Episode 18 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Jr is one of them.

Two at the pass now.

CHEFS CHEER

Now he and MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace

are on the hunt for Britain's next culinary superstar,

a professional

with the talent to cut it in the world's top kitchens.

Perfect.

It's the semifinals.

These six professionals are some of the best chefs in the country.

They've beaten off stiff competition to get this far.

Now, they're to compete in pairs.

Each pair will go head-to-head

in some of the UK's top Michelin-starred restaurants.

Although we're dealing with professional chefs, I guarantee that they are in for a shock.

This, for them, is going to be a revelation.

First up, 34-year-old freelance chef Ash

and 25-year-old sous chef Perry,

battling it out for a place in the final.

I want this competition more than ever.

It's virtually there. I can taste it.

I feel the same now as what I did the first day.

You're still here to win.

I don't think I've peaked. I think I can take it further.

If I get through today, I think I could win it.

But only one of them can become a finalist.

It's early morning, and Ash and Perry are in the heart of London's theatre district

heading to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

With a total of 26 Michelin stars,

Joel Robuchon is widely regarded

as one of the greatest chefs of his generation.

In 2006, he entrusted head chef Olivier Limousin

to open his only London restaurant.

The head chef Olivier is as exacting as his mentor.

His attention to detail is second to none.

Nothing will escape him.

Service, please.

The restaurant is famous for its French cuisine,

inspired by Spanish tapas and Japanese sushi bars, all prepared in an open kitchen.

In terms of the concept of L'Atelier,

they work in front of the customer.

We are like the theatre

and every chef has to be like the actor.

It's tough because you have to keep the self control.

By 2008, Olivier had earned two out of a possible three Michelin stars for the restaurant.

My philosophy

is to be positive every day...

..to create a nice atmosphere in the kitchen,

but if too many things wrong is coming, I become nervous.

If they don't do the work properly, I will give one chance.

I know that at Robuchon,

I know the standards are immensely high

and I'm going to have to live up to it.

I can't be as manic as I would be, as I am in the competition.

I've had deadlines to meet

and you can run around like a headless chicken.

This is not the kitchen of the type of level where you do this.

No running, no tears, no sweat, just perfection.

-Good morning.

-BOTH: Morning.

-My name is Olivier. Nice to meet you.

Today, you are part of my team.

This is not a traditional restaurant.

It's an open kitchen.

We work in front of the customer. The pressure is there

because every customer will look at how you prepare this and that,

so you have to work properly, you have to be precise.

It's not a game. These are real customers,

a real restaurant with two Michelin stars.

Let's go, we can start the mise en place.

During service, Perry will be in charge of the tourteau starter,

a tian of crab meat and sauteed vegetables

surrounded by lobster jelly, dotted with fennel cream.

Take the mixed carrots, celeriac and shallots...

Just cook it a little bit. The vegetables have to be crispy.

You put the crab meat inside.

Then the fennel cream,

just to give, uh, the fennel flavour.

Just test.

It's very important - every single thing, you have to test.

Not too bad. Not too bad.

OK, to prepare the plate,

try to put the ring in the middle of the lobster jelly.

Take off the lobster jelly.

You replace the lobster jelly.

Put back the ring.

And then, with a toothpick,

just give a small thing, like this.

If you just put it too flat,

it looks like something prepared in advance

and, you know, is not very fresh.

This is the same fennel cream.

You have to put just...

..little drops around the plate.

This morning, don't drink too much coffee.

If you drink too much coffee,

your finger will be, er,

in trouble!

There we are.

-How does it look?

-Beautiful, Chef.

It's very important - attention to detail, precise,

nice seasoning and speed - three to four minutes maximum.

Everything has to be perfect.

It's down to the detail.

The fennel cream, obviously, is very precise.

Literally, it looks the same all the way around.

Hopefully, I can keep a steady hand.

It shouldn't be a problem, but service hasn't begun yet.

Ash will be responsible for the calamar -

sauteed squid and chorizo, artichoke, zucchini, peppers and cherry tomatoes

garnished with tomato water, basil oil

and Espelette pepper, a Basque dried chilli.

You will start to cook the chorizo.

To cook all the vegetables and the squid at the same time can be tough for him.

Just cook it a little bit.

And zucchini...

During the service, with the stress, maybe he could forget,

he will start by the zucchini or he will start by the tomato.

When you are on service with the stress, you forget everything.

"What is my name?"!

Then you cook slowly and you mix all the vegetables, like this.

Put the squid in the saucepan.

It's important to listen. You have to work with the sound, as well.

I can speak to you,

I know the cooking is nice because I listen.

Then you have a small, small correlation, like this.

So this is perfectly cooked.

Put all the vegetables back.

Then you put the tomato...

The tomato was cooked on the saucepan this morning

with some garlic, salt and pepper and nice olive oil.

Then mix.

You can smell the flavour of the tomato, you know?

And you're ready.

You can see the different colours - yellow, green, red.

Finish by the basil oil.

Don't forget, today you're a chef,

but you have to be an artist for the customer.

OK, put it like that

and serve to the customer.

With the style of cooking, you don't want too much in the pan at once

or you'll stew the ingredients,

and that's not what the chef's looking for.

If the orders start piling up, that'll be a concern,

but hopefully, I'll be able to get through it.

It is now 11.30

and final prep must be completed before lunchtime service begins.

We have two Michelin stars

so, of course, we are in the stress every service.

Maybe some customer, they can be a Michelin inspector.

Every single thing has to be perfect

and the pressure is there, as well.

I just hope they don't let us down. We've thrown them in at the deep end

and on show!

There's a lot of guys, a lot of customers, there's a lot of work to be done.

I'll be fine if I get one-on-one, but if I get two to three,

that might be a push.

I'm confident. I can't be any more.

Erm, getting a bit nervous now with the service looming on us.

New kitchen,

new chef, new dish...

We'll see!

Perry, Ash, it's 12 o'clock. The service will start soon.

Never forget attention to detail, cooking, seasoning, cleaning of the plate

and make sure you look nice when you work

so you should impress my customer.

So let's go.

CHEF SHOUTS ORDERS IN FRENCH

BOTH: Yes, Chef.

HE SIGHS

It's harder than it looks.

If you move after, it can break. You see?

It's very important. Take it and don't move, just like this.

Careful.

-If you look at the plate, you put the pepper there and the pepper there.

-Yes, Chef.

It's a very simplistic dish,

but there's a lot to it to make it a two-star standard,

it really is, you know?

I've got to try and plate this in three... Oh!

-Chef, shall I start again?

-OK.

Go slowly, slowly, slowly.

Work with two toothpicks.

Nice.

You have to keep the same size.

HE MUMBLES

Try to move faster.

You are an artist, like that, passionately.

The customer is in front of you. You have to be nice.

Service!

-OK, let's go. One squid should be on the pass.

-Oui, Chef.

OK.

Sautee...

When you dress the plate, try to dress fast.

You should cook more on the tomato. The tomato has to be cooked.

-It's not a salad. OK?

-Yes, Chef.

Service! There you go.

-Can I have two squid, please?

-Yes, Chef.

-How long? One minute?

-I'll be two minutes.

-Perry, Ash, come on now.

-BOTH: Yes, Chef.

-Now you have to play with the colour. Put the green on the top.

-Yes.

The tomato, the pepper, the chorizo...

You took less time,

-but you've put too much fennel cream.

-Yes, Chef.

The thing is nice, it's not perfect because you can see it.

-But there's too much fennel cream.

-Too much.

-OK?

-Next time, you should think of the changes.

-Yes, Chef.

OK, one squid. Ready?

OK, so if I look at your dish,

you didn't cook the chorizo well.

So if you look at it, for example,

this artichoke is not a nice colouration. And the same with the chorizo.

-If you look at the chorizo, it's white.

-Yes.

You have to be crispy.

The chorizo's not cooked enough,

so the oil hasn't come out to help cook the rest of it enough.

Next time, I'll get it right, hopefully.

If you look between those

and between those,

-it's double.

-Yes, Chef.

You have to be perfect.

What isn't good now, if you look at the dill,

there's a big dill, medium dill, big, medium, big.

Every single dill has to be the same size.

Attention to detail is very important.

-The next will be perfect.

-Yes, Chef.

-OK.

-HE SIGHS

It's very important that I get this next dish correct.

He's pointed out each problem with each dish.

I've corrected each one-by-one, so now it's time to get it right.

Calamari... One squid.

Oui, Chef.

You did a very good job with the colour.

You can look at the yellow, the red, the chorizo

and the white of the squid, the green of the zucchini.

If I can test the flavour of the juice...

-Hopefully, it tastes lovely.

-I'm sure will be nice.

Very good. Very good job.

I want to eat this plate.

So do I!

Very good. Perfect.

It's like I showed you this morning. It's exactly the same. Great job.

It was really good. The crab meat was really good

and the lobster jelly was really nice.

Well presented, really good.

There was 99 percent there.

I think there was just a small spot,

the lobster jelly, maybe a really tiny mistake,

but everything was perfect apart from that.

It was really close to the Robuchon standard. Really good.

I had the squid. It was definitely delicious.

The seasoning was perfect. Everything was very fine.

This dish was perfectly in line with the standards of L'Atelier Robuchon.

We come here pretty often. I hope I'll have the same next time I come.

I can say I'm happy. It was very tough, it was difficult,

especially for them to walk into an open kitchen is tough.

It's not a traditional restaurant.

Ash with the squid, he made mistakes at the beginning.

He didn't cook well the chorizo.

But after, he didn't make this mistake,

so yes, I can say he did a great job.

Obviously, I wish every plate was perfect, which it wasn't,

but it's a new dish, new environment,

so I'm happy to get it to a standard that he's willing to send out to the customers.

I work in catering most of the time,

so it's bringing back fond memories of working in restaurants

and I think I might like to get back into it.

Perry is doing very well.

In the beginning, he make some mistakes,

but after, he didn't make mistakes

and finally he made a very, very great plate.

I got frustrated.

I'm very precise,

and trying to get those dots right was really frustrating.

I was sweating more trying to put a dot on a plate than I was trying to create it.

But all in all, it was a really enjoyable experience.

I need to make a little bit of ground up.

This is the challenge where I need to show to him that I can sell perfection.

Service is over, but the chefs must compete once more.

They'll have to recreate Chef Olivier's signature dish,

caramelised lamb sweetbreads

topped with maple syrup-coated walnuts,

fresh almonds, pine nuts and pistachios,

served on blanched cabbage leaves with sauteed root vegetables

and a lamb jus.

This is my favourite meat.

The technique of the cooking of the sweetbread is difficult.

When I explain this dish to my chef, I say,

"This is your girlfriend or your boyfriend

"and you have to take care of him, her, now until the end."

If you leave him alone for two minutes,

it will be not happy and it can be wrong.

Every single minute, you have to put some butter on the top,

turn, nice caramelisation.

It's very important to become very crispy on the side,

but very smooth inside.

The cabbage has to be perfectly cooked to keep the colour.

The sauce is with carrots, shallots, celeriac.

Just on the end,

you have to put all the almond nuts and the pistachio with some syrup

and then make a nice caramelisation to become more crispy again.

If the dish is wrong, I will be upset

because it's my favourite dish.

Attention to detail again. Everything has to be perfect.

I've never cooked sweetbreads before,

so I'm in trouble, basically, because I don't know how they're meant to be at all.

I don't want to destroy the chef's favourite dish,

so I'll be trying to do it nicely.

Ash, I can say I like the presentation

because it is nice.

I can see the small ring of cabbage. The cabbage is green - this is very important.

The sweetbread look nice, crispy.

Maybe the negative point is the cooking of the sweetbread.

One piece, because it's small, is very well-cooked,

but the other piece is too big

and is maybe just a little bit undercooked.

But the lamb jus is very nice. You can feel the flavour of the lamb

and the carrots, shallots, leek.

And the cabbage is cooked perfectly.

If it's your first time to cook the sweetbread like this,

I can say well done, it's a great job. Very good job.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

It was OK, but the most important part was not quite cooked enough,

so there's obviously a problem there.

I'm not very happy about it, but I can't do anything about it.

There was some good comments, as well.

All the seasoning and everything else was nice.

The main component should be perfect,

especially when you're cooking for a two-star chef!

I've cooked sweetbreads before, yes.

I like them myself. They're a very nice dish.

You don't want to overcook, otherwise they'll go like rubber.

It's intimidating, obviously. I am quite worried that he doesn't like it.

OK, Perry, how do you feel? Are you...?

-Not happy, Chef.

-Why?

The lamb jus needed skimming

and when I put it onto the plate, the fat's come out of the jus.

You're right about the lamb jus.

It's too fatty. You can see too much butter.

But I think the interpretation of the presentation is very nice.

The cabbage looks green,

three pieces of sweetbread in the middle and the sauce on the side.

I think you did a great job. Nice presentation.

The sweetbread is perfectly cooked.

I can tell you well done,

because it's very difficult to cook sweetbread.

From my point of view, if I made the dish,

I cut a little bit bigger the carrot

and you can feel the vegetables in your mouth.

But it's just a small thing.

But I think you did a great job.

It's not easy to prepare this signature dish, so well done.

Yes, Chef.

If the jus was perfect I would've been happy,

but I had one mistake again.

But I took the positives from it

and my cooking... he liked my cooking,

but I'm still not happy with it.

I think Perry is a great person to join a Michelin-starred team.

He's very meticulous, very precise, he works very well.

I'm very impressed.

I think Ash can come to work in my kitchen.

He learned, he listened, he didn't make the same mistake

and he can become a great chef.

My main aim in this competition was to get to a kitchen like this.

I've achieved my goal so far.

But now I'm here, what's the point stopping?

I'm happy today.

Chef didn't refuse any of my plates, so that's important to me.

I really want to get to the final. I've put a lot into it so far.

There's a lot more to learn. I think I've got a lot more to show, as well.

Today I need to go 100 percent.

I don't want to go home.

Everything's riding on today to get through to the final.

I'm inches away from the final.

You know, you've got to give it everything you've got,

maybe more so than I've ever given.

I don't know if that's possible,

but I'll sure goddamn give it a go.

I want to see from you two inspirational food.

Cooking of the same standards of the kitchens you have just experienced,

beyond reproach, absolute excellence on the plate.

You two, cooking a main course and a dessert.

One hour 45 minutes, for a place in the final. You know what's expected.

Off you go.

I like Perry! I can see in your eye you want a little bit more from him.

I like him.

I have seen moments of brilliance from Perry's cooking,

but he is a perfectionist, he is looking for that ultimate dish.

Hopefully, today, he will find it.

Today, you know,

I'm here to still impress the judges.

It's got to be prim and proper, otherwise I don't see the point of doing it.

I want to execute it 110 percent.

I like Ash's style. I think he's a great talent,

a chef that I love watching work.

The way he dresses food, it excites the eyes before you even taste it.

That is the style of food that Michelin-starred restaurants are made of.

I'm concentrating on both flavour, presentation.

I think I can get through. It's up to me to nail my dishes.

If Ash and Perry get it 100 percent bang on,

how on earth are we going to split them?

-Perry, what are you cooking for us?

-Today I'm doing chorizo-stuffed monkfish,

a langoustine ravioli and a warm pea mousse

with sauteed sweet potato.

-And for dessert?

-Chocolate fondant with a rhubarb mousse,

Sauternes jelly and white chocolate sorbet with a rhubarb crisp.

Wow! Gee whizz!

These dishes - your ticket to the final?

I should hope so. There's a lot riding on it. There's a lot that could go wrong.

There's a lot of oven work and a lot that needs to be set

and there's a hell of a lot going on.

How much work has gone into you being here now?

I've given everything I've got. If I'm not writing menus, I'm reading menus

or seeing what method needs to be done first

and then timings and then cooking and then...

There's a hell of a lot gone into it, but it's everything I want to put into it.

You're normally quite poker-faced. What's happened to you?

I need to get through to the finals.

This is the stage where it all becomes real.

We know when it's going really well for you...

-Yes.

-..because there's a grin on your face.

Well, today, I'm smiling, but I don't know if it's going well!

I need to get busy!

Perry has his work cut out. Everything has to be cooked to perfection.

He's got pasta dough to roll out

and it has to be the thinnest ravioli he has ever made.

The pea mousse has to be smooth and silky.

All that seafood - he's got scallops, langoustine to prepare,

the monkfish to stuff.

He cannot afford to miss anything out. He cannot afford to slip up.

The biggest concern is the warm pea mousse.

I haven't put a sauce on there because the mousse is wet

and it should give you enough moisture

not to be able to have a sauce.

If the consistency isn't right and it collapses, I'm in some major trouble.

Perry hasn't chosen an easy dessert. Quite the contrary.

He's pushing himself all the way through to the end.

He's got 36 eggs on his bench. There's only two of us eating!

He has got a chocolate fondant.

Chocolate fondant is always a risk.

One minute overcooked and it's ruined.

A Sauternes jelly,

rhubarb, a white chocolate sorbet...

All of that on one plate!

Again, a multitude of processes,

a multitude of skills that he's showing off.

He is taking on a week's worth of work and trying to pack it in to an hour and 45 minutes.

I don't know why he pushes himself so hard, but I love it!

I love his drive, I love Perry's ambition.

Today, obviously, the fondant has a key method.

If it's overcooked, it won't be runny in the centre.

It's got to be perfect.

Gentlemen, one hour to go!

Ash, what are you cooking for us?

I'm cooking wild salmon with a bed of calasparra rice,

finished off with some fennel pollen, Sauce Americaine

and a little garnish of tempura lobster.

-What rice did you say you were using?

-I'm using calasparra rice.

-What's that?

-It's grown in Murcia.

Typically, they use it in Spain for a paella.

What's a Sauce Americaine?

It's a bisque. It's like a lobster bisque.

-And dessert?

-I'm doing a dark chocolate panna cotta

with almond and cinnamon crumbs

and a crema Catalana ice cream.

Crema Catalana is a beautiful Catalunia dessert, similar to a creme brulee.

-So, you're making an ice cream?

-Yes.

-Great.

-And what is today about for you?

-Trying to get through to the final,

trying to prove to you guys that you made the right decision by keeping me here.

You need to push yourself to get where you want to be and I've got to do it.

Are you ready for the next step and, if so, what is it?

Get back into a top kitchen, maybe something with a star,

just to take my skills up another level.

And this Basque girl that you've fallen in love with,

-what will she think of that?

-HE SIGHS

Erm... I think if I get back into kitchens,

I'm going to be doing mammoth hours, but she understands.

We met in hospitality. She knows what it involves.

She's seen in the last couple of days what I've been putting into it and she's all for it.

She gets to eat good food all the time, doesn't she, so she can't complain!

-Yes, no complaints.

-Not much sleep, but lots of good food.

Yes!

-A chef's life, that is, isn't it?

-It is, isn't it?

There's been a lot of dedication to get these two dishes.

It's a lot of work for two plates of food, and I hope they're spot on and I hope they enjoy them.

One of Ash's passions is ingredients and he's showing that off today.

He's using that special rice from Spain, usually used for paella.

He's flavouring that with a bit of fennel pollen.

It has that aniseed burst of flavour.

He's garnishing his salmon dish with tempura of vegetables and lobster,

a real treat for flavour, obviously, but also for texture.

That's what I want to see in a chef -

passion about ingredients - that's what great chefs are made of.

Ash's main course is beautiful.

I just don't know how his dessert works.

Crema Catalonia ice cream?

Crema Catalana is like a creme brulee,

except it's flavoured with oranges, lemons and sometimes cinnamon.

I think that's wonderful! I can't wait.

He's adding texture by putting on top of his panna cotta

a crumble made out of cinnamon and almond.

I've seen him also make a little bit of caramel,

so I presume he's going to make a tuile, as well.

This is serious understanding of skills and methods.

Dessert is about timing.

I need to get an ice cream ready and a panna cotta set.

If either of those don't work, I'm going to be up the creek.

I'm going to be in trouble!

Perry, how are we doing?

Erm, quite late, to be honest.

What have you got left to do?

The fondants are in the oven now, I've got to blanch off the pasta,

get the potato crisps ready, get the monkfish cooked,

turn out the mousses, cut the jelly, and the sorbet.

-In 15 minutes?

-Yep.

Check those...

Guys, last five minutes.

That's it! Your time's up!

Perry has cooked monkfish tails stuffed with chorizo,

topped with langoustine and scallop ravioli,

served on a warm pea mousse

garnished with sauteed sweet potatoes, sweet potato crisps and pea shoots.

First off, it looks beautiful.

It's light, it's vibrant, wonderful colours.

Speckled with chives over the top, a few pea shoots, but not too many.

It's precise. Everything on the plate is matching.

It's great.

One thing that worries me is that there's a lack of sauce.

Sure.

It may work. I don't know yet. I haven't tasted it.

Mm.

The pea mousse is very creamy and has a wonderful texture. It's soft.

It works wonderfully with the monkfish and chorizo.

Your monkfish is cooked beautifully, well seasoned and quite delicious!

I love those little crisps. They add texture.

Your ravioli is a little bit too thick.

We're talking half a millimetre, but when you're looking for perfection,

those are the little differences that you need to achieve.

But it's damn good.

It looks strange without a sauce, but it's actually really moist.

There's moistness in the monkfish and the ravioli, and that mousse is holding it together.

Sweetness, yet it's got a little bit of spice on the end of your tongue.

That is delightful! My one criticism is,

your ravioli's a little thick and maybe a little over-seasoned.

But that's the only criticism I can find.

I think that is an absolute masterpiece on a plate.

For dessert, Perry has made a chocolate fondant,

a rhubarb mousse topped with a white chocolate sorbet and a rhubarb crisp,

accompanied by Sauterne jellies.

The presentation I find a little simple.

Maybe the description of it meant that I was expecting something very elaborate,

which this isn't.

The rhubarb mousse is delicious

and it's just set enough.

It's not bouncy at all, it's just creamy and soft

and I think it works perfectly with the fondant.

It's a great combination.

And the Sauternes jelly, or sweet wine jelly,

is set just enough and it's got a real kick of wine to it.

The chocolate fondant is oozing, but only just.

It's probably gone a minute too much in the oven.

The white chocolate sorbet I find nice, but...

Nice.

Oh, mate!

That's the reason I love rhubarb. It's that sweetness, that sharpness at the same time.

That's lovely.

Chocolate fondants, we've had a thousand times. Yours is decent.

The Sauternes jelly, which is sweet but grown up, very boozy, still very, very good.

It all tastes great.

It needs to look as smart as your main course.

I feel up and down like a yo-yo at the moment.

I'm not quite sure if I've done enough.

I don't feel like I have.

So mixed emotions really.

Freelance chef Ash

has cooked a fillet of wild salmon served with a Sauce Americaine,

accompanied by fennel rice and tempura lobster, wrapped in courgette flowers,

along with baby courgettes and baby artichokes,

dressed with ground Espelette pepper

and micro fennel.

First off, absolutely beautiful. It's precise.

It's been dressed with a lovely touch. Wonderful colours.

I love the look of it.

Mm.

HE CHUCKLES

There's a beautiful balance of flavour and textures,

the textures from the artichoke still a little bit crunchy, the rice,

and, of course, these beautiful little tempura lobster tails, wrapped in courgette flowers.

I was worried about the fennel pollen,

the lobster sauce, the chilli pepper.

Everything that's in there is very, very bold in flavour,

but you have managed to balance it beautifully.

Thank you.

You've ticked a few boxes there, curly!

No criticism at all.

Sorry! I'm smiling.

I don't know what it's like in Tasmania, but we don't apologise for smiling.

It's sort of commonplace.

Oh, my word!

Oh, my word!

That takes you much deeper than you expect to go.

The salmon is sweet and light. That sauce is so creamy and so rich.

And there's a hint of saffron, as well,

and powerful, but not over-strong fennel in that rice.

Mate, this is wonderful!

Wonderful, wonderful food.

For dessert, Ash has made a chocolate panna cotta

topped with cinnamon and almond crumble,

crema Catalana ice cream and gold leaf

and a sugar crisp, surrounded by caramelised orange segments.

It looks beautiful. The oranges have been put around the plate with military precision,

which we've come to expect from you.

It really does look lovely.

The crema Catalan ice cream...

..is lovely. I love that taste of oranges, lemon

with a hint of cinnamon.

The little sugar tuile on top gives it dimension, height,

the little gold leaf adds opulence.

It's got a story. I like the fact that it has got a little part of you,

your travels, crema Catalan.

It has everything you would want from a dessert.

But it is a bit rich.

But I'm nitpicking.

It's a good dessert. Very good dessert.

Too rich? That's divine! That's lovely!

Chocolate, cinnamon, nuts, citrus, ice cream...

It's making a combination of flavours that taste almost floral, almost like a lavender flavour.

I'm not saying it's the best dessert I've ever tasted,

but right now, I can't think of one better.

I can't tell you how blown away

and knocked out by it I really am.

I think you've got to have a good long look at where you're going,

because there's a talent going to waste here, making canapes for 3,000 people at a time.

No, honestly. Honestly.

Thank you.

I was totally overwhelmed with the comments

from Michel Roux Jr and Gregg.

They're some of the best comments I've had through the competition

and I'm well stoked with it, like, amazing.

I said to myself this morning, "It could be my last day so I'm going to enjoy it"

and I think it's shown in the food that I've produced, so we'll see.

Unbelievable!

Incredible!

We wanted great food.

I... And I don't think Michel quite expected this,

just please give us a little bit of time.

Thank you very much.

It's been a wonderful journey to go on with these two chefs,

to watch them evolve, flourish,

and to watch them cook their own food,

express themselves as true chefs, as professionals.

I wish I could say I spotted the genius in them

the moment they walked through the door, but I didn't!

I never, ever dreamed that either of them

would be capable of this sort of work.

I mean, Perry today, he had so much work on his plate!

But he managed to plate up an absolutely beautiful,

elegant monkfish dish that could've graced any table.

He pulled it off, he most definitely pulled it off.

Not putting a sauce and the fact that his ravioli was a little bit too thick,

it doesn't matter, that was a great dish.

Our criticism of Perry's food

really centres on the presentation only of his dessert, doesn't it?

It was just a bit big and it lacked the elegance of his main course.

-The rhubarb mousse was lovely.

-Mm!

-And those little Sauterne jellies were lovely.

-Ohh!

Ash, I thought, cooked an absolutely sublime piece of wild salmon.

Unbelievable. That was after I'd munched my way through lobster balls,

wrapped up in courgette flowers,

with a bisque that would match any bisque I've ever tasted.

Including yours!

Wow.

I was worried those powerful flavours would overpower the fish, but no, it was a perfect balance.

What I loved about Ash's salmon dish was that it had a story to tell.

Everything on there meant something to him.

You could taste that and see that coming through.

That dessert just stunned me.

I stuck it in my mouth, the coldness went, the flavours came flooding in

and I looked at him and thought, "Oh, my word!"

It had everything there. It was beautiful and delicious.

I found it maybe a little bit rich, but...

We're going to have to straighten you out with desserts!

You're missing the point here.

So we've tasted their food, we've seen them work, we know they're exciting.

What are we going to do?

Ash is such a precise chef, the way he cooks, the way he analyses his food,

and the way he presents his food

is exactly what I would be looking for in a professional chef.

I think I deserve a place in the final,

but I know there's stiff competition,

and I think the food that we both produced today

is worthy of getting either of us into the final.

It's unfortunate we can't all go through.

Perry is such a driven young chef.

He is constantly pushing the boundaries

and wanting to do better.

The effort and the energy I've put into this competition

is more than I've ever put into anything else in my life.

This does mean everything to me.

What they cooked today

was way, way, way beyond my expectations.

We're now supposed to send one of them home.

In front of me, I see two very talented chefs.

Chefs that I would employ.

Chefs that I know have got a great future.

Our finalist is...

..Ash.

Congratulations.

Perry, I'm sorry.

I'm gutted. I feel sick.

But, you know, there is so much I can take away

from this opportunity that I've been given.

For me, the competition hasn't ended. There's still so much I need to do as a chef.

If I want to pursue what I need to do, I've got to carry on pushing like I'm in the competition.

JUBILANT MUSIC

Thank you. You won't regret it.

-Fantastic cooking!

-I told you he'd smile.

Wow. Ecstatic.

My God, I can't believe it! Thank you so much.

'I'm a bit dizzy.'

It's a dream. And it's quite weird, I checked my phone a few hours ago

and my girlfriend had sent me a message saying,

"Don't worry, you're not going to go out. I had a dream that you go through. xx"

I'm just like, "I can't wait to tell her that, yes, dreams come true."

Definitely.

Ash is the first of the finalists.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Tomorrow night, Oli and Kim will battle it out

for one of the remaining places.

This is a huge step for Oli and Kim.

It's going to be tough.

In a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, no mistakes are tolerated whatsoever.

In this industry, there's no fast track.

Come on, guys! We're going to slow the service up here.

You have to work hard.

OK, Kim, your time's up.

This is taking too long.

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