Great British Menu 2024 Thread 2

[Sunbird24]

Sorry about the unimaginative thread title!

God I’ve not seen so many 4s before!

They were both really nice. However don’t feel they did anyone that proud.

Just caught up on this. What an absolute shambles. Can't believe this was a regional final 😳😳😳. Everything was poor; the presentation, the food, the link to the brief, the energy, the time keeping.

Just not GBM standard at all. Andi and the judges had to try so hard to say something positive.

I went back to watch Spencer's regional final for contrast and the difference. Although, to be fair, head chef at the Ritz vs a food truck cook does seem a bit uneven

In finals week Spencer was the one ALL the other chefs were coming into the kitchen to watch cook/plate up. He was clearly something special.

My favourite so far is the chef who won London and the South East, all her dishes were really creative.

But. Is it time to have a look at the format? The population of the whole of NI is 1.8m, that's just a bit bigger than Glasgow. And about 1/5 the size of London.

We can't expect sparsely populated regions to compete year on year with densely populated ones. NI has had some chefs do well in the competition over the years, but for whatever reason, my impression is that the programme is struggling to attract the most GBM-type ones.

Should places in the finals be awarded via points from the judges, rather than a winner from each region?

They should 100% bring in some "highest placed runners up"

And s as by one who gets over say 36 for any course who didn't get through.

And when it's two women. I could spit!!!

It would be good if they did a 'highest-placed runner-up for each course' thing for finals week. If the goal, ultimately, is to have the best banquet possible then that would be worth doing. (Particularly given that the 'runner up' option may have scored higher than some of the courses presented by chefs who made it through to the final on their overall scores)

A score of 18 at the judge's table - really! That’s so bad

I get that chefs in big restaurants get the big scores. I 'd worry that if Melissa did get through to the banquet on her cooking that she'd be unable to deliver 20 covers let all 100 +

They have really stressed 'up and coming chefs' in the description this year. Where in the past we've had some very established chefs battling it out.

There’s a chef from my home town on tomorrow night’s episode. The town isn’t particularly known for its culinary output, though I know his restaurant is very highly regarded. I’ve actually been meaning to go for a while but not got around to it (they’re seafood and I have allergies which make it a tricky choice) so I’ll be watching with interest.

I also see Andi Tuck is back, I really liked the look of his over-fire cooking before.

Oh Christ, not macho man cook meat over fire man again. So bloody dull, barbecuing everything.

I wonder whether they've had to look to 'up and coming' because more well-established chefs have either done it already and don't fancy the stress again, or whether the risk to a chef/restaurant reputation if it goes awry is too great.

We often mull over how chefs face their restaurant owner/boss if they come out of the show badly.

I like that kind of food, though I admit it’s a one trick pony kind of thing and I can’t imagine that working for a banquet in an ambassador’s residence!

Wonder if he'll do charred chard with the inspo of "Chad" for the vegan course? - Chad have never won a medal, either.... 😂😉

I seriously hope they have left the best for last. I remember Andy from his last appearance where I found him quite endearing despite repeatedly referring to him as a mad-eyed arsonist. I also like the female alumnus from MasterChef: the Professionals, although her name is escaping me right now.

Ellie, that's it.

Andy looks like Sean Penn in a prison movie.

I have high hopes for my home region… better not let me down!

“This canapé’s a bit of me”
I really hope not literally… 😂

If Andy and his flames and his implements end up at that banquet the French are going to think we're planning to take back Calais.

Mad-eyed auto-cannibal arsonist.

Andy's about to barbecue a vegan.

Ellie just called it Kwin-o-a 🤦‍♀️