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Chefs from two Jersey restaurants will be competing in the latest series of ‘Great British Menu’, pitting themselves against 22 other handpicked talents in a bid to cater a four-course feast at Abbey Road.
The BBC show has selected Jersey-born Chef Joe Baker from Number 10 and Samphire’s Head Chef Lee Smith to compete in their category for the South West, meaning the island is well-represented as its fourteenth series gets underway.
This series, all of the competitors have been given the brief of celebrating the British music scene through food to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the last time the Beatles played live together.
In their honour, the programme will culminate in a four-course feast at Abbey Road Studios and the Jersey chefs are hopeful that their menus will be enough to win them the chance to serve their dishes at the banquet.
Pictured: The show's judges Oliver Peyton, Andi Oliver and Matthew Peyton (left to right) will be joined by special guests throughout the series to choose who will make it to the final.
Express caught up with both chefs ahead of their TV debut later this month where they will compete against one another and Cornish chef Emily Scott to win a place in the final cook-off. It will be in the hands of both the veteran and special guest judges to decide who will go further in the competition.
Joe, who is the first Jersey-born chef to compete on the programme said that, being a fan of the show, he was “delighted” when he got the call.
“I was delighted. It’s one of the few TV programmes about cooking that I actually watch and enjoy because it’s quite real and a lot of the best chefs and the chefs that I’ve looked up to have been on there in the past. It’s like a genuine cooking programme – it’s not like a gimmick… I was looking forward to representing Jersey,” the Number 10 chef said.
Pictured: Jersey is well-represented in this year's series of the 'Great British Menu'.
All the chefs have to come up with four courses inspired by the brief – a starter, a fish course, a meat course and a dessert – before they have to prepare their menus under time pressure in the studio kitchens.
Lee, who has lived and worked in Jersey for more than a decade, was also thrilled to become a contestant on the show after following it for many years.
“To get selected for ‘Great British Menu’ was out of the blue. Sometimes in Jersey you think sometimes we get forgot about over here, but this just shows we must be doing something right! The fact that they chose two restaurants from the island is an even bigger achievement.
“Also watching the programme whilst working through my career and finally getting on the same show as other chefs I have followed and aspired to be like over my career is a great feeling too,” the Samphire Head Chef added.
The latest series of ‘Great British Menu’ is already underway on BBC Two, with the South West portion of the competition airing later this month.
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