London and South East Starter Great British Menu

This year on Great British Menu...

-CORK POPS

-Hey!

..24 of the country's most talented chefs...

This is it. Pressure's on.

..are fighting it out in the toughest competition of their lives.

The old gloves are off now, ain't they, you know.

Hold on to your hats.

As previous competitors...

It's literally blood, sweat and tears.

..and ambitious newcomers..

I'm absolutely buzzing.

..go head-to-head for the chance to cook at this year's banquet,

celebrating 140 years of the iconic Wimbledon Championships,

the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.

Go, go, go!

To get there, the chefs must create outstanding dishes which match

the exceptional skill and flair

of the tournament's greatest champions...

Perfect harmony.

..and celebrate the incredible smells, colours and tastes...

Beautiful.

..of the best of British summer time.

Hats off. Really well done.

This week, battling to represent London and the South East

in the national finals are three of the brightest lights

on the capital's restaurant scene.

-Dessert on a fish course. That's brave.

-Brave or stupid.

But which two chefs will make it through to cook for the judges on Friday?

I'm trying to achieve a subtle flavour,

as opposed to chucking a piece of meat over some charcoal.

-That's slightly offensive, but...

-Hee-hee!

This year marks the 140th anniversary

of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

The competition first took place in 1877 and since then...

You cannot be serious!

..has become the ultimate Grand Slam tournament,

attracting the greatest players from around the globe

and signalling the start of the British summer.

Straight sets again!

Wimbledon champion again!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This week, battling to represent London and the South East

in the national finals are...

Tom Kemble,

Michelin-starred head chef

at one of London's most prestigious dining rooms.

I don't like overcomplicated dishes, I don't like fussy plating.

I think it's that beautiful simplicity on the plate

that's going to take me to the banquet.

Mike Reid, protege of Michel Roux Jr,

known for his gutsy techniques and flavours.

I'm not coming from a Michelin restaurant but, at the same time,

I believe in my abilities and I believe I have what it takes to do well.

And Selin Kiazim,

a specialist in Turkish Cypriot food,

inspired by her family's roots.

I think I'm bringing something really new and exciting to the competition.

I'm using Mediterranean, Middle Eastern flavours

and I can't wait to get going and show everyone what I can do.

Judging whether their dishes are worthy of this year's Wimbledon banquet

is a Michelin-starred chef

responsible for some of the finest dining in Britain.

I wonder who this veteran's going to be?

-Yeah, me, too.

-It feels like the most nerve-racking bit of it,

whether your style of food fits what he thinks would work.

Could be a she, Tom.

THEY LAUGH

A very good point!

Six-time veteran of the competition,

Angela Hartnett.

-Morning, guys.

-Morning.

So it's 140 years of Wimbledon, we expect excellent,

delicious-tasting food.

So, Tom, no pressure, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling good. Looking forward to cooking my dishes for you.

Fantastic. Selin, how are you feeling

about the brief - taste of summer?

I feel like the brief was, in one way, kind of made for me.

Good. What about you, Mike?

I think it fits my style of cooking perfectly.

Brilliant. Looking forward to it.

Good luck. See you on the other side.

Thank you.

You were right!

London and the South East always does well.

They need to make sure that they really live up to the expectations.

Tom Kemble is known for the use of international influences in his cuisine

and is hoping to impress with a Spanish-inspired starter.

-Hi, Tom.

-Hi, Angela.

-How are you feeling?

-Good. Confident.

Oh, fancy.

Tell me about your dish?

-Marbella Memories is the title of my dish.

-OK.

I'm doing a tomato gazpacho with a dill flower and mustard ice cream

-and brioche croutons.

-Why Marbella Memories?

I spent loads of holidays down there as a kid and this is my ode,

-this is my version.

-So what are you doing with these lovely brown crabs?

I'm going to cut off big pieces of meat from the crab claws

-and that's going to be on the bottom of the soup.

-Fantastic!

The mustard ice cream, that's slightly unusual. How are you doing that?

-I'm working with dill flowers.

-Ah.

-I'm also working with a really good French mustard.

-Oh, lovely.

So it's quite a simple dish.

It is quite simple, but I think my cooking and my dishes

-are quite simple.

-OK. And anything you're worried about?

-Um, getting it all done in time.

-Good luck, Tom.

-Thank you, Angela.

Because it is so simple, one thing that I think could go wrong for Tom's dish

is if he can't extract enough flavour

from every single item on that dish.

Innovative chef Mike Reid is hoping to win over Angela

with a complex and technical courgette dish.

-Hi, Mike.

-Hi.

-So tell me what dish you're making today?

My dish is called A Summer Meadow,

which is inspired by my memories of summer

and one of my favourite summer vegetables is courgettes

-so I've got things like the courgette flower.

-Yeah.

-I'm going to make, like, a saffron tempura.

-OK.

-I'm going to stuff it with a gorgeous burrata.

-Yeah.

-On top of that, I'm making a butter milk snow...

-Oh!

-..which is what I'm worried about in terms of the setting time.

-Yeah.

Besides that, I'm fairly confident about executing it.

What are these little things?

These are finger limes, they're really zesty,

they're going to add great freshness to my dish, as well.

All right, good. So you're feeling confident?

I think it's a different dish but I'm confident in it and for me it's

summer on a plate and there's another link later on to Wimbledon

-which I think really fulfils the brief as well.

-All right, good.

Mike's dish is essentially all courgettes.

What could potentially be a problem is stuffing the courgette flour with the burrata.

It could be quite dense, you know, if the batter's not light enough.

So it's one thing he needs to watch.

Mind your back.

Selin Kiazim, the youngest of the group,

is a protege of Peter Gordon,

often credited as the godfather of fusion cuisine.

She's looking to impress with a Turkish Cypriot take on a traditional summer favourite.

Hi, Selin, tell me the name of your dish?

-Queue-cumber.

-Queue-cumber.

-Yeah.

I've taken inspiration basically from the hundreds and thousands

of people who queue up at Wimbledon every year

and they have cucumber sandwiches.

So what is the dish you're cooking?

It's going to be compressed and pickled cucumber

with compressed and seared water melon.

I'll also be doing a borek using this pastry.

What's a borek?

Anything in Turkish cookery that uses pastry

and is baked or fried is referred to as a borek.

With mine I'm going to make a mix using this tulum cheese.

Is that a Turkish cheese, or...?

Yes, this is a Turkish cheese, it's quite strong in flavour.

Brilliant! Anything you're worried about in all of this?

I think just getting it done in time.

Do you think you're going to beat these two?

-CHUCKLES

-We'll see.

One thing I'd be nervous for is the watermelon and the cucumber.

Essentially they're both water products.

If you don't maximise the flavour out of them,

it's just a bit of sweet water.

Do you think that Angela will be a tough judge to please?

She's an amazing chef, so accomplished. I'm happy with her.

Mike is showcasing his favourite vegetable,

the courgette, in his vegetarian starter - A Summer Meadow.

He's using a variety of complex techniques which he hopes

will capture the taste of summer.

Mike, you feeling confident with your dish?

Yeah, you know, I'm not doing a lot of cooking,

a lot of my products are raw but, yes,

I think it's a strong start for myself, hopefully.

He begins by making the first of four courgette elements,

pickling two different varieties

before compressing to intensify the flavour.

Next, he works on his horseradish snow which he hopes will add an

acidic bite to the dish.

Mike's dish is interesting.

It's not my kind of cup of tea in terms of his technical approaches,

it'll be really interesting to see what he does.

As executive chef at M Restaurants, with two locations in London,

Mike specialises in modern food and unusual cooking techniques.

Working at M is my first venture out where it's 100% my menu,

100% what I want to be doing as a chef.

After training under both Michel Roux Jr

and Gordon Ramsay, Mike went down under to hone his style.

That Australian influence is a big part of my cuisine now.

It's the philosophy which is very much built around core ingredients

expressed in different ways.

Mike's starter is inspired by memories of the hot Australian summers.

Absolutely beautiful.

To test whether his dish is authentically antipodean...

Hey, baby.

He's trying it out on his pregnant wife, Australian Megan.

My wife is the reason why I fell in love with Australia in the first

place. She's also my biggest critic.

The only thing that I would say is that this needs to be a little bit

more crispy and then it's perfect.

Obviously I'm pregnant at the moment so if he was to be in the finals

and have our little girl at the same time it would be amazing

if that could happen.

Selin is hoping to impress Angela with her dish

Queue-cumber, her tribute to the cucumber sandwich.

It draws on her Turkish Cypriot heritage and features a number of tricky elements.

She starts by compressing water melon and cucumber with a verjus

dressing before charring to intensify the flavour.

The kitchen's definitely a pressured environment.

It's hot in here. So I'm glad I'm not doing anything too delicate.

Next, she prepares her borek,

a deep-fried Turkish pastry with an egg in the middle

which she'll have to cook carefully later to avoid setting the yolk.

You've got a lot going on in your dish, haven't you?

Yeah, it's kind of how I cook though, you know,

I do cook with a lot of flavours.

In 2015, aged just 29, Selin opened her own restaurant, Oklava,

in the cultural melting point of London's East End.

I feel an incredible buzz having my own restaurant,

it was a big ambition of mine.

My style of food, I'd call modern Turkish.

I like to say I try and create a bit of a party in the mouth

with different sort of sweet, salty sour flavours and lots of texture.

Selin spent her childhood in North London but is proud of her culinary

influences rooted firmly in her family's Turkish Cypriot heritage.

Turks are very much like eat your breakfast then you think about what

you're having for lunch. Food runs within our veins constantly.

For her summer-themed menu,

Selin has been inspired by flavours from her Mediterranean roots,

including memories of her family's lavish barbecues.

This is the colour I'm looking for, can you see that?

Yeah. Caramelisation.

Yes, caramelisation.

Well done!

LAUGHTER

As her older sister, I'm so, so proud of her.

As a family, we're really, really competitive,

so I think she'll go all the way.

Everyone, shall we wish Selin good luck in the Great British Menu.

ALL: Good luck, Selin!

Tom's taking a risk with his simple starter Marbella Memories.

How do I work this?

He's working on the main element of his dish,

a tomato and red pepper gazpacho.

But with so few components on the plate,

he's decided to use a special method

compressing his soup base in a vacuum machine.

Amazing.

That's enough.

So what is that that you're doing?

Using that compression technique to

intensify the flavour and colour and take out any air bubbles,

you get a lovely smooth texture.

-The results hopefully should be good.

-Yeah.

London-born Tom is head chef at Bonhams in the heart of Mayfair,

the dining room attached to one of London's most prestigious auction houses.

There's definitely a relationship between art and cooking.

I have an art history degree

and it's quite nice to come full circle to be

in an auction house where my art history degree has some relevance.

The restaurant opened in January 2015

and within ten months was awarded its first Michelin star.

-Two gnocchi, how long?

-Two minutes.

Way!

My signature style is clean, simple

and just try not overwork a plate,

really let those flavours really, really come out naturally.

Tom's summer starter is inspired by the Marbella holidays spent

with his grandmother, Joyce.

Look at that!

That's fantastic.

And the food she used to cook him.

You would make gazpacho and I remember tasting that

and I really, really like that flavour.

I wasn't a great cook,

I was just a very average cook so I'm very honoured, very touched.

Wonderful flavour. Mmm.

Do you think that this is worthy of a banquet?

I would go for it. It's much nicer than mine.

Back in the kitchen,

Selin is working on the many accompaniments for her dish,

including a lemon puree and dukkah,

a traditional Turkish seasoning

which she's flavouring with smoked bacon.

Next she makes a hazelnut and yoghurt sauce

which she'll aerate into a foam just before serving.

-Are you OK if I try a bit?

-Yeah, go for it.

What are you looking for in this?

I'm looking for the flavours to be quite heightened,

a little bit of acidity from the yoghurt and the Moscatel vinegar

and garlicky, as well.

Yes, it is garlicky, yeah.

You think you get more flavour doing it in a foam?

For the texture of the dish and what I'm looking for,

I think it works better.

I always feel foams never have the full impact of flavour, but she seems confident.

The proof is in the pudding.

As the only Michelin-starred chef in the kitchen today,

Tom is under pressure to get a high score for his dish, Marbella Memories.

It's a bit more stressful than I imagined actually,

especially getting off on the first dish, um...

Yeah, there's quite a lot to take in.

He's preparing the garnishes for his tomato gazpacho soup,

including brioche croutons.

He's also serving a sweet ice cream,

flavoured with dill flour and mustard.

But with time running out,

he's yet to get the mixture into the ice cream machine.

-Tom, can I try your dill ice cream?

-Yeah, please.

That's going to be finished with mustard and

a little bit of vinegar, as well.

Yes, it's quite sweet at the moment isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Do you think it's going to set in time?

-I'm hoping.

He's got about 40 minutes to go and his ice cream wasn't in the machine

so let's hope it sets for him.

With plating up approaching, Mike still has a lot left to do.

He's making a horseradish and whey fermenting sauce which he leaves to

reduce, before turning his attention to his courgette puree,

one of several courgette elements he's yet to complete.

Er, Mike?

Is this you, mate?

Oh, BLEEP. Thanks.

Next, he moves on to his courgette flour filling,

mixing yoghurt and burrata,

a mozzarella-type cheese with a soft centre.

Stuffing your courgette flowers?

-Yes.

-Can I have a try?

-Yes, please.

-You put it in a batter?

I've done a saffron tempura batter.

-I'm just infusing that so I keep the nice, light colours.

-Yeah.

And it holds well, does it?

Yes, holds well, it's nice and crisp.

The whole purpose of this dish is it's really light, really fresh.

It's a great way to start, hopefully, a four-course meal.

First to plate up is Tom,

hoping he's perfected every element of his dish, Marbella Memories.

Right, let's get cracking.

He begins by placing his crab meat into bowls

and covers with his tomato gazpacho soup.

Has that gazpacho come out as you wanted it, Tom?

Yes, it has. I could have taken it a little bit darker in colour,

-but the flavour's all right.

-Yeah.

Next, he adds a quenelle of dill flour and mustard ice cream,

before topping with edible flour petals and drizzling with olive oil.

-How are you feeling?

-Yeah, good. Ice-cream's a little soft

but I'm happy with the flavours.

-What do you think?

-I think it's very pretty, lovely colours.

All right, well it's all in the taste, isn't it? Let's go.

Where are the croutons in this?

-They're in here?

-BLEEP. No, they're not.

-Where are they?

-I forgot to put them on.

-OK.

Gazpacho's well made, there's a lot of flavour there.

That's cooked really well.

I wonder if the compressing has exactly worked out how he wanted

it to because it's a bit grainy.

-Yeah. Pulpy.

-Pulpy, yeah, that's a good word for it.

The mustard dill ice cream, has that come out the way you wanted?

Yeah, I'm happy with it,

I really wanted to use dill flowers because they're a bit more subtle than using fresh dill.

That's slightly melted now. How will that work in a banquet?

I would take it a little bit further and have it a little bit more set so

it would hold.

This is becoming like a little bit samey.

There's nothing that keeps your palate going, keeps you excited.

Marks out of ten?

I reckon it's a good eight.

-Chef.

-Hi, guys.

-How'd it go?

Um, yeah, all right, apart from a slight error forgetting

-my croutons that were behind me.

-Yeah, yeah.

-What do you guys think?

It's a shame about the croutons, it needed that bit of texture.

Selin is next to plate up her dish, Queue-cumber,

a Turkish twist on the summer favourite cucumber sandwiches.

That's a pretty interesting presentation you've got.

Hopefully it might give me the edge over you guys.

At the last minute, she deep fries her borek

filled with tulum cheese and an egg yolk

which she hopes will stay runny.

How's your borek frying?

Not very well, the fryer had gone off, or something.

Um...

-Is your fryer on?

-Yeah, go for it.

-Thank you.

While she waits for her borek to turn golden,

she plates her compressed cucumber and charred watermelon,

then adds verjus dressing and lemon puree.

Is the borek ready?

Just needs another 20-30 seconds.

With her borek finally done, she adds pickled onion,

her aerated hazelnut and yoghurt foam

and finishes with her smoked bacon dukkah.

Are you ready on the pass now, Selin?

Yeah.

Woo.

Yeah, that was a bit tight.

What do you think, Tom?

Yes, looks delicious.

-Let's go and eat it, yeah?

-Yeah.

The borek looks great.

I'm tempted to just pick it up and eat it.

Because it's hopefully got a runny egg yolk,

it might be an idea to cut it in the middle.

-Oh, yes!

-That's perfect.

-Yeah, that's spot on.

Is it cheesy enough for you?

I think it's cheesy enough. I'm happy with that.

Wow, there's a lot going on inside that.

That's rich as well, that yolk.

Very rich, very salty.

Your dish is called Queue-cumber,

would people realise that because there's quite a lot going on?

Yeah, I think people would.

-You know, there's a couple of things I've done with the cucumber.

-Mmm.

The watermelon and cucumber, that's a great kind of flavour of summer,

-it's so fresh.

-Mmm.

Then you've got the garlic hazelnut yoghurt foam.

It's maybe a little bit overpowering.

It's quite garlicky.

If you marked it out of ten, what would you give yourself?

Um, I would give myself an eight.

If she can get the balance right of the components,

-she's going to do well.

-Yeah, I think we're in for some trouble.

-Hey, guys.

-Hey.

-How'd you get on?

-Yeah, good, good.

-What did you guys think?

-I don't think you need the borek.

-OK.

-I agree, I think there was probably one element too much.

-Yeah.

-Um, but it was a great plate full of food.

-Thank you very much.

Mike is last to plate up with his dish, A Summer Meadow.

How are you getting on?

-Getting there, getting there. Final touches.

-Yeah.

He starts with courgette puree.

And pickled courgette.

He adds fermented courgette ribbons

before dipping his stuffed courgette flowers in saffron batter

and frying.

He places finger limes and tapioca

into the rolled courgettes and dresses

with herbs and edible daisies.

How are you getting on, Mike?

Nearly there.

What's that you're grating on?

-This is the cured egg yolk.

-Oh, cool.

He plates his battered courgette flower

and adds the buttermilk snow.

Finally he dresses with nasturtium oil

before revealing his surprise presentation.

I just need to grab my last element.

What are you bringing Andy Murray out of the back, or something?

What is that?

This is my TV prop.

This is my nod to Wimbledon being the first televised production in

colour on the BBC back in 1967.

OK.

Lift your screen to see the colours of a Summer Meadow.

What do you think, Tom?

Yeah, I think the presentation is quite cool,

it's an interesting prop.

-You're going to carry that.

-Yes, Chef!

Does it look like A Summer Meadow?

It's definitely got the colour there.

This saffron batter that you've got is still crispy, which is good?

I'm very happy with how the flower's come out.

And the burrata inside the courgette flower,

that's exactly the effect you were looking for.

Absolutely, it's creamy, it's rich.

It gives a really nice depth to it.

I'm kind of not a fan of the way that it's run like that

onto the plate, it's ended up really kind of milky.

You pickled these courgettes?

Yes, these ones are pickled and blow torched to give it a bit of char.

I think this is light and summery,

but everything is a little bit subtle.

-The snow obviously has slightly melted.

-Yeah.

Are you OK with that being like that?

Yes, I mean, it's part of the dressing.

It looks quite pretty on the plate for me.

The buttermilk snow.

I think that's gone.

There's a little bit there but I'm not really picking

up on that at all.

What would you score it?

I think because of the snow, I'd give it an eight.

-How was it?

-Yeah, it was OK, it was OK.

I think it's going to be really interesting to see how Angela now scores our three dishes.

-I'm hoping for ten.

-THEY LAUGH

I think it's important to kind of get a good score,

especially in the first course.

-I think if it wasn't a great score then it kind of is a little bit demoralising.

-Yeah.

Hi, chefs. So, first day, from the Great British Menu kitchen,

-how do you feel?

-A little bit tougher than I imagined.

It's good to get the first day out of the way.

Right, Tom, I'm going to start with your dish, Marbella Memories.

That dish was a lovely dish.

Really delicious and very summery.

You got maximum flavour into that tomato gazpacho.

And when I tried your ice cream,

you nailed it and really worked well with the gazpacho.

However...

You forgot one crucial element, your croutons.

And that dish lacked that texture.

Overall I thought for the banquet it was probably a little too simple.

Selin...

Your dish, Queue-cumber,

it was a really tasty plate of food.

The smoked bacon dukkah on top was delicious.

The cucumber and watermelon were really lovely.

You extracted maximum flavour.

But...

The garlic in the hazelnut foam was too strong.

And I found the cheese in the borek pastry a bit too overpowering.

Much as I love tasting every little element of it,

I wasn't sure if it came together as a dish.

So, Mike...

Your dish, A Summer Meadow.

It hit the summer brief,

the deep-fried courgettes were really lovely.

And I liked your pickled lime and the tapioca.

I thought it helped with the creaminess of the dish.

However, your buttermilk snow had melted

and to me was unnecessary for the dish.

Great idea but I'm not convinced those TVs

are practical for a banquet.

So...to the scores.

I'm going to start with you, Tom.

And I'm giving you a score of...

Seven.

Selin...

I'm giving you a score

of seven.

Mike...

I'm giving you a score of...

Eight.

You guys can cook tasty plates of food.

And I want you to shine and serve some dishes that really,

really stand out.

Good luck for the next course, guys.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, well done.

-Thank you.

I'm a little shellshocked, I'm very happy with that.

I'm very happy with an eight.

Not bad having seven. I wanted more but...yeah.

I'm a little disappointed, not completely gutted.

It's given me some more confidence just to, you know,

improve my score with each dish.

It's close, like it's very close.

Game plan for the fish course is just to stick to my plan basically

and make sure that I execute it as best as I can.

Tom and Selin will be pumped up to catch up and try and overtake me,

so it's my job now to make sure I stay in front.