Chef-patron, Ryan, who impressed with his soufflé, once again wowed with his roast fillet of brill with potted shrimps. Monica said that Ryan had done well with his first dish and Marcus said there was a “lovely harmony” running through the dish.
Unfortunately the judges weren’t singing sweet music when Daniel presented his lamb which had been cooked slowly in clarified butter. Gregg was left disappointed by the lamb which looked raw!
The judges decided that Jamie, who had impressed with his weird and wonderful flavour combinations, Ryan and Chris were through to the quarter finals. Suresh, Daniel and Tim were asked to leave.
Thursday night’s saw the contestants tested in the invention test, and someone came a little unstuck…
Ryan, who had, had success in the first two heats, admitted to never using spices in his cooking and not owning a spice rack! The judges were shocked and when he presented his sea bass with spiced broth to them, Marcus described it as a “clean, safe, must-try-harder” dish. Oooooo.
Stewart was praised for the cooking of his guinea fowl but Marcus said he almost had “go looking” for the spices in his dish. However Jamie did impress with his fish dish. Monica described the flavours of “lemongrass and coriander [as] just divine.”
After the first task, Stewart and Chris were asked to leave the competition. This left Will, Gareth, Ryan and Jamie to face the formidable critics: Jay Rayner, Grace Dent and food writer William Sitwell.
Jamie's food impressed although his crumble didn't pass the test with Grace Dent who said it wasn't a crumble it was an entirely different space creature - maybe there was something extra in her blackberry foam....
Under pressure to impress, young chef Will struggled to keep his cool and his roasted white chocolate dessert, with oregano, didn’t hit the high expectations of the critics. Grace described it as “a mix between a lemon meringue pie and one of those tiny little party pizza things”. Oh dear…
However Gareth managed to please the critics with his halibut. He said that even though the beurre blanc was a little “over emulsified” he liked it and Gareth’s flavours were lovely.
After facing the critics Monica and Marcus faced a tough decision to decide who would be leaving the competition. Unfortunately, they decided that Will was to leave. That means Gareth Howarth, sous chef at L'Ortolan; Jamie Park, head chef at The Frog and Ryan Blackburn, chef owner at Old Stamp House are through to knock out week.
By Monica Turnbull
Twitter: @Monica Turnbull
