The Restaurant 2009
- Thread starter Chapo
- Start date
sunshinegurl:))
New member
I now have an image in my head that I cannot get rid of! 
Thats fine, my partner and I are quite confident with our abilities and to be honest we would never have even considered the show if we didnt have the skills required along with a genuine desire to run a restaurant.
That said, there were 4 (or maybe 5?) audition stints, where we were fortunate enough to meet a lot of other hopefuls along the way. There were a lot more experienced couples being turned away at each stage, at which point my partner and I realised that there were other things being taken into account instead of just ability.
There was only 1 cooking related task, which was to make an omelette (a surprisingly tricky dish to get perfect) and in our heat only my partner managed to succeed however 4 couples from that heat got through to the final 15.
Without meaning to sound offensive, the 6 back up contestants were mostly (with a couple of exceptions) "oddballs" who in my opinion got as far as they did because of eccentricities or just plain barminess.
The production team only advised us at the final 15 that RB would be included in the decision to select the final 9 - but I have strong suspisions that this was not the case.
That said, there were 4 (or maybe 5?) audition stints, where we were fortunate enough to meet a lot of other hopefuls along the way. There were a lot more experienced couples being turned away at each stage, at which point my partner and I realised that there were other things being taken into account instead of just ability.
There was only 1 cooking related task, which was to make an omelette (a surprisingly tricky dish to get perfect) and in our heat only my partner managed to succeed
however 4 couples from that heat got through to the final 15.Without meaning to sound offensive, the 6 back up contestants were mostly (with a couple of exceptions) "oddballs" who in my opinion got as far as they did because of eccentricities or just plain barminess.
The production team only advised us at the final 15 that RB would be included in the decision to select the final 9 - but I have strong suspisions that this was not the case.
Just a gurl
New member
Is there some rule that the chefs can't do anything that might be classed as front-of-house? For example, why couldn't both partners try to sell the takeaways? It was ridiculous to have one of them standing behind the counter doing nothing for hours.
Spc. Sh0kerZ
New member
Yep!
Weeble Wobble
New member
I'm late coming to the dance as this program (known as The Last Restaurant Standing) in the U.S. finished last week.
Believe me, our sentiments are almost exactly the same as those noted above.
I'm laid up with a knee replacement so have had plenty of time to Internet search on varous related forums. In one, one of the contestants, and the best guesses were Rebecca, occasionally commented.
They went through several interview processes, with the competition being reduced for each one. The only cooking they had to demonstrate was an omelet. Of their group the only one to do one successfully was their partner. However, four other teams from that group made the preliminary 15, of which nine were chosen to participate. They noted the six who weren't were quite bad, apparently selected more for their oddness than abilities. They noted many strong teams were simply passed over. They had too much talent/experience.
The teams were apparently selected 100% by the producers. Pretty well the first time the judges met them was at the opening episode. Apparently the producers were far, far more interested in a cross-representation of the British society as cooking and FOH skills. If you look at the now 27 teams in the first three seasons you will see a lot of commonality among them.
Although much loved by some, apparently the overall viewing numbers for Season 1 and 2 weren't that high. BBC cut the funding for Season 3. Why Bristol? Perhaps in a city of 460,000 there were amply available restaurant spaces to be had reasonably. Why the toned down challenges? They were cheap to produce.
Looks like the producers format is three early throw-away teams, three to last to mid-season and three to vie for the finals. This season three went in the first two episodes. Only six actually got restaurants. The final three were within a ten-minute walk of each other.
The above noted contestant said they were allowed to select the key to their restaurant. However, they were directed to stand in very specific spots which made it much more likely they would select a certain one. They noted it was funny how all six got locations which best seems to represent their theme, such as the Nigerian one being in the only mixed-neighborhood of the six of them.
I get the strong impression Barney and Badger were slated to be among the final three. When they dropped out early, it completely changed the dynamics of the season. They were left with only two who could cook traditional British cruisine, Chris and Steven. I further get the impression the judges really didn't want to go into a new, from the ground up, venture with either of those teams, which is why JJ and James were kept in the mix. Drama and all that.
One has to wonder what might have happened if Steven hadn't had his severe stage fright for the demonstation at the cooking fair. He did, in my opinion, the best cooking class and, once they did take the stage, seems to do quite well. It gave the judges an opportunity to cite concern about handing the pressure of a professional kitchen to close them.
And, remember, Raymond has been burned now probably one and one-half times. Jeremy and Jane simply walked away from Eight at the Thatch after a couple of months. The Cheerful Soul at the Hare and HounRAB is on-going, but Internet restaurant reviews have rated it either a 3 out of 5 or 3.5 out of 5. When your average, poor and terrible ratings nearly equal your good and excellent ratings, you are looking at future problems. Yes, one would expect opening clitches, but the ratings don't seem to be improving over time.
The end result was a decision based solely on financial considerations. Their investments would be less at risk with JJ and James (who already have an going enterprise) than a new start with Chris and Nathan. The programming/results were scripted to that end. What do you say to Chris? Ditch Nathan and we'll consider you.
And I think it will come back to bit them in the end (pun intended). You put JJ in the kitchen and the bar no longer turns out those 'fabulous' cocktails. Put him behind the bar and the kitchen suffers. Give JJ enough training to where he has a newly found appreciation for fine food, but hire in a competent chef to produce it. Move their London Cocktail Club to a more 'high street' location to go after the 'young professionals' there. Ah, heck, make it into a high-end gay bar.
I don't know if it is the same in England, but in the U.S. in a restaurant which also serves liquor, while the liquor sales may represent only 20-30 percent of the gross, it can produce about 50 percent of the net profit due to the high mark up on it. Rather like out supermarkets. The meat department may only take up 10% of the store space, but produces about half of the over the counter sales.
If you want to Google Internet reviews of Russell and Michele's restaurant, search on Hare and HounRAB rather than The Cheerful Soul with Marlow, England as location.
And I understand Season 2 has two spin-oRAB on BBC2. One is Raymond Blanc in something like Kitchen Secrets in which he turns the ordinary in the superb. The other is Plate Expectations, which follows James and Ali catering to events.
Believe me, our sentiments are almost exactly the same as those noted above.
I'm laid up with a knee replacement so have had plenty of time to Internet search on varous related forums. In one, one of the contestants, and the best guesses were Rebecca, occasionally commented.
They went through several interview processes, with the competition being reduced for each one. The only cooking they had to demonstrate was an omelet. Of their group the only one to do one successfully was their partner. However, four other teams from that group made the preliminary 15, of which nine were chosen to participate. They noted the six who weren't were quite bad, apparently selected more for their oddness than abilities. They noted many strong teams were simply passed over. They had too much talent/experience.
The teams were apparently selected 100% by the producers. Pretty well the first time the judges met them was at the opening episode. Apparently the producers were far, far more interested in a cross-representation of the British society as cooking and FOH skills. If you look at the now 27 teams in the first three seasons you will see a lot of commonality among them.
Although much loved by some, apparently the overall viewing numbers for Season 1 and 2 weren't that high. BBC cut the funding for Season 3. Why Bristol? Perhaps in a city of 460,000 there were amply available restaurant spaces to be had reasonably. Why the toned down challenges? They were cheap to produce.
Looks like the producers format is three early throw-away teams, three to last to mid-season and three to vie for the finals. This season three went in the first two episodes. Only six actually got restaurants. The final three were within a ten-minute walk of each other.
The above noted contestant said they were allowed to select the key to their restaurant. However, they were directed to stand in very specific spots which made it much more likely they would select a certain one. They noted it was funny how all six got locations which best seems to represent their theme, such as the Nigerian one being in the only mixed-neighborhood of the six of them.
I get the strong impression Barney and Badger were slated to be among the final three. When they dropped out early, it completely changed the dynamics of the season. They were left with only two who could cook traditional British cruisine, Chris and Steven. I further get the impression the judges really didn't want to go into a new, from the ground up, venture with either of those teams, which is why JJ and James were kept in the mix. Drama and all that.
One has to wonder what might have happened if Steven hadn't had his severe stage fright for the demonstation at the cooking fair. He did, in my opinion, the best cooking class and, once they did take the stage, seems to do quite well. It gave the judges an opportunity to cite concern about handing the pressure of a professional kitchen to close them.
And, remember, Raymond has been burned now probably one and one-half times. Jeremy and Jane simply walked away from Eight at the Thatch after a couple of months. The Cheerful Soul at the Hare and HounRAB is on-going, but Internet restaurant reviews have rated it either a 3 out of 5 or 3.5 out of 5. When your average, poor and terrible ratings nearly equal your good and excellent ratings, you are looking at future problems. Yes, one would expect opening clitches, but the ratings don't seem to be improving over time.
The end result was a decision based solely on financial considerations. Their investments would be less at risk with JJ and James (who already have an going enterprise) than a new start with Chris and Nathan. The programming/results were scripted to that end. What do you say to Chris? Ditch Nathan and we'll consider you.
And I think it will come back to bit them in the end (pun intended). You put JJ in the kitchen and the bar no longer turns out those 'fabulous' cocktails. Put him behind the bar and the kitchen suffers. Give JJ enough training to where he has a newly found appreciation for fine food, but hire in a competent chef to produce it. Move their London Cocktail Club to a more 'high street' location to go after the 'young professionals' there. Ah, heck, make it into a high-end gay bar.
I don't know if it is the same in England, but in the U.S. in a restaurant which also serves liquor, while the liquor sales may represent only 20-30 percent of the gross, it can produce about 50 percent of the net profit due to the high mark up on it. Rather like out supermarkets. The meat department may only take up 10% of the store space, but produces about half of the over the counter sales.
If you want to Google Internet reviews of Russell and Michele's restaurant, search on Hare and HounRAB rather than The Cheerful Soul with Marlow, England as location.
And I understand Season 2 has two spin-oRAB on BBC2. One is Raymond Blanc in something like Kitchen Secrets in which he turns the ordinary in the superb. The other is Plate Expectations, which follows James and Ali catering to events.
Amanda[Taylor.]
New member
Goodness and those girls who didn't know how to cook peas.
This programme is totally amazing.
This programme is totally amazing.
We are all too familiar with 'reality TV' now. Originally the concept was us, the viewer, voyeuristically looking over the shoulders of real people with real lives.
These days the producers call the shots and we are manipulated like dumb, passive idiots. I genuinely believe that much of this year's Restaurant has been tweaked in the edit. I'm sure that Nathan, for example, has some good points, despite the fact that he's been painted as the villain. Likewise the winkers, aka the comedy duo ... may show more business acumen when they aren't bullsh!tting their way through every single moment of airtime. And maybe Rebecca, bless her, was more of a liability than she appeared? Watching a grown woman cry every week would have grown tiresome for the lickle viewers, so maybe they toned her down?
What has come back to bite Raymond on the ass, is the fact that he and his cohorts (Sarah and David) have come out the worst in the edit of anyone: they look like a bunch of prize radishes for going along with this fiasco.
Were it me, the winkers would be long gone. I would have kept Rebecca and Stephen in. They would have worked hard and have been ideal in a 'home cooking' style cafe / restaurant. Not highbrow, obviously, but a more down to earth venue. The Winkers -- who might not yet win (are we being manipulated by the edit to think they will?) -- would be ideal ... running FOH in a pretentious bar. They appear to have learned nothing from this experience and don't give a snake's hiss about anything but their own egos and how good they look on the tellybox.
I'll watch the final, we've come this far after all. But next year, should Raymond and co be f-e-c-k-i-n' stupid enough to participate, I'll only be bothering if the two-show per week format returns and it looks like it's going to offer an ounce of credibility.
Rant over!
These days the producers call the shots and we are manipulated like dumb, passive idiots. I genuinely believe that much of this year's Restaurant has been tweaked in the edit. I'm sure that Nathan, for example, has some good points, despite the fact that he's been painted as the villain. Likewise the winkers, aka the comedy duo ... may show more business acumen when they aren't bullsh!tting their way through every single moment of airtime. And maybe Rebecca, bless her, was more of a liability than she appeared? Watching a grown woman cry every week would have grown tiresome for the lickle viewers, so maybe they toned her down?
What has come back to bite Raymond on the ass, is the fact that he and his cohorts (Sarah and David) have come out the worst in the edit of anyone: they look like a bunch of prize radishes for going along with this fiasco.
Were it me, the winkers would be long gone. I would have kept Rebecca and Stephen in. They would have worked hard and have been ideal in a 'home cooking' style cafe / restaurant. Not highbrow, obviously, but a more down to earth venue. The Winkers -- who might not yet win (are we being manipulated by the edit to think they will?) -- would be ideal ... running FOH in a pretentious bar. They appear to have learned nothing from this experience and don't give a snake's hiss about anything but their own egos and how good they look on the tellybox.
I'll watch the final, we've come this far after all. But next year, should Raymond and co be f-e-c-k-i-n' stupid enough to participate, I'll only be bothering if the two-show per week format returns and it looks like it's going to offer an ounce of credibility.
Rant over!