The “mystery chef” in Programme 10 of this brand new series is well-known botanist, radio and TV broadcaster, Eanna Ní Lamhna (see biog. below).
The ‘new look’, new series of this hugely popular programme is back and, as before, a high-profile personality is given the chance – and the challenge – to be a chef for the night. Ernie’s in Donnybrook is the venue for the new series and a new professional chef joins the now familiar kitchen crew. Also in this new series, Tom and Paulo get to prove their expertise by blind-testing the wines (a 10 euro and 25 euro bottle each week) – let’s see if they really know their stuff?
Eanna is passionate about food and loves to cook for family and friends. She simply can’t understand why people say things like, “Will we have the dinner now and get it over with?”. For Eanna, eating is a celebration of food, family and friends. She’s hoping the critics will join that celebration in The Restaurant.
As before, each ‘chef’ will create and cook a full dinner menu in a real restaurant. The diners will be real diners, and among them each week will be a critics table with three top food critics ready to give an instant verdict and a star rating from one to five. The resident critics are Tom Doorley and Paolo Tullio, with one other guest critic each week. The guest critic for this show is Author and TV Chef Keith Floyd (biog. Below). The identity of the “mystery chef” will remain secret to all in “The Restaurant” until after the meal – but before the critics’ verdict is delivered.
The celebrities who become chefs for a night will be people who have a secret passion (and, who knows, perhaps even a real talent) for cooking. Now they have the opportunity to “go pro” for one night and serve up a real restaurant meal.
But they won’t be all on their own. They will get expert advice – and the highly trained regular staff of “The Restaurant” will work with them at all times – even when they don’t agree with the approach and ideas of the new chef.
The celebrity chef’s menu must contain three appetisers and a soup or salad, two main dishes and three puddings. He / she will also be expected to create a wine list and in this new series this list must include one bottle costing 10 euro and one bottle costing 25 euro.
Eanna Ní Lamhna
Eanna Ní Lamhna “fell off a door” when she was thirteen years old! Her injuries were such that she couldn’t take part in Home Economics classes at school and consequently took up extra science subjects.
The well-known botanist and entomologist holds bachelors and masters degrees in Biology from UCD. An experienced radio and television broadcaster and a fluent Irish speaker, her distinctive voice is so well known that she is even imitated on TV commercials. She is best known for her contributions to Mooney Goes Wild on One. This Saturday morning nature radio show features Eanna’s enthusiastic explorations of the, um, stickier side of the insect world – suffice to say many a fry-up has gone uneaten as a result! On the scientific side, Eanna was responsible for much of the ground-breaking species distribution mapping carried out by An Foras Forbartha in the early 1970s. As well as her enthusiasm for creep-crawlies, she has special interest in bats and is deeply involved in education. In 2004 Eanna was named President of An Taisce.
KEITH FLOYD
Keith Floyd is, quite simply, a living legend in the world of food. Long before Jamie Oliver arrived on the scene, Keith Floyd was delighting Britain’s foodies with his own irrepressible brand of rowdy genius. The boisterous chef first made his mark in the early Eighties with the series Floyd On Food and Floyd On Fish. Since then the cooking maestro has fronted many more shows, while earning a reputation for drinking more of the wine than he puts into his recipes. Indeed one of his outings was entitled Floyd Uncorked. Keith was born in 1943 and educated at Wellington School, Somerset in England. Since then he has devoted his life to cooking, except for a few brief excursions into the army and antiques and wine trades. He has presented 13 highly successful television cookery and travel series, recently including ‘Floyd Uncorked’, and is the author of 15 best selling books, including Floyd On Oz, Floyd On Spain, Far Flung Floyd, Floyd On Italy, Floyd On Hangovers, Floyd On Africa and A Feast of Floyd, which is published by HarperCollins. When he is not hurtling around the world, he spends his time fishing and sailing with his wife Tess in Andalucia, Spain, where he now lives.