The Restaurant 2009

I'm sure they will win but I do think people should stop getting so uppity about it. There was precious little restaurant management in the past two series, the main difference being it was more food-focussed and less personality-focussed. From memory, the stand-out moments of the last series were as much to do with incompetence and silly peole who think they are clever as this one is. The big difference is that with half the running time we don't get a chance to see the contestants in any sort of depth but last year was never a study in great restaurant running:

carrot fahitas
Mango Whizz
Nel's brown slop (semi-finalist)
Sino-welsh fusion, cooked by a Chinese bloke who couldn't cook Chinese food
Ali's crap attempts at FoH (finalist)
Dull, dull chefs and lacrymose women (winners)

The ultimate goal is to produce someone who Raymond can do business with. It's true they were somewhat hamstrung by the lousy choice of contestant (producers favouring reality TV over Restaurant TV) but I think Raymond really does like the SH concept and, after all, JJ and James are successful business people aready.

I still think it's been a very watchable TV programme. As a cook and foodie I'd love to know more about actually running a restaurant but the previous two series didn't do that in any depth either. And, hate it though we do, JJ and James's continued success has us all talking. Also, Nathan winning would be a bigger crime than JJ doing so. JJ may be rubbish, but he cares, Nathan is just arrogant and unpleasant.

I did the write ups for S2 for another site and still have them somewhere. If anybody wants to read them send me a PM.
 
I was beginning to think that it wasn't coming back but I saw the trailer last night. It's starting much later in the year than previously and looks it though it will run through to 17th December.
Did they have 9 couples last year btw?:confused:
 
Never have I felt that I've wasted my time watching a TV series in its entirety. I've always enjoyed the Restaurant, but how that pair of do-dahs one is anyone's guess. They must be related to someone high up at the Beeb. But if there's another series they might as well employ the PG Tips Monkey to open a restaurant because the ability to actually cook food is not an imperative!
 
I also think Blanc's new show will bomb largely because he has lost a lot of sympathy and credibility after the last series of the Restaurant. I see Kitchen Secrets is being plugged with the line 'Let me make all the mistakes so you don't have to.' Thanks, Raymond, but I would never have thought of opening a restaurant with a couple of smarmy tossers, neither of whom can cook, in the first place.
 
Using the economic climate as an excuse is rubbish.
It was the format that was wrong, not the general idea.

Putting the wrong restaurant in the wrong area just because they picked the wrong key and giving them the wrong food/task because someone thought it would look good was what was wrong. Takeaways? shops in markets? Selling to people in Service stations? Who does those things in a normal restaurant? You don't, you concentrate on doing a good job. Some things you might do if you were desperate or doing things for publicity but not otherwise.

There could easily be a show, but a different once if they changed things.

Set someone up in a resturant for 6 months to a year. Give them a decent location worked out with them to persue their goal.
Make them actually run the restuarant 6-7 days a week (ie as a proper business not for 2-3 evenings a week as they did for the show).
Let them make their own mistakes, let them see if their business is worthy of staying alive.
The idea of say selling cocktails, or having special events would be normal as they move through the seasons and they would last for a week, not a night.

Give them the advice of specialists every so often, maybe even random checks, so they know they are not breaking the law or cheating (buying in frozen meals etc).

At the end of the 6 months or year look at their books, look at the ratings people give them (but over a long period of time, no good being great on the one night the cameras are there) and make the judgement over who is the best.
Maybe they all fail? Maybe the one that is least 'fancy' makes 10 times the profit of the posh french restaurant?
Maybe the person who has done the best gets given their location or rent for a year as a prize?

Although there have been some bloody idiots on The Restaurant,there have definitely been people who would have put everything into running a resturant. And probably deserved a go more than some who won, especially the idiots who 'won' the last season.
 
The man doesn't seem to be able to cope without someone telling him what to do. He really let down Barrington who was a brilliant Chef :(



I totally agree with this post. It's just a pity he didn't try a bit harder isn't it? It's not like he couldn't run front of house - he was actually quite good at it and popular with the customers. I think he will regret his decision one day, it wasn't just himself he let down.




I have to agree. The budget looks like it's been quartered never mind halved :eek: It's a pale shadow of the last two series.
 
I don't think Nathan's problem is just about inexperience. Some of us are good with people and some (and I would include myself in this latter category) are not. Those who are not should not work in trades where people skills are essential. Nathan's comment the other week about "I guess we won't be seeing you again" to his aggrieved customer was so rude, given that her comments were fair, that he clearly does not have the right personality to be FOH in a restaurant. A bouncer in a seedy nightclub, yes.
 
I don't think this was just about RB's decision which of the two teams should win the final. The main issue as I , and I believe a lot of other FMs, see it was that JJ and James ever got to the final.

They consistently failed task after task from week one, didn't cook, blagged to the hilt etc etc. The point is that they should have gone weeks before the final.

The majority of comments on this forum are not that Chris & Nathan should have won instead. The consensus seems to be that neither pairing should have won the competition, as it has been a travesty (and some say a fix) from the start.
 
As indeed anyone with half a braincell would have done! - Someone actually calling them self a chef has no excuse! - They may not be a top cake specialist, but they should know the basics of how to put things together to look presentable.

Also the main fuselage would look a lot better had it actually been a round solid tube shape - Either by rounding the corners or making a cake that can be rolled up a la swiss roll.

Sometimes common sense eludes some people!

So artistic presentation is another thing that should have and don't!
 
Really? Let's have more dirt please? What's JJ like in the flesh (probably quite nice actually)?

My Mum and I filled in the application form then my wife pointed to the bit that says you have to be away for a month and 'persuaded' me it wouldn't be a good idea.

If they have another series I'm thinking about applying with a friend from another message board (me in kitchen, her as FOH). The USP being that, although we know each other quite well, we've never actually met. They might quite like that.

Oh and a forecast for tonight - the scallop and pea girls to crack under the pressure and go home. Hope I'm wrong though...
 
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