'Great British Menu' (2023) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Will Lockwood

This year's format had four chefs from one of eight regions competing in each round. On the first day they prepared a canapé (not for points, but to be used if necessary as a tie-breaker at the end of the day) followed by a starter and a fish course, each scored out of 10 by the week's regional judge. The competitor with the lowest score is eliminated; the other three prepare a main course and a dessert (and, in case a tie-breaker is needed, a pre-dessert item). Once again the lowest-scoring chef is eliminated, and the last two return on the third day to prepare all six of their dishes (often modified in response to their previous feedback) for a judging panel composed of three regular judges (Ed Gamble, Nisha Katona and Tom Kerridge) and one local guest connected to the animation field. After blind judging, scores are compiled and the chef with the highest score on this day proceeds to the final week of competition, at the end of which the banquet menu is determined.

This year, competitors faced an additional requirement: their starters had to be vegan. At least this eliminated the possible need to prepare two versions, which is required to cater for vegetarians or people with a shellfish allergy. This was, of course, still needed for some of the other dishes.

The first week saw the Northeast region represented by Roy Welch (eliminated after the fish dish), Gareth Bartram (eliminated after dessert), runner-up Cal Byerly and heat winner Will Lockwood. The judges found it hard to choose between some impressive dishes, and it was to eventuate that some of the dishes that didn't make it through this week were actually even better than some of the dishes that were prepared in finals week. This was especially true of several of Cal's dishes. His main, called 'The Tasty Tudors', was inspired by the illustrations in the book of that name and included a red currant jelly castle, charcoal-roasted pork, glazed trotters and seared cabbage. The judges slightly preferred it to Will's 'The Wishbone', a fancy rack of venison dish.

While Will's desert ('The Phoenix Meteor Shower', inspired by the book 'Look Up') was amazing, Cal produced my personal favourite dessert of the entire competition. 'James's Giant Peach', obviously inspired by the Roald Dahl book, featured peach sorbet inside a white chocolate shell resembling a peach with a jelly worm emerging from its side, with a cheesecake ladybug and a marzipan boy. The dish was served accompanied by balloons filled with peach essence to be punctured by each diner.

Answer: Nick Beardshaw

This week Marcus Wareing replaced Tom Kerridge for the heat judging table, to avoid any possible appearance of bias as Tom works with one of the competitors, so could be expected to recognise the cooking style.

Charlotte Vincent was eliminated after the fish, and Amber Francis after the dessert. Andrew Tuck, the eventual runner-up, was notable for cooking everything possible over fire, so the kitchen had his portable fire burner running (and smoking) in addition to the usual machines.

The highest-scoring dish at the heat final was Andrew's 'Oggy, Oggy, Oggy', a main dish of beef tomahawks served suspended on coals, with swede, onions, chervil chutney, potato fondant completing a stone-age theme. It scored 39 out of 40. In second place was Nick's 'Balloon Girl', a dessert inspired by Banksy that featured cheesecake hearts with raspberry and rose cluster balloons, served on a shreddable and edible white base decorated with a Banksy-style girl executed in chocolate gel.

Once again my favourite dish was provided by the runner-up: Nick's 'Savory Crocodile', which bore a strong resemblance to Quentin Blake's illustration in Roald Dahl's 'The Enormous Crocodile', was
a venison Wellington with sausage meat legs, encased in green pastry decorated with eyes, scales, and teeth, served with a gherkin gravy on the side. I still don't know exactly what that is, but the judges seemed to enjoy it!

Answer: Mark Threadgill

The Wales heat featured the competition's youngest entrant, 23-year-old Georgia Sommerin, who was the runner up. Her fish dish, 'The Important Message', was inspired by an episode of 'Adventures of Portland Bill' in which confusion over interpreting a message played a key role. Her take on fish and chips was served to the judges' table accompanied by small flags and cards indicating how to hold the flags to represent various letters. the link to the story became clear as the judges tried to follow the instructions on their individual cards, and found themselves receiving nonsense from each other - everyone had a different semaphore setting for each letter!

Mark's starter, 'It's a Fire! Call Sam!' was inspired by Fireman Sam (as was Georgia's 'Sam's Lunch'). The smoked and pickled carrots served with lentils in foam were presented under a cloche topped by a fireman's hard hat.

Simmie Vedi was eliminated after the fish, and Tom Westerland after the dessert.

Answer: Danielle Heron

Danielle's dishes were inspired by a number of sources familiar even to overseas viewers: 'Eat Like a Womble', her starter, was a luxurious mushroom dish inspired by the fact that the narrator of this television show came from Lancashire; her main was 'Paddington's First Chinese New Year', a Chinese-themed dish inspired by an episode of that animated television show; her desert, 'Builder's Tea and Cake' was a tribute to the animated show created in Birmingham, featuring poached pears served with Earl Grey custard and tea ice cream. Her fish dish, 'Saving the Oceans', saw plaice presented on assorted greens with cucumber pearls, topped with oyster foam; this and her main both got the highest marks from the judges, scoring 35 out of 40.

Runner-up László Nagy had a tough day in the kitchen, with several dishes not working out as well for the judges as they had in the preliminary cook. His highest score of 26 came for 'Not So Fish Pie', inspired by Liverpool poet Roger McGough's 'Poetry Pie'. It contained fish mousse formed into fish-finger shapes and fried, with mussels and halibut, and was served with a potato smiley-face.

Sam Grainger was eliminated after the fish dish, and Caroline Martins after the dessert.

Answer: Adam Handling

This was Adam's second time in the Great British Menu competition; in 2022 he made the final week, but did not get a dish through to the banquet. This year he was determined to do better.

Both Adam and runner-up Mark McCabe took inspiration from Kenneth Graham's 'The Wind in the Willows' for their main dishes. Adam's 'Ratty's Picnic' was a picnic basket with 19 elements that got 10 points from veteran judge Tom Aikens in the first round; Mark prepared 'Badger's Set', a hogget dish served with candles made from fat carved off the rack. Both of them also used the comic 'The Beano': Mark for his mushroom porridge starter 'Behind Bars', and Adam for his dessert, 'Food Fight'. The latter scored 38 out of 40 at the judges' table, the highest-scoring dish of the heat.

Tunde Abifarin was eliminated after the fish, and Kevin Dalgleish after the dessert.

Answer: Avi Shashidhara

The highest-scoring dish in this heat was Avi's starter, 'Scrambled Snake by the Lake', inspired by the children's picture book 'The Gruffalo'. The dish was a feast of Indian flavours, a vegetable medley served with yogurt and chutney, topped by fried spirals of a spicy dough which scored 37 points from the judges. He continued with 'Fish, Chips and Beans' (inspired by an episode of Mr Bean), a bass and coriander chutney parcel wrapped in a banana leaf, served with fennel and chickpea salad; 'What's a Squab' paid tribute to the 'Fantastic Mr Fox' movie, featuring roast squab with pumpkin and girolles served on wood trunk slice, under Mr Fox on cloche.

Runner-up Robbie Lorraine took inspiration from Winnie the Pooh, Captain Pugwash, Paddington Bear and Tenniel's illustrations for 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. This led to his dessert, 'My Queen of Hearts', which unfortunately had technical issues on judging day, and didn't live up to its promise. The chocolate mousse hearts at its centre didn't set well, and broke, but the cherry sour cocktails and white chocolate playing cards were more successful.

Brian Danclair was eliminated after the fish, and Budgie Montoya after the dessert.

Answer: Gemma Austin

Gemma Austin was back for her third (and, she stated, final) attempt at the competition. In 2022 she had been runner-up in the Northern Ireland Heat, so it was promising to make it to the final week.

Matt Jordan was eliminated after the fish, and John Hollywood after the dessert. His elimination was based on the pre-desserts, as he was tied with Kerry Toper, the eventual runner-up for the heat. Matt and John had each produced a dish called Puffin Rock (inspired by the Irish animated children's show of that name); Matt's was a cod and seaweed salad with three purees, while John's was a hake and cauliflower steak dish.

The judges' scores left both Gemma and Kerry on the same total score for their four dishes, so they proceeded to consider the tie-breakers. Kerry's canapé (beef tartare tart) had received one vote, while Gemma's cheese & onion gougčre got three. Voting on the pre-dessert went exactly the other way, with Kerry's apple crumble bite selected by three judges, and Gemma's pineapple mango salsa by only one. This left them still tied, so Andi was called on to cast her deciding vote, and Gemma made it through, by the narrowest possible margin. Had Kerry's starter not encountered production problems that led her to a time penalty and an incomplete dish, she would probably have been the winner.

Both competitors produced spectacular desserts for the judges. Gemma scored 35 points for 'The BFG's BFG (Black Forest Gateau)', cherry compote, almond joconde sponge, mascarpone and amaretto cream in a shell made to look like a cherry, served with chocolate ice cream. Kerry's 'The Green Crayon' was inspired by a book whose author happened to be the week's guest judge; she received 38 points for her white chocolate tube filled with cheesecake, accompanied by candied almonds and jam.

Answer: Tom Shepherd

This heat turned into the battle of the Toms/Thoms. Kareem Roberts was eliminated after the fish and Marianne Lumb (who had produced a vegan main dish of roasted cauliflower and hazelnut Bearnaise accompanied by varied vegetables arranged to imitate a hedge row) after the dessert. This left Thom Bateman and Tom Shepherd to cook for the judges.

Thom introduced the judges to the local beef and vegetable stew called lobby in his main dish ('May un Mar Lady') that was inspired by a long-running local comic strip.

Tom produced the two most exciting dishes of the heat. His dessert, 'No Ordinary Schoolboy' was a confection of banana mousse and popping candy in a white chocolate case that resembled a banana, accompanied by banana ice cream and banana cake score 10 points in the fist preparation, and 40 out of 40 from the judges, who declared it definitely Banquet-worthy. (Unfortunately, it came up against two other astounding dishes, and did not make the final banquet.) His main dish was inspired by the character Desperate Dan from 'The Dandy'. 'Desperate Dan's Cow Pie' was filled with a layer of sliced onions, one of sliced potatoes and some succulent braised beef cheek. Along with the cow horns projecting from the top of the pie, there was an accompanying side of sirloin served with glazed carrot and several purees.

Answer: Tom Shepherd

The first four days of Finals Week featured the eight regional winners presenting their dishes, one course each day, for the judges. Some contestants made significant changes to their dishes, in response to feedback during the heats. The canapés and pre-desserts were not cooked again, as they had only been used as tie-breakers in the heats. The panel of four judges scored the dishes, and the host announced the totals, with the highest-scoring dish being selected for the banquet.

Avi Shashidhara won the starter, with his 'Scrambled Snake by the Lake', which scored 38 points out of 40. Second was Danielle, whose 'Eat Like a Womble' scored 36 points, and there was a four-way tie for third place, with four chefs getting 30 points.

Nick Beardshaw won the fish dish with his 'A Moon Shaped Pool', which scored a perfect 40. Second was Adam, whose 'A Princess Should Not Have Weapons' garnered 37 points, and Will came third, gaining 36 points for 'Buried Treasure'.

Tom Shepherd was selected to present the main dish of the banquet (generally considered the most prestigious spot) when he scored 40 points for 'Cow Pie'. Adam placed second, scoring 38 for 'Ratty's Picnic', and Nick's 'Savoury Crocodile' was placed third.

The battle of the deserts saw Nick, Tom and Adam all score a perfect 40, so the final choice was made by Andi, who selected Adam's 'Food Fight' (with an added sour strawberry and marshmallow sorbet) to be served at the banquet.

The highest-scoring chef who did not have a dish selected for the banquet is given the task of preparing the canapé and cheese courses for the banquet. This year, that was Will Lockwood.

Answer: Adam Handling

As if it were not sufficiently challenging to prepare a superb dish with a complex presentation for the 100 banquet guests (and include some variant versions for those with dietary needs that make the standard dish inappropriate), contestants this year had to create their masterpieces with a distinctly restricted 200-year-old kitchen - Avi even had to work outdoors to prepare part of his starter, because there was only one hob for them all to share! The preparation day saw a lot of juggling and sharing of equipment.

Will's canapé for the banquet was titled 'Paddington's Marmalade Sandwich' - but it was distinctly more sophisticated than the name suggests, including truffles and chicken mousse.
Avi presented his 'Scrambled Snake by the Lake', with everyone helping assemble the 16 ingredients in a timely fashion.
Nick's 'Moon Shaped Pool' impressed the banquet guests as much as it had the judges during the competition. Inspired by a Radiohead album cover, the dish had an edible covering in the centre of which was an abstract swirling design that was different for each guest. As they poured the Thai sauce on, that central portion melted, and gave them access to the scallops below.
Tom elicited the hoped-for response to his 'Desperate Dan's Cow-Pie', and the mushroom Wellington vegetarian substitute went down well.
Adam led the team in assembling the complex 'Food Fight' (a dish of strawberries prepared in multiple ways and served with custard and cake, looking like a piece of abstract art), which was served by waiters in appropriate Beano-style red and black striped tops.
Will's cheese course (a new feature this year), called 'Get Offa My Cheese' and inspired by Wallace and Gromit, featured smoked cheese ice cream on ginger biscuits.

After they finished eating, guests were asked to rank the four featured dishes in order (canapé and cheese were not in the running), with their scores determining the winner of the competition. On his second attempt, Adam Handling was crowned Champion of Champions.