This Christmas ‘THE RESTAURANT’ is serving up a a very seasonal programme for its fans. For the first time, we are inviting back two ‘5 Star’ Chefs from previous series’ and putting them head to head in the kitchen at Wineport Lodge in Athlone.
There have only been 5 chefs who achieved this culinary accolade in the restaurant one of them is Business Woman and Travel Expert, Gillian Bowler and the other is Gardening Writer and Broadcaster, Dermot O’Neill.
In their original shows Gillian and Dermot brought their first class menus to the restaurant and cooked them to perfection, wowing our regular critics, Tom Doorley and Paolo Tulio and achieving top marks for their efforts.
For the cook-off Gillian and Dermot have to come up with completely new menus, this time comprising one starter, one main course and one dessert to the kitchen. They will then pit their new menu against each other, to win over the critics. No stars will be awarded this time, it’s best of 3 courses to win this Champion of Champions Cook Off.
Gillian Bowler has taken her love of travel and world cuisines as her inspiration and brings a very Spanish menu with her, including a tapas selection, roast suckling pig and a plate of orange desserts. Dermot has favoured another Mediterranean country for his menu, and gone with classic french dishes such as foie gras, seared fillet of turbot and gratin of pears.
But which chef will create a seasonal menu to take the ultimate culinary crown and impress The Restaurant’s regular critics and the special guest critic, chef Neven Maguire? Tune in and see who wins the title.