Episode 16 Instant Restaurant

Two rival amateur cooks are converting their homes into restaurants.

They have just one day and a budget of up to £200.

It tastes good.

Second lot of duck was slightly overdone, but what can I say?

I can't undercook it.

It's my fault.

20 strangers will be judging the results.

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

-Welcome to Waves.

-Absolutely fantastic.

-It was good but I can't eat it all.

Dry, chewy, rubbery.

I ate it because I was hungry.

Can the cooks deliver the goods and will either of them make a profit?

Hello and welcome to Instant Restaurant.

Just imagine turning your home into a restaurant for one night only for paying guests.

Well, today's two rivals are up for the challenge but do either of them have what it takes to make a profit?

First up it's 43-year-old former air hostess Karen Squire, from Devon.

That's fantastic, you are a life-saver.

I've called my restaurant Arrival.

The theme is that when I used to travel, every time I arrived somewhere, I'd generally go and eat.

So you arrive and you eat.

Years spent jetting around the world has spiced up her cuisine.

I've been inspired from my travels to cook lots of different foods.

I tend to go to restaurants and think, this is really nice, how can I cook it at home?

I don't slavishly follow it but I adapt it.

That would be my worst diner - if somebody doesn't like that foreign muck - because they would be a bit

struggling in my restaurant.

She's cooking against 55-year-old retired human resources manager Paul Kunzli, from Dorset.

What am I doing?

I've called for the restaurant Waves

because we are by the sea and also I'm hoping

to produce some waves of flavours for the customers.

His inspiration to cook comes from his Austrian mother.

She used to do some lovely Austrian dishes.

At the time you couldn't get any recipe books, so I used to go back to her, ask her for the recipe,

I'd then go and cook it and over time I managed to cook it the way my mum cooked it. Enjoying it.

But today isn't just about culinary skills.

The cooks also have to transform their homes

into memorable restaurants aided by two helpers apiece.

I don't want them too spread out, I want to create a nice, cosy atmosphere.

All around the restaurant I'm going to have artefacts that I've picked up on my travels.

So hopefully it will give the diners a nice ambience,

something to look at and something they can talk about while waiting for the food to arrive.

That's where I'm coming from.

Karen's sous chef and general calming influence is her friend, Debbie.

You couldn't use that for a bread roll, could you?

Sometimes I get a bit...

Shall we say emotional? And she'll always be calm and remind me I do know what I'm doing.

That's all right... Is it?

-Beautiful.

-OK, we're going to do that one.

You are so right.

While front of house will be another friend, Jo, who will bring all her years of experience to bear.

I started waitressing when I was 13.

I stopped probably when I was 14.

And I'm getting on a bit so...

Hey, one eats out.

You learn by osmosis, don't you?

OK, so she'll be bringing her year of experience to bear.

I might direct them to their seats in a cabin crew fashion. It depends how stressed I am.

Turn around. Just let me know if it's too tight, Jo.

As Karen dresses her team of hostesses and prepares

to set the oven doors to manual, Jo starts getting into character.

Where's the pilot?

Meanwhile, Paul has recruited friend Mike and wife Lynn to his team.

She's a fantastic help all the time.

When I'm out in the kitchen anyway, when I'm cooking she'll always give

me a hand. We tick together really well.

I think I'm looking forward to people enjoying the food that Paul is preparing.

Sadly, Mike doesn't appear quite so convinced.

He is a good cook and a confident chap but he's really put himself under a lot of pressure with this.

Fair play to him.

And to light his diners' way, he's hanging icicles in his garden.

But I'm not sure what they've got to do with waves.

As soon as the people pull up outside they'll be some lights that look like...

Actually in the shape of waves but they could be the front of a boat.

They look all right.

As they come down the drive, they'll be confronted by a boat with lights on it, again the waves.

All nautical bits and pieces.

The restaurant is very small.

We like to call it a galley concept.

When you are on a boat, things are tight.

You might call it a galley concept. I hope your diners don't call it something else!

On one wall is a ship's steering wheel.

All around the top of the ceiling we're going to have the nautical ship signs.

That looks really nice, it gives it a bit of colour in that room.

Each cook has been given an allowance of up to £200.

Karen has decided she needed £125 for her dining experience.

So she must make £12.50 a head to break even.

Paul has asked for just £87 for his restaurant, so his diners

only need to muster up £8.70 each for him to cover his costs.

So it's Karen and her trolley dollies....

What we are going to do is get tomato sauce all down our tops.

With or without tomato sauce, versus the good ship Paul and all who sail with him.

Are you ready to go? Let's do this!

Let's do this thing!

Let's get this show on the road.

Both restaurants will be judged by 10 hungry strangers.

-Hello.

-Hello, welcome.

They've brought their appetites and their money with them,

but how much cash they leave behind will be down to the quality of the evening.

I'm just going to check your boarding cards here.

The pressure is on Karen and Paul to deliver the goods.

Good evening, welcome to Arrival. Do come in.

Debbie, could you take the lady's jacket for her?

Karen is off to a flying start as she prepares her evening for take-off.

Jo is your waitress for the night, and she will be along

in a second with some bread and some water for you.

-What do her passengers make of it all?

-It's very homely.

They've got a Persian rug on the wall.

-Can I take your names, please?

-Charlotte.

Your surnames.

Hello, do come in.

Welcome to Arrival.

I like the tickets.

The boarding pass is a really cool idea.

You wouldn't think about doing something like that.

It's kind of a nice thing to take away and it makes you remember,

if it's a real restaurant, you'd remember.

Do take a seat, madam.

Just a little bit over the top.

They were trying to be too professional.

Enjoy your evening.

I felt a bit uncomfortable when I first came in.

I just felt the greeting was a bit enforced.

And, I just...

She's obviously very nervous.

So Karen's pre-flight nerves haven't gone unnoticed.

Whilst over at Paul's, there's not much chance of missing his restaurant. Ahoy there!

When we first arrived, we gathered from the name

of the restaurant being Waves. it was going to be a nautical theme.

It looked very friendly and welcoming with the boat and the lights as we came down the drive.

-I did notice the life-saver annuals outside as well.

-Did you?

Yeah, they've got it going on.

-Great first impressions, but what do they make of the dining room?

-Thank you.

I think it's a great room. It makes you feel really comfortable when you walk in.

Very nice, really nice and cosy room so we can all chat to each other.

They are a polite bunch, aren't they?

Either that or it's cold in there and they'll be glad of the shared warmth.

It was quite small, quite cosy.

They made the best of the room.

You feel like you've got your own private space even though it's quite cosy.

So we've established it's cosy. Just in case you missed it, here come the staff with a short announcement.

Nice and cosy in here.

So it's plain sailing for Paul and his nautical theme

and his diners don't seem to mind being packed in like sardines either.

As for Karen, well, it was maybe a bit of a bumpy take-off.

But now it's all about the food.

So fasten your seatbelts, it's time for the starters.

On the menu in Karen's Arrival lounge there is a choice of Mexican-inspired crab cocktail

with avocado and lime dressing and tortilla crisps.

Or fragrant seafood satays served with south-east Asian dipping sauce.

I absolutely adore satay so that was a definite.

Coming from the south-west, I really wanted to use crab.

I've never done this dish before but I'm quietly confident.

They both sound lovely. I'd love to go to that restaurant.

Sorry, Paul, you can't!

Ultra-efficient Karen got started early by preparing her seafood satays at lunch.

It's slightly different from the traditional Singapore. It's slightly more Indonesian.

For this dish she created her own special paste.

My secret spice mix.

Hmm - lovely. It's galangal,

which is like ginger but not quite as strong.

That's the galangal there.

It's a Far Eastern herb, and that's ginger.

There's ginger in there as well.

Chillies, lemongrass, garlic and a little bit of shrimp paste, which is incredibly strong.

Let's hope it's incredibly delicious, too!

Lime leaves, coconut cream and the spicy paste were added to the fish.

Whiz it all up to make a really thick paste and then I'll put it on the skewers when I finish that.

Once whizzed up, the mixture was moulded around the lemongrass stalks to look like

rather odd lollipops.

They don't look great now but when they've had a bit of oil and grilled they turn a lovely golden colour.

I think they will be quite nice.

Let's hope they are a bit better than quite nice.

Karen's other starter, crab cocktail, was also prepared in advance.

A delicate mix of chilli, crab, lime and a half a hedge-worth of coriander.

You can see it looks very pretty.

That's really nice.

Six hours later, ten strangers are anticipating a first-class dining experience.

Whilst Karen is just trying to keep calm and carry on.

I'm feeling slightly...

stressed because it's the first one.

So um, but no,

I think it's all going according to plan, so far.

And Jo is realising that she needs to be a bit more relaxed with the diners.

Thank you very much indeed.

I just need to slow down.

People are chilled, aren't they? They don't want to be rushing.

SHE MOUTHS

As the others take a few deep breaths, Debbie layers crab mixture,

avocado and lime dressing into cunning tin moulds

and, hey presto! Crab cocktail on a bed of leaves.

That's table four. I hope you can read my writing.

Have you got all the orders?

-We've got three crab orders, already.

-I'll carry on then.

Karen, are you happy with your savoury lollipop seafood satays?

I'm very happy with them. Yeah, I'm very happy with them.

The satays are popped on a banana leaf for presentation

and served with a chilli dip.

And they're off!

Let's hope for a nice, smooth flight with no turbulence on the way.

I think the red wine hasn't done any good.

But some of the diners are soon struggling

with what they should eat and what's for show.

If this was a wooden pole

you wouldn't eat that, would you?

-That's avocado.

-I got that.

It's lemongrass, I'm sure it's lemongrass.

-I'm going to persevere with this.

-Why?

That's the spirit!

Table of four were trying to decide

what was in where and flavours and stuff,

so there's lots of discussion about ingredients and flavours.

-So that's good, yeah.

-Good.

Good? Well, maybe.

But diners not knowing what they're eating isn't necessarily a good sign.

It was a bit of a shame because it all just tasted of chilli.

The seafood, it didn't taste like seafood, it just tasted like chilli.

I didn't particularly like it, but I think it's possibly...

Cos I don't like crab, I went for the other and I ended up...

It was a bad choice for me.

Very pleasant. A little bit egg-y, too bound together with egg.

But I wish it had been more obviously a fish dish.

Oh, well, maybe the crab can claw back some profit.

It mainly tasted of coriander, to be honest, and not really crabby.

The leaves were really spicy.

It didn't really work for me very much.

I didn't really like it.

Lemony, crabby, spicy - how about tasty? Anyone?

It was really delicious, very fresh and fragrant.

Just as good as any really top-class restaurant I've been in.

-Very impressive.

-It really was a very nice starter, top notch.

-That's more like it!

-I think the starter service went well.

-Jo, how did the starter service go?

-Good.

All the meals went out, I was pleased with the presentation, the guests seemed happy.

So far I'm pleased.

I'm waiting for the feedback when we clear in and see how it all was.

Clean plates.

Lovely. Empty plates so far - speaks for itself. I'm happy with that.

Well, Karen is happy.

So, will Paul be able to keep his diners as contented with his starters?

He's serving fried mackerel fillets coated in Parmesan cheese,

breadcrumbs and parsley, garnished with lemon wedges.

Or avocado with pancetta and addressed rocket salad, sprinkled with pine nuts.

Both the dishes are so simple and full of flavour.

I've tried the mackerel on friends and they thought it was lovely.

They both sound really good.

Yeah, game on.

Game on, indeed!

Paul was painstakingly filleting his mackerel at lunch time.

This is one of my starters. Mackerel with a parmesan, parsley and breadcrumb crust.

There are still pin bones in them and still bones down the middle.

I'm cleaning them right up and then taking the skin off them as well,

so as the breadcrumb mix sticks nicely on both sides.

The time-consuming bit is each mackerel is different.

They seem to have a bone in a different place.

I'm getting there, though, nearly done.

Don't take all day getting there, Paul, only six hours to service.

The fillets were then coated in fine breadcrumbs with a quick, democratic

vote and how much Parmesan to add.

Too strong or not strong enough?

Definitely not too strong.

There's got to be cheesy flavour...

-'Too little?'

-Chef?

Too much?

That'll be all right cos the mackerel is quite strong.

Chef has spoken. I hope not every decision is made this way

otherwise we'll be here all night.

I'm glad somebody else made the decision.

We've got the mackerel fillets here.

Then we dip them, first into plain flour,

then into a beaten egg mix.

Drop them in there. I think I've got 24 of those to do.

24?!

How many orders is he expecting, he's only got ten diners!

Meanwhile, Mike and Lynn decide to get their apologies in early.

The bad news for you is I'm your waiter

and I've never done it before, so be gentle with me.

The same goes here.

It's not many restaurants where the waiters apologise

before they've even served anything!

Back in the kitchen, Paul is busy preparing the avocado and pancetta salad

with his apologetic staff politely taking the orders.

This is the pancetta.

I'm going to fry it off, brown it right down.

And it will be part of the garnish for the avocado starter.

Orders are in and the fish gets the majority vote.

We've got three avocado, seven mackerel.

Seven mackerel.

I've forgotten what she said.

Come on, Paul, keep it together.

Lynn piles rocket, slightly browning avocado,

pine nuts and pancetta into bowls ready for service.

He's washing the floor.

Then, as Paul bizarrely decides to clean the floor, Lynn takes

over plating up the mackerel and gets them out

before he decides to clean them, as well.

My staff are telling me that people are happy.

It looks as if it's going out as quick as it can.

So, yeah, I'm happy.

So Paul's happy, but what about his diners?

Has the mackerel with Parmesan crumbs got them hooked?

There are some transatlantic diners in tonight.

I hope they like Paul's British cuisine.

I had the mackerel with no Parmesan crumbs.

I couldn't taste any Parmesan

and yet I thought it was supposed to be Parmesan crumbs.

Extremely dry.

It's a bit disappointing.

Mine was very, very dry.

Mackerel is a very oily fish, it should have a lot of flavour,

and it was very...disappointing, I guess is the appropriate word.

Oh, dear. Maybe the locals will be a bit more positive.

It was a nice taste,

it was just really dry. It could have done with a little dip on the side

and it would have been lovely.

It did say on the menu that there was some Parmesan crumbs,

but I didn't have any of those.

Perhaps the avocado and pancetta salad will keep Paul afloat.

There was quite a lot of saltiness in the dish.

The avocado was probably a bit over than what I'd normally eat.

Nice dish, nicely put together,

but just a touch disappointed with the taste.

I did enjoy it, but for some reason there was

a rash of streaky bacon plonked there

which didn't quite fit somehow.

A litany of complaints, not the best start to Paul's culinary voyage.

And though there were empty plates coming back at Karen's,

there were mixed reviews.

But at least nobody has asked for a sick bag yet!

Anyway, on to the next leg of the journey - the mains.

Karen is serving very slow roasted lamb served with bejewelled couscous

and a tomato and saffron sauce with green beans.

Or crispy breast of duck with Chinese style cranberry sauce,

buttered potatoes, and sugar snap peas.

The lamb is the posh version of my lamb.

I've never done the couscous before,

so I'm just praying it works this time.

The crispy duck,

I love crispy duck and I wanted to give it an oriental flavour.

They sound great, but there are clashing flavours there.

Oh, Paul bites back!

Karen started her very large slow roasted lamb

in a not so big pan, first thing.

She browned the meat and added veg and stock

and cooked it in the oven on a low heat for five hours.

The good thing about these Middle Eastern recipes is

because the lamb isn't pink, it doesn't have to rest.

We can take it out, carve it, serve it, so there's no rest period.

The duck does have to rest.

But there's no rest for the team.

Jo made the sauce for the lamb -

onion, garlic and saffron with chopped pureed tomatoes.

Add quite a lot of tomato puree.

That's probably about two tablespoons.

Easy on the puree, Jo, you don't want to overpower the sauce.

With the diners waiting patiently for food arrivals,

Karen cooks and slices the duck breast to order.

The duck, lovely and pink.

These are my sugar snap peas.

And Karen is rather starting to enjoy playing chef.

OK, to go.

I think it's looking good.

The first servings of duck go out just right - pink on the inside,

crispy on the outside with an accompaniment

of buttered potatoes and sugar snap peas.

There's the duck for you.

Enjoy your meal.

Right, let's give it a go.

I was pleased with some of the service of mains.

I was pleased with the way it went out, the way the plates looked.

The second lot of duck was slightly overdone, for me.

So I'm a bit disappointed with that,

but we'll have to see what comments come back.

It just didn't have it, the duck was overcooked,

the crispiness on the outside

was there, but the duck was very dry.

The duck was way overcooked.

Trying to do crispy on the outside and pink in the middle is very specialist.

Unfortunately, it sadly failed.

Still fretting about the duck, Karen decides to quiz the diners.

-How was everything?

-My duck was a little bit overcooked for me,

I like it pink in the middle.

Maybe a little more seasoning,

I was looking for some seasoning, salt and pepper.

-You couldn't taste that coming through?

-No.

But other than that, fine.

Good, OK, that's good to know.

And I couldn't add any salt because there wasn't any salt in the cellar.

LAUGHTER

The table with the overcooked duck

have noticed that the duck is slightly overcooked.

So... It's a fair point.

What can I say?

I can't undercook it. It's my fault.

Keep calm and carry on.

Deep breaths, Karen, there's still that slow roasted lamb to pull you out of cattle class.

-Would you like to try some of this?

-It's very nice.

-I seem to have a lot more meat than you.

-I didn't particularly like the lamb.

I certainly didn't like the tomato puree on top of it.

I thought that was a waste of time.

I did finish it off all but a few crumbs.

Whilst I say I didn't like it, I ate it because I was hungry.

Oh, dear, cover your ears, Karen.

The lamb was slightly cold when I received it,

but loved the couscous, I thought it was really tasty and light.

I was really impressed by that.

I discovered there were pomegranates in the couscous

which I absolutely loved. That was delicious.

It was bejewelled couscous,

so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

But it had pomegranates in it which is a total contrast

cos they were really crispy, but very good, very unusual, very tasty.

Karen's first time pomegranate couscous was a hit,

and she's happy with all those empty plates coming back into the kitchen.

I'm really pleased that everybody finished everything.

We didn't have any half-eaten plates, all of the plates are empty.

That's always a good sign, it can only be a good sign.

Yeah, I'm glad about that.

Well, it's usually a good sign, but I'm not sure with this lot.

So will Paul's diners be any easier on him?

He's serving a ragu of seafood with linguini.

Or schnitzel with a warmed potato salad,

cherry tomatoes and a mint pea quenelle.

I absolutely love seafood and the schnitzel is a family favourite

and I really hope the diners enjoy it as much as I do.

They both sound really lovely,

although I'd be a bit nervous about cooking linguini.

We'll see how that goes later.

Just two hours before the diners arrived, Paul was preparing his schnitzel.

Beaten fillets of pork were dipped in flour, egg and fine breadcrumbs.

Starting to panic a bit, like I have been over the last two weeks.

It's the first time today, and it's because I looked at the time,

which is gone 4:30pm, so we've got about two hours

before the guests need to be served

and I haven't done, I haven't made any pasta yet

and I haven't done anything with the seafood linguini.

You better get a move on, then.

To go alongside his schnitzel, Paul put cherry tomatoes and garlic

onto a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil.

Ah, no!

Balsamic vinegar.

I went to put olive oil in and the container is a similar size.

And in the stressful moment, I poured balsamic vinegar in there.

And Lynn's turning to drink.

Albeit not the hard stuff.

Actually, balsamic'll work, a little bit.

Yeah, works with tomatoes.

What about this, then?

It's the calm before the storm.

By the evening, Paul's no calmer,

and while he flaps in the kitchen,

his diners have been kept waiting over half an hour.

I'm hungry! I'm wasting away.

But those guests are sitting there waiting now.

It feels to me like they've been waiting a long time.

No, he's still here. Just about.

Come on, Paul, get that seafood ragu on.

At last, garlic, red chilli and chopped tomatoes are thrown into a pan,

followed by chives and a medley of seafood,

including prawns, scallops and calamari.

-Oh, it's really salty.

-BLEEP!

What's salty? What's salty?

Can I taste?

-It'll be all right once you've got the linguini with it.

-OK.

-It's actually quite...

-That's nice.

-Yeah, it is nice.

Yes, but it's no good in the pan, is it?

Now, stop messing about and start plating up.

-Mike?

-Yeah?

-Can you clean that pea off the pasta plate?

Please.

On go the accompaniments for the fried pork escalope.

-It's the flavour that counts.

-Yes.

Eventually, after a 40-minute wait,

the linguini's cooked and the seafood is plated up.

Sorry to have kept you waiting.

-Thank you.

-It's very hot in our kitchen.

But what does Paul's friend in the technicolour shirt think?

The seafood itself was little pellets of overcooked,

-dry, chewy...

-Rubbery.

Rubbery... Hmm.

It looked like everything had been dumped

out of a frozen bag of mixed seafood

and just cooked up pretty quickly, frankly.

-But all in all, it was a disaster!

-Yeah.

Oh, dear. A pasta disaster.

Let's hope the rest are a bit kinder.

-I can't eat that.

-What?

It's got no taste to it.

'For my main, I had the'

seafood ragu.

I didn't eat it. It's very rubbery.

I had a few mouthfuls and I was really hugely disappointed in it.

-Ooh. But not everyone's complaining.

-It's a difficult job for them.

-They're under pressure.

-It's difficult for them.

Some people may be judging them too harshly.

-Yes, I think so.

-Yeah, yeah.

Well, maybe the schnitzel will throw a Paul a lifeline.

I was very disappointed with it.

The tomatoes that accompanied the dish were fantastic, really good.

But the pork itself was bland, I think is how I'd describe it.

The tomatoes in the main were lovely. Really juicy and sweet.

It was like "pop" in my mouth.

The escalopes seemed like something out of a packet and then 12 minutes under the grill.

But I don't want to take anything away from the effort.

-But the tomatoes were nice.

-Yeah. They went "pop" in my mouth.

Maybe that mishap with balsamic vinegar was divine inspiration.

But some of the diners are beginning to consider their options.

I'm not full cos I didn't eat my main.

You asked if KFC was open on the way home!

Having a meal at the pub soon!

Yeah. I noticed they had burgers on the menu.

Diners planning a dash to the nearest fast-food joint.

Not a good sign.

But at least the popping tomatoes have been a success.

And Karen's duck may have nosedived.

But full marks for putting on a brave face.

So, the pressure is well and truly on for the final destination. Desserts.

Karen's serving up lemon meringue ice cream, served in a cinnamon

crackle basket with raspberry coulis.

Or Turkish Delight syllabub with pistachios crescents.

The Turkish Delight syllabub always goes down a storm.

The lemon meringue ice cream I haven't made before,

but hopefully it'll be OK.

I'd try either of those, but they do sound ambitious under pressure.

Karen tackled her lemon meringue ice cream first thing.

Sous chef Debbie added lemon zest and juice

to stiff whipped cream, yoghurt and broken up meringues.

Because we want it still to have that sweetness,

-but I think it needs a bit of bite.

-OK.

-Yes?

So, we're going to freeze this now.

It's quite a nice recipe because it doesn't need to be churned.

We're going to put it in these shallow dishes, pop it in the freezer.

The ice cream will sit inside a cinnamon crackle basket

made from golden syrup, butter, caster sugar, flour and cinnamon.

The mixture was spooned and flattened on to baking trays,

popped in the oven and carefully moulded into baskets.

I'm really pleased with them. Really, really pleased.

Jo was in charge of the Turkish Delight syllabub,

a sweet concoction of Cointreau, lemon juice, sugar and cream with rose and orange water.

I'm just going to put in the rose-water and orange water essence.

This is for the Turkish Delight,

so that gives it that, sort of, Turkish Delight flavour.

Will these puds have happy landings?

I've just got a tiny little bit of Turkish Delight here.

Just a tiny little bit.

I think the orange looks pretty.

And then I'm just sprinkling over some pistachios.

I think they look really pretty. I'm delighted with them.

Hopefully, they'll like it. I think it's a really nice flavour,

the rose-water, but people very rarely use

rose-water in this country.

So I don't know whether they'll find it too much.

But we'll find out in a minute.

That looks so pretty, though.

The lemon meringue ice cream goes into the baskets.

A quick drizzle of raspberry coulis and they're good to go.

Thank you.

Hopefully, they should like the presentation of it.

Bit of extra sauce there.

For the dessert I chose the ice cream,

which was lovely, but I didn't like the basket.

I couldn't get along with that at all.

I don't know what it's made of, but I didn't like that.

It was too crunchy.

I could have got my own teeth in tonight.

The ice cream was lovely.

Very lemon-y. But I wasn't very keen on the case.

It was very, very chewy so I had to leave most of it.

For my dessert, I had the ice cream, which I thought was really nice.

The lemon flavour in there was fantastic.

And the basket, although they were a little bit noisy,

crunchy, no, really nice.

All gone. A little bit of brandy snap left.

But the rest of it was cleared, so that's good.

So, will those Turkish Delight syllabubs deliver a hint of Eastern promise?

It is really nice, but it doesn't particularly taste like Turkish Delight.

It tastes quite lemon-y. But no, it was really...

The pistachios biscuits were really, really nice,

but it's very strong and kind of sickly.

But it's good, but I can't eat it all.

It was quite nice. A bit too rich for me.

I've decided to leave a bit,

which is unusual for me. I like my puddings.

It was nice to begin with, although it tastes like lemon

and I wasn't sure where the Turkish Delight was. There was a bit on the top.

Too rich. Lovely, delicious.

-Who was that from?

-The two ladies.

Delicious, lovely, absolutely gorgeous, but too rich.

I knew it was rich.

That's upsetting. If they liked it and it was just too rich...

But then if they'd have really liked it, it wouldn't have mattered.

Oh, Karen, don't be too hard on yourself.

Can we have the puddings, please?

-Yep. Certainly.

-Can Paul do any better?

He's serving sticky toffee pudding with Chantilly cream.

Or pears baked in Marsala wine,

served with mascarpone and creme fraiche.

I've had both these dishes at my niece's and I love them.

I've been practising and I hope I can make them as well as she does.

They sound like real crowd pleasers,

but maybe not quite as adventurous as mine.

In this game, sometimes less is more.

Paul started his baked pears mid-morning - simply pears with

Marsala wine, a vanilla pod, a stick of cinnamon and sugar.

I'm going to put them on the stove

just to bring them up to a simmer and then I'll put them in the oven,

and they'll stay in the oven for three hours.

They'll be covered for three hours, and during that time I'll have to turn them.

Once cooked, the pears were left to cool

before a Marsala and arrowroot syrup was spooned on.

This is definitely my kind of dessert.

I could eat all this.

Well, be sure to leave some for your diners.

This is the pudding part of the sticky toffee pudding.

There's flour. I'm just going to mix in some bicarb of soda.

Paul's individual sticky toffee puddings

are a rich mix of butter, sugar, black treacle, flour and dates.

Just put them on greaseproof paper just in case they do rise

and spill over the edge, but I don't think they will.

Just pour it all over them, so it soaks in.

And the crowning glory -

a toffee sauce made of yet more sugar, treacle and butter.

But they're looking all right. I think it tastes OK.

Mmm, they're tasting good.

Nearly time for Paul to drop anchor.

Can his sugary puds save the day?

-How many have we got of these, Mike?

-How many did you have?

There must be six.

-I'm just picking the nicest-shape ones. That's why I'm asking.

-Six.

Again, long-suffering Lynn takes the helm.

Left, left, left, bowls.

-What are you going for?

-Those.

-That's what I was going for.

-You wasn't.

-I was!

Got to get some better staff!

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

-Are we going to get this service out?

-In a minute.

-Yes, Chef.

I want that to go while it's hot, Lynn.

-Yeah, we're doing it.

-Thank you.

And Lynn's single-handed crusade finally gets the desserts to the table.

-And one toffee.

-Thank you.

Enjoy your desserts.

Thank you.

So how's that sticky toffee pudding going down?

Absolutely fantastic.

I could possibly squeeze in another one, but maybe not.

It would have been absolutely lovely had it been warm.

It's really, really cold and I haven't had a chance to complain

cos no-one's been out here yet.

So, I've just left it at that.

It was quite delicious, but I think I might have

been able to make a better one at home if I'm honest.

I thought it was really nice. I'm not a big fan of toffee puddings

and I personally don't think Jennifer could make a better one at home.

Ooh!

Oh, dear. A divorce for dessert.

But will the baked pears prove as controversial?

Really, really tasty. Really tasty.

Really enjoyed it. I'm not one for fresh fruit,

but that was a really good combination. Loved it.

It was the best course of the night. Really enjoyed it.

Pear was whole, it didn't flake about, and the sauce was very good.

Excellent. Maybe even "you know who" might finally be satisfied, too.

It was a pear in some sort of pasty...stuff.

Um... Not impressed.

Waiter, check!

Bill? Can we leave?

Yes, I think you probably can...right now.

But Paul and the team are taking it on the chin.

-AMERICAN ACCENT:

-I couldn't really say, but some guys just got to complain.

I wouldn't like to say who that would be.

And Paul's looking on the bright side.

That's nine plates that have come back clean.

Pleased with that.

So a few moans, but clean plates, and if Paul's diners thought it was all over, it is now.

As of tonight, the restaurant's closed.

Thanks again.

So have Paul and Karen done enough to make a profit?

It's entirely in the hands of the diners,

who'll decide how much or how little they're prepared to pay,

and neither of our cooks has any idea how much that might be.

Karen spent £125 on her restaurant,

so her diners must fork out £12.50 a head for her to break even.

But how did they rate their experience?

-Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

It was a good effort. Enjoyed it. Great.

I would have paid more, a little bit more,

if it had a little bit more oomph to it.

There were a few things that let it down, but I had a very pleasant meal.

Pity the duck was slightly overcooked.

Otherwise it would have been fine. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, how were the girls feeling at the end of a long evening?

The main lesson I've learnt would be to never go into catering.

LAUGHTER

I think you're brilliant. I'm going to give you a hug.

Well done!

Having spent £87 on his restaurant,

Paul needs £8.70 a head to balance the books.

-See ya.

-Bye.

So did he sink or swim?

Lovely ambience, lovely setting, really cosy, nice people.

On the downside, his food was disappointing,

but the sticky toffee pudding made up for that a little bit.

Buzzy place. One of the most buzzy restaurants I've been in recently.

People were very friendly.

The food, as a restaurant goes, it wasn't fantastic.

The food, frankly, wasn't great.

But as a restaurant, I wouldn't have really felt right paying anything, I suppose.

I didn't eat any of my main or my dessert, so I'm a little bit hungry.

I've heard a lot of fun going on there and people will pay for fun.

You don't need brilliant food, but if you've had a good evening,

you'll pay for it, so I think we've done OK.

If he ever does this again, it's divorce, 100% divorce!

No jesting, never, no, I will not ever do this again.

Paul, Karen, an amazing night with two fabulously themed restaurants, I have to say.

Loved your idea, Karen.

Are you glad that you did it that way?

I am, yeah, cos I wanted to include my travels,

cos that's what's inspired me to cook.

I was pleased, yeah.

It just, kind of, evolved from the original idea, so, yeah.

You wanted to ask the diners what they thought. Very strange, that.

-How did it go?

-I wish I hadn't.

But I wanted the feedback, cos I just wanted people to love it.

That's the thing about feedback.

You wanted all the good feedback.

Yeah, but I want to know how I can do better,

so I think that's why I asked them, although, in hindsight,

I should have just stayed in the kitchen and not bothered.

And you, Paul. Oh, I loved the whole light things up, the waves.

The theme of your restaurant was fabulous and the diners really appreciated it.

Were you pleased with that?

Obviously, my helpers went a long way to make it look like that.

I'd had a vision, told them what I wanted.

We worked great as a team and they put it all together.

I hope the diners came in and saw this seafood-y type,

wavy-type restaurant, you know, close to Poole.

-I hope so.

-Would you do this again?

My wife actually said, and she meant it,

she was saying to her friends, "I'll divorce him if he goes in for anything like this again."

OK, I'm sure you'd both like to know if there was any money made.

OK, Paul, you spent £87.

-Your diners donated 138.

-Oh, right, thank you.

You made a profit of 51. So there you go, that's for you.

-Thank you very much.

-Karen, you spent 125.

Your diners donated 225, which means that's 100 quid for you.

Wow! Thank you.

-I'm shocked!

-How do you feel?

I'm delighted, but really surprised.

I really didn't think they liked it.

You've actually both done really well, so I think huge pats on the back.

You've both been utterly brilliant.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

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

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