more in terms of the style of it but for me, it was just to get some nice food on a plate.
It being my first time on the show, there was enough pressure without having to fiddle around with too much gimmickry! The pressure to do something different was definitely there - you don’t want to be doing something too safe. This is a creative show, so it’s about showing your creativity. So I wanted to show I could do other things other than just Asian cooking.
Did you enjoy being pushed out of your comfort zone, and how difficult is it to cook in the GBM kitchen alongside other chefs?
I was very, very scared! I watched that show for twelve years and I always thought whoever does it, is very brave. I’m not someone who has ever learned plating. After leaving Leith’s, my journey has been very different from a traditional restaurant career. It’s been around building businesses in cookery education.
I was frightened because I’ve never really cooked like that, under that much pressure and never been surrounded by all these other fantastic chefs who do it day in and day out. I only got told in August that I was on and we started filming in September. I think it would have been wiser if I’d had more time to practice but in the end, I thought, you can only do your best and see what happens.
What were the best and worst parts of being on GBM?
The best part was working with the other guys and being in that very ‘cheffy’ environment – it really pushes you to be the best that you can be. That was great.
The worst I think was just the pressure of the kitchen. It’s physically a very hard environment to be in, it was very hot in that kitchen. Time, as well - until you’ve done it, you don’t realise how quickly an hour and a half goes and then you’ve given yourself too much to do so the message is simple. The days were very long too and I wasn’t quite prepared for that – we’d be in the studio from 6 am and not finish filming until 10 pm by the fourth day, I was just physically exhausted.
Would you do it again?
If I was to do it again, I would be more prepared with my stamina for the physical part of it. I think it came across when I started plating in the actual filming, that I didn’t have much time to prepare dishes beforehand. Having only a few weeks to think about the whole thing, from start to finish, it just wasn’t enough time to be able to prepare. The other guys were repeaters – they’d been on it last year and that was very obvious as well because they’d prepared very well. It needs a lot of dedication to do it properly.
How nerve-wracking is it to cook for your peers?
I was fine about that. I’ve cooked for lots and lots of people, private clients, clients who are chefs as well, so I’m very confident in my ability to cook my own food. What worried me more was the actual presentation of it because that’s not something I usually do.
If you were scoring your dishes, would you agree with what your judge said or not? If not why not?
Absolutely, I was really pleased! I was pleasantly surprised by my score and in the end, I held my head up. I thought it would be an absolute crucifixion but it wasn’t.
