Episode 19 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Junior is one of them.

-Thomas, two St Jacques on the pass, now.

-Oui!

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 semi-finals.

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

And 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 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.

Now two London-based sous chefs,

30-year-old Kim and 25-year-old Oli,

will battle it out for their place in the final.

Now that's it head to head, obviously there's more nerves.

I need to absolutely smash it today.

To get through to the final, it would be a dream.

I really want to do great in this competition.

'I want to go to the final and win.'

For me, it is about getting better as a chef

and just coming out on top, really.

Only one of them can become a finalist.

Oli and Kim are heading to Perthshire,

home to Scotland's only two-Michelin-starred restaurant,

Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles.

Well, I've been cooking since I was 15 years old

and so I've been a chef for a long time, now.

As soon as I saw a kitchen in operation,

I knew that's what I was going to be and I've been there ever since.

At 20, Chef Patron Andrew Fairlie became the first winner

of the prestigious Roux Scholarship.

He went on to train under legendary chef Michel Guerard

in Gascony.

To be a great chef, you have to love it.

You genuinely have to love it.

In this industry, there is no fast-track, really.

You have to put the hours in, you have to learn your craft.

You have to work hard.

Andrew opened his Gleneagles restaurant in 2003,

earning his first star after just one year.

The second followed in 2006.

With today, there is no room for a mistake,

as far as, I want to go in there and prove myself

but I'm so nervous about what could go wrong.

You know, I don't want to have a bad service, so...

I'm really nervous, yeah.

This opportunity today, I feel so privileged,

to cook someone else's dishes at a two-Michel-starred restaurant.

There's a lot of pressure.

This is his food, his standards, so I need to do it justice.

'Andrew is a chef at the top of his game.'

His food is precise and beautiful.

My food in style and presentation is very clean

but the detail that goes into it is hugely important

and because it is so simple in presentation,

the slightest little thing that goes wrong with it, you will notice

and if it's not right, you know, it gets sent straight back.

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

This is a huge step for Oli and Kim.

Kim, nice to meet you. Oli, nice to meet you.

I don't know how much experience you've had at this level before.

We've got 54 covers in.

There is no second chance on this one, I'm afraid.

You are right in at the deep end.

Best of luck to you

but we need to get a move on because you've got a lot of work to get through, so let's do it.

Kim and Oli will each cook one dish from the menu degustation

or tasting menu.

Many top restaurants feature these multiple-course menus,

to showcase the best of the chef's repertoire.

Andrew's degustation costs £125

and features a total of nine courses...

comprising two starters, two fish, one pasta

one meat, one cheese

and two puddings.

Kim is in charge of a fish course.

Orkney scallops accompanied by squat lobster,

razor clam, sea vegetables, a potato and seaweed crisp,

a square of dashi jelly and served with a dashi broth.

All we're going to do is just warm up our seaweed in there.

What you need to be really aware of with this dish

is that it's seconds -

you know, your clams, five seconds and they're overcooked.

Then it's wasted.

It's a waste of money and a waste of time.

All we really want to do with the scallop

-is so the centre is just warm and no more.

-OK.

So you need to judge that to take it off when it's almost raw in the centre -

it will continue to cook.

So you can see, the scallop's ready.

OK, so that's your clams. Just warm.

-The squat lobsters are...

-Just there, yeah?

-..just cooked.

So that's ready to plate.

So what we do is... So presentation wise with this dish,

really what we're trying to do, it's the sea. It's the seashore.

This is one of the dishes that people would come to a two-star restaurant in Scotland for.

It's seafood, it's the best of what we've got, OK?

-Yeah.

-So there's a lot of pressure on you for this one.

-If this one's not right, then we can't serve it.

-OK.

-OK?

-And I can't stress enough to you it's down to the second.

-OK.

-OK?

-Yeah.

I feel fairly confident.

Obviously, there's a lot of timings that I have to control myself.

I'm excited. I love to cook fish, so I'm excited about the dish.

Oli is responsible for the degustation's pasta course -

hand-rolled macaroni with girolles and goat's curd,

served with fresh peas, pea puree and shoots

and a chicken jus gras.

Bearing in mind, once the check's called you've got five minutes to get this dish up to the hot plate.

It's the detail that they really need to be aware of.

It's the cooking of the pasta.

It's five or ten seconds - is the pea overcooked or undercooked?

The mushrooms - when do you stop cooking the mushrooms rather than just keep cooking them?

Have you cooked the life out of it or does it still smell of the forest?

Presentation of the pasta dish, there is no set way to plate that dish

but I need to see some personality on the plate

and you need to stand back and look at the plate as a picture.

You need to have some flair, some touch there,

in order to make that dish stand up and come alive.

I don't want something regimented but it needs to be light and vibrant.

If you see that the mushrooms are overcooked

or the goat's curd has melted or whatever,

you are going to get the plate back

and then we're going to have problems.

Yes, Chef.

There's a lot of elements to get correct.

There's a lot of emphasis on the cooking time.

Everything needs to be done spot on.

If I can pull all that together, I think I can do it.

We are about to throw them into the deep end of service

in a busy, two-Michelin-starred restaurant.

This is their chance to impress -

to impress us but also, maybe, a future employer.

I'm taking a massive risk, letting two people into the kitchen

and doing service on their very first day.

We would never normally do that.

But there's absolutely no mistaking,

they are going to be under huge stress.

So we have six covers, six menus degustation.

ALL: Oui!

-Six scallops degustation, four and a half.

-Oui!

-Oui!

Kim's scallops and lobster dish will be the third course to go out.

It must be ready on time so she doesn't delay the chefs after her.

-Two scallop degustation, please.

-Oui.

-Oui.

-Two scallops, I want.

-Yeah.

-Er, seven minutes on two scallops.

-Oui.

-Three minutes on six scallops coming up.

-Oui.

OK, Kim, your time's up.

-How long do you need on the scallops?

-Thirty seconds to the six.

-OK.

Are you sure? 30 seconds? 30 seconds?

-I'll be one minute on scallops.

-One minute, OK.

-Yes.

Six coming now.

Hang on a second.

You see this?

It's too flat. It just needs to have more life to it.

-Kim, it needs to be quicker, eh?

-Yes.

You're not going to get two scallops out in three minutes.

Let's get a realistic time. It's going to be five minutes.

-Are you happy?

-Yes, Chef.

-OK, right.

-Right, let's go.

-Service.

-A three minute call when it was 12 minutes.

Yes. Three minutes from now I need two scallops, two lobster.

-Oui.

-So you need to have these scallops up

-because the lobster's coming with them.

-Yes.

Busy. Not feeling good right now. A lot to do and trying to keep up.

Time's up. OK, I've got two lobsters here and I'm waiting on your scallops.

-OK, scallops coming up.

-Oui.

-OK, Kim, that's good. Scallops perfectly cooked.

-OK.

-Plates are clean. Ready to go?

-Yeah.

-OK, good. Send them.

-Service.

-Oui!

-Oui!

-OK, table one, please.

OK, Kim, you're four and a half minutes behind your second time.

I'm over schedule right now.

I need to get these right, so I need to concentrate a lot more

and really think about my times so I don't get them wrong.

Oli's pasta dish is the next dish of the menu.

-Six pasta degustation away, please.

-Oui!

-Oui!

-Six pasta, eight minutes.

-Oui.

-Oui.

-Oui.

You've got far too much. Tip that out onto a tray.

Put it back into the pan.

Watch the seasoning, as well.

The worst thing that could happen to you is for you to get six pastas sent back at this moment.

You're never going to recover this, OK?

So take your time, do it properly.

-Give it up to me properly and then you've got no trouble.

-Oui.

-We've getting serious now, here.

-Oui, Chef.

Watch the seasoning. You're not thinking about it.

You're just throwing handfuls of salt in there.

Taste that before you give it me. Pepper, as well. One turn is enough.

-Six minutes to the pasta.

-Oui.

-Steve will put the pea jus on, you put the pasta on.

-Chef.

Is that hot?

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

Now, quick as you can, quick as you can.

Oh, step up, step up.

Chef.

This is fine. Before you tipped that butter out, imagine what was there.

-A few more girolles, as well.

-A few more girolles, less butter.

Some more peas, girolles - that's what we're selling.

-OK?

-Yes, Chef.

-Right, let's go.

-Make sure you're ready for the next one, Oli, OK?

-Oui, Chef.

Restaurant. Table seven, please.

I think their confidence is starting to go a little bit.

We've got about 35 guests on the board here

and now we can't afford any more slip-ups.

The restaurant are starting to feel the pressure as well.

If they expect a dish in three minutes and it comes up 12 minutes later,

it's not going to work.

I think they could be in a bit of trouble in a wee bit.

It's going to be tough.

-Two macaroni degustation away, please.

-Oui!

-Oui!

-Two pasta, six minutes.

-Oui!

-Oui!

-Two scallop degustation away, please.

-Two scallops degustation, five minutes.

-You take it, six minutes - I want them both together.

-Oui.

-Oui.

-Yeah.

-Oui.

Plenty of time.

I think your pasta is too quick. It's in far too early.

Two pasta, two scallops, five minutes.

ALL: Oui!

OK. Good.

-Two pasta, two scallops, two minutes.

-Oui!

-OK.

-Right, plate's are up, huh?

-Oui.

A touch more.

Now, be gentle with it.

There you are, Oli. Let's go.

That's the best one yet. Good, nice and bright, a bit of height on it.

-OK.

-Service.

This is taking too long. Come on, come on, come on, let's go.

No, no, no. This one's fine. As a composition, it's...

That's flat. This is OK.

And you had plenty of time to do it, there.

-Do you agree?

-Yeah, this one most definitely.

-James will do these two again. Give me two pasta, please.

-Oui, Chef.

It's not a nice feeling to have plates sent back,

so I need to sort it out.

OK, Oli, have a quick look at this.

OK, two pasta dishes, nice and bright, nice and vibrant

-Give me them all like that.

-Oui,Chef.

-Restaurant, table two, please.

While Oli struggles, Kim is working on her biggest order yet.

I've got eight going right now.

This is going to be a big test, making sure I get these off on time.

She has less than a minute to finish plating up all eight orders.

Right, this needs to go now.

-Chef.

-OK, let's go.

-Service.

-Table four, please.

-Oui.

-Well done, Kim.

-Thank you.

Hopefully I'm getting the hang of it, so you know...

I'm trying my best, so I hope I'm improving as I go along.

With the scallops served, Oli's eight pastas will be the next course to go out to the table.

-Eight pasta, six minutes.

-Oui.

-Oui.

-Six minutes is too soon.

You need two and a half to three minutes to plate.

Pasta coming on the pass, now, Chef.

-We need some more girolles on there.

-Yes.

-James, give me some girolles, toute de suite, please.

-Oui, Chef.

-James, I need the girolles.

-Oui, Chef.

-OK, so keep an eye on portions the next time.

-Oui.

-Oui.

Andrew has to step in to help Oli get the dishes out on time.

Stand up. What do you think?

-It could be better, Chef.

-OK. Yeah, a little bit brighter.

And you need to get your timings right. Table four, first plates over here, please.

Table four.

-Two scallop degustation away, please.

-Oui.

-This is your last two.

-Let's make them the best you've done, OK?

-Yeah.

-Be proud of it, all right?

-Yes, thank you.

-OK, let's go.

This is the one.

-Happy with that?

-Yes.

-Yeah?

-Do you think it smells of the sea?

-It's beautiful.

-Perfect.

Thank you.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

I'm feeling... I'm feeling good right now.

Yeah, I think I've cracked it. Hopefully, I can say I cracked it.

But er... Yeah, no, I'm happy.

I'm happy that he's happy, that he's pleased.

You know, because it's all about making sure that it's at that standard

and I hope I've done it, absolutely.

Thank you.

The scallops were fantastic.

The flavours in the dish were really unusual.

They gave you a nice experience when you put it into your mouth

and it was a lovely dish.

The presentation was fantastic. Excellent.

I do eat here quite regularly

and in term of the dish we've just eaten,

it was definitely up to the standard we would normally have here.

I just couldn't find any fault at all. Just lovely!

It's the last two pastas of the night. You're on your own.

-I want to see two perfect plates.

-Yes, Chef.

I want to make this last dish perfect

and then at least I've been able to do it at some point over the night.

-OK, Oli, where are we?

-Two pasta, thirty seconds, Chef.

Just open it up slightly.

Can I do this one again?

It's round the edge of the plate again.

So you want it over the pasta, not round the outside of the plate.

OK.

Send it. Send it. Table 15.

Table 15. Thank you.

-Oui.

-Oui.

-Sorry, Chef. Thank you very much.

-I worked you hard.

I would be very surprised if you found it easy.

-OK?

-Yeah. I'm sorry, it wasn't always up on time.

-No, it was good, it was good.

-Thanks.

I'm just disappointed that obviously I found it very difficult

and I'm not happy with everything I sent.

The chef wasn't happy with everything I sent but...

It was a very hard service.

It was an opportunity to see this and I enjoyed it

but I'm just disappointed that I didn't perform a bit better.

It was absolutely delicious.

I'm married to a pea farmer, so I eat a lot of peas at home

but these were exceptionally good.

Lovely pea puree, which I sometimes do at home

but maybe not as good as this.

Really delicious and thanks to the chef.

Lovely fresh peas, the puree, the pasta, which I love,

and the girolle mushrooms.

It was a marriage made in heaven.

The presentation was just super

and I didn't see any difference

between any other meal I've had at Andrew Fairlie's and tonight.

Er, I just want to say thank you very much.

I know that was a tough task.

Kim, you got it. By the end you were cooking a storm.

-You got the timings right.

-Thank you.

Unfortunately, Oli, your head went down a wee bit at the end,

which it shouldn't have done, and I think it affected your cooking,

your plating and things like that, you were just a little bit tense.

But it was a pleasure to have you both with us

-and I'd give either one of you a job. OK, well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

-Oli, well done.

The next morning, Kim and Oli return to compete once more.

They will both have to recreate one of Andrew's signature dishes.

Cured mackerel served with crab-claw meat on cumin and seaweed paste.

Accompanied by a crab and sea cucumber jelly ballotine.

This dish is very important.

I didn't have a good service so I need to nail this dish and get it right for the chef.

I'm trying to handle the pressure as much as I can.

This is something that I've never done before, so it's new to me.

Again, I've got to give it my all and just hope for the best.

They're going to have to make a very, very fine sheet of cucumber jelly.

They have to sweet cure some mackerel.

I'm looking for a very fine, precise cutting of that.

I don't want them to push a knife through the fish and break it up.

They're going to have to cook some crab.

Is it undercooked? Is it overcooked?

That has to be seasoned with a little bit of lime and almond oil.

Again, the seasoning on that is very delicate.

And then we've got a kind of dried seaweed dressing that we make,

which is seasoned with cumin.

Cumin's a very difficult spice to use. Some people love it

and some people hate it.

If they put too much cumin, it'll overpower the whole dish.

The detail in the presentation has to be so precise.

It has a very Japanese look to it.

So it'll be interesting to see their interpretation of it

and their detailing in how it's going to be presented.

I just feel that the sauce doesn't look like a sauce.

I don't know if it's right or not.

We're following a recipe but I don't think it looks right.

Yes... wipe across the plate. Mmm.

I just want to replate that.

OK, Kim, my first thing, timing.

Erm, we've talked about it before

but, you know, it's quite a few minutes late.

Yes. I had to replate.

-Timing, you need to work on that a little bit.

-Yeah.

I'm sitting around, waiting for something to eat.

Erm... Presentation. It's not how I would have presented it.

It's a little bit raggy in places.

-It's a bit rough...

-Yeah.

-..my first impression of the dish.

Kim, certain bits of the dish you've done very well.

I think you've got the balance between the taste of the seaweed and the cumin spot on.

The marinaded mackerel,

for me I would have just given it maybe a little bit longer.

-Probably a little bit more sweetness to it would have been better.

-OK.

The tartar and seasoning, it was very, very good.

The cucumber - I think it probably needed a little bit more cucumber,

-just if you'd given the jelly just another millimetre or so.

-OK.

-Thank you very much. It was a great effort. Well done.

-Thank you.

Again, pushed for time and again, it was the presentation.

That's what he got me on again.

I knew I was running out of time to present

and for me, I put it on the plate

and I knew if I'd had more time I could have done a lot better.

Thank you, Oli.

The presentation - it looks good.

The jelly looks nice and thin. It all comes down to the taste.

-It's actually really good.

-Thank you.

The seasoning, you've got spot on. I'm really impressed.

It's a very difficult dish to get right

in terms of seasoning and combination of flavours.

The cumin's not overpowering. There's the nice iodine taste of the seaweed.

The detailing in it with the fish, it's nicely sliced, it's not broken up.

I think you've done really well, there.

-I think you should be very pleased with yourself.

-Thank you.

It's a dish that we would gladly put out in the restaurant.

Congratulations.

It means so much.

I've served him his dish and he's saying I knocked the flavours on the head.

But also, it was redemption for the service last night.

It's a good feeling, a very happy feeling.

I feel accomplished now.

Overall, Kim, she came in very confident.

She kind of hit the wall a little bit quite early on

but she picked herself up, had a great service, actually.

By the end of the night, she was really strong.

The signature dish, she let herself down badly with presentation

but she's obviously got a great palate.

She's a great young cook. She could be a very good chef, Kim.

To come here and to be working in a two-Michelin-star restaurant,

it's been amazing.

I think, taking away from this experience, the next challenge that I have,

I'm really going to push myself to make sure everything is perfect.

Oli, I think he's gone through a range of emotions.

He was very nervous when he first arrived.

In service, he really didn't get off to a good start.

And then when things started to go wrong for him, Oli buckled a little bit

and I think he was disappointed with himself.

But I think Oli's taken that lesson on board

because for the mackerel dish,

the balance of flavours and the seasoning, there, it was perfect.

He's got the potential to be a great young chef, Oli.

Yeah, I would have him. I would have him in the kitchen any day.

After service, I was a bit upset with myself

but after getting that dish absolutely perfect in flavour,

I'm much happier.

I'm going away with confidence again and I'm happy.

Now Oli and Kim must take everything they've learned back to the MasterChef kitchen.

If I go home today, then it will definitely hurt inside

because a lot of heart and passion has gone into this,

so I will be very upset.

This is the last stage to get to the final.

I'm very nervous this morning. There's been some sleepless nights.

'But I'm confident in myself and I do think I can cook well.'

I'm proud of myself for getting this far but I don't want to let go now.

I want to go to the final.

I want to see that you have been inspired by your experience

in a two-Michelin-starred restaurant.

You have seen what it takes.

Now's the time to prove that you want that place in the final,

that you deserve it, that you are even good enough to win it.

You are so close now to a place in the final three.

Two courses in an hour and 45 minutes.

Let's go.

Since going to Andrew Fairlie, I'm pushing more than I ever have in this competition.

I think I have to. You have to, at this stage.

You know, if I cook my dishes to the highest standard I can today,

then whatever happens I can walk out of here with my head held high.

I want to do myself proud. That's what I'm here for.

Oli is making a main course

of fillet of Dover sole cooked meuniere,

served on a mussel and clam ragout,

with courgette ribbons, Swiss chard

and a caviar cream.

A cream sauce with sole works very well

but caviar and seafood?

It's going to need a bit of acidity in there,

a good squeeze of lemon, just to balance it out

and give it that wonderful fragrant flavour that it should have.

Oli's cooking the sole meuniere, which means in lots of butter.

There is an art to cooking fish on the bone,

just to get it to that right doneness,

so that it's pink and just comes away from the bone.

That is a true, true craft.

I don't want to see this messed up.

Oli's dessert is an iced raspberry souffle,

served with a raspberry coulis, mint jelly

and a cinnamon straw.

Oli's dessert is quite unusual.

He's got an iced souffle. I've never had an iced souffle.

An iced souffle is meringue folded into cream and raspberry coulis,

then frozen.

An iced souffle should never be crystallised or grainy,

it should always be soft and smooth, lovely and melt in the mouth.

as you would expect with a hot souffle.

What, if anything, have you taken back from your stint with Andrew?

The standard is something completely different to what I'm doing now

and everything was so pristine, refined and perfect.

So I've hopefully taken a lot from there that I can put into my cooking.

Are you going to achieve that standard today?

That's the level expected in this competition

-and that's what I need to do to perform for you today.

-Mm.

-Who are you doing this for?

-I'm doing this for me, to benefit my career.

I enjoy cooking. To show you what I can do.

It's given me a great confidence boost.

If you get through to the final, what's possible?

If I get through to the final, I'd hope I could win the competition.

The final is the final three

and who knows what it could do to my career.

What is your dream, Oli?

My dream one day is to own my own restaurant with my girlfriend,

who runs front of house, so it would be a joint effort,

preferably fish - I love cooking fish, seafood -

by the sea, by a lake.

That's the dream. Fresh fish every day.

How hard have you been to live with since MasterChef started?

I've been quite stressed and nervous, sleepless nights.

I've caused her some sleepless nights.

-Will she proud of you?

-She already is proud of me,

so, yeah, she will be - if I was to get to the final and win,

she'd be over the moon for me.

You're halfway. Halfway, people.

For my next two dishes, I have given myself a lot to do.

I'm challenging myself to push myself further and just get better.

If I don't get this right today, then I'll have let myself down.

I want to be here to go into the final and I need to get it right.

Kim is making butter-roasted halibut on a bed of coriander linguine,

served with a carrot and lobster roll, deep-fried carrot ribbons

and a passion fruit sauce.

Kim's got a heck of a lot of work to do.

She's making fresh pasta with coriander,

that lobster roll and then that passion fruit sauce.

The problem with using passion fruit is

that it has an intense flowery flavour.

I just hope Kim understands that you can't put too much passion fruit

because it will completely kill the beautiful delicate flavour of the halibut.

Her dessert is a fresh raspberry praline cream tart,

served with raspberry sorbet and chocolate ganache.

To achieve greatness with such a simple dessert,

you have to do the processes properly - the right kind of ganache,

quite bitter, just the right amount of praline.

A raspberry sorbet, as well, that has got the freshness

to liven up that dessert, to make it special.

-Kim, you have got a lot work to do.

-Yes, I do.

So staying fairly classical and traditional with the pudding

but, dare I say, Asian

and not the traditional Kim that we're used to seeing with the main course.

No, I'm just trying to experiment a little bit more.

I need to show you guys that I'm willing to push myself

-to be here.

-Mm, yeah.

Me and Michel fell in love with your food. Why push yourself now?

I feel I need to keep challenging myself

because I'll only get better if I do that.

So we're just seeing a different facet of Kim?

Definitely, yeah.

Huge, huge grin on your face today, Kim. It's nice.

-What's happening?

-I'm excited to be here at this stage

and obviously, I hope my dishes do me justice and put me through to the final.

How much have you put into this?

I've put everything into this competition,

as far as trying to bring out me as a chef.

I want make to sure that, you know, I'm in this to win it

and I want to be a great chef, eventually,

and I want to be a head chef, I want to be the next level of me.

So I'm here to give it my all

and prove to myself that I can do it.

Can you knock it out again today? Can you do us proud?

Yes.

-Yes!

-Confidence.

Kim, Oli - OK, this is your last five minutes.

Chefs, that's it. Stop! Stop! Time's up.

Oli's main course is a fillet of Dover sole cooked meuniere...

and served on a mussel and clam ragout,

accompanied by courgette ribbons, Swiss chard and a caviar cream.

The sole has been cooked meuniere, on the bone,

which I think is the only way it should be cooked and it's got a beautiful golden sheen.

That looks like perfection.

Oh, my word. Look...

That sole, just a hint of firmness but buttery and full of flavour,

so soft and then butteriness in the sauce,

but then being taken up, up with little sweet notes of the caviar,

is... is harmony, is beautiful.

I think, with Swiss chard and courgette, two very watery vegetables,

you're in danger, in your mouth, of washing out the butter,

washing out the caviar.

I had sole the night I met my wife.

He cooked sole for me again the day I proposed to her.

That tastes as good as those two dates.

The chard and the little twirls of courgette are all right.

Nothing special.

What is special is the ragout of clam and mussel.

You've got the depth of flavour of the seafood,

which is beautifully cooked, beautifully seasoned,

and then you've got the crunch from the crunchy bread.

Very, very good.

The star - Dover sole, absolutely cooked bang on beautifully.

And the caviar sauce - ah, delicious.

Delicious!

Quite divine.

If you can cook fish that well, my word, you have got a great future.

Thank you.

Oli's dessert is an iced raspberry souffle,

served with a cinnamon straw, raspberry coulis

and cubes of mint jelly.

Oli, this looks really good. I like it as far as iced souffles go.

It certainly is proud of the mould. It looks like a hot souffle.

Ah, yeah, brother.

Sharp raspberry, soft, cold,

and then the lovely fresh mint flavour that comes from that jelly,

which dissolves slightly slower than the raspberry iced souffle.

I think that's lovely.

I think that's lovely. I think it's a real trick to be sweet and sticky

and still clean and fresh at the same time. Very good.

The mint jelly is good.

The iced souffle is sweet, sharp, creamy,

but most importantly, it's set without being hard.

It's great. An iced souffle like that could be served

in most fine dining establishments, for sure.

Thank you.

Kim has made butter-roasted halibut on a bed of coriander linguine,

served with a carrot and lobster roll,

deep-fried carrot ribbons

and a passion fruit beurre blanc.

Beautiful presentation. Very neat, precise, clean lines

and joyous colours

I would have liked maybe a little bit of oil on top of the lobster to give it shine,

to make it glisten.

-Little things like that make a difference.

-Yeah.

Mm.

It's delicious. It's got a lovely freshness to it,

a little bite and kick from the chilli.

Very good cooking, as well. The lobster is very tender.

I really like that. That's lovely.

The pasta's very fine but it's well cooked, it's al dente.

You get the flavour of the coriander

and it works very well with the passion fruit beurre blanc. It works very well.

The halibut is very well cooked and it does work with that sauce.

I just find it a little bit bland, though.

It's lacking a pinch more seasoning

and for me, this is two separate dishes.

You have the lobster roll, which is great on its own,

and I think the halibut, as well, is great on its own.

I don't know if you're trying to do too much

or show off different skills, which you certainly are here,

but it doesn't work as one dish.

OK.

Nice textures, crisp and clean.

The sweetness of the lobster comes right, right at the end.

I thought you'd missed it. I got no lobster flavour until the end.

This is nice. I'd rather this was more about the lobster.

Right, this intrigues me.

Mm. Mm.

I like that. Slight sweetness, slight acidity, very, very buttery

on top of very, very lovely fish and nicely cooked pasta.

Love the halibut, not sure, the lobster.

Her dessert is a fresh raspberry praline cream tart,

served with raspberry sorbet and a chocolate ganache.

It's inventive, modern... Looks lovely.

Oh, that's delicious. The sorbet packs a real punch of raspberry

and is fresh, zingy, vibrant.

The ganache is bitter, slightly bitter,

but has a different texture to your praline mousse.

It's more like a fudge.

And then you've got that praline base.

It's indulgent yet light. I mean, you could polish that off quite easily.

A beautiful creation. Not only beautiful but delicious.

Love it.

Oh, wow.

Lovely, almost sharp, very sweet, very strong raspberry flavour,

which is beautiful.

The other little treats that come in are chocolate

or little hints of sharp lemon, which is lovely,

and I love the buttery base.

Very, very nice indeed.

Great food, guys.

We've got to decide which of you goes through to the final three.

You know, this is not going to be easy.

Thank you very much. Off you go.

What was that like? It went so quickly.

I thought I was going to run out of time.

This is a real tough one, Gregg, because we've got two great chefs

and chefs that I think are very equal in not only their talent

but also, strangely enough, their style.

I loved Oli's fish and the fact that he cooked his sole meuniere,

with lots and lots of foaming butter, on the bone

and that is so difficult to achieve perfection but he did.

A true, true craftsman could not have done better.

You've cooked sole for me. That was as good as sole you've cooked.

That was beautiful.

His beurre blanc had been enriched

with the cooking juices of the mussels and clams,

which gave it extra oomph

and then, of course, he added caviar and a squeeze of lemon.

It was delicious. The perfect sauce for that kind of dish.

But the Swiss chard leaf was far too strong and watery

and washed away the lovely delicate flavour of the sole.

Oli's dessert, I loved it because it just looked like an enormous pink parfait

and actually, it was delicious, absolutely delicious.

An iced souffle is never easy to get right

but his was bang on.

'Nice food. He does nice food.'

Kim's... I wasn't sure of that lobster roll,

although I really did like the passion fruit beurre blanc with Kim's halibut. That was great.

The lobster roll I really enjoyed.

I loved the depth of flavour,

the crunch from the celery and the kick from the chilli.

It worked for me

but it was definitely two separate dishes on a plate,

which was wrong.

Her dessert, a good mixture of flavours.

I absolutely adored it. It was delicious.

It was a play on texture and on taste

and it looked great - I thought it looked beautiful.

How do we split these two?

There's a place in the final at stake

and I want to be in it.

If I was to go home, I'd be a bit upset

because I've been in the competition for such a long time.

I really want to make it to the final.

I've put in so much of my energy into this competition.

I'm tired, I am tired, I've hardly slept,

but it would so much to keep my place in this competition now.

Just one step away from the final, I don't want to throw it away now.

I'd love to be in that final.

The quality of cooking that we've had in this semi-final has been unbelievable.

This is really, really hard on whoever has to leave today.

It's gut-wrenching, it's tough, but we have to make that decision.

What shall we do? They've got to be able to win the competition.

Oh!

That was unbelievably close.

You two...

have got the most amazing future in front of you.

Only room for one of you in the finals.

Our finalist is...

Oli.

Kim, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, I'm disappointed, of course.

I didn't make it to the final

but, I mean, I can say

that I'm proud of where I've come to in this competition

and, you know, for me, I'll just keep pushing myself,

furthering my career in every way I can.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Wow.

I was so nervous coming in and now, what a feeling.

The smile on my face, I can't wipe it off. I'm so happy.

Oli has got so much going for him. He is our finalist.

He understands taste, he has got the craftsmanship.

Wow! Today he impressed me.

For me, as a customer,

Oli's ability to capture and hold flavour on a plate

is second to none.

Oh!

It means so much just to get to the final

and to be recognised for what I'm doing and my food.

They appreciated my dishes. Yeah, I'm in the final three.

I've got a chance of winning this competition now.

Wow.

Oli will join Ash in the finals.

Tomorrow night, Steve and Claire are the last pair

to battle it out in the fight to join them.

This is going to be a baptism of fire for Claire and Steve.

Come on, Claire, let's go. Pick up the pace.

That's undercooked. That's undercooked.

-I can't muck up again, man.

-That doesn't happen here, Steve.

This is your food for one place in the final three.

We are going to get exceptional cooking today, that is for sure.

I think you have 100% completely nailed it.

Delicious! Delicious!

You are a talent. You are an intriguing talent.

That's the kind of stuff that great chefs are made of.

We are going to send home

a future Michelin-starred chef, you realise that, don't you?

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