The Restaurant: The Welsh Wok has cooked its last

From takeaways to fine dining, the challenge for our restaurateurs took them from one extreme to another. The three couples who faced this week's challenge were each to cater and serve a dinner party for twenty people, hosted by local well-to-do residents.

Alasdair and James were cooking for a couple of professional event managers who had invited some of their most important clients to the dinner. Laura and Peter's client was Helen, a society lady who was flying in friends from all over Europe, while Helen and Stephen had to provide six courses for a judge, his wife and their guests their Tudor stately home.

Alasdair and James, assisted by Lindsie and Michele, started off well and left their clients confident that they would deliver as promised. Alas it soon fell apart. James, as usual, turned into a monster when he got into the kitchen. Alasdair, as usual, dithered and chewed his lip a lot, and allowed a persuasive Frenchman to sell him wine at almost £20 bottle when his wine budget only ran to £200.

Miraculously they somehow managed to salvage the event from what looked set to be a surefire disaster. The guests were happy, the clients were happy, Alasdair and James were happy.... but would Raymond Blanc be happy?

Laura and Peter were a bit taken aback when they heard that their client had decided on a South American theme - not a cuisine they were at all familiar with. Their internet research didn't inspire them either as most of the recipes they found seemed to consist largely of raw fish and conger eel. With Tim's help they put together a menu which satisfied their client, but on the night the lamb was overcooked and a lot of the starters were returned barely touched. The meal finished on a high though, chocolate brownie pudding was a triumph.

Helen and Stephen arrived at the Tudor stately home to discover that their extremely exacting client insisted they must have six courses and that venison and pigeon would be provided - shot by the judge himself. This couple had found themselves in the challenge because Raymond and his inspectors were not convinced that Helen was capable of any more than decent home cooking. Though very much out of their comfort zone they quickly rose to the challenge and Helen particularly seemed to relish it. Assisted by Russell they cooked and served a meal that won high praise from their hosts and all their guests.

Raymond decided that Helen and Stephen's restaurant Nel's would stay open, so the choice was between The Gallery and The Welsh Wok. There were very good arguments for both to be closed, but in the end it must have been James's cooking that saved the Gallery once again, as well as Peter's diffidence and inability to take command in his own kitchen. Can The Gallery duo manage to survive another week, or will they suffer one catastrophe too many? We will have to wait until next week to find out the answer.

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