Great British Menu 2024 - Finals week

[Sunbird24]

So SouthWest Ben has the Starter, who will win Fish, Mains and Dessert…? Will there be fighting over the freezer? How many more flames and medals will the judges have to pretend to be surprised by?

Yay kate

Phew! She really improved that dish.

Woohoo for a woman main course. Fantastic

I love that the other chefs recognised that achievement for her too

Was only half watching yesterday and missed the Kate/Corrin thing. I would be amazed if he gets invited back next year.

When did she get asked about her experiences working with men? I want to see that too.

Interestingly, when I had lunch at Cal's restaurant, the only thing I didn't like on the tasting menu was the sausage which sounded very similar to the sausage he cooked on GBM. It was just so strong and offaly. Everything else was gorgeous. Would love to go there again soon 😍

And well done Kate if you are reading this. Fantastic job ❤️

I found that a fabulous episode to watch. Well done Kate!

Love Cal.

I wonder if there will be a time when being a woman winning wont even be remarkable.

I did laugh out loud at 'do you like plates?'

Delighted for Kate. And the whole episode was a great watch given how we've all been a bit dismissive of (at least some of) this year's chefs - it really seemed like everyone served up something fantastic and it was exciting for the chefs to be part of, as well as for the judges to eat.

I have to confess when I watched Kate’s heat I felt a bit bored of her saying she wanted to be first girl (her choice of word) to cook the main. But after yesterday, I can see why it would mean so much. I was so happy for her today.

And I agree with a PP’s observation that it’s quite telling the two female chefs left choose not to work in kitchens.

Kirk to win dessert then they just invite Cal along to France, and they travel in a campervan like a lovely, friendly, chefy Scooby Gang.

I'm glad Kate won and I’m sure Ben will assist her with the main, well unless he gets dessert as well

I'd like Mellisa to assist them at the banquet. She was never a front runner due to her lack of restaurant training but she'd be a great addition to the team

It really does seem like the ones who won the underwhelming heats have really stepped up this week, so there isn’t quite as huge a divide as there might have been. I can’t forget there are still dishes missing that would have stood a good chance of winning though

I’m sure they will help each other. I do find the idea that one chef would prepare a course for banquet bizarre. I would hope they have a team of sous chefs. The meal needs to run reasonably smoothly and not letting down a lot of ordinary members of the public invited as guests. I doubt it would be as many as at a banquet organised privately though in case the newspapers have a fit bid that was spent as it is licence fee not commercial TV.

@Pastachocolate it's been running for over 20 series now. I'm sure it's down to a fine art!

I remember the COVID year when the main course chef had COVID, and the others had to do his course for him, from his notes/ video call, as well as their own courses. Due to the bubbles at the time, I don't think they had lots of help. I assume they've added more in, but possibly not as many sous chefs as originally.

Well I failed to watch it last night but just had a little cry with how happy kate was - she so deserved that. I’m so pleased for her - love that Toms comment of how will she do for everyone was exactly her first thought too!

I was in bits when she called her dad to tell him she had won 😭😭

Delighted for Kate, my husband says I was staring at the screen with a look of love and happiness that he’s never seen directed at him… 😂

Quite apart from the best individual meals not going through if the chef scored poorly otherwise in the heats, I do think the courses won't always follow each other well. So they could potentially have a beetroot starter followed by a beetroot main, for example. I wonder how much the point scoring on the later rounds is affected by that or if they really do vote for each course in isolation?

Edited for typo.

Back in the day, in a previous format, they used to have a short list of 2-3 dishes for each round and then make a final decision at the end of the week. Made a lot of sense!

I suspect they may still have that conversation before finalising the marks. Yesterday Laura did say something to the effect that deciding had been difficult but if it was just a matter of who got the highest marks there would be no real difficulty.

I do agree that some really good dishes in the heats have lost out because the chef did not win the heat overall.

I wish they would bring back the wild card that they used to have. So if someone has an amazing dish for one course, they are invited to the final for just that course.

I thought she meant if it was just for the cooking it would be easy but not if you include the presentation aspect. It was about Adam's French dish. Or I may be thinking of a different conversation!