled diner...
Stick to pub grub. Give me pub grub!
Wow. Well, the man knows what he wants, when he wants it.
..as they thrash it out for a £1,000 in cash.
On a personal man to fish basis, I don't like that fish.
Today's Professional competition comes from in and around Cardiff,
the capital of Wales - a nation famed for its beautiful spring lamb.
And looking to spring to top spot are our first duo,
co-owner Sam and head chef Gary of Mexican taco bar La Pantera.
La Pantera is a tequila taco bar.
We've developed a bit of a reputation.
We like to burn the candle at both ends, like, every day.
Let's hope you don't burn those tacos.
It's kind of putting any kind of food inside of tacos
and calling it Mexican. We change the menu every single week.
We put pasta, rice... Everything, Big Macs...
Whatever you can fit in between a tortilla has been there.
The mind boggles. So, what's the plan today?
We're kind of all about fun dining, not fine dining.
We just try and have as much fun as we possibly can,
and long may it continue, really.
And the first course to have fun with is the starter...
I'm not a big fan of...
..bottom-dwelling fish.
Meet Gareth and his wife Heather, proud owners of The Gate.
The Gate is the best restaurant around these parts,
best steak house, freshest seafood. I just love food,
love serving customers, love cooking it.
We've worked together for years, but the rules are
I don't get involved in the kitchen, and that's how we stay
happy and married.
We used to come here for date nights. 20 years ago.
Yeah. We used to sit here and think,
wouldn't it be lovely to have this place?
And it was just a dream, because we never, ever imagined
we would be able to have it. And now we come here every day,
and I still love this place.
Back at La Pantera, there's something very fishy going on.
Doing mackerel three ways, we're going to do it pickled,
we're going to do it potted in a pate form, and we're going to do
grilled mackerel kind of Asian style.
So basically a lot of mackerel,
the first of which goes into a blender with creme fraiche
for a blitz.
It doesn't look too appetising at the moment.
Maybe some chopped herbs will help?
Delicious. Oh, that looks ten times better.
I told you. A dollop of horseradish, and...
That's really good. THEY LAUGH
Just hope people like mackerel. Everyone loves mackerel.
I hate mackerel. Hate mackerel. Not ideal.
Completing the line-up are lint-free chef Joel
and owner Sian of gastropub the Horse & Jockey.
Ne-e-eigh!
The Horse & Jockey is my lovely little country pub.
The food's amazing, the staff's amazing,
and we all strive for greatness here.
Amazing. And what do you dish up at the Horse & Jockey?
It's the top end of pub food.
If Michelin star did a pub, we'd be it.
They do. Do they?
Oh, I didn't know that. Well, something to aim for, then.
We're a very, very busy restaurant, and being only 23,
I think we do a fabulous job.
Back at Fish HQ, and the boys are in a pickle for their second tostada.
Vinegar, water, bit of sugar, and then just a variety of seeds.
Which is poured over raw mackerel.
The third mackerel offering will be seared before serving.
Onto the main...
Welsh lamb tacos? No. That doesn't make sense.
That's not, they don't go together.
A nice leg of lamb, marinade it with loads of fresh chillies,
peppercorns, white wine vinegar, bit of pineapple.
This is our piece de resistance, as they say in Germany.
Mais oui, Herr Gary.
The marinated lamb will now roast for several hours.
Baaa-ye!
I like lamb, I like tacos, I like it all. What's not to love?
Next up, Sam and Gary get to work on their salsa.
Pico de gallo, like the red, white,
and green of Mexico, so we've got the red of the tomatoes,
the green of the coriander and then the white of the onions.
Garlic and oil are added. It's onto their next side.
Fri...fri... Fri-jol-es?
Please don't ask me what "frijoles" is, because... No.
..in my years, I've never come across it.
Come on, Sam. What is it?
Frijoles is just basically refried beans.
It's quite a traditional Mexican side, isn't it? Yeah.
He adds chilli to the pre-soaked and cooked black beans,
which are then blitzed.
Finally, dessert...
That sounds absolutely divine. Mm.
I'm getting Spanish vibes from this menu.
Well, Mexican Spanish.
Obviously, in Mexico they speak Spanish. Obviously.
I thought they spoke Mexican in Mexico. Spanish.
For the caramel sauce, butter is added to sugar,
and then hot cream.
Oh-ha-ha.
Little volcano going on.
Before a final pinch of salt.
We'll leave that to cool, shall we? Job done, let's go.
The rest will be made later, so that's the prep complete.
Really shocked. I thought, like, I would be wowed.
Instead, the only "wow" I've got is, "Wow, is that it?"
I'd say it's possibly a runners-up menu.
After...
After ours. Thought so.
First to arrive at La Pantera are Sian and Joel
from the Horse & Jockey.
Hello, are you OK? Joel. Joel, Gary, nice to meet you.
How you doing? Sian. Sian. Nice to meet you.
Would you like to take a lagerita? A lagerita? So what's in it, Sam?
Lime juice, sugar, tequila,
beer, and then it's all just frozen in our slushy machine.
Sounds delightful.
Finally, it's husband and wife team from The Gate, Gareth and Heather.
Welcome to La Pantera. I'm Gary, nice to meet you. Heather.
Hi, I'm Sam. How are you? How are you, mate, you OK? Gary.
How are you?
Welcome to our night, guys. Let's have a good week.
ALL: Cheers!
Coming up, interior insults...
No disrespect, but they haven't spent a lot of money on the decor.
Do you think they look down on us a little bit? Maybe, maybe. I got that impression.
..and slippery stories.
Python steak.
It cost me a horrendous amount for this 4oz python steak.
That steak story went on a bit, didn't it?
Doesn't shut up, does he, really? No.
It's the first night of our Pro competition
from in and around Cardiff...
ALL: Cheers!
..with Sam and Gary treating their guests to a fiesta
of inauthentic Mexican dishes at their restaurant, La Pantera.
Whoop. Got it.
If everyone wants to go downstairs and relax,
we'll just get the starters ready. As the hosts begin cooking...
This mackerel is going to be the centrepiece of the show, isn't it?
It's going to look very nice.
..their guests are admiring the surroundings.
It's a lovely little place. Yes, very quaint.
No disrespect to the two guys,
but they haven't spent a lot of money on the decor.
It's not a professional type of place,
it's more of a street food, chilled vibe.
I'd pop in on my way past if I was hungry
and there was nowhere else open. Ouch!
Downstairs, Chef Gary is sticking tostadas to plates.
We're just putting the guacamole on the bottom of the tostadas
to stop them sliding round the plates.
A little chef trick, isn't it?
Top tip there. And they're crowned with slaw.
So, this is the pickled element of the mackerel dish.
We've basically cured it in a pickle brine.
Any more mackerel? Do you know what,
they're going to love this mackerel pate.
Let's hope so.
Before some lightly seared...
..mackerel.
Service.
And there it is, a trio of mackerel tostadas.
I hope you all like mackerel. HE LAUGHS
This is REALLY delicious. It's really lovely.
I can appreciate the effort that went into this, I really can, but...
You don't have to be polite, Joel. Mackerel is not for me.
I mean, the only one I can really get along with is the pate one.
Yeah. That's OK. I can see, that's fair enough, yeah, yeah.
I ate it to not be disrespectful.
Mackerel's OK, but I couldn't eat the raw fish bit.
I despise mackerel, but that was phenomenal.
I still just don't like it as a fish.
On a personal man to fish basis, I don't like that fish.
Is this a place you'd normally kind of come?
Personally, no, but you have taken me by surprise. That's good. Yeah.
This is where I'd want to go for a couple of drinks before I go
to a nice meal later on in the night. And, er...
Gareth, they CAN hear you!..yeah. NERVOUS LAUGHTER
We wouldn't want you to leave.
Do they think they've come to the slums? Do you think they look down on us a little bit? Maybe, maybe.
I got that impression. I got that too.
So, Gareth and Heather, why did you set up your place?
Well, we used to go date nights in our restaurant 20 years ago,
when it was owned by someone else, and we've had numerous restaurants
before, but this one came up about five years ago,
and so it holds good memories. It's got a sentimental value?
Yeah. And yourselves?
Our restaurant is really iconic. Everyone met their husbands,
their aunties, brothers, cousins, sisters, wives, dogs,
goldfish, handbags, you know. It was the place to be.
We've completely transformed it, mind you,
half a million pound later. If you look around,
we haven't spent half a million pounds.
Imagine spending half a million pounds on a refurb.
I mean, I can't even imagine... I don't think this building cost half a million.
If you don't mind, we'll crack on with your main courses.
Yeah, they absolutely smashed that mackerel, didn't they? I think so, mate.
I thought it was going to go down the pan, but, yeah, it went all right.
Not entirely sure they all enjoyed it, but hopefully the main course
will go down better. Sweet corn fritters are given
a deep fry, and out comes a selection of salsas.
It's a chipotle mole.
So, mole traditionally has just a touch of chocolate for the sweetness, doesn't it? Yes.
That's just going to give it a nice little spicy kick.
,So we're literally going to put everything on the table
and people are just going to help themselves and get stuck in.
And they'll be getting stuck into Welsh lamb tacos.
Enjoy. Thank you very much, boys.
Thank you.
That salsa's lovely.
I love coriander anyway, but that is really good.
Guacamole has never been one for me. OK.
But this, this is very pleasant actually, yeah.
You can tell from me I'm not a big vegetable fan.
The only vegetable I do eat is sweet corn.
Sweet corn is my favourite.
Lamb, originally I thought in a taco, bit weird.
However, the lamb's lovely.
Do you know, the main course was not bad.
Yeah, I really liked the main course, to be fair.
It was really lovely.
The hot sauce was too hot for me, but that doesn't take much.
I bet it's not as hot as my extra hot sauce.
Oh, well, I'm looking forward. We can have a hot sauce-off.
Now that IS something to look forward to.
If I had to be really picky, the lamb was a little bit done
too much for me, but then the sauces were delicious.
The mole, the hot sauce, really, really good.
Back at the table, Sam's sharing the secret of La Pantera's success.
When you have such a small menu like we do, I think we have
to keep it sort of changing every week.
What have we put in there? Rice, pasta, noodles.
Fish and chips. Fish and chips. We've done meatballs.
We've done steak pie taco. Yeah.
But if you had to choose a taco, which taco is for you?
One of my favourites was the roast dinner taco.
Interesting actually, yeah. With your places, guys,
what's the weirdest thing that anyone's put on a menu ever?
The strangest was python steak,
and that was... No way.
Yeah, it cost me a horrendous amount for this 4oz python steak.
Right. Wow.
And it was shocking. It was chewy, bland.
I only had, I think I bought, say, about half a dozen or ten steaks.
Where are we going with this? I sold one.
That steak story went on a bit, didn't it?
Yeah. Doesn't shut up, does he, really? No.
I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of weeks
they had an exotic meat in a tortilla.
I wouldn't bet on it, Gareth. But how's the main gone?
Second course, everyone was a bit more open, weren't they?
I think when everyone gets stuck in, it just kind of breaks the ice.
Completely.
Hopefully, dessert will carry on the thaw.
Yet another taco is smothered in caramel
and chopped bananas, and onto the hot plate.
Is this a winner? It's a bit of everything, isn't it? Yeah.
Bit of everything, and your fruit, five a day.
Final dish of the night, a banoffee pie birria
with tequila whipped cream.
So, it's our twist on a classic Mexican dish. So, we've put
a dessert inside a birria, basically.
There's tacos, there's cream, there's bananas,
there's tequila, what more could you want?
It is slightly too falling-out. Yeah?
Excuse the pun, that's when it all fell apart for me.
I like to be in control of my food.
Banoffee pie is caramel and banana, not chocolate.
I ate the banana out the middle. I don't like chocolate.
Don't worry, Sian. Here's something that'll take away
the chocolaty taste.
What we've got here is our very own worm salt.
Worm salt is fried worms ground up with salt.
Are any of you brave enough to try this? I am.
Straight in. Are you mad?
Why do you think it's not going to go?
That salt is not for me.
I'm not shy of trying things, but I could've done without that.
Oh...
How's that? Yeah, it just tastes like salt really, doesn't it?
It's nothing, like... Yeah, a bit of salt.
Don't taste any worms, obviously. You can't say,
"Oh, that's a lovely earthworm from Outer Hebrides."
The saltiness takes that to a level where it should be anyway.
The worm cut through the sweetness of the dessert a bit.
And the only way to follow a plate of worm salt is...
So, it wouldn't be a night at La Pantera without something
a little bit special.
THEY CHEER
Asbestos hands.
I was expecting a mariachi band. SHE LAUGHS
You can't always get what you want, Gareth.
Right, time for some scores. Out of 20, please.
We've had a great evening. Gary and Sam are lovely hosts.
Really enjoyed tonight. It's different. Makes a change.
Because it's different from anything we'd normally do.
We actually enjoyed our food,
really didn't think we were going to.
Mackerel surprised us,
dessert let it down a little bit,
so tonight we're going to score them a...
BOTH: 13.
Good food, good welcome.
Yeah. So...
BOTH: We're going to score them 15.
Which gives la Pantera a very respectable 28 out of 40.
It's the second day and the turn of The Gate,
with Gareth and Heather to host.
Most definitely last night, they could be our main contenders.
They could be in with a shout. Chalk and cheese to what we do here.
Tonight will be fine dining on a steakhouse level,
good quality food and knives and forks.
Cutlery's always nice.
Maybe they run, like, a pub. Yeah, we think country pubby. Yeah.
I'm hoping tonight that it's going to be my cup of tea,
I'm going to have a really good night, and we are going to love it.
The first dish to fall in love with is the starter...
I cannot wait for the starter. What, you like seafood?
I LOVE octopus. I love scallops.
Since when? I've always loved it.
For starter, I'm going to do a hot fruits de mer,
which is a mixture of fresh seafood.
Come on, then, let's see what you've got.
Beautiful langoustines from Scottish waters,
lovely fresh Scottish scallops as well,
and then we've got the New Zealand mussels.
I think you've forgotten something. Heather, I've got a job for you.
Go on. Come and clean my octopus. No, you're all right.
Clean it yourself.
The octopus is popped in a pot with salt and lemon and then boiled.
Sounds delicious. I mean, we love seafood, don't we, so...? Yeah.
After a brief spell in the blast chiller,
it's off with the tentacles - crikey -
and into a vacuum bag with garlic butter
to be cooked sous vide for four hours.
"Famous squid dip." Squid dip?
How can a squid dip be famous? I don't know.
Tell us, Gareth.
This squid sauce is the most important thing.
That's way too thick, you can't give that.
So, yeah, we'd be hounded out of town
if we ever took this off the menu.
And, for tonight only, Heather's being shown how to make it.
Do you have to watch? Thinner, thinner. Thinner? Thinner.
Thinner.
Keep it together with your hand. Together.
Downward motion. Downward.
Like a professional.
But she's flying solo on the chilli.
Not really enjoying this. It's really out of my comfort zone.
This is why I married a chef, so I didn't have to do this.
Everything's then tipped into the secret sauce base.
So what do you put in there then? I can't tell you. Not even you.
Not even me? Not even you.
It's then poured into pots.
Onto the main...
Do you reckon he's dry-aged this himself?
I don't know. Where's he going to dry-age it?
THEY LAUGH
Only in one of his TWO dry-ageing cabinets.
This is our 40 day dry-aged fillet mignon,
centre cut,
the most tenderest bit of meat you can get.
The meat will be cooked prior to serving tonight.
Done right, it's the best thing in the world as well.
Done wrong? The worst thing in the world.
Thank you.
Tournedos Rossini, the old Italian traditional dish.
Basically a crouton, pate,
fillet steak,
and some shaved truffle on top.
For the Rossini pate, Gareth empties
a huge bowl of chicken livers that have been soaking in brandy
into a pan of frying shallots.
Smelling amazing. Yeah, it's going to be good.
Everything's blitzed with a generous helping of butter.
The liquidised livers are then popped into
the blast chiller to set.
Lovely. Love that. Perfect, can't wait, let's go.
The final part of the main is the classic potato dauphinoise, and yes,
another cookery lesson for lucky old Heather.
Once you've done one layer, fresh garlic, and then keep going.
Every other layer, put the garlic on.
Every other layer? Yeah. Unsupervised, eh?
Oh, maybe not. I'm just making sure.
We want the best for our guests tonight.
You've only been gone a second.
In with the cream, be quite liberal,
all the way over.
You might as well finish it now.
Is that it? Yeah, that's it. Now it can go in the oven.
Onto dessert, and a classic from yesteryear - Crepes Suzette.
This is very '70s, this menu. Yeah, you're kind of right.
Last night we had the fire dancer.
Tonight we're going to bring a bit of theatre inside
and have some flambeing at the table instead.
Oh, la, la!
But before the theatrics, you need to make the crepes.
Never made these before, ever.
I bet Gareth has.
Same as Yorkshire pudding, but with a little bit of sugar.
Never made those either.
To flour and eggs, Gareth helpfully adds sugar and milk.
And? Fantastic.
Well done.
Just going to add a little bit of salt.
Ooh, you couldn't help yourself, could you?
Not sure what a crepe is. Of course you know what a crepe is.
A shoe? No.
A pancake, a crepe.
Why are they not called pancakes?
Don't ask. Heather ladles the batter.
That's it, all the way round.
This is easy.
Straight under and flip.
Oh, no...
No. Spoke too soon.
Ah!
I think I'll take over this. There's a surprise.
Six perfect crepes,
ready to be flambeed at the table tonight.
Show off.
All the prep's done now. Feeling uber-confident.
If they like steak, they like seafood, it's ours.
If this is done well, I think... Better than us.
I'm a little bit nervous. Yeah.
Is this the winning menu? Of course not. We've got it in the bag.
I love this menu. Maybe it is. We'll see.
First to rock up to The Gate,
it's La Pantera party boys, Sam and Gary.
Good to see you again. Yeah, you too. Hi, how are you?
How are you? Good, thank you.
THEY CHEER
Sounds a bit of a heathen, but champagne's not for me,
it's not my cup of tea.
I'll have yours, then.
THEY LAUGH
Be a shame to waste it.
Last in, it's Sian and Joel.
Hiya guys, you OK? ALL: Hello! How are you, how are you?
Nice to see you again. Lovely to see you.
Hi, Joel, you OK? Welcome, Joel.
Cheers, guys. Cheers.
Coming up, fiery flambes...
Good old '70s dish, Crepes Suzette.
Oh!
I felt like for a brief second I wasn't in Wales, I was on holiday.
..and fabulous foliage.
The mint is actually grown in our own garden.
Right in this pot. Maybe don't point it out, it looks a bit scruffy.
LAUGHS
Wasn't very minty, was it? Less mint, more moss.
It's night two from in and around Cardiff...
Cheers, guys.
..and the turn of Gareth and Heather to impress
with their classic steakhouse menu
in an attempt to win the £1,000 prize.
So, relax, make yourselves at home, and we're going to go
and get your starters ready.
Whilst Gareth tackles his fishy feast starter...
This is looking and smelling fantastic.
..Gary and Sam are admiring his rather impressive meat...
Wow. ..in his dry-ageing cabinet.
He actually does his own dry-ageing. That's impressive.
You don't see that every day, do you? You don't. That's incredible.
That's wonderful.
We'll get one in about four years, when we can afford it, maybe.
Which room do we convert? Put it on the roof.
Dream big, boys, dream big.
Samphire is covered with a huge tentacle,
a giant langoustine, and a large scallop.
Bit of wow factor when you first see it, and hopefully it tastes
just as good as it looks. This is why I married him.
And there we have it, an ocean's worth of goodies -
and that's just for starters.
Take it away, Gareth.
I'll start with the octopus. That was boiled for an hour and a half.
SCRIBBLES: "Boiled for hour and half."
Straight boiled, bay leaves, salt water and then...
"Salt water." ..chilled in a blast chiller.
"Chiller."
Tentacles taken off. Vac packed with garlic butter,
sous vided for another four hours.
"Sous vide." And then chilled,
and then finally, just before service, grilled on our char-grill.
The intro to the starter was long, but it only showed that
the man knew exactly what he was doing.
The lobster, boiled, butter poached.
Gareth forgets that we're also professionals.
We don't need to hear about every single element of every single dish.
Oh, right, well I'll cross that out then.
You can suck the head if you want. HE SUCKS
Nice goodness.
Pull it off, squeeze and pull, yeah.
I'm uneducated when it comes to seafood.
Gareth made it a lot easier for me, taught us how to eat.
Nice, fleshy, perfect. Loved it.
As a starter, I don't think it could get any better.
Speechless, yeah.
It was delicious, but it was a lot of food.
Do you know what? I actually loved the octopus,
and I'm not a fan of octopus, but it was really good.
Right, I'm glad you've all enjoyed your starters.
We're off now to sort out your main courses.
Done and dusted. If you stopped now, that's ours.
How's that steak looking, Gareth?
The steak is looking phenomenal. I thought you might say that.
On goes a quenelle of home-made pate,
a sliver of truffle, and a crown of parsnip crips.
Ding, ding. Service, please.
The main course, fillet steak with its life story
and cooking instructions on the side.
Deep breath, everyone.
So, we've got a 40 day dry-aged whole fillet,
out of the dry-ager this morning. Left it out,
then this afternoon we put it in the oven,
took it to 44 degrees, so, rare.
So, tuck in.
Ah, like butter.
This is my cup of tea.
Absolutely love it, love it, love it, love it.
The steak is like butter, the pate is perfectly seasoned,
the sauce is just deliciously rich.
Delicious. The steak was so tender,
I could've cut through it with my spoon.
Never mind that, what do you think of the dauphinoise?
LAUGHS
Never mind what he did. The dauphinoise is amazing.
Yeah. Was it a triumph? It's incredible,
probably one of the best dauphinoise potatoes I've ever had.
There you go.
Arguably, the best element on that main course was
the dauphinoise potatoes, which came from Heather.
They were a taste sensation, and, you know,
you'd better snap me up before somebody else does.
After the conversation about your sauce,
I've got something just for you.
So, this is our "kick in the nagas," I call this, because I've got...
Whoa!
Just in case you need a bit of mouth relief.
Oh.
I'm going to follow suit, I'm going to get stuck right in.
Oh, careful, Joel, that looks rather hot.
Oh, my God. It's not that horrible type of hot.
It's not, is it? No.
BLEEP Yeah, it is!
You're a baby, though.
Really nice, spicy sauce.
Speak for yourself when you talk about the sauce. No, no, no.
I was choking. Can I have some milk, please?
The flavour is amazing. Yeah, it is.
I think Joel overreacted slightly. I thought he was going to pass out
at one point. Joel does like an over-reaction, doesn't he?
HEATHER: Fair play to you for trying it.
No sympathy!
Right, Gareth, how did the main go?
It went well, didn't it? Told you. That level, stay on the level.
Or take it to another level by bringing dessert out on a trolley.
ALL: Woo!
Guys, we're going to have a good old '70s dish - crepes suzette.
Just don't spoil it with a history lesson.
1895... NARRATOR GROANS
..in the Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo,
there was a trainee waiter who was working...
Just make them!
In goes orange liqueur. Steady, Gareth.
I felt like, for a brief second,
that I wasn't in Wales, I was on holiday.
It's certainly been a long haul so far.
The butter in there gives it the velvety texture.
The crepe is given a swirl in the boozy sauce
and finally we have a dessert - a classic Crepe Suzette.
Unreal, love it.
The crepe's amazing. Lush, lush, lush.
Whoa. She's gone triple lush.
Flawless, Gareth.
No complaints, no complaints.
Absolutely in my element.
Sozzled. Three out of three, Gareth.
Thank you very much, sir.
How about some scores?
The starters were amazing,
the main course was incredible, the dessert was good,
it was a bit dated.
Tonight has been amazing.
It's absolutely lived up to what I expected it to be.
So tonight we're scoring Gareth and Heather...
Absolutely flawless.
Thank you very much to Gareth and Heather,
and for this reason we are giving you a...
Oh! That maximum score means The Gate notch a whopping 36 out of 40
and rocket into top spot.
It's the final day in and around Cardiff
and the turn of youngsters Sian and Joel to host in
Sian's restaurant, the Horse & Jockey.
Last night was absolutely faultless
so tonight we are focusing on not coming last.
We serve the best pub food for miles around.
And we may be young,
but we absolutely know what we're doing
and we're going to end this week with a bang.
That's the spirit.
I'm expecting something quite country pub-y.
I would like a rustic gastropub.
I would like a good rustic gastropub, yeah.
No airs and graces.
Try this for size...
That's a... I'll take one for the team. ..bit of a long-winded... Hm.
"A perfect melody of black pudding."
Black pudding, goat's cheese on toast. Yeah, black pudding,
goat's cheese on toast with poached egg.
Basically, yes.
And the first thing to start is the mouth-watering chutney.
This chutney we're making absolutely complements this starter.
Why does mine look like that and yours looks like that?
So if you turn it round then,
like that,
and then slice, dice that way down.
Top tip, chef.
Joel, I'm done now, it's making me cry so I'm going to go.
Thank you for your help.
The onions soften in butter before sugar and red wine are added.
The smell of the red wine,
if my boss wasn't in the next room, I think I would have
a glass right now.
Everything's spooned into tiny jars.
It's... It's the gastropub. ..gastropub-y,
trying-to-be-a-gastropub-y pub grub.
Yeah. Trying to be a gastropub.
Joel shapes Italian bread.
This is locally sourced ciabatta, all Welsh ingredients.
Then black pudding and a large wheel of goat's cheese.
Do you need me to do anything?
No. That's told you, Sian.
The melody will be arranged before serving.
Onto the main. Wait for it...
Oh. Hmm.
So it's just lamb, mash and some samphire, basically.
Tried a bit too hard, I think, to make a dish look good.
I'm going to score and season the meat
while you make your way out of the kitchen.
Thank you. I'm going to go and get my hair done now so, er...
See you in a bit. ..all the best.
With Sian off, it's all on Joel.
I'm going to rub it with seasoning to sort of inlock the flavours.
A sprinkling of seasoning,
a touch of rosemary
and the lamb will be cooked later tonight.
Next, the samphire-infused mash.
That's not going to... I'm not sure why that's there.
Yeah, you can't infuse mashed potato with samphire.
So our sapphire isn't just any regular sapphire.
It's Gower-picked sapphire.
Samphire.
And it is a vegetable of the sea, which will add extra flavour.
The samphire is chopped and the Welsh spuds boiled...
These are going to be the best hand-mashed potatoes
they have today.
..before everything is combined with melted butter.
The key to nice, fluffy mash is a lot of mashing.
Thanks for that.
Joel will reheat tonight.
Onto dessert...
It's... Hmm...
This is the exact reason why I left fine dining.
It's all nonsense. Yeah.
It's just jargon on a page.
Hair looks lovely. Thank you.
Thank you. Oh, right.
I'm just going to show you how we're going to have the dessert tonight.
Perfect, yeah, nice.
So we've got some pre-home-made raspberry coulis.
There's too much raspberry on the plate.
It's concentrated raspberry, innit?
That's going to be way too much flavour.
I've got everything all under control.
I know you don't like being in the kitchen
so I'll allow you to go out and get ready for the guests.
Deconstructed Welsh cake.
Put it together, you lazy gits.
What is wrong with these people?
He's just going to crumble a Welsh...
He's going to grab a Welsh cake,
crumble it all over. Deconstructed Welsh cake.
Not far wrong, Gareth,
but Joel chops rather than crumbles his shop-bought Welsh cake.
I have made Welsh cakes before by scratch
and that is the reason why we've bought 'em in locally.
Right, I see.
Cos I'm no good at making Welsh cakes.
Yes. They'll reconstruct their deconstructed dessert later tonight.
Confident in our cooking, confident in ourselves.
Killer curls, let's go.
Is anyone feeling worried?
Not threatened at all, to be honest, no.
I personally don't think it's going to be better than ours.
No, no. This has filled me with confidence. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicely done. Yeah. There's a gap by there, though.
Too late now - your first guests are here.
Hello! Husband-and-wife team from The Gate, Gareth and Heather.
Nice to see you again. Hiya, Joel, you all right? How are we? Yeah.
Here are our home-made mojitos
and the mint is actually grown in our own garden.
Right, right, right in this pot.
All right, Joel, maybe don't point it out. It looks a bit scruffy!
Last up, it's Sam and Gary from La Pantera.
How are we? Nice to see you again. You OK? Yeah, really good, thanks.
Can I offer you gentlemen a mojito?
Absolutely. Yes, please. Thank you very much. There we are.
Our theme tonight is locally sourced ingredients. Yeah?
The mint leaves are freshly picked from our very own garden
here at the Jockey. No way.
It's pretty fresh, isn't it?
Oh, yeah, you can definitely taste the difference, yeah.
It wasn't very minty, was it?
Less mint, more moss, I would say.
Moss! Mossy. Damp mint.
Cheers, let's have a good night. Woo!
ALL: Cheers.
Coming up: Musical meals...
Poached egg with goat's cheese is a no in my book.
Can I ask why you called it a melody?
Well, cos it's singing to me.
Combination, totally weird.
I think Gareth was a little bit out of order tonight.
..and the wonga is won.
In second place...
It's the final night of our pro competition in and around Cardiff...
Woo!
..where Sian and Joel are hoping their restaurant,
the Horse & Jockey,
will romp home in first place
and bag them the £1,000 guineas.
Sorry, pounds.
As their guests relax in the mint fields...
..back in the kitchen...
Do you think the black pudding's cut a little bit too thick?
No, the black pudding is cut to perfection.
..the perfectly cut pieces are doused in olive oil
and popped into the oven.
Joel squeezes out a balsamic reduction,
plates the toasted cheese
and tops with the black pudding,
a dollop of sweet red onion chutney,
a poached egg and a final flourish of pea shoots.
I am over the moon with these.
I can't wait to rush to the table and to get it down myself.
Sounds messy, but there we go.
Joel, take it away.
It's the perfect melody of goat's cheese,
black pudding with a poached egg on top,
the drizzle down over
that complement each different flavour in its entirety.
And after that poetic description, how does it taste?
I can't stand goat's cheese.
LAUGHTER
I don't like the smell, I don't like the taste.
When I originally got told this recipe,
goat's cheese, black pudding and a poached...
I was, like, "Are you mad?"
All them ingredients into one, but until I initially tried it,
as soon as I put it in my mouth, I was, like, "Oh, my God."
For me, the flavours just don't seem to work together
so you've got acidic, you've got salty... Yeah.
..and then you've got the richness of the black pudding.
Poached egg to go with goat's cheese is a no in my book.
That's why I separated the two.
Goat's cheese on the crust there, loving it.
Black pudding, poached egg, loving it.
Combination, totally weird.
It was not a melody, it was like a Picasso painting.
It was just... It just didn't work for me.
Can I ask why you call it a melody? It's not singing to me.
Well, cos it's singing to me.
When we saw the menu, it screamed out a chef that's trying too hard.
No offence. Some taken.
You know, I've seen restaurants bring out these menus,
call it, like, poached hen's egg.
It's a chicken, it's an egg from a chicken.
You know, you don't have to bring these words out.
There's no need for it.
I completely agree, but I thought, special occasion,
why not go all out and, for once, actually try my damn hardest?
With the menu wording, a little bit over the top with their criticism,
but, I mean, at the end of the day, it is a competition
and somebody has to win.
And talking of flowery descriptions...
If I had to describe Sian,
I would describe Sian as a vintage bottle of Dom Perignon -
rich, bubbly and nothing more than enjoyable.
If I was to describe Joel as a menu item, I would describe him as
an extravagant, pink, fluffy piece of pork.
Joel is the best possible person in this whole entire world.
Pink, fluffy pig.
Not sure that's a compliment.
Moving on, it's pink, but it's the lamb for
the main course that Joel flambes.
Some quick fancy tong work, then it's into the oven.
I am piping this mash straight from the bag.
I'm trying to pull out as many stops as possible.
I mean, have you any decent scissors here, Sian?
And again. Mind out at the back.
These will be lovely inside
and I'm hoping they're lovely and pink.
But not like a fluffy, pink pig.
I'm really not hungry.
That's fine, just don't eat it.
And finally, the gravy.
BELL RINGS Service!
The last main of the week,
Welsh rack of lamb on samphire mash with gravy and veg.
If you'd all like to tuck in, be my guest.
One rack was cooked really well,
the other one is pretty much raw inside.
You've taken a rack of lamb, an expensive piece of meat.
Shouldn't have been slow-roasted.
Whether that was slow-roasted...
Yeah, that was sealed then put into the oven to cook.
Sealed or seared? Seared.
Seared. It's been sealed...
..seared... Yep. ..and then popped into the oven to cook to
the according temperature.
And, to be honest, that's impossible to cut even with...
..look, even with a steak knife.
Apart from that, though?
And it's rare, pink...
It's unedible. Not a word.
SHE CHUCKLES
Wow. Well, the man knows what he wants, when he wants it
and clearly, tonight, he did not want that.
The main course was awful.
Thank you for your, er, very thorough feedback.
I really am gutted that you've described it as inedible.
Well, you know, I wouldn't if I could eat it.
I think Gareth was a little bit out of order tonight.
It wasn't as bad as what he made out.
I'm quite glad it's pinker and the mash is really tasty,
the veg is seasoned really well.
Overall, I quite like it for a gastropub dish. I think it's good.
That means absolutely loads to me.
I know when lamb is good
and I thought that lamb course was really good. Yeah, it was tasty.
I think Gareth was being dramatic. He over-reacted.
Sian, I have to say, since you're 23,
I think you are doing an amazing job here.
It's full of people, it's buzzing
and I think you're doing really, really well.
I love it. I live and breathe this place, you know.
Hearing nice things from Heather was really lovely.
She understands how much stress it is.
I was not doing anything like this when I was 23.
You've done really well. Thank you.
She's smashing it.
23 years of age with the responsibility,
she's got a beautiful premises here.
It's great.
Right, guys, if you would like to follow me and Sian,
we'll take you to your surprise.
Anyone fancy a pop classic?
# A teenage dream is so hard to beat
# And every time she walks down the street
# Another girl in your neighbourhood... #
It was like being at an outdoor gig. I like that.
Oh, my God. We'll be going to Glastonbury next.
Maybe not. No.
# You need excitement and you need it bad... #
The band were great, weren't they? They were great. They were, yeah.
I've really enjoyed tonight. Yeah.
So a thumbs up for the band.
Onto dessert.
This is the deconstruction part of the Welsh cake.
Looking good, Siany.
The deconstructed - or trimmed -
Welsh cakes are popped into the microwave.
The edges are crumbled and on goes a boule of shop-bought ice cream.
Service!
Dessert - a deconstructed Welsh cake with ice cream
and a smudge of coulis.
What's St David's ice cream?
It is a rum and raisin, traditionally made into
a Welsh dessert, which makes it none other than the St David dessert
that it is today.
The very same.
When I read "deconstructed", I didn't know what to expect.
Where did it come from?
Cut the sides off, crumble a bit up, deconstructed a Welsh cake.
That Welsh cake wasn't deconstructed, was it?
HE EXHALES It was awful.
Did you make the Welsh cakes?
We didn't, no.
Right, I'm not being pedantic - that was a brought-in Welsh cake...
Yeah. ..with the sides cut off, which doesn't make it deconstructed,
but that's a brought-in Welsh cake, a brought-in ice cream,
brought-in fudge pieces.
As a restaurant, we could not keep up with the quantity
and that's why we buy it in so every dessert is the same
for each individual customer.
I cannot believe you've not made your own Welsh cakes tonight.
I can't believe you've not made your own ice cream.
Well, I had starter and main, juggling my left and right.
The dessert was up to Sian tonight.
No, it wasn't, because I don't even like this!
I don't like nothing on there.
Come on, team, you're nearly there.
It's been a night of ups and downs.
Yes, I know that we have cracking food so maybe we should have
simplified it a little bit.
Forget tonight, forget everything you've done tonight.
Stick to pub grub. People love pub grub.
I love pub grub. I love pub grub...
..and this is a bloody pub!
Give me pub grub! Ugh!
Calm down, Gareth, and let's have some scores.
Now, the Horse & Jockey need 36 or more to be this week's winners.
Good luck.
The food was disappointing.
He tried too hard, he needs to keep things simple...
I don't think we saw the true reflection
of what they do as a restaurant tonight.
..but they've got a great place here, great atmosphere, and Sian
and Joel are really great people,
and, for that reason, we're going to score them a...
The starters weren't for me... Yeah. ..but the main course was good.
Yeah. The dessert?
The dessert was an embarrassment.
The entertainment was OK. Which has recouped them a bit.
So tonight, we're going to score Sian and Joel...
CHEERING
So in third place, guys,
is the Horse & Jockey with Sian and Joel.
In second place,
La Pantera with Sam and Gary.
Which means the winner is The Gate! Woo!
Well done, guys, well done.
It's been amazing. It's been such a good few days.
POP!
CHEERING
I am disappointed. Of course I am.
The best professional restaurant won tonight
and I'm really happy about that.
Congratulations. Cheers. Congratulations, guys.
The best team won, absolutely.
At least we didn't come...last? Yeah.
CHEERING
It was never in doubt, was it?
If it goes on food, it was never in doubt.
# Who do you think you are, Mr Big Stuff?
# You're never going to get my love
# Now, because you wear all those fancy clothes
# Oh, yeah
# And have a big fine car Oh, yes, you do now
# Do you think I can afford to give you my love?
# Oh, yeah
# You think you're higher than every star above... #
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