Episode 13 Instant Restaurant

Two rival amateur cooks are converting their homes into restaurants.

They've been given just one day and a budget of up to £200.

This is absolute disaster. We're going to have to start again.

It really just now comes down to personal taste.

If people are going to take the spicy flavours, well, it'll be great.

20 strangers will be judging the restaurants and it will be entirely

up to them to decide how much or how little they pay.

The chicken is so succulent.

It's very grey, very dull, very miserable to look at.

I think it's wrong.

So can the cooks deliver the goods and will they make any money?

Hello and welcome to Instant Restaurant,

the show that challenges cooks to transform their homes

into restaurants for one night only, but will the diners pay enough

for today's cooks to walk away with a profit?

First up, 31 year-old Nav Dey,

a full-time mum to 18 month-old son Joban.

The concept of the restaurant is home-cooked Punjabi food,

so Northern Indian food, how it would be done if you went to somebody's house in India.

This is a recipe which my mum has taught me,

which her mum taught her, most families will cook dhal like this.

I'm really proud of the way my mum provided that really healthy, lovely food for us

that was so tasty, and I just want to share it with other people

because everybody who I've given it to enjoys it.

Her rival is 65 year-old Angela Heather,

a retired doctor's receptionist.

She's a real pillar of her community, a keen member of the local historical,

fine arts, and horticultural societies,

as well as the Women's Institute, but can she cook more than just jam?

My restaurant's called the Woodlands Experience

and my cooking this evening is going to be good country fare.

I'm hoping to produce well-cooked, good quality food, all sourced locally,

and I'm sure if we present it right, people will really enjoy it.

But it's not just about the food, it's about creating the whole restaurant experience.

At her Hungerford home, Angela is keeping it traditional

with floral table displays and small models of what might be on the menu.

I'd like it to look like a restaurant, but also have a friendly dinner party atmosphere.

I'm going to light the fire and we'll light the candles

on the table, and it should look nice and cosy.

And to realise her vision,

she's brought in two fellow WI members to help, Christine and Jenny.

My helpers are both very calm people

and they won't panic if anything goes wrong.

If you'd like to welcome the guests when they arrive, take their coats,

get them seated, and give them a menu.

Angela is very calm, it's all completely organised in the kitchen, there'll be no problems, I'm sure.

In fact it's so organised in the kitchen, Angela's even got a spare cooker

stashed in her conservatory just in case.

At the rival restaurant, Joban's near Oxford, Nav's got a maroon and gold colour scheme

with draped sari fabrics and tiny elephants.

I want it to feel like people really are taken off on an Eastern trip,

with smells that really evoke India when they walk through the door,

and just the idea that they're having a comfortable,

so not stuffy elegance where they don't feel relaxed,

a comfortable meal but one that's special as well.

Helping the evening run smoothly will be Nav's friend Catherine,

though at the moment she seems slightly more nervous than the chef.

My biggest nightmare for doing the serving tonight is basically getting

the orders wrong or tripping up or not getting things on top,

or just annoying people as well.

Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring.

Yes, annoying people, never the best idea if you ultimately want them to part with cash.

-Is that too tight, Catherine?

-No, that's OK.

Does it look all right?

Also on hand will be Nav's biggest fan, her husband, Steve.

Compared to a restaurant, Nav's food is very, very good indeed.

As well as glowing with pride for his missus,

he'll also provide more practical heat in the garden.

I actually think it's a thing men perhaps like playing with fire,

but I quite enjoy doing this.

Steve's also providing and peeling most of the veg.

These are pumpkins from my allotment in the village.

And growing your own always saves money.

Whilst these ingredients don't cost much, the amount you have to use

for all these curries means it's saved me probably a tenner on supermarket prices for onions.

Both cooks have been given an allowance of up to £200.

With her homegrown economies, Nav needed just £54,

so she must take over £5 from each diner to break even.

Angela has asked for more than double that,

so needs to take twice as much as Nav to break even.

So we've got a young mum cooking traditional Punjabi fare...

Obviously, I hope it goes well but, you know, I've just got to get on with it now, haven't I?

..versus the queen of the WI, who's going to bat for the best of Middle England.

I think it'll be very strange to see people I don't know in my house, sitting down to a meal.

The aim of the game is to make a profit, but of course it's up to the diners how much they pay.

If they're not happy, they could leave nothing at all.

At 6 o'clock, 20 strangers from all walks of life

but united in their love of food begin arriving at both restaurants.

Hi, come on in!

Nav's guests get a very warm welcome from Nav, who should probably be in the kitchen.

So, where's Catherine, and has she calmed down yet?

I'm going to do the starters, isn't that great?!

That'd be a no then.

Now they've seen where they'll be spending the evening, what do the diners think?

I love the fact that I've walked into a lovely house with a beautifully set table.

The ambience when we walked in was very warm, very comfortable.

Felt at home straightaway.

We'll get you sorted out with the white wine glasses as soon as possible.

Going into somebody's sitting room and finding it set up like a restaurant was just amazing.

Oh, fantastic, absolutely fabulous, the house looks lovely

and the smells are absolutely divine,

so really looking forward to it.

So that's a great start for Nav.

And over at Angela's, the guests are also arriving for their evening at...

erm, what's that restaurant called again?

Welcome to the erm... erm...

Forget-me-not Bistro? Memory Lane?

The erm... Woodlands Experience.

Ah yes, the Woodland Experience.

Well, they may have forgotten the name of their restaurant

but the ladies certainly haven't misplaced their manners.

Let me take your coat, sorry.

And it's certainly impressing the guests.

I'll bring you some bread so that you can have a little nibble.

-Thank you.

-I thought the place was really, really nice

and it was like visiting a relative actually, instantly felt very comfortable.

Certainly the ambience, looks really nice

and I'm looking forward to this tremendously.

My mum would have loved this, just the olde worlde feeling,

the ladies dressed up in their black and white, and the pewter jug of water.

Lovely atmosphere

but maybe for...an older generation.

Ah, dining at Angela's sounds a bit like going to your favourite aunt's for a family supper,

but I'm not sure whether the ladies from the WI

are quite every diner's idea of the perfect night out.

And Nav's out the front greeting the guests as well as cooking in the kitchen,

so where's her waitress?

Let's hope she's back for the starters.

At Joban's, Nav is offering a choice of two starters,

chicken kebab with a yoghurt and mint dressing

or spicy lamb kebab.

I think these are the perfect introduction to a home-cooked Punjabi meal

because they really epitomise the taste of a tandoori oven,

a traditional clay oven, in which they would have been cooked in India.

With two kebabs, I feel that there is not enough choice for the starters.

Nav began preparing early.

So this is for the tandoori chicken appetiser, into it I'm adding garam masala,

chilli powder, turmeric for the colour,

ground black pepper, salt, and paprika,

which basically make up the basis of most of the Indian taste.

And to that I'm going to add some yoghurt, and this is what's the wet part of the marinade

to keep everything really, really moist.

That's an awful lot of spices in there, how hot do you want it?

Obviously we don't want to blow people's heads off here,

but at the same time you don't want to present somebody with a tandoori appetiser that's bland,

so you have got to really make sure that you do put enough in there

and not be frightened to use the spices. Yes, it's spicy,

yes, there's chillies in there, but it's also about flavour.

OK, so I'm just going to...

What if it's too hot? Maybe she'll taste it first.

I'm going to add a little bit... That is actually quite spicy,

so I think I'm going to leave that as it is. SHE COUGHS

The other kebab is made from minced lamb, onions, garlic,

coriander and green chilli.

Can you do the skewering then and I'll get on with the mix?

This is really fiddly putting these things together.

These kebabs will go down very well hopefully, but we shall see.

Once the guests have arrived, the meat hits the tandoor,

erm... barbie.

The barbecue is really good at cooking it all over really quickly.

Although you might think it'd take ages, it's surprisingly quick.

And Catherine has conquered her nerves and drawn up some kind of

Sudoku-based aid to help her take orders.

-Can I just have the chicken kebab, please?

-Of course you can.

-Thank you.

OK, great.

After a few minutes of red-hot charcoal,

the kebabs are whisked through the chill night air and into the kitchen.

OK, we're going to take two lamb kebabs out now.

The lamb's ready but Steve's nervous about the chicken.

That looks fine to me but then I don't have to eat it.

Come on, Steve, is it cooked or not?

I'm going to put it in for two more seconds just to be sure.

Apparently not, so he pops outside to cook it some more,

leaving the lamb kebabs on cold plates with the back door wide open.

Just give them a few more minutes, they're very, very close.

-How's the chicken doing?

-It's nearly there.

-Yes?

-I just want to make sure it's cooked through.

-Yes, yes.

Come on, Steve, stop poking it.

At least the guests seem relaxed,

though as the minutes tick on, that's more than you can say for Nav.

The chicken please, Steve, whenever you're ready.

At last Steve's happy with the chicken, but will the diners be happy with slightly chilled lamb?

-Looks lovely.

-Wonderful isn't it? It really looks nice.

Oh, that isn't right, it's cold.

It seems not, but will all the spice provide heat of a different nature?

It's not very hot, temperature hot.

It's OK though.

I love it, it's so good.

I'm really enjoying the meal.

It's definitely got a bit of a kick to it with spice, which I like.

It's lovely, presentation as well is really good.

The chicken is so succulent, it's absolutely delicious

and I've just had some of the lamb as well and that's nice and spicy

but very fresh in its flavour. Absolutely gorgeous.

I'd just like it to have been a bit hotter, I think it was meant to be hot.

Hopefully they like the taste, it's quite spicy.

I did sort of hear, kind of through Catherine, that some of them had said that it wasn't hot enough,

so I was a bit disappointed about that.

Over at the rival restaurant, what's it called again?

Something to do with woodlands. Oh, there you go,

Angela's first starter definitely won't be hot.

The home-smoked trout tian with sauteed courgette and sliced tomato is supposed to be cold.

And for the main part, so is the roast pigeon with hedgerow salad,

mixed leaves, parsley, blackberries, and hazelnuts.

We eat a lot of game, particularly pigeon,

and I thought it would be nice for people to experience that.

I picked the blackberries in the garden,

and the hazelnuts, for the salad.

My husband caught the fish, we smoked it at home,

and this particular recipe I think looks very pretty on the plate.

Both of these starters sound absolutely gorgeous

and I'd be very happy to order them in a restaurant any day.

This is the smoked trout tian.

So I've chopped some chives and I'm going to mix those

into the smoked trout with some creme fraiche, some horseradish,

a little bit of Tabasco, and some lemon juice.

In the other restaurant, Nav saved money by raiding husband Steve's vegetable patch

but Angela's gone one step further.

My husband caught the trout and we gutted it and smoked it,

which gives it a very nice flavour.

You do it over oak dust

and it is a special home smoker...

..which works extremely well.

It's very easy to use.

Caught the fish, smoked it herself, and the thrift doesn't end there.

Do those tian rings look familiar?

The things are made from a piece of drainpipe.

You don't actually need metal rings for this.

So rather than go to the expense, you buy a piece of drainpipe,

wash it very thoroughly, and cut it up into pieces.

Smoked trout tian a la drainpipe.

The trout-stuffed drainpipe is then topped with a layer of sauteed courgette and sliced tomato.

But out in the dining room there are rumblings,

not about the tian but about the other starter.

What did I say to you?

I said, do you think there'll be pigeon?

Good guess.

It's not exactly one of the nation's favourite foods but Angela doesn't seem worried.

Yes, not many people have eaten pigeon I don't think,

so it will be quite interesting to see whether they enjoy it or not.

It'll be interesting to see if they eat it or not, that'll be the real clue.

But ever optimistic, Angela loads up the pan with plenty of pigeon,

and turns her attention to the hedgerow salad.

Always amazes me how long it takes to actually put things on plates.

It's not that amazing, considering how much there is,

it's more like a forest than a hedgerow salad.

You think it's going to take you two or three minutes but in fact,

it takes a lot, lot longer.

And while Angela loses herself in salad, the pigeon is left to fend for itself.

-Oh, I forgot to turn that one over.

-Once it's cooked, the pigeon has to rest so the meat relaxes.

If you leave them just to rest for a while,

all the blood inside sort of redistributes

through the meat and it tenderises it and it keeps it moist.

When she cuts the breasts into slices, they certainly look done, but how well?

Nearly there, girls.

Right, there you go. OK?

There's only one way to find out, time to give the pigeon to some gastronomic guinea pigs.

This lady has never eaten pigeon in her life.

It's supposed to be cooked much rarer than it was.

To me, I think it was overdone and it was grainy.

It had blackberries with it, which you needed the blackberries

just to keep it down.

And it soon transpires there's another pigeon virgin in the house tonight.

-Hmmm, lovely(!)

-Really?

No, I don't like that.

I had the pigeon, a bit too much salad.

I found the pigeon a bit dry, I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that

but I certainly found it a bit dry, which made it slightly harder work than I would have liked.

Oops, don't think there are many pigeon fanciers in tonight,

let's hope the trout tian fares better.

I had the trout. It was very delicious, actually.

It was very light and the way it was presented was fantastic,

and the tomatoes and the courgettes really complemented the fish.

It was actually very good.

It was quite light and refreshing and yes, I think it was a real success.

I would have been happy to have eaten that anywhere really, so I was very happy.

Just don't tell him it was made in a drainpipe.

-But when the plates come back, it looks promising.

-A few bits left.

That's a good one.

Not bad, not bad, could be worse, couldn't it?

Yes, it certainly could be a lot worse.

In fact, Angela hasn't done too badly,

although her gamble of putting pigeon on the menu didn't exactly pay off.

And maybe Nav should close the back door

and not leave food sitting on cold plates when she serves the mains.

After her waitress going AWOL when the guests arrived

and Steve's delays with the kebabs,

Nav has a team talk before the main course.

So bring in the mains, then I bring in the bread, or the bread first and then the mains?

-No, bread afterwards.

-However, Steve seems to just wander off

and Catherine still looks slightly bewildered, so I'm not sure how much use it's been.

-OK.

-Yes, otherwise the bread will and go cold, it's hot bread.

-Right.

-OK.

-So we'll do mains first.

-OK.

Seconds away, round two.

For her main course, Nav is serving a selection of Indian food known as thali.

There's a choice of spicy lentil dhal, lamb keema, butter chicken,

and autumn vegetable curry, all served with lots of rice and homemade roti bread.

Thali is actually an Indian word for the tray in which we serve

the curries, and I wanted to serve lots of individual different curries

in the tray as opposed to just one curry

and a pile of rice as you might get in an Indian restaurant.

I think the thali looks absolutely delicious.

I've been to India this year,

I've eaten a lot of Indian food

and I think this looks particularly good.

Nav got all her spices out nice and early

but was anxious not to make her food too hot to cater for all.

Autumn curry, which has pumpkin in, is going to be the mildest curry.

Butter chicken is going to be fairly mild as well,

still spicy but not, you know, very, very fiery.

The dhal and the keema will be slightly spicier,

so we will be telling people that when they order.

And most of this heat will be coming from these spicy little fellas,

green birds-eye chillies.

I'm trying to chop them quite finely because they're obviously quite fiery for someone to bite into.

And again it's a matter of taste, you know, we quite like that but not everybody does.

We put all the seeds in and everything with Indian food, we don't bother...

because we are going for heat at the end of the day.

So, are you going for heat? Make your mind up.

She then adds garam masala, turmeric, paprika, black pepper, and wait for it...chilli powder!

These are fried off with chopped onions then added to the lentils.

I love spicy dishes like this, let's hope Nav's diners do, too.

That is really your flavour going into the lentils now.

These sorts of curries do lend themselves quite well, I think,

to doing it for lots of people because you just do big pots of them.

They're all having a little portion of three curries each,

so I think it's quite easy to scale up and scale down.

It's not like I've got a piece of fish or something

and I've got to cater for the fact that everybody or nobody might want that

so it's absolutely perfect. I'll just let that be.

After the delays on the barbie, Steve has a chance to redeem himself

by providing and peeling the veg for the pumpkin curry.

We planted these back in... probably May, I think it was.

Actually, I started them from seed in about February.

Let's hope nothing goes wrong this time.

Ah... oh, dropped it.

-Whoops.

-I'm just going to wash that.

I won't tell if you won't. Steve quickly washes and chops it, and then hands it to Nav.

The pumpkin and the potato are just going to soak up the Indian spices and take on the flavour.

There's not a lot else to do to this dish.

Nav's also cooking the butter chicken and the lamb keema to make life easy for herself tonight.

There's a lot there because we've got a lot coming.

But with everything seemingly under control, she's still having a bit of a worry.

I think what goes against me is that curry is traditionally a cheaper meal out, isn't it?

So people psychologically will be not thinking of as much as say,

if they're having a Beef Wellington or something, perhaps.

I would like to make a profit but it's just really about them just enjoying it.

So as long as they walk away going, do you know what, I really enjoyed that meal.

Even if it's as they expected or it's opened their eyes to a new way of cooking Indian food, then great.

Post-pumpkin, Steve's turned his attention

to making dough for the roti, an Indian bread a bit like naan.

So it's just a bit of flour, water, yoghurt, salt, little bit of sugar, and some yeast.

You can see there it's trundling away.

Slightly worryingly, he'll be in charge of baking this at the last minute.

Let's hope he's a bit sharper than he was for the starters.

And with the mains all bubbling along nicely,

Nav's still worrying about this evening,

though this time it's about how hot she's made her curries.

It really just now comes down to personal taste.

If people are going to take the spicy flavours, well, it'll be great.

If they find it a bit much, it won't,

but that's a risk I took with doing curry.

With the curries ready, all that's left to do is bake the roti.

So Steve's back in the hot spot,

which turns out to be down on his knees in front of the oven.

I'm just checking the naan breads don't burn,

I'm keeping my eye on them.

Steve, it's fine.

In Indian houses you don't get the roti first, you know that.

While Steve keeps praying for his daily bread, the food goes out,

served in a traditional thali plate with four compartments.

So what do the diners think?

This meal is so different to any other Indian meal I've ever had.

It's presented differently, you can taste the food, you can taste every bit of it. It's lovely.

And between them, Steve and Catherine also manage to deliver

the roti in the traditional style, just after the curry and piping hot.

-It couldn't be any fresher.

-No.

Now for the true test - has Nav over-spiced the food?

Are we about to see diners run screaming from the building?

I thought that the dhal was under-spiced.

What? Under-spiced?!

I was led to believe that the dhal, the lentil dish,

was the best of all the spices and I didn't find it so.

It wasn't so to my taste at all.

Were you hoping it was going to be more spicier?

It's very nice but I wouldn't say there's a lot of spice there.

But it is very tasty, very nice.

And poor Nav has no idea she could have piled in more chillies after all.

I think they're finding it too spicy probably. I don't know.

It's really difficult because I'm not in the room so until I can see their reaction, I just have no idea.

Well, you'll find out at the end when their wallets do the talking.

Over at the Woodland Experience, it's time for Angela to unleash her mains.

She's serving a choice of pancetta-wrapped salmon with mushroom and barley risotto,

or slow roasted lamb shanks cooked with olives and red wine

and served with a root vegetable mash and homegrown green beans.

I'm doing lamb shanks today,

which I can leave in the oven and not worry about at all.

The salmon, I'm cooking with a barley risotto.

I've never done this recipe before but it's absolutely delicious

and you mix with wild mushrooms, which makes it very seasonal.

They sound lovely.

I do think that Angela's got quite a lot on her plate though,

pardon the pun, and I think she's going to be quite busy.

Let's see how busy, shall we?

As the lamb shanks take hours to cook, she started them off well before lunch.

Lamb is one of my favourite meats and I think that the shank

looks very nice on a plate, it's easy to present,

you haven't got to carve it.

Sounds sensible, though I'm slightly worried

about the sheer quantity on that roasting tray.

These are leg shanks. They used to be incredibly cheap

but suddenly because they've become very fashionable,

they're now a lot more expensive than they used to be.

So how many are there?

I'm cooking 12 of these because it's easier,

and they're going to be in the oven for the rest of the day now.

12?! she does know there's only 10 people coming, doesn't she?

Oh, well, too late now.

I've got celery, onion, and carrot,

and there will be some garlic and some herbs going in as well.

Right, there we go.

And it all goes into the Aga where it will do its own thing.

Meanwhile, out in the conservatory kitchen,

Christine's making a start on the barley risotto that'll accompany the salmon dish.

That's stuck.

Risotto is normally made with rice but Angela's taking another risk and making it with old-fashioned barley.

The only problem is, with risotto there's a fine line

between it being not cooked enough and cooked to a stodge, really.

It's a bit more temperamental, whereas this is quite an easy recipe,

it's quite a forgiving recipe because you can also cook it and then leave it and reheat it.

So it's very easy for a dinner party.

Barley is a lot tougher than rice so will need tons of flavour to penetrate it.

Let's hope a jug of stock and another of red wine is enough.

I hope it fits in the pan.

And that's just going to bubble away for 30 minutes.

The next job is to wrap 12 - yes, that's 12 - salmon fillets in pancetta.

The fish will be cooked for about eight minutes

and that will impart flavour and a certain amount of fat to the fish.

It's a lovely flavour at the end.

Eight minutes? That sounds about right, they should be perfect.

Though when the orders come in, only four people want the fish,

meaning eight are left uncooked and unpaid for,

so we know what Angela's having for tea this week.

We've only got four salmon.

The trick with this dish is getting the pancetta to crisp up whilst keeping the salmon moist inside.

I daren't leave it in any longer or it will be as dry as a board.

We wanted the pancetta to crisp up,

and it's very difficult to get it to crisp up.

So four diners have gone for fish and six have gone for lamb,

meaning half of these will be left over as well.

That'll be next week's tea sorted then.

As Angela plates up, the versatile drainpipe makes a welcome return,

this time to shape the root vegetable mash.

The salad is here.

With a flurry of activity the mains are served,

and after the pigeon failed to fly, Angela really needs this to go well.

I had the lamb for main, didn't like the fact it was served on a cold plate,

the root mash was cold, which was a bit of a shame.

There wasn't any gravy and then it was almost like an afterthought,

the gravy came through.

That's what I was looking for!

-I think the lamb's quite fatty.

-That's what shanks...

No, no. I know but it's quite greasy.

I've had worse elsewhere.

But what about the salmon pancetta and barley risotto?

The salmon itself was quite nice, I found, but it was just the flavour of the ham.

I found it quite greasy and I didn't like it.

I think that sort of thing has to be quite crispy,

and I didn't like the risotto at all.

I personally didn't enjoy the flavour of the salmon,

didn't enjoy the taste of the ham wrapped round it.

The risotto was the worst part of the meal, didn't enjoy it at all.

It was very grey, very dull, very miserable to look at.

Not for me, I didn't enjoy it at all.

Oh, dear, they're not a very happy set of diners at Angela's, are they?

And the ladies are working so hard.

And as for Nav, she was worried her diners

would find her Punjabi food too hot and spicy,

but in the end they were disappointed it wasn't hot enough.

When it comes to running an Instant Restaurant,

it seems all the customers can't be happy all of the time.

Let's hope they like the desserts.

Nav is taking a bit of risk with her third course,

abandoning Punjabi cuisine in favour of European-style puddings.

She's giving her diners a choice of tangy lemon cheesecake with a raspberry coulis,

or a dark chocolate mousse pot, though both will be served with

toasted pistachio nuts to give them a hint of Eastern flavour.

I chose to do these puddings because I'm a British-born Asian

and I thought about what I'd like to follow a curry with,

which is actually a tangy lemon cheesecake

or an indulgent chocolate mousse,

which is exactly what we would have if we were cooking it at home.

These desserts seem to be rather rich and I would just prefer

to have a piece of fruit.

But it's got fruit in it.

So why the departure to chocolate and cheesecake now?

In my experience of serving Indian food,

people have tended to want something quite refreshing after a curry.

Indian desserts are very tasty but they can be quite heavy.

They're very, very sweet

and some of them are a bit of an acquired taste, they're quite rich.

So on this occasion, I thought we'd steer away from those.

Everybody likes chocolate. Well, most people do.

All except Angela, she prefers fruit.

Still, she's not one of your guests.

Besides, Nav is confident her lemon cheesecake

will offer a tasty alternative

as well as rounding off the rest of her meal.

I think lemon goes really well after curry cos it's refreshing

and I think it's zingy enough, citrusy enough, to just cut through

the strong flavours already on your palate.

This is one of those things which doesn't look a lot when it's in the flan tin,

but when you pull it out and slice it,

and you see the biscuit bottom and the white lemony top,

that's when it looks at its best.

Well, now is the time to find out,

the orders are in and the desserts are plated up and sent out.

So will the diners welcome these Western desserts

or think Nav's failed to deliver on her Eastern promise?

I think it's a little bit disappointing

for an English dessert following an Indian meal.

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect but definitely not...

an English one.

In India, they would probably have fresh fruit.

-Yes.

-A bowl of fresh fruits would be served, not this kind of sweet.

I think something the British do a lot anyway is mix cultures,

so you've gone from the Indian culture now to a very European dish.

I think it's fine.

I think it's wrong, it was the wrong choice, personally.

After this lovely Indian meal, we needed perhaps

some mangoes with some lemon juice, or something very sharp.

And the disappointing feedback soon filters back to the kitchen.

I am feeling like they probably would have wanted Indian puddings now,

because they seem to be really, really keen on the Indian theme.

But, you know,

if they're interested, I'll explain why I went down this route.

At the Woodland Experience,

Angela's guests will be expecting traditional puddings

and they won't be disappointed.

There's a choice of crepes with apple and calvados brandy butter,

served with homemade marmalade ice cream,

or a white chocolate mousse accompanied by a strawberry coulis.

Chocolate mousse makes a very good cold dessert.

The warm crepes are served with apples picked from the garden,

and served with a homemade marmalade ice cream,

which is delicious.

Wow, Angela must be really good because I don't think I'd have

the confidence to do crepes for people judging my cooking,

but I do think that both her options sound delicious.

Not only delicious but everything is homemade,

including the marmalade ice cream.

So hot milk, which is going into the egg mixture.

Seems like Angela's got everything under control.

So we now have to put it on a heat...oops.

Well, nearly.

That's all I need.

After cooking the custard, she freezes it in her ice cream machine.

The ice cream is now being frozen and it's being continually moved

around so that it doesn't get any ice crystals in it.

Now she adds homemade orange marmalade to give it the unusual

bittersweet flavour that defines her signature dish.

It has been very popular, people have enjoyed it. It's very tasty,

so that was why I thought I'd make it.

Out in the conservatory, helper Jenny is on crepe duty.

The plan is to make a whole batch and pre-fill them before service.

Everything can be made in advance.

These crepes will be stuffed with either a mixture of butter and Calvados apple brandy

or a good helping of apple puree, with the whole lot being reheated

in the oven when the orders come in.

For her other non-alcoholic and much less appley dessert,

Angela's attempting a white chocolate mousse.

It's really difficult to melt white chocolate.

It's not ordinary chocolate.

It doesn't have the same properties that ordinary chocolate has.

I think I'm...

yes, I think I'm there now,

so I'm going to mix...

I've had some gelatine soaking here in cold water.

I'm just going to squeeze that out...

and add this,

and hope that it's warm enough to melt it.

She mixes in gelatine and hopes for the best, but after much stirring,

it's still not looking very moussey.

This is absolute disaster. I think we're going to have to start all over again.

Oh, dear, not so much a mousse, more of a mess.

I don't think this working, it's all gone grainy now.

Right, start that one again.

Take two.

Well, if that's the only disaster, it's not too bad, is it really?

-Could be a lot worse.

-That's the spirit.

Second time round, Angela turns the mousse making into a team effort.

I'm just going to melt chocolate out here, helping Angela get to start the mousse off.

This is where it went wrong before and it looks as though it could be right.

Ah, that's better. Well done, team.

I'm very relieved it's working.

Now I wonder what sort of small round container you can put them in?

Oh, of course, what else?

I must pop down to my local DIY store and get some of those.

After earlier problems, the mousse is fine, absolutely fine, thank you.

Well, the drainpipes will need to save the day after decidedly

mixed reviews from Angela's diners for her starters and mains.

Well, they seem happy enough.

This is my favourite pudding.

Yes, I like this as well.

Fantastic. The dessert is the best part of the effort.

The pancakes are delicious, although I've just tried a bit of

the mousse and that's marginally better than the pancakes, actually.

I completely agree with my brother, it's the best part of the meal.

Lovely, beautiful.

That's great, but is everyone impressed?

-It's too bitter.

-It's a shame.

The wine's good.

I had the white chocolate mousse with strawberry coulis.

I know it's white chocolate mousse on the menu,

there was no white chocolate flavour and the mousse is quite a bit rubbery.

The coulis is really nice and I like the strawberries

but the mousse wasn't good.

Marmalade ice cream? Mmm, not 100% sure.

The crepe was far too overcooked,

a bit stodgy,

and the marmalade ice cream wasn't working at all. So...not good.

That was one tough table.

But at the end of the night Angela is greeted with a warm round of applause.

Hello, I'm your chef, I hope you've enjoyed your meal.

-We have.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, you're very kind.

Delicious.

And so is Nav, though her diners would have preferred Indian desserts and spicier curries.

It's not easy.

It's decision time. Both our cooks have given it their best shot

but now it's up to the diners to decide how much or how little they want to pay for their evenings.

But will it be enough for Nav and Angela to make any money?

Nav spent only £54 of her budget so needs just over £5 per head,

but how did her diners feel about their evening at Joban's?

We had a super night.

I think it was really lovely to be in somebody's house having such a lovely meal.

We had a fantastic night, we've met some great people, a superb host.

I would hope that people would have wanted to pay at least £15 per head for that meal.

Lovely food, which I was so surprised

because I do like Indian food and I didn't think I did.

At the Woodland Experience Angela shelled out £120,

so needs at least £12 per person before she makes a penny.

So will her diners pay enough for her to make a profit?

Lovely dessert, the middle bit let it down a bit, and great company, so had a good night.

Started off fantastic, the starter was lovely, but I thought it went a bit downhill from there.

I thought the ambience was absolutely wonderful,

food up and down but overall a really nice evening.

Pretty happy. Pretty happy it's all over.

You wouldn't become a restaurateur?

No, I don't think I want to become a restaurateur. I don't think I do.

Not now, I'm too old.

But it's been fun doing this.

Hurray, Angela, Nav!

You've got to the end of the evening, but did you enjoy it?

-Yes.

-Did you really?

-Very much.

-What was the best bit?

It was great fun, really enjoyed it, all of us.

You had an amazing team.

-We were all in awe of your team.

-Really?

Yes. You worked so well together.

We did actually, yes, and we didn't have a practice run,

but we talked about it a lot and decided how we were going to

organise the day and it just went like clockwork.

We were very, very lucky.

Oh, Angela, how I love your kitchen utensils.

Tell us about your drainpipe.

Well, I needed some rings, some presentation rings,

and they are so expensive to buy so I sent my husband out

to buy a piece of drainpipe from a certain DIY store.

He cut it up into rings and we used those.

I think it is inspired.

My husband will be going out to get a drainpipe this weekend.

Right. Well, there you go.

And, Nav, did you enjoy your evening?

Yes, we did, and similar to Angela, we were exhausted.

Now people loved your food but the one thing that was very surprising,

because you fretted and worried about this so much,

was that some of them thought it could have been a lot spicier.

Yes. I mean, the thing is I wanted to show that actually homecooked Indian food isn't just about

the fieriness, it's about flavour, and I spiced it actually as most people would eat it at home.

But also I knew it was quite risky just from the focus group of having cooked Indian food

and doing lots of dinner parties, there's lots of people

that find it too spicy so I didn't want to risk that.

Well, I'm sure you're both dying to know whether you made any money or not.

Yes, it'll be very interesting.

OK. Angela, actually you spent quite a lot,

you spent £120,

-and that was with using a drainpipe instead of a proper party ring.

-It was, it was.

-And your diners donated £167.

-Right.

Which means you made a profit of £47.

-Right, right.

-So are you pleased with that?

-Yes, delighted.

-There you go, that's your hard cash.

-That's for you and your friends.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Fantastic.

-And, Nav,

you spent... wow, you only spent £54, I think that must be one of our lowest.

Your diners donated...

£243.

-Fantastic.

-Oh, wow.

-Your profit was £189.

Oh, wow, that's unbelievable.

-Well done!

-That is extraordinary, actually. There you go.

Oh, wow, thank you very much.

I loved watching you both, so thank you very much.

And thank you for watching, of course, and I'll see you next time on Instant Restaurant.

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