The Final - Thursday 17th December

[Minnie]

For anyone who is sticking with it to the bitter end (do I sound really jaded and hacked off?)

It's the final and just two out of the original nine couples remain.

Legendary chef Raymond Blanc and his two investors Sarah Willingham and David Moore must now decide which couple will become their new business partners - but first a huge challenge lies ahead.

Chefs JJ and Chris head to Raymond's famous restaurant in Oxfordshire for a masterclass in fine dining, and their partners James and Nathan receive a lesson in high standards of service at David's exclusive restaurant in London.

This is all in preparation for their final challenge: They must serve up a prestigious banquet for Lord and Lady Arran and their exclusive guests at their stately home in Devonshire. The couples will compete by making alternate courses of a seven-course meal, facing a cook-off with the souffle dessert. Lord and Lady Arran have very high standards; service at Castle Hill is steeped in tradition and every detail must be right. One wrong step and the butler will have to intervene.

The couples try hard to impress, and Raymond, Sarah and David are there to watch the proceedings.

For one couple it is the end of the line. The other will win the opportunity of a lifetime and start a restaurant with Raymond Blanc.

[Minnie]

Sorry Raymond, you have lost it. Completely.

[moonshine]

Quite agree with you there. 

My husband and I took part as diners for this series of the Restaurant. We went to the Front Room on opening night and Rags to Riches on an evening when Raymond was there.

The Front Room served excellent food and Rebecca as front of house was very good, if a little enthusiastic.

At Rags to Riches we were put downstairs next to store cupboards and basically forgotten about. Candles on the table not lit, bread requested 3 times before it arrived. Adequate food. Raymond wandering around upstairs.

Upon watching tonight's programme I was utterly appalled at Raymond's decision. Will never watch the programme again as I feel he has quite simply lost it in his choice of partner.  The blinis were not good. The risotto was discusting and there was no souffle.  How they managed to beat the adequate other lot I've no idea. Maybe says a lot about Raymond as a chef. After all don't you dine out for the food!

[hecate13]

Maybe says a lot about Raymond as a chef. After all don't you dine out for the food!

Not quite sure just what you are saying there, moonshine.  I know from many many years experience (since 1976 at his original restaurant in Summertown) that Raymond is a sublime chef.

However this year's competition has been a total farce; not one of the couples should have been a candidate.

[Minnie]

Hi moonshine, welcome to the forum

That's really interesting to hear did you know before you went there that it was to be filmed for The Restaurant? I would have liked to have eaten at the Front Room, I thought their concept was great. I couldn't understand why Sarah and Raymond kept saying they didn't understand the concept, it was perfectly clear to me and an excellent concept that I think would go down extremely well on any High Street in the country.

There was obviously some hidden agenda this year. I dread to think what sort of restaurant Raymond will be opening with Smarmy and Clueless a.k.a. The Blaggers. They kept going on about their wonderful concept - er... finger food and cocktails. That's called a bar Raymond, not a restaurant.

As a complete aside, is it only me or has Raymond's accent become a caricature of itself?

[moonshine]

What I was trying to say is, how can a chef of Raymond's standing consider going into partnership with a non-chef like this?  Maybe if we had been able to see the potential that he obviously does it would be easier to understand.

Must admit have never eaten any of Raymond's food. But if he considers the stuff churned out tonight as good, I'm not sure I would want to! 

[myfishy]

Would have been nice to see how this panned out if Barney and Badger had still been in

[moonshine]

That's really interesting to hear  did you know before you went there that it was to be filmed for The Restaurant?

Yes its all arranged in advance. We replied to an advert in the Bath Metro asking for diners. The research team phone you up and give you a choice of restaurants for a specific night and time and you go along.  You have to sign a form allowing them to film and interview you for footage they can use if they wish.  The didn't use ours. How they managed to cut us out on opening night was odd as we were right in the middle of the tiny restaurant. We obviously didn't say the right things or look the part!  And you have to pay for the meal yourselves

[Minnie]

Oh that's a bit mean making you pay for it

Must admit have never eaten any of Raymond's food. But if he considers the stuff churned out tonight as good, I'm not sure I would want to!  

The thing is though, he didn't consider it was good and nor did Sarah though she has been most strongly behind Smarmy and Clueless since day one. Then right at the end when he was giving his verdict Raymond decided to tell us that the competition wasn't about who could cook and who couldn't. Well cheers Raymond, you could have told us that at the start of the series and saved us the trouble of watching.

Oh I am so ANGRY!!!!!

[jedidjahjulia]

Would have been nice to see how this panned out if Barney and Badger had still been in

Yes, if they were to open a restaurant I would visit it in an instance - and if the Front Room was still open I'd gladly go there. I do hope Rebecca and husband will star a restaurant anyway, suyrely with being in this show they would be able to get a loan from a bank to start on their own? Surely lots of people would go there.

[welshman]

In the first 2 series the idea of a couple with a chef who could not cook to save his life winning the competition would have been unthinkable. 

[Minnie]

In the first two series a couple with a chef who couldn't cook would not even have made the final nine

[Minnie]

They didn't so much snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as dive down its gullet and yank it back by the ankles.

Guardian

I think the comments are more in tune with what we all feel than is the article itself. One of the comments also links to this blog:

LINK

[Tinklefairydust]

I think the entire series was just so below par..Maybe we should have realised when that woman tried to open a coconut with a knife we should have been prepared for the low level of talent.

I think Nathan lost it for Chris, I think the thinking behind Raymond's decision was based quite heavily on JJ & James's business acumen. and I know it's a cooking programme and that is what it is about. Maybe with the recession, Raymond thought a very different concept would be more marketable. 

[HarveysFurniture]

it would be interesting to go to their place and see what it is actually like and how much the editing effects the show. Are they really as great as they think they are?

[jedidjahjulia]

I think the entire series was just so below par..Maybe we should have realised when that woman tried to open a coconut with a knife we should have been prepared for the low level of talent.

And what to think of the couple who bought salmon in the supermarket, put it on a plate and presented it as gravad lax?!?

Does anyone know what the requirements for entering are, do these people actually have to cook to show what they can do or is it just a series of interviews?

[Tinklefairydust]

^ That was also dreadful.
You can actually cure a piece of salmon and turn it into gravadlax in about 36 hours.. so I don't quite know why they didn't do that.

Its so simple a child could do it.

[Minnie]

I think the thinking behind Raymond's decision was based quite heavily on JJ & James's business acumen.

I know their business acumen was mentioned once or twice but does anyone recall seeing any actual evidence of it throughout the series? I don't. I thought the couple who showed the most business acumen were Rebecca and Steve.

[joc]

Never have I been so disappointed by the result of a TV show competition. I actually don’t think I could have been more annoyed and well frankly furious had Jedward won the X factor. These two slime balls blagged and cheated their way through week after week, not once did they fulfil the given task. Unlike poor Chris and Nathan who rose to the challenge time after time. Think back to the take away meals for example – veg and cheese dip (?) and fruit in choc verses the more fulfilling and thought through fair compiled by Chris, a failure to deliver the cookery school which would have been pretty poor involving no cookery skills what so ever had they even bothered themselves to get an audience v’s Chris and Nathans splendid and professional effort and worst of all the final task; they simply didn’t deserve to win even just based on this miserable performance – ordering the veg in when it was fresh in the garden and still failing to deliver on time. It was a complete embarrassment.

At the end of the day as we all things it’s all in the marketing / branding, by shoving there dismal cocktails down everyone’s throats and acting the parts of sleazy barmen they well and truly rammed their concept down everyone’s throats, Let’s think about Nathan and Chris – wasn’t there brand ragz to riches – didn’t they also stick to their concept – collecting free and readily available vegetable from the garden and cooking up a banquette fit for well, the Aran’s and their guests.

If this competition is held next year I may even enter myself – My theme: Perhaps an Continental Breakfast one, if I fail to meet the challenges- no matter, so long as I serve up a few croissants now and then to enforce my brand I'm surely onto a winner!

P.S If ever I'm in Bristol and fancy an alcoholic drink and an egg based snack – Ill find the nearest local pub for a half lager and a pickled scotch egg…you never know these may even be home pickled!
 

[Minnie]

Welcome to the forum joc, and welcome to all the new members who have joined last night and today

The more I think about it the more enraged I feel I used to love The Restaurant, I was so looking forward to this series but they have totally ruined it. Raymond Blanc, Sarah Willingham and David Moore should hang their heads in shame, surely they can see the enormous damage this has done to their reputations? In his blog Raymond is defending the decision and saying that it was based on their business acumen - what business acumen? The ability to blag and smarm does NOT equate to business acumen. Raymond Blanc has a new series starting soon on the back of this run in The Restaurant (supposedly teaching people to cook. Ha! He could start with JJ ) I wonder how many people are going to do as I am and turn their backs on it?

[Tinklefairydust]

I think the thinking behind Raymond's decision was based quite heavily on JJ & James's business acumen.

I know their business acumen was mentioned once or twice but does anyone recall seeing any actual evidence of it throughout the series? I don't. I thought the couple who showed the most business acumen were Rebecca and Steve.

I think their problem was that Rebecca seemed to be crying over the slightest thing and Steve was too emotional as well.. They just kept giving into each other.. One of them needed to be strong and lead and neither seemed to have that capability.

[Minnie]

But they always managed to rise to the occasion, they met the brief every time. Smarmy and clueless never did fulfil the brief and I certainly didn't see any sign of business acumen. For instance when they had no takers for their laughable 'cookery school' - where's the business acumen in shrugging their shoulders and saying "Oh well"?

[Minnie]

A couple of reviews

This one looks like a press release because the Sun has a cut down version of the same and I have seen it on a couple of other newspaper websites too, but more tellingly because it seems to imply that there was nothing wrong with the result or indeed with the series The single comment after this 'review' pretty much sums up the feelings of all the comments I have seen all over the web.

LINK

and one from the Times:

The Times

and the BBC Press Office:

BBC Press Office

... and finally, how would you like your hat served madam?

Independent

[Dreamweaver]

   JJ doesnt just need lessons in how to become a great chef .... he needs basic cooking lessons

[azuremartini]

People, it's actually much worse than you think.  Look at the OP in the thread "...blaggers cocktail bar".  Put two and two together and you realise that the whole series could have been publicity for two people who had already been lined up for this investment by the Blanc organisation. 

Just a theory, but I bet a good investigative reporter could dig out the truth of who knew what when.  Know you of such an animal, anyone?

Have the BBC been had?