Episode 14 Instant Restaurant

Two amateur cooks are converting their homes into restaurants.

We don't really have an official recipe, we just sort of put everything in.

You'd swear I wasn't in my own home.

I just feel as if I am in a restaurant.

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

Yeah, it doesn't always go perfectly.

The brulee is devastated.

Twenty strangers will be judging the results.

It will be entirely up to the diners to decide how much or how little they pay.

If I'd had that starter anywhere in the world, it couldn't be better.

The plate was cold, the food was cold.

Three of us had to take it back.

So, can our cooks deliver the goods and will either of them make any money?

Hello and welcome to Instant Restaurant.

Two cooks are about to open their doors

to paying guests who will then decide how much their experience was worth,

so can either of our cooks pull it off and make a profit?

First up, 24-year-old dairy farmer, Caroline Lewis, from Haverfordwest,

a country girl down to her boots

and an advocate of good, plain, honest food.

We're a farming family and farming and food are so closely linked.

Sourcing our food locally where we can and picking things that are in season.

COW MOOS

I'm not a foodie person, no. I enjoy cooking but I often make things that don't turn out.

Well, if Caroline is unsure about her confidence in the kitchen, 34-year-old Swansea floor layer,

Matthew Taylor, is no doubt that's exactly where he belongs.

My cooking skills are obviously brilliant.

There's no other like me, to be honest!

And he's also mad about French food.

I just so love the French way.

They're so passionate about their food and I'm certainly very, very passionate

and apart from my wife, it's probably my second love.

But this challenge is about much more than just great food.

With the assistance of two helpers, each cook must also transform their homes into restaurants,

creating just the right ambience to fill their diners with joy,

and empty their wallets.

Caroline is sticking to her roots with a traditional farmhouse look.

The name of my restaurant tonight is Field To Fork.

It's quite different that my restaurant is on a farm.

I'm hoping they'll be impressed.

And to help boost her confidence, she has recruited student friend, Abi.

Caroline, as a cook, she's about the average, I'd say.

She can follow a recipe.

Not sure that was quite what Caroline was hoping for.

Maybe fellow young farmer Sarah will be more complimentary.

The main concerns of the day just really that the food goes out on time

and that they can actually eat it, it's completely edible!

Blimey, are you sure you've got the right team behind you, Caroline?

At the end of the day, professional chefs have,

-Major,

-Yeah, it doesn't always go perfectly

and we're by no means professional chefs so,

-we'll just, you know, give it a go!

-Yeah, we'll give it a good go!

And no prizes for guessing what Francophile Matthew is going for in his Swansea semi,

Tonight I'm going to be opening my lounge as a French bistro restaurant by the name of Bon Appetit.

I want to try and create a nice French ambience and candlelight

and a nice relaxed atmosphere, just have a nice, friendly environment.

To help turn his kitchen into a cuisine, Matthew has enlisted best friend, Rob.

This top here is, well, as it says sous chef, but I feel more like a commis chef, really!

Matthew and I are both pretty laid-back characters.

When the heat gets turned up, I'm sure we'll cope.

And wife, Sarah, will be running front of house.

He's a very cool character and never really gets stressed

but I think he's going to be working under pressure later

and it'll be interesting to see how he'll cope.

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

Caroline has needed just £66 for her rustic experience,

so she must take nearly £7 a head if she's to milk a profit.

Matthew has asked for just £10 more,

so he will need nearly £8 per diner to nudge into profit.

So, it could be a close call in the battle of no frills, rural Wales versus French posh nosh on a budget.

The adrenaline has really pumped in now, but it's a good feeling.

Each cook will be judged by ten hungry strangers.

-Let's hope they like country cooking!

-Yeah!

The diners are all from different walks of life but

they've all brought their appetite and their wallets and they're hoping for a night to remember.

Yes,

now it's exciting.

If they don't like what they get, then Caroline and Matthew could end up with nothing but dirty dishes.

6:30 and the diners have some spectators as they pick their way through Caroline's farmyard.

-It says the first door on the left.

-Is this it?

I think it is.

And there's a warm welcome from Sarah.

As you can all see, we decided to go down the route of just one big table

where everybody just eats together and gets to know each other as well as having a nice meal, hopefully.

So how's the farmhouse experience going down?

When I first went into the restaurant, I didn't know what to think, really.

It was a bit off-putting because it doesn't feel like a restaurant at all,

it's very much like going to somebody's, a friend's parents, for supper.

It wasn't a sort of a city bistro-type feel,

very, very local and farmhousey.

Well, maybe that's because you're in a local farmhouse!

It was almost like you'd gone to your grandparents' or something.

Oh, dear! Will Matthew's French bistro fare any better?

Hello, welcome to Bon Appetit.

I'd like to welcome you to Bon Appetit.

-There's a table of four for you there.

-Lovely, lovely.

It's a pleasure to walk into something like this when you've got everything all matching

and the hostess is really nice, and that goes a long way.

Yeah, a lot of thought went into it, definitely.

-Would you like to take a seat here at this table?

-Hello.

The ambience was absolutely superb.

It exceeded what we had expected.

It's cosy, it's warm, it's friendly.

-Very pleasing.

-If it was a restaurant, I would be there all the time, because it was beautiful.

-Would you like me to leave it on the table for you?

-Yes, please.

I wouldn't necessarily say it was the ambience of a French restaurant.

There were elements of kind of French character within the place

but I think perhaps they could have built on it a little bit more,

but all in all, it was very comfortable, very warm, very friendly, very relaxed.

Good luck, and,

enjoy yourselves.

-The main thing is just enjoy yourselves.

-Let's do it!

Well, Matthew certainly got most of his diners in the right frame of mind

with his French bistro - all that attention to detail has certainly paid dividends,

whilst Caroline's more formal farmhouse experience

might take a bit more warming to, but now it's all eyes on the menu as it's time for the starters.

Caroline is kicking off her country fare with a hearty carrot and butternut squash soup.

Or stilton, leek and apple tartlets with mixed leaves and a honey dressing.

These starters are about simple, good, honest ingredients

and I've made the tartlets quite a few times before

with different variations but this is the first time I've put apple in them.

I find the soup a little bit dull

but the tartlet, I mean, if you are into those type of flavours,

I suppose it would be quite nice

but it doesn't really do anything for me.

Let's just hope it tickles the taste buds of Caroline's diners.

After cramming a day's work on the farm into the morning,

at lunchtime she and her team are in the kitchen preparing the soup.

In it there's butternut squash, carrots, onion, garlic, ginger,

nutmeg and chicken stock.

There's garlic and ginger in it but we haven't mentioned it because it might put people off.

It seems slightly risky but this cavalier attitude seems to apply to most things.

It is really quite our own and we never make it the same twice.

Although some things we didn't quite fancy so we thought we won't put that in

and then other things we thought, ooh, we'll perhaps try a bit of that in it.

-We never weigh it or anything like that. We just,

-Guess!

-Ooh, it's hot!

-Judge it.

So, after a quick judgement and a blitz in the blender,

We can put more stock in it,

It was time for a verdict.

I don't know.

It tastes nice.

Perhaps it needs a bit more kick to it.

No, it tastes like it usually tastes, and that's all right.

Quite right, Caroline - you're the cook, so you call the shots.

Done! Just heat it up tonight.

That's one starter done.

The stilton, leek and apple tartlets were made just before the diners arrived.

The mixture is plopped into pastry cases which haven't been blind baked.

I hope they don't end up a bit stodgy and soggy!

I'm just finishing off the tartlets,

put the stilton and a bit of parsley on.

They take about 20 minutes to cook

so if they're going to be sitting down for their starter at about 7,

we'll pop them in about half past 6.

But before they do, the tarts are filled to the brim with cream.

OK, top one, middle, top shelf?

Middle, middle.

Middle shelf.

OK, so we have got seven tarts, three soup.

Well, the tarts seem to have turned out pretty well, but isn't that soup a bit on the thick side?

Yeah, I think we should have thinned the soup down a bit.

We, well, not forgot about it, but we left it.

We didn't think there was anything else to do with it.

The soup is a little bit thick, but better that way than

it's too runny and sloshing about with it.

At least it's less likely to spill, although Sarah still manages it!

They seem very happy out there.

-Hopefully it will go well, fingers crossed!

-Fingers all crossed!

But will the diners still be smiling when they taste the soup?

I don't usually go for the soup but it was quite thick, it was nice.

No, it was a good taste, I did enjoy it.

I had the soup, which was

oh, it was lovely, it was really, really nice, really tasty, lovely and thick.

It was fantastic, actually.

Ooh, that's good. But Caroline is wishing she was somewhere else.

Right now, I'd usually be feeding calves or doing my horse or in the parlour,

which is a lot easier than cooking for ten people!

Oh, I don't know, Caroline, you're doing fine!

I wonder if the diners will lap up the tarts, too.

It smells fantastic and it looks amazing.

When she brought it out you could smell the cheese

before she'd even put it in front of you, so it was very, very nice.

It was so tasty, plenty of cheese in there and the honey dressing was

absolutely wonderful along the salad and really nice, fresh, salad. Beautiful.

I honestly think if I'd had that starter anywhere in the world, it couldn't have been better.

I really, really enjoyed it, it was wonderful.

I think if I had to be really over critical, possibly the tartlet could have had a bit more flavour to it,

but that's being very critical but it was really, really good.

They've wolfed it down! Empty plates all round!

Fantastic!

That's quite an act to follow.

So what French fancies has Matthew got lined up?

For his starters, there's a choice of Asian-style prawns in chilli and tomato sauce

with ginger and fresh herbs,

or Italian-inspired roasted red pepper soup with home-made pesto.

It doesn't sound very French to me!

The prawn dish is certainly one of my favourite recipes.

It's got so many different ingredients but you can taste every one with each mouthful

and then the roasted red pepper soup with tomato,

again it's a classic tomato soup but with the roasted red pepper

it just gives that extra burst of flavour.

These two starters probably wouldn't be two that I'd pick

if I was out in a restaurant.

The sauce with the tiger prawns seems,

a bit grown-up for me and the soup seems a bit rich.

Mid-morning and Matthew got cracking on those 'grown-up' rich dishes.

He's got in plenty of practice on friends and family

but today is his first bash at cooking for paying strangers.

When the heat is on, later on tonight, it's going to be interesting. I mean I'm,

I'm used to cooking for say four to six,

but not offering them the choice of two starters, two mains and two desserts.

That's going to be my biggest challenge, actually keeping everything warm and ready to serve.

Outside, Rob is starting the soup on the barbecue, as you do!

Well, we're roasting the peppers to give them that really char-grilled flavour

so you've got to get them nice and black so that char grilled flavour really goes through the pepper.

When you blitz it and fry it off then it actually flavours the whole soup.

The blacker the better, really, because they're easier to peel!

Looking good! Once they've been skinned, into the blender they go.

I'm just trying to create more or less like a paste.

It's going to be fried off now with the onions.

This soup is just bursting with flavours,

because everything is fresh and nothing from the tin.

There are around ten red peppers gone in there so the red pepper soup

could have cost, with the other ingredients, about £14 to make.

That's a whole lot of soup.

Once organic tomatoes and chicken stock were added, it's all blended again.

I hope Matthew gets plenty of orders

or there will be an awful lot of leftovers or an awful lot of his budget down the drain.

That is perfect!

And in a bid for perfection, Matthew gets himself ready with a look borrowed from his culinary hero.

What do you want today,

like Marco Pierre, but we don't know how to do it. I haven't got a clue.

I wonder if he'll be as temperamental.

Where is my olive oil?

I'm a big lover of Marco Pierre and, to be honest, when I'm in

the kitchen and especially when you're over the stove, you tend to sweat quite a bit

so it's not just for looking like Bruce Lee,

it's just to stop you from sweating into the food, really.

With the diners settled in, Matthew's second starter, the tiger prawns, are cooked to order

and there are yet more tomatoes in the chilli sauce.

Not sure Marco Pierre would make that mistake.

I've got everything ready to go, to be honest.

It's just a case of taking the orders now.

Sadly, when the orders do come in, there are not nearly enough for that costly soup.

That's lovely, thanks.

Five prawns.

-One soup.

-Yeah.

Three tiger prawns, one soup, and that's the table of four.

-Right.

-OK.

I knew it, I knew the prawns!

I think we may not have enough prawns!

No, we will have enough prawns, it's just I've made enough soup for about 20 people, so,

yes, we could have saved quite a bit of the profit, to be honest.

It's more expensive to make the soup.

Oh, well, with 18 servings to spare, that'll keep you going for a month or more.

Matthew is serving his prawns in ramekins - maybe it's French,

maybe it's what Marco Pierre would do, but will the diners ultimately approve?

In the privacy of their den, what are the verdicts?

Unfortunately they came in a ramekin

which should have been then put on a plate because we'd got nowhere

after we'd finished with our utensils to put the utensils, there was no plate underneath it.

The starter was to die for, I cannot fault it.

I thought that was absolutely fantastic. I've even asked for the recipe from the chef.

Well, I had the tiger prawns.

They were absolutely gorgeous - quite zingy and zesty,

had quite a bite to them, very succulent, lots of them.

I think it was just a perfect starter all round.

Perfect'! Well, you can't get better than that, so what about the soup?

The soup that I had was really, really nice, I thoroughly enjoyed that.

I had the roasted pepper tomato soup, which was really nice.

That is restaurant quality. Lovely.

-Definitely.

-Yes, restaurant quality.

We've done it.

Whoa, whoa, calm down, now.

Excellent, buddy.

There's a lot to be said for sticking with what you do best

and Caroline's rustic starters seem to have gone down a treat

and Matthew's more flamboyant dishes have whetted his diners' appetites, too.

So now it's all about the mains.

Caroline is keeping it sweet and simple with an Autumn pork casserole, flavoured with cider.

Or baked salmon with a parmesan crust and white wine sauce.

Well, I love salmon and as long as you cook it right

and when you've got the parmesan crust and the white wine sauce,

it's just a really nice dish.

And the pork casserole, we're going to make that up as we go along.

The two dishes look very nice.

They're certainly not something that you'd probably see in a restaurant.

I mean a casserole is a casserole

and I don't find either of them very challenging.

Early afternoon and Caroline got cracking on the pork casserole,

you know, the one Matthew thinks is just, well, a casserole.

Just going to add the onions and mushrooms now

and then we'll get it on the Aga ready to go,

otherwise the pork will be a bit tough.

A couple of hours so it's nice and tender because there's nothing worse than having tough meat.

We don't really have an official recipe for the pork casserole,

we just sort of put everything in.

So she nonchalantly chucks in the onions and mushrooms with the cubes of pork.

But two hours later...

Ooh, it's not looking good.

The pork looks a bit oily but we're going to thicken the sauce up.

Hopefully, that will sort it out.

So in goes some cornflour to try and soak it up.

Hope it works or she won't have happy diners!

We're not worried.

We don't get worried.

-Much!

-About much!

But after another spell in the oven,

come service time the cornflour seems to have done the trick.

Let us know what you think, Sarah.

Hot!

Not spicy hot, you mean as boiling hot?

No, temperature. No, it's really good, actually.

-It's gone a lot creamier than it was earlier.

-Oh, good.

And Caroline is starting to feel confident about her diners' generosity.

Between £20 and £25, or is that asking a bit much?!

I was hoping in that box there would be £275 to £300.

Ooh, I should thank your lucky stars Matthew is not in the restaurant.

The salmon is cooked to order. Now, the parmesan crust should be crunchy but the fish good and succulent.

Got it right, girls?

-Oh, God that looks good.

-That looks amazing now.

-Wow!

-Do you want to stick on the...

-On there?

Yeah, just for now.

To accompany both dishes, lots of vegetables, and out it all goes.

There you go.

-Oh, wow!

-Can I get anything for anybody at all?

-We're all right.

-Everyone is OK at the moment?

-Looking good.

-Enjoy!

-Thank you!

So far, so good, but what does it taste like?

It was quite simple, quite homely winter comfort food but it was really lovely.

For the main course I had the pork casserole

and the pork was so tender, it was really beautifully cooked.

Beautifully tender pork.

The pork was delicious, I have to say.

Lovely and tender, nice sauce.

And what about the salmon?

The salmon was beautifully cooked,

just cooked, just perfect.

Nice and fresh tasting and...

left a clean taste in my mouth, which is what I like, so it was good.

Can Caroline make it a clean sweep with the vegetables?

The vegetables were absolutely fantastic and so many of them

and lots of variety and all cooked wonderfully,

Apart from the broccoli. I thought the broccoli was a little bit

on the tough side but apart from that, it was great, to be honest, really good.

Not quite perfection then, but that's going to take a bit of beating.

For his mains, Matthew has got his signature dish lined up.

Chicken wrapped in Parma ham with a garlic and white wine sauce

served with horseradish mash and caramelised onions.

Or salmon roulade with dill sauce and seasonal vegetables.

The chicken dish wrapped in Parma ham is certainly my favourite dish

and my signature dish.

The horseradish mash stack topped with caramelised onions

gives that dish just that extra bite.

I'd go for both of these mains.

They both sound really nice, but I'm not sure about the horseradish mash.

Just before lunch, Matthew has started his salmon roulade.

It's certainly one of the hardest dishes to do.

It's maybe one of the most impressive but there is a lot of work involved.

Some people don't even know what a roulade is.

Ooh! And for those who don't know,

this roulade is basically thin slices of salmon rolled around a salmon mousse

but, being a loyal Welshman, there's a nod to his homeland with leeks for the outer layer.

A lot of people use largely spinach.

It is a little bit different

so I'm just hoping that the diners will pick up on that.

For the mousse, he blends raw salmon, lots of cream - yum! -

egg whites and lemon juice with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

And that's perfect.

Then there's the tricky business of assembling it.

Taking thin slivers or escalopes of the salmon,

got to make sure that they're not too thick,

just nice thin layers like that.

Matthew adds a layer of Parma ham, then the mousse, and then he's ready to roll, literally!

Try and keep it as tight...

as possible and just keep on rolling and making sure that the salmon mousse and everything

doesn't creep forward with it.

Done like a master! Cor, Marco Pierre would be proud!

And then, refrigerate.

Matthew's other main dish is cooked to order,

Parma ham-wrapped chicken

is pan fried before being finished off in the oven.

And Matthew is really getting into character.

You'd swear I wasn't in my own home.

I just feel as if I am in a restaurant!

That's absolutely perfect!

I'm a bit worried, to be honest, because I feel as though I'm too organised

and as if something's going to kick me in the teeth very soon.

Well, he might have just taken one step closer to dental disaster.

Rather than serve table by table,

he's decided to serve all the fish first and then the chicken.

Perfect, absolutely perfect.

I'm thrilled to bits with that.

Aw, that roulade looks so good!

Oh, no, he's covering it all with a dill sauce!

Salmon.

As the salmon roulades hit the tables, Matthew starts to plate up the chicken.

Right, Rob, plates please.

With no sign of the chicken, the diners are faced with a social dilemma.

Are we starting?

-No.

-We'd better wait.

I'll be polite and wait for you to have yours before I start.

Come on, Matthew. Get on with that chicken.

Your fish diners are going to die of politeness if you don't hurry up!

-You can have some of my chicken, then.

-Spoon ready for me, please.

Take it easy now. The last thing you want to do is drop that.

OK.

Can I start taking them out, yeah?

Thank you.

Oh, ten minutes later and the chicken finally flutters out of the kitchen,

but in the meantime, that salmon is now as chilly as the waters it once swam in.

All ours are cold, cold when they were brought.

-Right, OK.

-And we've had to wait for the chicken.

-No worries, OK.

And the diners have gone cold on it, too.

The plate was cold, the food was cold.

Very disappointed, really, to be honest.

But I looked at Julie's chicken and I wish I'd ordered the chicken.

Oh, Matthew, what would Marco Pierre say and what has it done to your chances of a profit?

I normally don't like to complain

but it was too cold and I had to send it back.

The three ladies, they're saying it's cold.

-Which is cold?

-Everything.

-That's three come back, is it?

-Yeah.

I felt really guilty, because Sarah, again, is so nice.

-Thank you.

-Chef sends his apologies.

-That's OK.

-Enjoy it.

-Thanks a lot.

Yes, Sarah is lovely, but that may be cold comfort after the salmon.

Ooh, we'd better hope his chicken wows them.

I had chicken, and that was really, really nice, the mashed potato was

really creamy and the chicken was succulent and really flavoursome.

If I am to be just a little bit critical, the chicken breast may have been a little bit dry.

Oh, dear! Main course service has certainly delivered Matthew that kick in the teeth.

That was...

..amazing, stressful,

tiring,

frustrating

but I'm so happy that the main course has gone.

So, Caroline's improvised pork casserole and salmon have done the trick.

There is nothing like good old-fashioned country home cooking.

Now Matthew might pay the price for his decision to serve first the salmon and then the chicken

and it has left his diners politely waiting as their food goes cold

but there's still everything to play for as we head into desserts.

For her desserts, Caroline is serving lemon cheesecake with a raspberry coulis.

Or spiced apple and plum crumble with a hazelnut topping and home-made ice cream.

The lemon cheesecake is my favourite dessert

and it came from a neighbour of ours years ago

and we've always been making it

and it's nice and light and not too heavy after a main meal.

Now these desserts I do find very exciting and I would expect to see

these in a restaurant and I would be very happy if I did.

Ooh, glad about that, Matthew.

Mid-morning and first to be prepped was the cheesecake

and this time there's nothing made up about this recipe.

There's a meticulous method to follow.

You've got about six different parts.

You've got egg yolks and caster sugar, whisked up and you have to whisk up the egg whites, cream,

gelatine dissolved just to get it to stay firm, so it's a very complicated recipe which we're not used to.

Now, gelatine is crucial to this recipe

and it needs to go clear before it can be used, but Abi's in a bit of a fog.

-Is this right, Sarah?

-It's meant to go clear.

It's meant to go clear, is it?

Yeah, it's what's going to hold it firm so when you cut a slice it will stay as a slice

and not just collapse all over the plate but it won't go clear at the moment so I'm having to hold fire.

I'm just worrying the eggs and whipped cream are going to go a bit hard in the meantime.

-So, Sarah steps in.

-How was the gelatine?

It's not looking good, actually.

I don't know why it won't go clear today.

-The other day when you made it, it went clear?

-Yeah.

Well, perhaps we just haven't got the water hot enough.

I'd like the gelatine to hurry up so we can get the cheesecake finished so it's got all day to set.

And then Caroline decides to have a go. How many cooks does it take?

Right, we're going to scrap it. We're going to start again.

It's not exactly rocket science but if I don't get it right, then the cheesecake won't set.

We won't have a cheesecake.

Well, it may not be rocket science but with three cooks on the case, can they finally crack it?

Sort of, but if we don't hurry up, we won't have the cheesecake.

Yep, it's going in now, anyway.

The gelatine, some soft cheese, eggs, cream and lemon zest

are finally blended together and then into the fridge it goes.

Hope it sets!

Fingers crossed! I think it's fingers and toes crossed.

-Seven hours later...

-So if it hasn't worked,

then the cheesecake will end up

all over the kitchen unit.

-Ooh!

-That's it. Keep going.

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Good.

Aah, success.

-Wow!

-Good! Woo!

And with the spiced apple and plum crumbles baked to order, pudding is served.

There's extra cream in the jug if anybody wants it, but if you need any more, just...

Thank you very much.

Enjoy!

So, has Caroline managed to give her diners their just desserts?

The dessert is delicious. Very good.

Mmm, lovely.

Very light and fluffy and fresh, yep.

It's lovely.

I'm very much enjoying my dessert.

I like the hazelnut topping, particularly.

Beautiful cheesecake.

A light, citrussy zing.

It's really, really pleasant and refreshing and just what I needed

after I'd pigged out on everything else.

A perfect finish to the meal, it was really lovely.

I was saying earlier that I thought Caroline was quite an average cook

-and I think I'm going to have to eat my words!

-Yes, I think you might!

Well, that's some act to follow for Matthew.

He's counting on some luscious creamy classics - profiteroles,

or creme brulee.

Both of these desserts are a French classic but my favourite

has to be the chocolate profiteroles filled with the vanilla and almond cream

which just gives it that sweetness which goes perfectly with that hot chocolate sauce.

They sound delicious but I think he's very brave

going to profiteroles because they're quite difficult to make.

Me too, Caroline.

Just after lunch, Matthew and Rob started work on the puds.

We're now making the mixture for the creme brulee,

so it's milk, double cream, vanilla pod.

This is a fresh vanilla pod

and this is what's going to give the creme brulee its biggest flavour.

It's basically an opulent set custard, flavoured with vanilla.

The seeds are infused in cream and then whisked into a mixture of

eggs and sugar until it begins to thicken.

What I'm doing here is scooping the foam

off the top of the creme brulee mixture

because...

if you don't do it, it will burn when we put it in the oven.

Yes, you wouldn't want Marco... I mean Matthew, in a froth.

We're just taking away now some more of the bubbles which Rob has left in there.

-I think he done it just to wind me up to see if I was on the ball.

-Oh, Rob, how could you!

Yes, that's exactly what I did!

He does tend to try and catch me out in the kitchen quite regular.

He'll give me little hurdles to...

try and jump but I always manage to get over that.

The thing is, it improves his skill levels.

If I didn't do that then he'd never get any better as a cook, would he, so...

The bubble-free liquid is sieved and poured into ramekins ready to be cooked to order.

Next, Matthew tackles the delicate pastry for the profiteroles.

Choux pastry is certainly not one of these just

to make it, I do think if you're making it for quite a few people you do need two people on hand.

Flour is added to a mixture of milk, water and butter with Rob acting as a human mixing machine.

Pretty heavy work on the old arm.

That's looking pretty good now.

-Are you happy, Rob?

-Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.

Looking good.

Then egg yolks are slowly added as Rob is turned up to full speed.

I do like to see Rob working quite a bit in the kitchen.

Well, you wouldn't expect Marco Pierre to do his own stirring, would you?

When you lift the spoon up, it should just drop off nicely.

Yep, it's perfect.

The finished pastry is meticulously piped onto a baking tray.

Pretty, the texture is gorgeous and they're now ready to be put into the oven.

Once cooked, they'll be cooled and filled with cream,

and Matthew is planning on a smooth and luxuriant chocolate sauce to go with them.

Chocolate is blended with orange juice and golden syrup

but it's not going as smoothly as Matthew would like.

We had a beautiful chocolate sauce which was nearly ready

and then right at the end I added the orange juice, well fresh orange,

and it just reacted with the chocolate

and whether it's chilled it too quick or it's reacted,

-it's turned into, what would you call that?

-Cow pat.

Cow pat!

Mmm, it looks like the sort of thing you might expect to find in Caroline's farmyard.

Profiteroles with cow pat. Nice(!)

I think we'll do the chocolate sauce fresh,

because we can't really afford to mess up another one.

Better luck later.

But later that evening as his diners await their desserts,

Matthew runs into more trouble.

The blow torch he needs to caramelise his creme brulee topping is broken.

We've actually had to grill them, which I don't like doing.

When you grill them, it tends to burn them a lot more easier.

With the flame, you can control the heat and it caramelises them a bit more.

When you grill them,

it tends to heat the mixture as well, the creme brulee.

Oh, no, after all that fiddling about removing the air bubbles, it's Matthew who's wound up deflated!

I'm absolutely gutted about that.

Hopefully their second bash at making chocolate sauce with the profiteroles

will end up looking less farmyardy.

-OK?

-Yes.

-Mm, yep.

-Good.

-Excellent!

So, a quick sift of icing sugar and they're off.

First two creme brulees.

-Yeah, you have them ready now, yeah?

-Yeah, well the brulee is devastated.

I am gutted, really gutted about that

and I'm just hoping that the customers are

pretty lenient and, you know, don't penalise me too much just for that.

Let's see, shall we.

I had the profiteroles. The chocolate was beautiful on them,

nice and creamy and the pastry was beautiful.

The profiteroles, very chocolaty, very rich,

nice little taste of almond in there as well. Very nice.

I had the creme brulee which incidentally is my favourite dessert and it was absolutely beautiful,

one of the nicest I've ever tasted.

But unfortunately the torch had packed in when it got to the table

so it was a bit difficult for them to get the topping on it properly.

He had a few problems, he had to grill it, so mine was half crisp and half flaccid.

Hmm! I've never heard a creme brulee described like that before!

If you're a creme brulee lover, you would certainly know whether it's been grilled

or whether it's been flamed.

-Did you roll with it?

-Yeah.

It's not the end of the world. It's...

-C'est la vie.

-You live and learn.

See, French, c'est la vie!

Yes!

Hello.

After a long day slaving in the kitchen, the cooks finally get to meet their diners.

-Did you all enjoy it?

-ALL: Yes!

-Oh, good.

-And despite the problems, Matthew receives

a warm reception from his guests

and, after surviving his trial by no fire for his brulees, he's buzzing!

Bon Appetit. Bon Appetit!

That was something else.

I can't believe I'm crying! I think I'm crying...

Bless her heart!

But now it's time for the diners to decide how much they think their evening is worth.

It's up to them how much or how little they pay

and neither cook has any idea how much their guests will part with.

So, can they make a profit?

Caroline has only spent £66 on her traditional farmhouse fare

so she needs to take nearly £7 a head if she's to go into profit.

So, what did her diners make of their evening?

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, we enjoyed the food and we had a great time.

We thought we had great food and great service, really enjoyed it.

Some of the portions, for me, of the salmon was a little bit small.

I really enjoyed the meal but some of the vegetables were a little bit too hard for me.

And the texture of the ice cream was a little bit random.

I'm hoping that they're all feeling really full and happy

and they'll be nice and generous and pay us lots of money but...

perhaps they're poor farmers and they can't afford to!

Matthew spent another £10 on his French bistro chic,

so if he is to make a profit, he needs nearly £8 a head, but can he pull it out of the bag?

It was an experience never to forget, 100%,

-Something different,

-Absolutely brilliant!

-The food has been really, really nice.

-Good company.

I think they worked really hard tonight.

The service was wonderful, the ambience of the evening, the food quality was great.

OK, thanks for that. All right, son.

You did a fantastic job, well done.

We all did! Aaah!

Do this next week, shall we!

No way!

Wow, what an amazing night you both had.

A lot of good times, a few bad, maybe, and your creme brulee,

first your mate put bubbles in it

and then your blow torch didn't work!

Well, I was shocked when they came back

and there were empty dishes and they said it was absolutely amazing, so I was...

One diner actually said it was the best creme brulee she had ever had!

I was very, very happy with that!

I've got a little present for you.

Just so that that never happens again!

It's got gas in it, love!

-Thank you very much.

-Will it become a regular, Bon Appetit, at your house?

Well, to be honest, so many people said "you've got to keep the restaurant open."

They said "we'd certainly come back again."

As soon as I turned to my wife, she said, "you can forget it!"

She said she didn't want anybody else in the house.

I'd love to do it in a professional kitchen but I certainly wouldn't do it in the house again.

What was your highlight?

I think when my two friends were coming back

with the empty plates with great big smiles and with good reactions that I knew everything was going well.

You were really funny, actually, because so many of your dishes looked like they

were going to be disasters, like the soup you thought was too thick, but actually people liked that.

Yeah and the gelatine with the cheesecake,

I was just so glad that it was setting and everything went OK, yeah.

But actually it all came out brilliantly.

-I had luck on my side, I think, on the day.

-What was your best moment?

To be honest, seeing my lounge transformed into a restaurant which has always been my dream, for them

to see me over the stove and then, as I say, when the plates come back, you know, empty it was just,

-really happy.

-OK, guys, I'm sure you're dying to know if you made any money at all, yes?

-Yes.

-So, Caroline, you spent £66.47 which is hardly anything,

a minuscule amount, it has to be said,

and your diners donated £220.

-Wow!

-Phenomenal!

-How do you feel about that?

-Oh, very pleased, yeah, good, I'm glad.

Which means you made a profit of £153.37 all for you.

Thank you very much.

And Matthew, you spent, again, quite a low amount, £76.31.

Your diners donated £190

so you made a profit of £113.69, so there is your cash.

-Thank you very much.

-Brilliant night, guys, absolutely brilliant!

Thank you so much.

And thank you, and I'll see you next time on Instant Restaurant.

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