It wasn’t meant to be for Isle of Skye’s Calum Montgomery, but the esteemed chef remained enthusiastic throughout tonight’s episode of Great British Menu.
Battling to secure a place in tomorrow’s Scottish banquet final, the 32-year-old cooked up a storm to serve up a main, pre-dessert and dessert to judges Richard Corrigan and special guest, Moray’s Lorna McNee.
The Skye native worked to impress the duo, however failed to top his competitors’ Dundee-born Adam Handling and Edinburgh’s Stuart Ralston’s dishes.
Calum scored 24 in the end, while Adam was one point behind Stuart who leads with 34. The duo will cook against one another in the final banquet tomorrow night.
Now in its 17th season, the Great British Menu asks talented chefs from the four corners of the UK to compete to present a themed menu of five courses.
The theme this year is 100 years of British broadcasting, which has provided plenty of inspiration for the chefs.
Calum’s dishes
For Calum’s main he cooked up a dish named Game, Set, Match inspired by Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon win.
Featuring heather smoked venison loin, hazelnut puree, bramble jelly and jus, creamed cabbage and French spinach ‘balls’, it was served to the sound of the commentators announcing Andy’s success.
Richard Corrigan scored Calum seven out of 10 for the dish and his comrades commented on the dish with Adam saying he “really liked” it. His competition both scored him eight.
Lorna McNee won the Great British Menu in 2019 and is Scotland’s only female chef to boast a Michelin star. She joined Richard Corrigan, a three-time winner of the Great British Menu, to judge the pre-dessert category.
Originally from Forres, both Lorna and Richard agreed that Calum’s Beechgrove Garden pre-dessert was the best.
His dessert, Two Pints Boaby, a malt barley mousse and parfait with beer fruit pastille, Vienna malt crumb, caramelised beer ice cream, hops white chocolate mousse took inspiration from TV comedy show, Still Game.
He scored six out of 10. Lorna said she “loved the inspiration” and that it was “balanced”.
Host Andi Oliver also took part in judging the dessert. His final score was 24.
Unlike his competition, this is Calum’s first time taking part in Great British Menu.
Adam’s offering
Adam Handling is the owner of the Michelin-starred The Frog in London’s Covent Garden. He also owns the Loch and the Tyne in Windsor and the Ugly Butterfly on the Cornish coast.
He started cooking in Perthshire at Gleneagles, where he was the hotel’s youngest ever apprentice, aged just 16.
Adam’s main, The Radio’s All Mine, paid homage to an important radio broadcast which was heard underground by miners in Glasgow. It boasted retired dairy cow, burnt leek, cauliflower.
His pre-dessert was inspired by Still Game and Tunnock’s teacakes and his dessert, When There’s A Wheel, There’s A Way, featured milk, cherry and meadowsweet.
It was inspired by The Crystal Maze and Adam even booked himself into a Crystal Maze experience in London to get a flavour for the show.
He scored eight out of 10 for his dessert and Lorna said it was “playful”. His final score was 33.
Stuart’s plate
On the other hand, Edinburgh’s Stuart Ralston of restaurants Aizle and Noto went for a Rutherford Estate roe deer dish with fermented wild berries, tartar, barbecue offal and sauce Grand Venuer.
It was named Game Of The Forest after the popular hit TV show Game of Thrones and served like a medieval banquet.
Both Adam and Calum scored his main 10 out of 10, while Richard gave it nine.
His pre-dessert was a sweet Swiss meringue and paid homage to Scot Squad.
For dessert he plated up his Salute To Sir Billy, tying in Banana semi freddo, chocolate, cherry and sesame into the dish in a nod to ‘The Big Yin’, Sir Billy Connolly.
Scoring seven out of 10 for his dessert.
His final score was 34, taking the lead into the banquet.
The Great British Menu continues tomorrow at 8pm on BBC Two where the two remaining chefs will face off to cook their entire menus for the panel of judges to make it through to the national finals.