Great British Menu

Synopsis

Fourteen top chefs compete for the honour of cooking for an illustrious banquet (notably for the Queen's 80th birthday bash in the first series). There are seven regional heats between two chefs, each of which unfolds over five weekday programmes. From Monday to Thursday, the chefs prepare and refine one course each day (starters, fish, mains and desserts) and on Friday, both chefs present their full menu to the judges who choose which will progress to the final public vote. The two chefs in each heat work on opposite sides of the same kitchen, giving them the opportunity to engage in crosstalk as they cook, and there are also filmed inserts going into how the chefs come up with their dishes and source their ingredients (some of which must be regional). Much is made in the first round about how the judges are choosing between the two menus as a whole and as such will want to choose dishes that work well together, but when we get to the public vote in the final week, the menus are broken up anyway which seems to defeat the object.

We can't honestly say it floats our boat, particularly as the only payoff on Monday to Thursday is the chefs tasting each other's dishes, which is a bit limp. This makes these programmes essentially redundant since all the judging is done on Friday. Nevertheless, it should fill a gap for the foodies missing Masterchef Goes Large.

The four winning chefs from the first series returned for Great British Christmas Menu in December 2006. For the second series proper, the seven regional winners from series one returned to face new challengers, with the winners cooking a banquet in France to impress their top chefs. Series three added a perfunctory qualifying phase to proceedings, and culminates with a feast in London's Gherkin for top chefs from around the world, presided over by culinary mad scientist Heston Blumenthal.

Trivia

For some reason, in series 1 poor Jennie Bond was only given one outfit to wear for the whole of the week. Bless.

Theme music

Daniel Pemberton

Web links

BBC Food website

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