Great British Menu 2011 – Central
North East : N. Ireland : North West : Central : South West : Scotland : Wales : South East
the guest judge and previous winner Glynn Purnell, and then the judging panel with their street food inspired sharing menus.
Chefs Aktar Islam, Sue Ellis, Glynn Purnell, Richard Bainbridge
Richard Bainbridge
Head Chef at Mortson Hall in Mortson.
Richard has been working as a chef at Galton Blackiston’s Michelin starred restaurant for the last ten years, rising up the ranks to become Head Chef where he serves up seasonal British food using the finest Norfolk produce.
Aktar Islam
Chef Director, Lasan in Birmingham.
Aktar’s interest in food started as a child where he watched and helped his parents cooking in their restaurant. At 22 he opened his own restaurant, Lasan which has become one of the most successful restaurants in Birmingham. Despite the success and accolades, he remains focused on the basics – sourcing the best ingredients and inventing great dishes to showcase them.
Sue Ellis
Head Chef at Belle House in Pershore
Sue trained under Gordon Ramsay before working under Steve Waites (owner of Belle House). In 2001, she won the Midlands Association of Chefs Awards and has since won several others. As well as being a rising star in the kitchen, she has made several TV appearances, most recently with the Hairy Bikers.
Glynn Purnell(guest mentor & judge)
Head Chef at Purnell’s Restaurant in Birmingham
Glynn’s cooking career started at the tender age of 14, when he worked at the Metropole Hotel at the NEC during his school work experience – before later being offered a paid job. Following that, he worked at a number of fine dining restaurants, working for chefs such as Claud Bonsi at Hibiscus (which was then based in Ludlow). His own restaurant, Purnell’s, opened in 2007 and was awarded a Michelin star in 2009 – which it has maintained this year.
Starters
Richard Bainbridge’s starter was a picnic of Norfolk quail, consisting of a roast quail breast on a dandelion salad served with a scotched quail’s egg and a cheese scone. The dish was presented in individual picnic hampers. Mentor Glynn Purnell was unimpressed by the presentation, but loved the execution of the dish awarding it the highest score of the round. [ Score: 8 ]
Sue Ellis presented a Worcestershire cheese fondue with tomato and onion puffballs – which were hidden under a giant puffball dome. Presentation was praised by both the guest mentor and chefs, but ultimately the dish was seen as lacking in substance. [ Score: 5 ]
Atkar Islam served up a tiffin box containing a selection of Indian street food including: courgette flowers stuffed with spiced paneer, rajasthani style chicken drum sticks, veal sweetbreads with spiced mango, pea and potato cakes and a selection of chutneys. Whilst both the competing chefs, and Glynn Purnell loved the presentation and the individual elements of the starter they both thought it was too complicated. The dish was presented 23 minutes late – a record for The Great British Menu. [ Score: 5 ]
Fish course
Richard Bainbridge cooked a fondue of Norfork lobster served with a fennel and frisse salad and dehydrated vegetables designed to rehydrate when dipped in the buttery fondue sauce. Mentor and guest judge Glynn Purnell enjoyed the dish and complemented the chef on well cooke lobster and a well balanced dish. [ Score : 7 ]
Atkar Islam’s fish course was one influenced by the Konkan coast in India – a whole roasted wild bass stuffed with spinach and lightly spiced. It was served with deep fried soft shell crabs, a raw mango chutney and fermented rice pancakes. Atkar was late again serving his course up, prompting a warning from the mentor – but the dish was well received with praise for the subtle spicing. [ Score : 8 ]
Sue Ellis served smoked salmon cured the cold smoked over jasmine tea before being pan fried. The salmon was served with asparagus and a hollandaise sauce. The competing chefs felt the fish could have taken a little more smoking, and wondered if the dish was too simple. Judge Glynn Purnell also questioned the dishes simplicity, and despite the hollandaise sauce starting to split thought it was a good dish. [ Score : 6 ]
Main course
Richard’s dish took him back to his roots and his childhood memories of food cooked by his mother. Richard served up a Beef wellington with mums cottage pie. When presenting the dish to be served, a chefs hat and apron were included for someone to ‘play mum’. The wellington was made with a brioche rather than a puffed pastry crust, this was to soak up the beef juices but to remain moist – something that impressed judge Glynn. The cottage pie was made using ox cheek and mashed potato. When tasting it, Glynn thought that this dish could be improved slightly with more meat and less potato. [ Score : 8 ]
Sue was determined to put her head down today and concentrate on getting more points. She cooked a contemporary dish with a twist with her ‘Roasted Crown of lamb with Shepherds Pie, spring cabbage and bacon with warm cucumber’. The other chefs had reservations about the warm cucumber and thought the cucumber was probably best to be left in the historical cook books that Sue had been reading. Glynn thought that although the main point of Sues dish was shepherds pie, that it wasn’t a large enough feature on the serving plate. The lamb crown was quite pink which worried the other chefs, but Glynn thought the lamb was cooked perfectly. [ Score : 7 ]
Aktar’s main dish of Slow roasted shoulder of lamb with cashew nut & caramelised onion gravy served with 3 vegetables and biryani was described as ‘fit for a maharajahs banquet by Aktar. The chef responded to the warning he had previously been given and served his dish on time. Despite Atkar having reservations about the timing of the lamb (he wanted to cook it for longer) Glynn thought the dish was well presented and liked the idea of lots of different pots of things in a thali style but thought that the dish would need to be simplified for the banquet. [ Score : 9 ]
Dessert
Richard admitted cooking desserts isn’t his specialist area and he doesn’t really enjoy it. His dish was a ‘D.I.Y Ice Cream Sundae” which involved 4 different ice cream flavours (strawberry, pistachio, vanilla and chocolate) served with rose marshmallows, strawberry compote and chocolate soil with the intention of banquet guests getting an empty bowl each and digging in and picking their favourite things. Judge Glynn loved the interaction of the dish, but wondered if it could be seen as ‘just a bowl of ice cream’. [ Score : 6 ]
Aktar chose to prepare a Chai panna cotta with coconut & lime sorbet, mango shrikhand and strawberry samosa. The pressure was on immediately as the panna cottas had to be rushed due to the time limitations. The dessert was presented in a stripy box that Glynn thought over sang the dish and actually wanted to eat! Glynn found the samosa to be well executed but thought the panna cotta taste was too subtle. [ Score : 6 ]
The pressure was on Sue today as she went into the dessert course from last position, trailing by 4 points. Sues take on afternoon tea was presented on a traditional afternoon tea stand and involved scones, chocolate torte, vanilla and lemon slice and apple parfait crumble. Dry ice added some theatre to the tea served to accompany the dessert. Everyone thought the dessert was well put together, with Glynn calling it a ‘feast for the eyes’. They were all amazed at the taste of the dishes, and couldn’t really find any fault. [ Score : 9 ]
During the preparation of the dessert course there was a partial power cut in the kitchen causing some of the appliances to lose power and gas. Richards ice cream melted slightly along with Aktar’s sorbet but Glynn took this into account when judging.
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