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Ramsay's Best Restaurant

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Prophet:
Welcome to RFF Jesus ILJC! (name change)

scuzneck:
Just finished the first episode of Britain's Best Restaurant and I must saw that it is indeed a nice, refreshing change to see Gordon working with restaurant's that are good, rather than crap like he does on Kitchen Nightmares.

As always, with not being able to sample the delectables served at the restaurant, it is really hard to fully judge whether or not Gordon made the right choice. (Bullocks, he'd have my privates in a sling if he knew I said that.) For me, I think that Menulla should have won based on what I saw as quality of food. I have never had anything gastromoleculary cook so I cannot comment really upon the taste of food produced that way. Some of it looks very appeasing and interesting and some of it looks downright scary looking.

However, with that said, I think that ultimately in this show it is about the whole experience from the time you walk through the door. Casamia definitely was better in that regard. I have had times when I decide to order another meal after tasting the one I first ordered. It happens very rarely but when it does the restaurants I have been to have not charged me for the first plate in which a bite may have been taken out of. That meal is usually taken off the ticket and replaced by the new one. The FOH at Menulla made grave mistakes throughout and that is what ultimately cost them a shot at the semi finals.

Episode 2 is in the queue.

scuzneck:
There is something to be said about little Mom and Pop type restaurants around the world. Never judge a restaurant by their store front or the strip mall they are located in. There are two restaurants in west Fort Worth, Texas that I immediately think of when I think about that statement. One is an Italian place called Margie's. Simply Italian cooking with a flair that only can be found in a restaurant with passion. The restaurant itself is in a dilapidated, out dated building that one would think is unoccupied except for the steady stream of customers from 4:30 in the afternoon on through dinner service. The other is located in a shopping center where there sign reads "West Side Cafe Home Cooking Tattoos." The reason being is that behind their building is a tattoo parlor. The sign makes you think you can get a tattoo while you eat a chicken fried state the size of a small child. Home cooking at its finest. Have never had a bad meal there.

I bring these two examples up because of the Indian Restaurant battle on episode two of Ramsey's Best Restaurant. Prashad's is that Mom and Pop restaurant that normally one would walk right past to get to the big name chain restaurant down the street. Thankfully, it seems, many people have not passed it by as it looks easily to be a fantastic dining experience from the start.

They were up against Brilliant, an Indian restaurant open for 37 years with 3 generations of patrons with nothing bad to say about it. At first glance this seems like a NCAA College Basketball Tournament first round match-up between a 2 seed and a 15 seed. For all intensive purposes this game was over before it began. Brilliant should have its way with Prashad's. But, that's why they play the game.

And, in fact, this game was over quickly with Prashad's taking a stranglehold of a lead and never really backing down.

Now, I couldn't tell you the difference between a tandoori (I couldn't even spell it correctly. Thank you spell check!)  or a curry, - Here in Texas you don't find too many Indian restaurants - but I do know quality food and service when I see it. If I am ever in England, Prashad's could be one of those restaurants I flock to go and try.

apskip:

--- Quote from: scuzneck on February 11, 2011, 11:07:23 AM ---
--- Quote from: apskip on January 20, 2011, 10:19:18 AM ---TexasLady,

I know where these videos can be found, but unfortunately they are not accessible by anyone in the United States. This is the same sort of discrimination our brethren in Asia suffer on Elimination Station and similar CBS Amazing Race-related restrictions.

--- End quote ---

If you plug in the show's name on youtube, it looks as though all of the episodes (in parts) show up. The uploader is kitchennightmaresus.

I find youtube is pretty good at finding shows from the British Isles.

--- End quote ---
Scuzneck,
Thanks for this information. I missed the British restaurant battle between Milestone and the West House. I have gone back, watched it and recapped it in post #9 above (originally Jan. 5 and modified Feb. 13) before the finale shows on Tuesday night between Casamia and Prashad.

apskip:
Finale
 
The finale of Best U.K. Restaurant was Casamia (Italian) vs. Prashad (Indian). This competition was held at Ramsay's flagship restaurant Petrus like all the semifinals cookoffs. However, it was a 3 course menu with no apparent time pressure, the wait staff was from the restaurant competing, there were 30 diners selected by Ramsay, there was a chef's table of Angela Hartnett, Simon Davis and Sarah Durdin-Robertson and the diners included the head chef from Italian restaurant Menulla and the Front of House from Indian restaurant Brilliant. So although the parents owning Casamia and running FOH and Bobby and his assistant could prevent their restaurant from winning if they screwed up, this competition would almost certainly be decided by thee menu choices and skill of the chefs, JonRay and Peter vs. Minal and Kaushy.
 
The base for the Prashad appetizer was tamarind, dates and jaggery (unrefined brown sugar made from palm sap). To that was added boiled potatoes, boiled chick peas, noodles from flour and sunflower oil, garlic, chili powder, salt, deep-fried pastry and lemon. This was a highly complex recipe and it got excellent reviews from the Chef's table and from Ramsay himself.
 
Casamia went with risotto with rosemary oil. However, they had a huge twist by substituting potatoes cut to look like rice for arborio rice. Othe ingredients were shallots, olive oil, garlic and butter.
 
The only problems in the appetizer course was a mixup by Bobby in dishes going to 2 tables (his wife bailed him out so it did not affect the diners) and JonRay and Peter not working together well enough.
 
The main courses had Prashad attempting a much simpler dish. It had tomatoes, coriander, fried okra, onions, turmeric, chili powderwith all ingredients blended into dal (lentil soup). It was served with a pyramid of rice and a mix of jaggery and coriander.
 
The main course for Casamia had turbot (10 minutes cooked sous vide) and chicken wings (cooked 12 hours sous vide) with salsify sous vide and a sauce based on parsley.
 
Both mains got rave reviews from the chef's table and from Ramsay, so I believe Casamia and Prashad were essentially in a tie going into the dessert course.
 
Prashad went with traditional sweet Indian desserts based on a mix of ghee, flour and sugar. One type added jaggery, sesame seeds and almonds shaped in balls. Another was with jaggery and sesame seeds and cut square. To wash it down was a chai sweet ginger mint tea. Simon Davis thought the sweetness was too strong (but of course that is true of traditional Indian desserts) and the others really liked it. Casamia went with a pannacotta which set up way too thick, so they started over with a lot of lemon juice to thin the texture. The lemon pannacotta was served with a lemon sorbet with lemon zest. Ramsay termed it "cutting edge."   
 
I could not make the call based on what I saw. Somehow, Ramsay chose Casamia without explaining why. The biggest drawback of this otherwise interesting series is that Ramsay asks you to accept his judgments on faith as they are highly subjective. I would prefer more objective standards. Ramsay chose Casamia as the best UK restaurant.

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