Kitchen Testosterone

So what do we think of Raymond Blancs new BBC Two series ‘The Restaurant’? Quite an ambitious project with 9 couples battling it out to create and run a successful venue and certainly huge motivation for the couples who will be in big business if they manage to get it right. So far the show seems to highlight not only the many highs of running your own restaurant but also the harsh realities that can ultimately lead to failure. Keep in mind that of the 1,000 plus new venues that open every year in the UK alone, 900 of them close, so the successes can be few and far between. Apparently just prior to the launch of his show Blanc hit out at todays ‘Macho’ chefs warning that under new employment laws kitchen bullies could end up in jail. He says the reasoning behind ‘The Restaurant’ is to give viewers new respect for the restaurant industry and hopefully provide a refreshing change from the current glut of fiery chefs who appear to glorify violence and aggression in their TV kitchens. As I Mentioned last week, Marco Pierre White seems to have a very different take on the Gordon Ramsey approach to Hells Kitchen on the new UK series. In fact Raymond Blanc himself wondered just how Marco would handle the heat asking the question - “When Marco takes over Hell's Kitchen, will he promote food craft, careful man-management, or just this unfortunate aspect of behaviour, which involves the degradation of people?” So far Marco seems to be managing to rule HK with just the right mixture of testosterone and camaraderie to make poor old Gordons style of kitchen tyranny look totally unnecessary. However you must admit Ramseys shock tactics are always entertaining. Meanwhile it will be interesting to see which of ‘The Restaurant’s couples are still standing in a few weeks time. The UK’s 27,000 restaurants are about to become 27,001!