Episode 4 Instant Restaurant

'Two amateur cooks are converting their homes into restaurants.

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

-I am very competitive.

-It's all going horribly wrong!

'20 strangers will judge the results.'

I've never done this dish before. I wish I'd practised it!

I'm a strong believer in giving myself challenges.

'And it'll be up to the diners how much or how little they pay.'

The highlight was the mushroom soup.

It was nicely cooked but not very flavourful.

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

Welcome to Instant Restaurant.

Two home cooks attempt to transform themselves

into dazzling restaurateurs for one night only.

Then, their guests decide how much their efforts are worth.

So, can either of our cooks make a profit?

'First, 48-year-old balloon artist Sue Bowler from Oxford.'

The food I'm preparing today is homely food with a bit of a twist.

'Hopefully, that twist isn't that it's made of balloons!

'Apart from her flair with those, Sue's as creative in her kitchen

'and, boy, is she organised!'

Everything to do with this project is in here so it's all at hand.

Some might think that I've gone over the top, but preparation's the key.

If you're prepared, you can get away with a lot of things.

'Sue's rival is 41-year-old former firefighter

'Mark Colicott from High Wycombe.

'He's wanted to be a chef since he was small.'

I came home from school, used to cook my own meals.

Developed from there, really.

Lots of people commented, said, "You should have been a chef."

We weren't allowed to do cooking, us boys. We had to do woodwork.

Possibly missed a calling there.

Could have been a Michelin star! I don't know about that!

'Tonight, Mark, your star can finally shine.

'As well as devising a delicious three-course menu,

'each cook and two helpers

'must transform a room into a welcoming restaurant.

'Mark is going for the authentic Italian trattoria look.'

We're going to move the tables around.

The tables will be red and white chequers

with candles on top with wax coming all down the side.

Make it more authentic. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy themselves.

'Fingers crossed.'

Helping me will be my sister Debbie. She put me into this.

So she can take half the blame.

'As revenge, Mark's taken over his sister's house for the evening.

'For front of house, he's roped in his nephew's girlfriend, Paris.'

It's a bit scary!

'Sue and her helpers are going a bit more up-market

'to pull an unforgettable experience out of the hat.'

The name of our restaurant is The Bowler.

The concept is elegant dining,

dinner party style, with a little bit of bowler hat mixed in.

My husband John is going to be front of house.

I'm very pleased. I think the table looks elegant, clean, crisp.

And, yeah, inviting.

It's also crammed with glasses. Hope everyone's thirsty.

Holly's my daughter. She'll be helping me today and tonight.

Her food is amazing. My friends like coming round cos it's so good.

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

'Sue's blown all but £6,

'so she'll need to take an ambitious £19.40 a head to break even.

'Mark's been more conservative.

'He only needs £13 a head from each of his diners to cover costs.

'So, it's Mark's rustic Italian bistro versus Sue's elegant dining.

'Will either of them make a profit?

Good evening. Hello.

'The judging will be done by ten hungry strangers who live locally and share a passion for food.

'At the end of the evening, these diners will vote with their wallets

'by paying what they feel the meal was worth.

'Sue's team sweep confidently into action, but she's already feeling the heat.'

My first guests just arrived. This is where my butterflies kick in.

'What do her diners think of her instant restaurant?'

Really nice. Impressive. Lovely.

'Don't worry, Sue. They seem happy.'

The table looks very nice, very professionally laid out.

'So, it's hats off to the Bowler.

'Will Mark's rustic Italian be equally tasty?'

Very nice. Looks like being on holiday in Italy. Very good.

Very welcoming. Looks as if it's going to be a nice atmosphere.

Very pleasant. I'm not sure... WOMAN: Sort of mildly peasant! >

The chequered tablecloths and the like.

Marvellous! Let's hope we have some nice peasant Italian food.

Peasant? I'm not sure that's what Mark wanted to hear!

Anyway, so far, so good.

All the diners are safely settled and first impressions seem good.

Now, let the food do the talking. Bring in those starters.

'Sue is opening the bowling

'with twice-baked goat's cheese and sun-dried tomato souffle.

'Or there's roasted pumpkin soup made from home-grown pumpkin

'with homemade soda bread.'

I pride myself on home-grown produce my pumpkins this year were perfect.

The soup is an elegant soup that everyone adores.

Pumpkin soup? Not bad. My mushroom soup will be better.

'Sounds like fighting talk to me!

'While Sue's diners wait eagerly,

'little do they realise that what they're about to receive almost didn't make it at all.

'Just a few hours previously...'

Here I am in the rain with a barbecue

praying for power at the moment.

'Sue's restaurant was almost sunk by a power cut.'

We've got a lovely new kitchen. This wasn't what we had planned.

'The most important job was to work out how to roast the pumpkins,

'while hubby John roasted the electricity company.'

So my roasted pumpkin soup

is now going to become my...barbecued pumpkin soup.

But I am proud of my different pumpkins.

They're all home-grown.

There'll be some fantastic colour and flavours coming through.

'There'll be no flavour coming through without power. Any chance?'

They're now saying that...

The recorded message is saying that we should be back on by 7 o'clock.

'7 o'clock is exactly half an hour after the diners are due to arrive.

'Things could not get any worse.

'Of course, for The Bowler, there's always a plan B.'

We'll have to make use of some friends who have still got power.

They're only a mile down the road.

So we'll make use of their facilities.

It will make life somewhat difficult.

It will.

'A restaurant with no power is in the "somewhat difficult" category!'

I'm disappointed because it's not going as smoothly as it should do.

I'm just hoping it doesn't ruin the whole thing.

I've never seen her get freaked out by anything.

Hopefully, it'll be OK.

'Sure enough, just as they were about to ship out,

'a glimmer of hope crept into the kitchen.'

Oh, my God! Lights!

-Ha!

-Everything's organised.

We can unpack it now.

That's fantastic. Please stay! Please stay!

We have power!

'With The Bowler back in business, Sue was right back on track.'

We've utilised our time to prepare everything.

We should be absolutely... We should be fine.

'With the oven working,

'Sue cracked on with her goat's cheese souffle.'

The goat's cheese mixture.

We're folding in the egg whites that'll make it nice and light.

'A family favourite, let's hope it's a hit with her paying diners.'

This is a cheat souffle, I have to say.

The fact is that it's twice baked. We'll cook it once and it'll rise.

Then we'll take it out the oven, it will collapse,

then we'll put it back in the oven

and bring it back up to browning pint with some cream.

It's the lightest souffle you'll ever have.

'As long as the power stays on!

'Otherwise it'll be the rawest you've ever had.

'Unaware of their host's chaotic day,

'Sue's diners are about to sample their starters.

'Judgment time for the pumpkin soup.'

We've taken the roasted pumpkins

and the mixture, and we've put it through a blender.

Now we've got a pureed soup

that's very, very rich in flavour.

We'll garnish it right at the end.

'She's also slipped in a little grated parmesan.

'So, the souffles have been baked - twice.

'The only thing that's left to do is eat them.'

I'm glad the bowl wasn't full to the top!

It would have been a meal on its own. It's very tasty.

Very creamy. Very nice.

I just tasted parmesan, which I wouldn't have thought of putting in.

Very nice.

'Looks like Sue's barbecued pumpkin and parmesan soup's a hit.

'Is her family favourite, cheat souffle, going down as well?'

Good goat's cheese!

'Do you mean good goat's cheese or great goat's cheese?'

I like really strong goat's cheese but it was nice and light.

A bit eggy, probably because it was twice-baked rather than single.

'Oh, dear. Sue's more worried about her diners than her food.'

It's strange having ten strangers in your dining room.

Hopefully, by the end of the evening we'll have made some more friends.

'That's the spirit, Sue. Let's face it, it could be worse.

'Spoke too soon! One woman's darkness is another's ambience.

'Sue lights a few candles and they don't notice there's a problem.'

Not bothered by the power cut. The candles add to the atmosphere.

'Even Sue's looking on the bright side.'

We're actually fine because desserts are made

and everything's just finishing off.

It's pretty. It'll add something to talk about.

'Let's see if Mark had as much to contend with at his Italian bistro.

'On the menu for his starters are wild mushroom soup,

'or chorizo and mushrooms with rigatoni pasta.'

Wild mushroom soup is one of my favourites.

The chorizo is something I've never tried, I saw it and thought I'd have a go at that.

Wow! I think he's mad.

It's an art working with something so strong a flavour.

I'd have practised that.

'It's not just the chorizo dish getting its first outing.

'Mark's entire Italian menu is an experiment,

'with tonight's diners as his guinea pigs.'

Not many people have tried my Italian food.

It's a little bit brave saying I'm going to cook for ten people and see if they like it!

They'll either say they like it and I can pursue it further,

or they don't and I go back to Thai green curry, which I know is nice.

'Let's hope his diners aren't pining for a Thai.

'Mark chops the chorizo, to fry with celery and chestnut mushrooms.

'But wait! Chorizo? On an Italian menu?'

Although it's Spanish, really,

it's still Italian-ish.

I eat it in Italy. It's an Italian dish.

'Just cos you eat it in Italy doesn't make it Italian.

'And cos you've eaten it doesn't mean you can cook it.

'When six orders come in, Mark gets nerves

'about his first-time recipe.'

I've never done this dish. I wish I'd practised it more.

It's a simple dish. Hopefully, it'll all go together nicely.

'Let's hope so!

'As Mark prepares to plate up, the pasta won't budge from the pan.

'Seems that his rigatoni has developed rigor mortis.'

LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-< Is it solid?

-A little bit.

Pasta's gone a little bit soggy, solid,

but it's going to be fine.

'Mark manages to chisel a bit off

'then send Paris out with his never-before-cooked Spanish/Italian starters.'

The rigatoni...

I was the rigatoni.

No, you weren't. You were the wild mushroom soup.

'He might regret that once he's seen the rubber pasta!

'Hopefully, the rest makes up for it.'

-The chorizo is good.

-You couldn't go wrong with chorizo.

I chose the chorizo.

Very flavoursome.

I thought that part of it was really good.

The celery was crisp. Yeah.

'Did himself proud.'

'So far, so surprisingly good! No-one's mentioned the pasta yet!'

The pasta was over-cooked. That was a bit disappointing.

The disappointment was the pasta.

I felt it was probably over-cooked

or cooked too long before the main meal.

'Something else Mark cooked way in advance were the mushrooms.

'At least this was deliberate.

'After soaking them thoroughly, he stirred in onions and herbs,

'a glug of white wine

'and cooked them in vegetable stock.

'Angel mushrooms will float on top

'of what will be a heavenly dish.'

Well, it's very tasty. Very wild mushrooms, a strong flavour.

Not something I'd have made at home, so that's nice.

For me, the highlight of the evening was the mushroom soup.

That was a great start of the meal. It was really delicious.

Soup might be the boring choice but the ingredients were fantastic

and the balance was excellent.

'The wild mushroom soup...'

Very acceptable, nice because the seasoning was left to yourself.

'And as empty dishes start filtering back,

'Mark starts filling with confidence.'

Plates are coming back empty, so they've eaten it!

Hope the rest is just as good.

Mark seems relieved that his diners have actually eaten their starters.

It looks like he's got away with his first-time chorizo.

Well done to Sue, though, for keeping going with no electricity.

That's one way to create a romantic atmosphere!

Wonder if they've got power yet.

'Doesn't look like it, but never fear,

'John is on the case once more.'

Of all the days for it to happen again!

DISAPPOINTED GROANS

'There goes the atmosphere! At least they'll see what they're eating.

'Let's hope that's a good thing.

'For her mains, there's a choice of slow-roasted spiced lamb

'with couscous and vegetables,

'or Thai style monkfish and prawns on a bed of rice with Thai salad.'

The fish is a light option with delicate flavours.

The lamb, by contrast, is intense.

It's slow-cooked with a beautiful combination of flavours.

When I've cooked it, everyone's wanted the recipe.

She's practised the lamb ten times so I hope she's got it right.

'Sue may have cooked it ten times in the kitchen,

'but this'll be the first time

'she's cooked it in the garden!'

We're browning off the lamb.

Then we can start the...slow-cooking process.

We've sealed the meat. Now we're going to soften off the onions.

The garlic and the chillies are home-grown.

Sadly, not the root ginger, but that's not bad, is it?

Now we add ginger, garlic and chillies...

'Sticking strictly to her script,

'cooking al fresco is the only thing Sue hasn't practised.'

All my recipes are tried and tested over and over again.

We've had a trial dinner party.

I know, from experience,

whether it's cooking a dinner or demonstrating balloon artistry,

the more preparation you do, the better it's going to be.

'To her spicy onion mix, Sue's adding chicken stock

'and home-grown roasted tomato sauce before finishing with a few extras.'

A couple more ingredients, cinnamon sticks and some bay leaves.

We're going to bring that back up to the boil.

Then we'll put the lamb in and let it do its own thing for 45 minutes.

Then we add more ingredients, adding the layers of flavour.

Then I'll carry on reducing the sauce.

-LAUGHING:

-Probably for the rest of the day, at this rate!

'Four hours later, the power's back on and Sue's diners are waiting for their main course'

Bread in the oven...

'The slow-cooked lamb that started on the barbie

'is finished off on the hob.'

I'm really happy. Once the mains go out, I'm home and dry.

So...I'm very happy.

'Sue's second main is Thai style prawns and monkfish,

'marinated and, in contrast to the lamb, grilled for a few minutes,

'avoiding the curse of the power cut.'

That is really good, really gingery.

Oh, yes! Very good.

'It's a vote of confidence from Sue.

'Sadly, the chef's opinion doesn't count.'

Hm. Just needs something.

The fish is quite bland... And can be dry.

It's difficult to cook because it goes rubbery.

It's cooked perfectly, just needs that kick, really.

'I was expecting something'

a little more spicy because it was described as Thai flavouring.

I could taste ginger in the rice but not a lot of flavour on the fish.

'The quick-cooked fish dish has been quickly dismissed.

'Let's hope the slow-cooked lamb was worth all that effort.'

Good? Mm!

'I had the spiced lamb.'

A very tasty dish and most enjoyable.

The lamb, very nice soft tender meat.

The sauce was very, very nice.

Really good. Very nice. Very tasty.

'That's a relief!

'In an attempt to pluck at the heart strings and wallets of her diners,

'Sue plays the sympathy card.'

We have something to tell you about our day.

We didn't have power. We lost power at quarter to eight this morning.

And we didn't get power back till half past two.

You've done so well! >

It's been a traumatic afternoon, to say the least.

I'm thrilled we've serve you a meal. I didn't think we were going to.

Oh, well done! >

APPLAUSE

'I bet they feel bad about those fish comments! But will it boost Sue's profits?

'Over at Mark's it's all systems go.'

We're ready to go with potatoes.

-< Are we?

-I don't know. Are we?

'Mark's hoping to dazzle with a genuine Italian dish of osso buco,

'veal to you and me, served with tiny roasted potatoes.

'His second main is an equally authentic seafood linguini

'made with homemade pasta.'

Today, I will be trying to make my own pasta.

I've never done it before but fancied giving it a go.

Don't tell me it's the first time he's made pasta!

Gosh, he's brave! Good luck!

'Well, Sue. You never know. He might surprise us all.

'But we'll have to wait a while.

'Before attempting the pasta, Mark prepared his most expensive main course,

'osso buco, or veal.

'This meat cost him a whopping £56. Let's hope he knows what he's doing.

'Go on, Mark. Talk us through it.'

Osso buco is, basically, the shin part of the calf, if you like.

When it's all cooked, the marrow comes out

and makes the sauce very rich.

It's a bit of a luxury because it's very expensive, being veal.

Not a lot of people like veal

but it's a lot more humane than it used to be.

It's a very nice dish, worth making.

'Mark floured and fried his meat before adding a good glug of wine

'and reducing it down.

'It will be added to a sauce of carrots, celery, onions and stock.

'And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment of truth!

'Mark's first attempt ever of making homemade pasta.

'We're rooting for you, Mark!'

I've got four eggs, beaten.

Make the mess. The well didn't work very well!

It's all going really well!

'Er, no. Not really.'

Is it meant to do that?

Thank you.

It looks doughy. Looks doughy, doesn't it?

'Doughy, yes. Pasta-y? Not really.'

Pick up some of that. Obviously, it's part of it.

'All he has to do is turn it into linguini.'

Here's the pasta machine! Never been out of the box.

'Oh, no! And it gets worse!'

I haven't read the instructions!

'Come on, Mark.'

Tell you what, I'll read the instructions.

'Bit late, but a good idea.'

No. This side.

I don't know. No.

'It's not looking good.'

"Pasta dough...cutting attachment."

'Mind your fingers!'

Hope everything goes well.

'Agh! I can't bear to watch!'

-CHUCKLING:

-Pasta-ish!

'Looks more like a pasty to me!

'Hang on a minute! That looks more promising!

'After all that, what's the verdict?'

It's LIKE pasta, but...

'But what? Not like pasta you'd like to eat, maybe?'

'In Italy, they hang it on a clothes line.

-'A clothes horse will do.'

-It could have gone better.

Could have gone a bit worse. But it's done. Let's move on.

Get the next disaster over with.

'Oh! Come on, Mark. I'm sure the worst is behind you.

'Though, as it turned out...

'it wasn't, and by 7 o'clock Mark's given up on his homemade pasta.'

I'm not happy to send that out.

I just don't think it's...

I wouldn't want it.

I wouldn't eat it!

So I've had to resort to plan B.

Bit unfortunate.

But...that's way it goes sometimes, I'm afraid.

This is plan B -

fresh packet linguini.

I'm hoping they won't notice.

Linguini's linguini, really, isn't it?

'With packet pasta to the rescue, time to start dishing up the mains.'

Wow.

'Don't sniff it! Eat it!'

Could do with more olive oil on the pasta so it's not so stuck together.

'You should see the other stuff!'

The seafood was, I thought, excellent.

The mussels and the prawns were very fresh and flavoursome.

The seafood is good, actually. It's not too hot, well seasoned.

'If only they knew the pasta disaster they narrowly avoided.

'But there's another problem looming. Quick question.

'What would you expect to find in an Italian restaurant?'

Parmesan cheese?

'That's the one!'

I asked for parmesan, which was reasonable in an Italian restaurant.

I can't see it!

That'll be a no, then!

If it's supposed to replicate an Italian restaurant one of the key ingredients would be parmesan.

'Parmesan? No.

'Chorizo? Yes! Welcome to Italian dining, Mark style.

'At least the osso buco's authentic.'

The flavour was fantastic. Texture of the meat was nice, cooked to perfection.

The osso buco is very good.

Yes, it's very tasty, well seasoned.

It's not too over-cooked. It's perfectly cooked.

But the chips, the roast potatoes

are just a little bit on the hard side.

I had the osso buco. That was totally delicious.

It was really flavoursome, lots of flavour.

But the potato was a little bit crunchy.

You could hear people eating the potatoes.

CRUNCHING

Listening to you crunch away at those potatoes was interesting!

'Lots of crunching - and that's not the only thing there was plenty of.'

It was very nice. It WAS nice.

But there was more than twice the amount I could eat.

Which is a shame, really. It makes you think of the starving poor!

Are we all finished?

That's lovely, but too much.

There's a lot left over.

Apparently, there was a lot of the starter.

Maybe that's true.

Sad to see quite so much come back.

There ain't going to be much room for their sweets, is there?

Oh, look! These plates look relatively empty.

-Do they?

-Yeah.

-Just two, then?

Wa-ay!

-Thank goodness!

-Two out of ten!

Mark still hanging on in there

in spite of fresh pasta on the clothes airer,

enough dried pasta to feed an army,

roast potatoes crunchy enough to take your teeth out

and no parmesan in an Italian restaurant!

It's not all perfection at Sue's! The fish hasn't gone down well.

And she's had to cook most of day with no electricity.

'For her desserts, Sue is offering the choice of a lemon meringue pie,

'or a bramble mousse with homemade madeleine cookies.'

I'm famous for my lemon meringue pie.

People always ask me to make it. They love it.

The bramble mousse is a new recipe I've been practising to make sure it's perfect.

Interesting sweets. Practice makes perfect, so I hear.

I just like living dangerously.

'Yes, Mark. We had noticed!

'Sue, however, likes a more ordered approach to her cooking

'and started preparing her desserts

'with hours to spare.

'Though, sadly, she didn't have much in the way of facilities.'

We're going to improvise because we're having to use the barbecue.

It might take a little longer than expected. We'll leave those.

'Once the fruits were heated to a coulis and gelatine added

'it just needed to set - which was when the lack of a fridge

'threw a spanner in the works.

'Sue wasn't going to let a little thing like that hold her back.'

If we don't get our power back soon,

we'll put it in a bowl of iced water to try and start the process.

We're OK. This takes, normally, a couple of hours to set.

We're not panicking just yet.

-LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-There we go!

'Three hours later, however, though the power's back on,

'the mousse is still loose inside this hoose!'

We've a slight problem. Our jelly's not setting.

Obviously, we haven't had enough refrigeration so we've put it into the freezer.

We're timing that for half an hour.

Hopefully, that will generate enough coolness to get the gelatine to work for us.

I'm not overly worried about that.

We won't be eating that for a long time yet, so...it'll be fine.

'Hope you're right.'

It's definitely on the go so I'm going to take a risk now.

Hopefully, the rest of it will happen.

'Sue folded the fruit puree into whipped cream.'

The temptation is to really whip it, but you just knock out all the air.

'Then chucked it back in the fridge for a chill-out session

'while she turned her attention to the lemon meringues.

'In true Sue style, she'd already made the pastry and lemon filling

'so just needed to top them off with meringue and bake.

'And, after conjuring two glittering courses

'from the dark of the power cut, can Sue make it a hat-trick?

'First in the firing line, the lemon meringues.'

The pastry is very light, gorgeous.

And it's really tart, which I like in a lemon meringue.

It's really good, actually.

Meringue's lovely, absolutely spot-on.

'The meringues were a solid hit. What about that loose mousse?'

Nice. I like the tartness of it, but it was a bit on the runny side.

It's not that moussy.

The flavour's super, but a little bit runny for me.

'A good time to remind them, that they're lucky to have food at all!'

-The mousse was a casualty.

-EVERYONE: Ah, yes!

We have struggled all day!

I just kept thinking, "Please set!" And we've struggled so badly.

But the flavour's there. As I got them out, I knew that was happening.

-So I apologise.

-'Nicely done!

'Let's hope they remember that when reaching for their wallets.

'Over at Mark's, his diners have a choice

'between homemade jam biscuits with mascarpone cream,

'or fruits of the forest tiramisu.'

Jam biscuits and mascarpone? What could go wrong?

Jammy biscuits for dessert? That's really odd.

Who's ever done jam biscuits for dessert?

'I'm assuming Mark has, otherwise why would he be serving them up?'

Never tried to make biscuits from scratch before.

It should be interesting.

If anything goes wrong, it's likely to be that.

'Yes. If we ignore the rigid rigatoni and fresh pasta.'

The pastry for my biscuits! It worked!

Well, it's pastry and it's flat!

And I've managed to start cutting circles out of it.

It's not looking too bad.

Hopefully, once I get them in the oven, we'll see what they're like.

'As the proof of the pudding is in the eating, you'd better get on!

'Apart from jam, all these biscuits need is a small hole in the middle.

'How hard can that be?'

What about this?

-'GIGGLING:

-Is that a wine stopper?

'Oh, well! It's doing the trick!'

Homemade Jammie Dodgers! How's that?

'It's a surprise in an Italian restaurant!'

I'll be happier when everyone's eating and say they taste good.

Let's get them in the oven.

'Time to make his other authentic Italian dessert,

'fruits of the forest tiramisu.

'His combination of sponge fingers, fruit and runny cream

'seem more like a trifle.'

It's gone a bit runny.

The desserts should go down really well. Or fairly well.

Certainly, the tiramisu looks quite nice.

'It looks all right, but what does it taste like?

'Only one way to find out.

'What's the verdict?'

They weren't fruits of the forest and it wasn't tiramisu but...

-It was like a strawberry trifle which was nice.

-Not impressed.

An interesting forest that produces strawberries and raspberries.

I agree, it was more of a trifle than a tiramisu.

'It's crunch time for the biscuits.'

What do you think about the biscuits?

Crunchy.

LAUGHS

They were quite hard.

The biscuits were quite hard

and the jam escaped into the biscuit, not where it should be.

I thought it would be nice to have the Jammie Dodger biscuits

with the coffee rather than as a dessert.

Coffee?

'Ah, the coffee! As the Italians are world famous for theirs

'the diners can't wait to see what Mark's lined up.

'A frothy cappuccino? A creamy latte? A rich dark espresso, perhaps?'

I think instant coffee's fine.

-Wouldn't have an issue with drinking instant coffee.

-No.

'I think your diners might!'

Instant coffees these days are quite tasty.

'I think it's instant coffee.'

Not sort of...nice percolated. There was no decaff on offer.

The coffee...not very desirable.

The coffee was... Well, I didn't even try it. Very disappointed.

'So, not the best end to the evening for either of our cooks.

'Mark really took the biscuit with Jammie Dodgers and instant coffee

'which some diners refused to drink.

'Sue's power cut finally caught up with her with that runny mousse,

'although her meringues were a sweet success.'

In spite of power cuts and their fair share of culinary slip-ups,

both our novice restaurateurs survived the night.

It's up to their diners to judge them.

How much they pay is entirely up to them.

Will it be enough for either cook to make a profit?

'Mark spent £130

'of his £200 allowance on his Italian bistro.

'He only needs £13 from each of his diners to break even.

'But will they think their Italian experience was worth it?'

It started off in a very promising way

but it deteriorated as the evening went on, so a bit disappointed.

The evening started off really well

but I'm afraid the desserts didn't go down well.

The starter was excellent. The main course, really good.

Not what I expected from the menu, but overall very good.

'In the kitchen, Mark is feeling tired...and philosophical.'

It's been an experience, that's for sure.

It's been a bit hectic at moments.

-If we break even, I'll be happy.

-I'll be happy if we break even.

I'll be extremely happy if we break even!

'That's the spirit! Aim high!

'Back at The Bowler, it's all smiles and chinking glass. Cheers!

'As Sue spent nearly all of her £200 budget,

'she'll need more than £19 a head.

'But will her diners pay that much?'

The main and dessert were fantastic. The starter could have been better.

The food was lovely, above average. I would definitely come again.

I thought the restaurant was better presented than the food was.

The dessert, I would have sent back under normal circumstances.

Well done. You got through the night.

Sue, I don't know how you managed.

-I know.

-I would have gone to pieces.

I couldn't do anything.

That was the situation. We had to deal with it.

It was fantastic on the night.

-How much did you love it? It looked like you did.

-I was well prepared.

Without that preparation, we would never ever have achieved it.

To achieve it in three and a half hours was amazing.

Will you have a regular instant restaurant in your living room?

It's a possibility, something that we have considered.

We want to meet people in our area and it's the best way.

Mark, what kind of a silly boy decides to try pasta for the first time he opens a restaurant?

-I like living dangerously.

-What made you decide not to serve it?

If somebody served that to me I wouldn't have eaten it.

There's no way I'd serve it to anybody else.

Everybody loved your osso buco, did you know that?

-No, I didn't.

-It was a real star of the night.

-How does it make you feel that people loved your food?

-I'm happy.

I like to hear that now.

It's not hard to make but it takes a while and a lot of effort.

-I'm glad people liked it.

-Anything you'd do differently?

-Practise making pasta a bit more!

-Or just buy it.

-You guys, I'm sure, would love to know whether or not you made a profit.

-Yes.

I'm going to start with you, Sue.

Sue, you spent £194.53p.

Your donations came to £230!

-Whoo!

-How do you feel about that?

-Very good!

-That's brilliant!

-In your own home!

-That's fantastic.

Because you spent so much, you made...35 quid!

I wanted everyone to eat a wonderful meal. To make a profit's fantastic.

-And Mark.

-Mm-hm.

You spent £131.35p.

Your donations...

were 265!

-Wow.

-Wow!

-LAUGHING:

-You look quite shocked.

-I'm very shocked.

-What were you expecting?

-Probaby owe you money.

LAUGHTER

Well, your profit was 133 quid.

-All for you.

-Thank you very much.

Well done, guys. Two brilliantly successful evenings! Thank you.

I'll see you next time on Instant Restaurant.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd