far as to say it was ‘gastronomy at its finest’.
The middle three to enter the kitchen in hopes of getting their main to the banquet were, Dan, Ellis and Chris. Dan plated up his dish first and was hoping to get is dish through in what had been a mixed week. Unfortunately for him the judges enjoyed the dish but found it ‘underwhelming’.
Ellis, who had excelled the day before after completely reinventing his fish course was hoping that a repeat was on the cards with his main. Focussed around a lamb shank wellington, Matthew thought it was ‘rather clumsy’.
Last of the middle three was Chris with his ambitious main, ‘Everything but the Squeal’. The judges cooed over his dish that they simply described as ‘faultless cooking’.
The final group of chefs to try their luck at getting to the banquet were, Tommy, Craig and James. Tommy, rather riskily decided to redesign his whole main and not practice it. This unsurprisingly did not work out in his favour.
Craig, who got 4 10’s in his regional finals knew if he replicated that form he had a more than a good chance of getting to the banquet. He made no changes whatsoever to his dish and once again the judges found it ‘faultless in every detail’.
James, who still had his starter in the bag, was looking to get a second course to the banquet. His theatrical sharing platter of goat was a mixed bag, with some parts being excellent and others, namely the newly added coconut rice being undercooked.
The main event was over so all that the chefs could do was wait to be put out of their misery. In fact, it was not as simple as that for the top 3 chefs, Tom, Craig and Chris, who all scored 4 10’s, meaning that the judges had to pick their favourite to go through. After much deliberation, they chose Tom for his ‘Poor Man’s Goose’.
Dessert Final
It was D(essert)-Day for the Great British Menu chefs, with only one course left to fight over to get a place in the banquet.
The competition had been fierce all week and today was no exception, so to help the judges today was Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, who is Head of Maternity, Children and Young People at NHS England.
The first chef up to make their dessert was Tommy, who was now making a habit of not making his whole dish before serving it. He had reinvented his dessert by changing it to a white chocolate mousse, served with thyme and honeycomb ice cream lollies. The judges were fans of the dish, calling it a ‘really fun pudding’.
Second to the pass was Welsh regional champion, Chris. His dessert had struggled in the heats and he had made numerous changes to it in an effort to get a dish to the banquet after a disappointing day with the mains. The judges cooed over the dish and its sheer uniqueness, with all of them saying they had never had anything vaguely similar.
Lorna, who had made her name in 2 Michelin starred restaurants desperately wanted to get to the banquet with her dessert. Each of the 4 judges were wowed with her technical nous, with Oliver saying it was ‘technically, the best pudding they ever had’.
The second trio of chefs to go into the kitchen were Craig, Tom and Dan. Craig, who had been spurned the day before had a real hunger to impress the judges with his festive dessert. It received less than favourable reviews, Oliver thought it was terrible and Andi did not like the texture of the newly added meringue.
Tom, who had only just got his main to the banquet wanted to get his second dish to the banquet. He made a multitude of complex elements for his historical dessert which the judges did not find very celebratory.
Dan decided to redesign his dessert and it was a day to forget for him with the judges labelling it a ‘shocker’.
The final three chefs were Ellis, James and Marianne. Ellis was the first of these chefs to serve up his dessert. His dish had not been well received by the judges earlier in the competition, much to his disappointment, so he changed the saffron custard for them. The judges were split on if they thought it was banquet-worthy with Matthew defending it and Andi and Oliver going the other way.
James, who already had his starter at the banquet was hoping a more refined dessert could net him his second dish at the banquet. An incredibly happy dish, topped with a cocktail umbrella it left the judges with big smiles on their faces.
The last chef to serve was Marianne who had altered her dish to now be made up of individual soufflés as opposed to one large sharing soufflé. Once again opinions were divided amongst the judges with Matthew claiming that the ‘gimmicks [had] taken over’, while Andi and Oliver found it fun.
Desserts served the judges considered their scores and then announced the top three, which was made up of: James, Lorna and Chris. James came third with his dessert, leaving the final spot between Chris and Lorna. Once again it was a draw, so the judges decided to pick the chef who had made a dish, unlike anything they had eaten before. Which meant Chris would be cooking his dessert at the banquet!
It all led up to his day for the Great British Menu Chefs and the last 4 standing, James Cochran, Ellis Barrie, Tom Brown and Chris Harrod now had the monumental task of preparing their dishes for the banquet.
Before the big day, all the chefs had met some of the NHS’s heroes and were able to invite them to the banquet. Tom met Ethel Armstrong MBE, who had started work in the NHS on the day it was launched. James went to see Professor John Gribban, a researcher of immunotherapy. Ellis went to see the ‘giggle doctor’ at Manchester Children’s Hospital and Chris finally gave the midwives who helped with the birth of his daughter the cake he promised long ago.
The chefs finally got to see where the banquet was actually going to be held, in the historic and regal 300-year-old grand hall in St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Juxtaposing this they had to construct their kitchen in a marquee outside.
The preparation for the banquet was no cakewalk, James who needed fresh ceps for his starter was given frozen ones, which were not suitable for his dish. Creatively, he designed a cep marmalade instead.
Chris also faced disaster when his nettles, that he had spent 5 hours foraging, were thrown into the bin. He had to think fast and made the quick decision to use spinach in place of the nettles for his dessert.
Service was not as simple for some of the chefs either. James, who had enlisted the help of Ellis to fill his cylinders, faced a slowdown when Ellis struggled to get the siphon gun to work. During the fish course, Ellis had to start washing jugs for his sauce as they ran out.
It was all worth it though for the chefs who all received high praise from all the guests. Paul Ainsworth, one of the veteran judges, was in attendance thought Chris’ dessert was brilliant. Other guests said how Tom’s duck was cooked to perfection and one guest described Ellis’ dish as having a real ‘zing’.
The chefs all had their eyes on the big prize though, to be crowned the first Champion of Champions. Deciding the overall winner were the banquet's guests and once the results were in the chefs were summoned to rapturous applause. All that was left was to find out who won. It was James with his starter ‘Cep-tional’, a truly exceptional dish.
Congratulations to him for being the first Champion of Champions but also to the other chefs who showcased their amazing talents!!
