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00:01I'm Ravneet Gill.
00:03I'm chocolate cake mad.
00:04A pastry chef with years of experience.
00:07Have you ever seen a vol-a-bont this big?
00:09And a lifetime ambition to open a restaurant.
00:14With my husband and top chef, Matty.
00:16I just like eating burgers.
00:18Perfect.
00:19No more lena.
00:20I fell in love with him over the Bearnaise.
00:21The food.
00:22A twist on old English chop house grub.
00:25Quality meat.
00:26Fish.
00:27That is so nice.
00:29And seasonal ingredients.
00:32In this series, you'll see us start a restaurant from scratch.
00:35We have no money left, so we need to get it open quickly.
00:38We'll be testing recipes for the menu.
00:41I mean, it needs more salt and then it'll be on the menu.
00:44Roll it again in the fridge for an hour or two.
00:47Roll it again. Done.
00:48You'll also learn how to make some amazing dishes.
00:51So good, I hunched over the sink and I ate it with my hands.
00:55From building site...
00:57Do you reckon we'll be done by Friday?
00:58This Friday?
00:59Yeah.
01:00..to launch night.
01:01I'm quite nervous.
01:02My heart makes me.
01:03It's a roasting summer in Chingford.
01:04And even hotter in our kitchen.
01:05Because launch night is only five days away.
01:09We're really hoping to get the ceiling finished, to get the ovens plumbed in today, because at
01:16the moment we're working with one oven only. And then get it set up so we can serve people.
01:22Taking turns to cook anything is beyond stressful.
01:23Oh my God, this tray doesn't fit in the bloody oven. What is this tray good for?
01:25I've been promoting like mad, and we're hoping to get bums on seats, all 58 of them.
01:26Matti and I can usually agree on the menu.
01:57Not today.
01:58Because I don't like doing a cheese plate, and pastry chefs have to do the cheese plate.
02:04I try to get out of the cheese plate altogether, but Matt says we have to have one.
02:08Matti, I'm taking the cheese plate off the menu.
02:10You're not really.
02:11Well, you have to do it then.
02:13We've already bought the cheese.
02:15Paid for, and eaten, by the looks of things.
02:20This cheese is from a local dairy, less than an hour away.
02:25Lydia provides the mountains of unsalted butter I need for my pastry.
02:29Hi, how are you?
02:30But today, she wants to tempt me with cheese.
02:35I don't think I would eat a cheese plate personally, sorry.
02:38No, no, no.
02:39It's really interesting, like, because now a lot of people, especially the younger people,
02:42they go out and they're like, well, I don't want a cheese plate.
02:44And so then, you know, you have, as like your starter, you have like a snacking.
02:47Yeah.
02:48You have your snacking plate to start.
02:49Well, Matti insists on a cheese plate.
02:51Yeah.
02:52But also, I do think we're the demographic here for cheese plates.
02:54Yeah, yeah.
02:55I do.
02:56Absolutely.
02:57Like, I think for a lot of people, like, that is what they, that's what they want.
02:59Yeah.
03:00I'll try some for the Tinkford demographic then.
03:03That's good.
03:04Yeah, nice.
03:05Mmm.
03:06Do you stock that grace burn still?
03:07Yeah.
03:08OK, cool.
03:09Because I need to buy that.
03:11Cheese is going to be on the menu.
03:14I'm a pastry chef, but I'm also doing some of the starters.
03:20And so I'm trying out some of the cheese with a toast recipe.
03:25This is Britain's answer to feta.
03:28It's cow's curd that you can buy ready-marinated in extra virgin olive oil and rapeseed oil with thyme, garlic, bay and pepper.
03:37I'm going to pair it with sourdough.
03:39I've been practising my own bread for weeks as I plan to serve it here at the restaurant, either as it is or in a starter.
03:48Grace burn and roasted grapes with honey, thyme and sourdough toast.
03:54It's something that's really easy to put together, really delicious, and it's kind of become a signature of mine.
04:00I think it will be nice on a piece of sourdough, either spread on top of the toast or on the side in a bowl and people can spoon and eat.
04:09Let's get a bowl, pop some grapes in here.
04:12I'm actually going to keep them whole.
04:15Grapes bring sweet and sour to the dish.
04:18I'm roasting them with pungent, peppery thyme, sweet honey and some stout to bring the savoury note.
04:30I'm using paper only because my tray is new.
04:33I'm quite nervous that all my stuff's going to get ruined.
04:36I'm going to put a bit of sugar on that, just a little bit.
04:41The grapes go in for 20 to 25 minutes.
04:45Let's get some toast ready.
04:47I want a bread in the restaurant that's easy to eat but doesn't make you full up, just by one slice.
04:57The wild yeast in my sourdough leavens the bread, producing gas to create a light, airy texture.
05:06I love making bread.
05:07You know, I used to go to jobs in kitchens, learn as much as I could and then leave.
05:12Now, what I want to do is stay put and I want to do the same thing every single day, which is why I'm opening a restaurant.
05:21Pour olive oil over the sourdough slices on both sides before toasting them in the oven.
05:26When that's done, prepare the topping.
05:35I'm using more sprigs of thyme.
05:38Stir the creamy, pungent, oil-infused curd in with the grapes and the aromatic thyme.
05:44I'm going to have one where you have this nice piece of toast on the side and I'm going to have one where it's on top.
05:54But I think this should be chopped in half.
05:56So that when people eat it, there's a little line in there for them to properly get in, you know.
06:01I'm arranging them like so.
06:05A bit of extra thyme, drizzle of honey.
06:10So that would be one, like that.
06:13Then the other would be like this.
06:18Grace burnt, roasted grapes and thyme.
06:21I think that's nicer.
06:26Matt, will you give it a try for me?
06:27Yeah.
06:32Nice.
06:33Like that?
06:35Be nice and special in the winter.
06:37Yeah, 100%.
06:38Yeah? It's like September?
06:40Mm-hmm.
06:41Ben, it did look prettier than that a second ago.
06:44What is it?
06:45This is Ben.
06:46He's our general manager.
06:48I should have hired Ben a long time ago.
06:50He's agreed.
06:51He said agreed.
06:53He's got so much work to do.
06:55Honestly, Ben's admin is like...
06:58That is delicious.
07:00I like it when Ben likes my food.
07:03Because he's moved his life here from Plymouth, you know.
07:07And I feel a responsibility to make his first London job, make it friendly, make it amazing.
07:15I really feel responsible.
07:16Taking care of people is in my bones, including my customers and all their different tastes.
07:25Although Gina has a bar, I want to cater for the folk who, like me, don't drink much.
07:31The answer is simple.
07:36Mocktails.
07:38Magical mixtures of fruit, herbs, spices and spritzers that are alcohol-free.
07:44And for that, I've come to Soho in London.
07:51Both Matty and I are food people, but we don't know our whole load about the drink side of a restaurant.
07:58I'm visiting an old friend, Missy, and fellow mocktail maestro Cameron, whose expertise I know will be invaluable.
08:08Hi. Morning. Morning.
08:11Good.
08:13Whilst our menu is firmly rooted in tradition, we want the drinks to be on trend.
08:16The restaurant should have its own world of drinks that feel very true to you and also these really beautiful personal stories just to kind of make it really feel like the family kind of restaurant that it's going to be.
08:29You know, it's so special to be able to go out for drinks or cocktails with people, whether they drink or whether they don't drink, and just kind of all share in the same experience.
08:36I'm looking for drinks that will go well with our menu. Fresh flavours to cut through meat, pastry and that cheese plate.
08:52Cameron has prepared his own hibiscus flower juice, infused with herbs in a backpack. Good for making mixes in bulk.
09:00I can also take these with me and try to taste match when I make my own.
09:07I mean, it smells very hibiscusy.
09:10This drink also has hints of vinegar, pink pepper, and is topped up with grapefruit soda.
09:17I love it.
09:19And it's so pretty. I always love a two-tone drink.
09:24A tart, refreshing, cooling, floral blend.
09:27How do you feel about the pepper in it? I think we could put a bit more pepper in there.
09:32Next up, a bold and beautiful mix of herbs and fruit.
09:37What is in here? Peach and sage.
09:40So this is just some leftover peach juice and a little bit of verjuice, which is made with grapes.
09:47Yeah. And some sage, some fresh sage.
09:50Do you want to smell that?
09:51Mmm.
09:52The peaches used are from leftover kitchen fruit. No waste. Definitely my style.
09:58Sparkling hojicha tea tops it up.
10:02It tastes just like iced tea, but without that overpowering, mouth-drying sweetness.
10:08As well as mocktails, Missy has also been working on a signature cocktail for us.
10:16I know that Matty's mum's favourite drink was the martini.
10:20Yeah.
10:21And we really want to nail that brief.
10:24A strawberry vermouth, or fortified wine, made from strawberries and gin.
10:29That's so pretty. Yeah.
10:34Yeah, sure.
10:36That's just Gina all over.
10:38Drinks are a new thing for me, but I think Missy and Cameron have brought something so refreshing to the table.
10:45This is my favourite. I will drink this on repeat.
10:48Coming up.
10:50The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
10:53I'm making pavlova.
10:55We're going to do like a tower of it.
10:56We're taste testing on Chinkford High Street.
11:00This is like two days of work.
11:03Cheers.
11:05And Matty's dad samples the menu for the first time.
11:09She would have been grabbed.
11:22The past few weeks have been manic.
11:24The team and I have been working overtime to get the finishing touches to the restaurant over the line.
11:31The launch is just three days from now.
11:35Oh, my God, has it come?
11:38This is my waiter station.
11:40Oh.
11:41We've just had it made.
11:42I left him to it, and he looks better than I could have ever imagined.
11:45Isn't it gorgeous?
11:46You're so nice.
11:48Sorry.
11:50I'm so unlike you.
11:52Now we can be really organised.
11:55I'm desperate for a clean and ordered space.
11:58I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor.
12:02Did it all last night.
12:04I've still got a bit more to do.
12:05But we've also got a lot of work going on today.
12:07Like the till's getting fitted.
12:08The beer tap is going in.
12:10And the restaurant still looks like a building site.
12:13Which terrifies me.
12:15I always look at people who have launched their restaurants when work is still being complete.
12:18Like, why would they do that?
12:20Why would they not just delay it?
12:21Because every single day costs you significant amounts of money.
12:25So that's why you can't delay it, I've realised.
12:26One thing we need to do before we open is get an honest evaluation of our food.
12:33So we're asking people who haven't sampled our food before to taste a couple of dishes from the menu.
12:43Business owners on the high street fit the bill.
12:46I'm making pavlova.
12:48Because we're going to do like a tower of it.
12:53It's a complete showstopper.
12:57Pavlova tower with fresh cream and fruit sauce.
13:03A meringue mountain made for crowd sharing.
13:07I sometimes do them for weddings instead of a cake.
13:10At half a metre high, it's a winner.
13:14If someone walks past and says, can I have some, I'm going to say yes.
13:17It's for anybody.
13:20Egg whites go in a bowl.
13:22Great when they need using up.
13:23Add white wine vinegar, a bit of vanilla and whisk them up.
13:30When the egg whites starts to firm, I add sugar, whisk and keep adding until it's done.
13:37I've just turned it up a bit.
13:39People are really nice around here.
13:43People are friendly, they're excited, they all want to come in and eat.
13:46It's made me feel a bit less stressed about how much money I've spent.
13:51When it's like this, you get like a really lovely thick meringue.
13:57So that goes back in there.
14:00When it's at this stage, we add in some corn flour.
14:03We want to get that marshmallow-y texture in the middle.
14:07And you just need to slowly get that in.
14:09The glory of pavlova is that it's crispy on the outside and gooey soft marshmallow on the inside.
14:17I'm going to bake them all off in the oven.
14:19I need to make these in different sizes so they can be stacked on top of each other.
14:26I bake the larger ones for two to three hours and the smaller ones for 90 minutes.
14:33When done, they should easily lift off the paper.
14:36Once cooked, switch off the oven and leave the pavlovas inside for an hour without opening the door.
14:47This allows them to cool gradually, preventing cracks.
14:53Next up, the sauce.
14:57We're going to make some nice fruit sauces to go with the berries all over it.
15:02We want it to be quite generous with the fruit.
15:04A little bit of icing sugar.
15:09I'm just going to put a bit of lemon zest and I'll put juice a bit later.
15:18Done.
15:20This is a real restaurant kitchen now, making different things all at the same time.
15:26While I'm on dessert, Matty's on some serious meat.
15:34Chop Pal's big wing rib with green peppercorn sauce made from shallots, double cream and brandy.
15:43This looks insane.
15:45These are ribs.
15:46Wing ribs.
15:48Ribs of beef.
15:50Right.
15:51I'm going to go.
15:52I'm going to do three and then one.
15:55Each rib weighs 1.5 kilos and will feed two to four people.
16:02The grill heat creates a crispy exterior while keeping the meat juicy and tender on the inside.
16:08Huge, aren't they?
16:10It's a great cut for sharing.
16:13Always aged and cooked on the bone with plenty of fat for even more taste.
16:18Matty is cooking these ribs hot and fast.
16:22The grill is pushing 200 degrees centigrade.
16:25So 25 minutes or so for ribs this size.
16:28All this fat is dripping down.
16:32It's insane how much fat from this.
16:36Meanwhile, I'm cracking on with the cream for the pavlova.
16:41I'm whipping it in batches, one litre at a time, with a bit of sugar and vanilla until it's fluffy and stiff.
16:50I need about two litres for this, but I often use more.
16:55You can never have too much cream.
17:05The temperature of the meat on the inside tells Matty when it's cooked.
17:09That's a bit of a beast, this one.
17:12Mid-40s.
17:14Yeah, sir.
17:20He's using butter to seal in the juices while it rests.
17:24Put a bit of beef fat on if I had it, but I haven't got any.
17:28Just rest it at the top of the grill now.
17:30That'll be ready in like 10 minutes.
17:33On days like today, the team carry us.
17:38Look at that, Joe's got so much pride.
17:41Sous chef Joe has made the green peppercorn sauce for the wing rib,
17:44giving an aromatic, vibrant kick to complement the smoky richness of the meat.
17:51Fucking nice bit of dinner, huh?
17:54That'll be one of the sharers.
18:03Up we go.
18:04No feat of engineering was ever this anticipated.
18:10I'm using 15 meringues, and this can feed about 100 people.
18:19I've got my two best mates here, Nat and Shell.
18:22Shell's over there getting a cocktail, obviously.
18:24Have you had a drink?
18:26There's cocktails and there's non-alcoholic cocktails.
18:28You are welcome to have whatever you want.
18:29And take one for your mom if she wants one.
18:32I know it's the middle of the day, but, you know.
18:35We're testing these classic dishes on our high street neighbours.
18:39I'm hoping they'll turn into customers.
18:42Have a look inside if you want, and then we'll have some food.
18:46That looks delicious.
18:48Yeah.
18:52Inside is Mattie's wing rib.
18:55Medium rare in generous portions.
18:57Cuts of quality meat like this have been served at chop houses for hundreds of years.
19:06We're serving it with fries and our amazing locally grown house salad.
19:11Cheers!
19:13It's taken so long to get to this point, but we're so very nearly there.
19:18It's my son's birthday today.
19:20Steak was beautiful.
19:22And the sauce, the sauce was really good as well.
19:23Yeah, lovely.
19:24It's nice to have a new place in cheap food, for sure.
19:30My turn.
19:32Should put some of those around the front.
19:34You throwing that together is absolutely stunning.
19:37I don't know how you do it.
19:39This is like two days of work.
19:41I think we should pour the sauce on it.
19:42Who wants some?
19:43Yes.
19:45Such a labour to build.
19:46So quick to demolish.
19:47Colin, do you want some dessert?
19:48Yes.
19:49If you want any sauce and stuff, take it.
19:50Yes.
19:51Hi.
19:52Come and have some pavlova.
19:53Hi.
19:54Hi.
19:55Come and have some pavlova.
19:56We work across the road and we've all been very interested in what the new restaurant is.
20:00is going to be.
20:04such a labor to build so quick to demolish yes if you want any sauce and
20:13start to re-work across the road and we've all been very interested in what
20:24the new restaurants gonna be thank you thank you I'll bring the ball
20:28thank you so much this is a very giant ravelova and it's delish
20:45it's turning out to be a really special day because Matty's dad is here
20:58Eric Eric and we want him to love the food as much as we do beautiful got this
21:07right in there mental really but she would have been proud don't tell right will ya
21:21our feet won't touch the ground between now and opening night in just three days our
21:28menu will be on trial with London's food industry professionals and we want to
21:34do our family proud it's crunch time
21:58you
22:04you
22:06you
22:08you
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