Posted by Stewart Turner
It’s been a rough twelve months for gobby Gordon. With the ‘F’ in The F Word veering perilously close to standing for "financial meltdown", at times it looked like his empire was crumbling faster than it takes to reheat a two quid fish cake and shove it on the menu for a tenner.
So it was nice to see Gordon gushing for a change. We’re used to watching him spit another culinary calamity into a paper napkin before getting to work on a Kitchen Nightmare, but last night he was given a chance to celebrate the tastier end of the trade, with two top Italian eateries competing in the first heat of a competition to find Britain’s best local restaurant.
All well and good, but the trouble with The F-Word is that it hasn't quite worked out what it wants to be. The aforementioned cook-off was a vaguely entertaining but essentially overlong Masterchef pastiche, while wheeling out Katie Price was presumably just a cynical attempt by Channel 4 to shore up the ratings.
Still, we did at least learn the secret of her formidable mashed potatoes. It’s all about the sugar. No wonder Pete did a runner.
Continue reading "The F Word, Tuesday 9pm, Channel 4" »
Posted by Stewart Turner
If you don’t live within a three-mile radius of the more fashionable parts of London, the chances are you’re entirely oblivious to the phenomena of the "home restaurant". In a bid to cash-in on their culinary skills, enthusiastic foodies have been opening up their homes to legions of hungry hipsters looking for a cutting-edge dining experience. In short, restaurants are so last week.
Of course, the people who plan our telly have got their sizeable lugs well and truly glued to the pavement, and they’ve been tripping over themselves in a bid to capitalise on the post-Come Dine With Me comedy dining show boom. Hot on the heels of Virgin 1’s woeful Restaurant in our Living Room comes the Beeb’s almost identically-titled Restaurant In Your Home.
Continue reading "Restaurant In Your Home, Monday 8.30pm, BBC One" »
Posted by Stewart Turner
Ever wondered how Jamaican speed machine Usain Bolt manages to smash world records every time he leaves the house? It’s all down to a magical white substance produced on the plantations of the Caribbean, according to his dad.
But don’t start haranguing the IAAF to give the big man a urine test just yet. We’re talking yams – a powerful performance-enhancing vegetable according to Usain’s dad, who dropped by this new Caribbean cooking show for a spot of lunch.
A scrumptious-looking yam recipe wasn’t the only thing on offer in the opening episode of Levi Roots’ show. Indeed, if you thought the extent of his culinary expertise was getting fearsome dragon Peter Jones all hot under the collar by bottling a gloopy red sauce, last night probably came as a pleasant surprise.
Continue reading "Caribbean Food Made Easy With Levi Roots, Monday 8.30pm, BBC Two" »
Posted by Will Parkhouse
Did you ever want to see what those pristine Changing Rooms makeover houses look like six months after Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and the gang had flounced away? They generally turned out pretty decent, but then you had to consider the fact that people – with their attendant mess and clutter – actually had to live in them.
In a similar way, we'd be curious to know whether the family featured in last night's new budget-cutting cookery show are still preparing healthy, simple and cheap dishes now presenter-chefs Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett have left them to get on with it – or whether they've just gone back to their old ways.
And what old ways! Before the Economy Gastronomy crew turned up, the England family (yes, in a way, they are all of us – props to the research team for that one) were spending a quarter of their income on really crappy food – mainly microwave stuff, but resorting to the takeaway (on speeddial) when even pressing some buttons got too daunting.
Continue reading "Economy Gastronomy, Wednesday 8pm, BBC2" »
