Great British Menu North East Starter and Fish (BBC Two Tuesday 31 January 2023)

Today Tuesday 31 January 2023, there is a new episode of Great British Menu.

North East Starter and Fish Chef and TV personality Andi Oliver is back with a new season of Great British Menu, alongside judges Tom Kerridge (three Michelin stars), Nisha Katona (restaurateur and broadcaster), and Ed Gamble (comedian and foodie).

Celebrating the finest of British animation and illustration across mediums, from cartoons and comics to video games, this year’s event is inspired by Paddington Bear’s 65th birthday and features a culinary competition among professional chefs. They’ll have to come up with tantalising new foods that both tell a tale and pique the diner’s interest.

In the first episode of the nine-part series, renowned chefs from the North East will compete to win over Veteran Judge, Michelin-starred Angela Hartnett OBE.

There are four highly regarded chefs vying for the top slot. Grimsby native and Head Chef at Scunthorpe’s one-Michelin-starred Winteringham Fields, Gareth Bartram, will return with renewed zeal to win the challenge and secure a spot at the Banquet. An additional three cooks have joined the fray: Rory Welch, Head Chef at Träkol in the city of Newcastle, with a Michelin plate, who brings his passion for cooking over open fire; Will Lockwood, Head Chef at one Michelin starred Roots in York with his modern, ingredient-led cooking; Cal Byerley, the creative, seasonal chef behind Pine with two stars to his name; and

This year’s first course is vegan, and it features a watercress velouté inspired by the Soup Dragons’ green broth in the stop-motion animation classic The Clangers, a mushroom broth served with barbecued lion’s mane mushrooms and fresh tin loaf in honour of North Eastern author and illustrator Kylie Dixon, and a potato and truffle spiral with Jerusalem artichokes. 

There is a potato and truffle spiral with Jerusalem artichoke puree – a tribute to The Cribs’ animated music video ‘Mirror Kissers’, and a celebration of Hartlepool cartoonist Reg Smythe’s Andy Capp in the form of a rich broth enriched with local stout and grains served with a cap.  Who will Angela give her highest rating?

One chef will be eliminated after the fish course, so there is added pressure to make a good impression on Angela. What will she choose between the two Paddington dishes? Which would you rather try: a dish inspired by Paddington’s animated fishing excursion that involves burying shellfish in a sheep’s cheese emulsion, or a dangerous entire plaice stuffed with seafood and roasted on the grill? There’s a brill dish inspired by the whistling Clangers, and there’s also a meal of pan-roasted plaice with a potato and trout roe sauce, all of which were inspired by the Just So Stories by South Shields illustrator Sheila Graber.

Airdate: Tuesday 31 January 2023 at 20:00 on BBC Two

Season 18 Episode 1

Top chefs from across the nation compete for the chance to cook a four-course banquet for a high-profile figure.

Featured image credit: BBC Two