Welcome to The Restaurant board - introduce yourself here

[Tinklefairydust]

Hi Roma and welcome to the forum.   

[jedidjahjulia]

Hi Roma, good to see you here, I'm not an Aussie but I do live in the Netherlands as well... 

[roma]

Hi Roma, welcome to the forum Have you seen any of the earlier series of The Restaurant? I think the general consensus here is that this year has been very disappointing in comparison to the previous two series.

Hi Minnie,
Thanks.
Yes I have seen the others, so (unfortunately) I can compare. I really enjoyed last years series, it was fantastic, though when I turned on the tv to watch I was saying to myself "oh nooo what am I putting myself through'  BUT this year even more so!

[eff]

Hi, thought I'd better introduce myself - I've got2 kids and live Gloucestershire...

[Minnie]

Hi eff, welcome to the forum

[Tinklefairydust]

Hi eff and welcome.. 

[jollygreengiant]

Hi I'm Jollygreengiant (JGG) and I live near that Shropshire food Mecca Ludlow. I enjoy cooking, particularly new and unusual stuff - my latest find is braised pigs cheeks - they are so tasty and tender!
I have watched Masterchef in the past but have been put off by John Torode's style and also by Greg Wallace. Other than being a chef what qualifies anyone to be a restaurant or cookery critic - surely most things are a matter of personal taste unless the dish is actually disgusting!
My family are also watching the current series of "The Restaurant" and are as puzzled as any of you at the contestants that have reached the final. Raymond and his team seem to pick on trivial mistakes as reasons to get rid of people and ignore what seem to be major ones such as the "chef" who doesn't cook and the front of house who seems as customer-friendly as Attila the Hun! Does the BBC have a forum where these anomalies can be aired?

[Minnie]

Hi JGG, welcome to the forum I think a lot of us agree with you about John Torode, but have you seen either of the two MasterChef Professional series, where Michel Roux is judge in place of John Torode? So much better, I wish it could be a permanent replacement.

We have a MasterChef board here too http://forum.theinternetforum.net/index.php/board,204.0.html

As for The Restaurant, this series is so disappointing, at this rate I can't see them doing another series because I'm sure the ratings must have gone right down compared to the last two series.  

[jedidjahjulia]

Sorry to hijack this thread but there is something interesting JGG said (hi and welcome by the way!  ); we have seen over and over again that these people are incapable of running a restaurant - why? The producers and editors do Raymond no favours, they do not try to cover up the fact that the candidates are rude and incompetent. Isn't that weird?

[Strummer07]

Hi guys 'n gals

I only joined this forum ................JUSt to let off stream  about this series of "The Resteraunt" .
It has, in past series been a really superb prog, entertaining  and informative ...............but this 3rd series has been really dredful .so bad ,  if I missed an episode I didn't bother watching it on i-player.

The original selection of people was dreadful !! Hardly one of them was really competent and a decent enough cook never mind chef. and not of the right calibre to be on a Cooking / Resteraunt show with Raymond Blanc.

However the final insult to the programme was last night final and 2 cocky chancers being given to top prize !!

A travesity !! What is Rayomond think of !! .....I'm afraid it does not do his reputation any good at all ....He's been a bit soft on these two all along - so I guess we should have seen in coming !!

But it still sours the prgramme badly

The 1st series winners ( who opened the Thatch .. was the Trout .... in Thame with Raymond)  they lasted less than 12 months as Resteraunteers

Don't know about the 2nd series winners at all

But I give this pair les than 6 months .IF they ever get to open anything !!

Bad Call Raymond

Bad call Producers

IF , and its a big 'IF' there is a 4th series they need to do some radical thinking around format and contestants and some sensible criteria around assessment .Not Just Raymond's  whim.

Just so sad to see a decent format trashed like this  ......At least I have got it off my chest , so thanks for indulging me !! 

[Minnie]

Welcome Strummer You are saying what everyone else is saying, I don't think I have seen a single comment this year (here or on any other message board) from anyone who has enjoyed this series. I'd be interested to see what the viewing figures were but my guess is they have dropped like a stone as the series progressed.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr I'm still so furious about what they have done to my favourite programme!

[jedidjahjulia]

Hi Strummer! Welcome and please stick around as this is a lovely forum with lots of threads on things you might like!
MInnie posted a link to Raymond's blog somwhere here and if you read that he's basically saying that JJ and James will first work at his restaurant for a while, to try it out. So there is a chance that they won't even make it to their own restaurant, my guess is it will probably never even open.
I am also interested in how the winners (and losers) of the first and second series are doing now, any more info on this floating around?

[Minnie]

Did you miss this follow up Julia?

http://forum.theinternetforum.net/index.php/topic,36449.0.html

And there's also going to be a series (Plate Expectations) following Alasdair and James, mentioned here:

http://forum.theinternetforum.net/index.php/topic,37561.0.html

[jedidjahjulia]

I did not see the Winners story but did know about it, but I was guessing that was filmed during summer so was wondering if they're still happily in business?!

[Minnie]

They appear to be still going strong, here is their blog:

Michele and Russell

[jedidjahjulia]

Wow that's great to see! Thanks for the link.

[Tinklefairydust]

Our next door neighbours (when we lived in Marlow) went a couple of months ago, and they said it was really good.

[Minnie]

There is a link to a review of it on Raymond Blanc's website. It's an excellent write-up which he says is an impartial review but after the fiasco that has been series 3 I have lost all trust in him.