The contestants are walking at some high up location in central Melbourne. They come to see the judges standing with one single mystery box.
Mel has
started off by given a super long speech about Melbourne. Andy now reveals the
Mystery box – which has a phone and a map. They have to go out into the city, somehow
experience the urban culture that the whole city of Melbourne has to offer in a
few hours, take a photo and make a dish inspired by that photo.
Now they all
get their *Samsung Galaxy* phones and head off. Product placement and all is fine,
but this seems a bit much.
This is
arguably the most random and vague challenge they’ve ever set. Any photo can be
interpreted as anything – so basically the contestants will just cook whatever the
hell they want.
Depinder who
has caught on to this and has already decided what she wants to cook – says “this
is one of the best challenges so far”. Either that or she has not realized just
how random this challenge could get.
Tommy has
taken pics of random laneways which reminds him of …..Vietnam. Well played
Tommy.
Brent has
photographed a beer keg – he is actually linking to his time here. Will probably
make a bar snack.
Kishwar is from
Melbourne and has gone straight to the National Gallery of Victoria (world
famous in India vibes?). She takes one super abstract photo and says “She has
her money shot” – showing all of us that she has been at home for ages and has
clearly never had to google the term ‘money shot’.
Elise is also
from Melbourne – she has gone to the Botanical gardens to take a pic of a
cactus which reminds her of a deceased friend. Damn this suddenly got super
intense.
Pete says he
likes Federation Square because the buildings remind him of minimalist food. He
takes a picture of a staircase?
This is all wildly
abstract – we will see people who will try to “hit the brief” and represent
their photos on the plate, and then people who will play smart, come up with
some story and just make whatever they want.
Apparently the
top 4 cook in immunity challenge tomorrow.
Tommy is
getting chillies in his pocket for some reason – like he has a whole ass basket
right there!
Scott has
taken a B&W photo of a coffee shop which has inspired him to make a
monochromatic dessert. So like, literally any B&W photo ever taken anywhere.
Maja has
decided to phone it in. She has taken a picture of street art and says its
grungy so she is making jalapeno poppers. Zero effort.
Justin has
taken a photo of a wall sign saying be true to yourself or somesuch – so he is
making something “authentic” – his mom’s chicken curry. Smartly played to completely
sidestep the brief.
This is exactly
why “taking inspiration” type challenges are stupid.
Depinder has
taken a picture of a café and is making choux pastry. So basically any establishment
that serves anything sweet = inspiration it seems.
On bright
side, she is finally cooking something that is not Indian – she is making chocolate
and raspberry choux pastry. She wants to show off her skills to judges.
Brent is
doing something called “hosier lane fried chicken” – he thinks of pubs and beer.
Andy, who was totally ok with Maja making literal batter fried jalapenos, says
to Brent that this fried chicken has to be the BEST THEY HAVE EVER EATEN.
Totally no double standards, and completely realistic, measured feedback there.
Poor Brent is
going all out to make this the crunchiest chicken around.
Aaron is
inspired by the paving lol.
Minoli has
also decided to give up on this inspiration from photo nonsense and is making a
dish called four seasons in one day – which has nothing whatsoever to do with
her photo.
Kishwar is
amazingly not making Bengali curry today. She wants to actually replicate the photo
on the plate. She’s making fish cerviche with rainbow pickled vegetables and an
‘angry red’ jam.
She says this
is very risky because this for once she is going outside comfort zone – but on
the bright side, at least she hasn’t cried even once this episode.
Elise is
pissed that it is such a broad brief – how is one supposed to mug for such a
syllabus. Anyway, she is making a dish that reminds her of her friend.
Sabina has
taken picture of a some place that ….grows food. So now she is making something
that is ‘urban relevant’, by which for some reason she means vegan. Ugh.
Linda’s
picture is of a coffeeshop. So she is making doughnuts with coffee ice cream. But her ice cream has gone into the churner
waaay too late, and she forgot to put on her frier for the doughnuts.
Brent seems
to be stressing out like anything – poor guy. What an asshole Andy is for this
total chutiya behaviour.
Depinder’s
choux buns look great – another top dish coming up for sure.
Pete seems to
have to do some 100 things with only 10 mins to go. He says he has to finish 30
mins of work in 10 mins. He’s gone waaaaaay overboard – and surely nothing good
can come of this.
Linda’s coffee
ice cream has not worked, so she is literally serving coffee now. One small
silver lining is that it is Vietnamese iced coffee.
Tommy has
started plating his banh beo. Mel is there trying his food for some reason at
this super crucial time.
Pete is doing
some 10 things and Maja is chilling having made her one thing.
The Tasting
Kishwar’s
dish kinda looks like her picture - but looks utterly disgusting. Its basically
a piece of raw fish with some pickled vegetables of different colours on top.
Andy says he
loved the dish. Jock says do this more often – like please for fucks sake do
something different – ek aadmi kitna Bengali curry khayega?
Tommy’s Banh
beo is unsurprisingly brilliant. Andy says he should sell this. Jock says
beautiful thing to eat. Mel says it was 3D and jumps off the plate – a description
that no one has understood at all.
I really,
really like Tommy as a contestant, but got to say pretty much same criticism as
Kishwar – can’t keep making only kind of cuisine. He is a Kishwar that doesn’t
cry in every single episode.
Pete’s dish
was cooked well but lacked finesse.
Scott’s dish
is not remotely monochrome, so he has changed his story. How he is giving some
gas about how the picture reminds him of childhood and aero bar and stuff.
Anyway, the judges buy it because there is no way to dispute anything since
this is a pointless challenge with basically such a wide brief, that there is
no brief at all.
Minoli’s dish
has too much stuff on the plate. Andy also says its too sweet.
Aaron’s
pavement tastes like pavement. Jock tells him politely that his execution wasn’t
good – in other words, the dish sucked.
Linda’s dish
I gotta say is extremely simple. She basically has got doughnuts with iced coffee.
Mel likes the doughnuts – says its very simple but its meaningful. Jock also
says the texture of doughnut is epic. Andy likes the coffee. Amazingly she
might actually make it through with literally a doughnut.
Elise’s dish
is delicious. Mel says deep with flavour and life, feels gentle and considered.
Again no one has a clue what the hell this means, and we move on.
Justin has
made chicken jhalfrezi. It has turned out well.
Maja’s jalapeno
poppers and chips are ….okay I guess. Everyone knew she was phoning it in.
Sabina’s dish
(mushroom taco) is delicious despite being vegan.
Depinder’s choux
pastry is perfect. Andy says its absolute textbook and then adds that he is worried
for the rest of the contestants. There are 13 people here – what is the need
for saying she is the favourite to win in every single cook. Puts unnecessary
pressure on her and shows favoritism.
Jock also cannot
fault the dish. Mel says it shows personality and sense of place – she is on a
roll today with inane comments that have nothing to do with food.
Jock also
puts favouritism and says he’ll eat his shoe if its not a top 4 dish today. But
he ruins it by asking if she got the joke. That’s the second time in 3 episodes
he’s done this.
Brent poor guy
is still worried about whether he has been able to produce the BEST FRIED
CHICKEN IN THE WORLD (which seems like overkill for a fucking mystery box
challenge). I mean one person literally served a single doughnut with coffee,
and another served poppers with chips.
Mel says it
was fantastic. Andy says only thing to change would be to salt in buttermilk. Jock
loved it and actually goes over and hugs Brent because Andy has been a dick to
him through this episode and tells him that Andy is a chut whose views don’t
matter at all.
The results
are a bit surprising to be honest.
We have Depinder,
Tommy, Kishwar, and Linda making it.
Depinder and
Tommy were expected but the other two seem like weird choices. Especially Linda
– who literally served a doughnut (with coffee!). I would imagine Elise or
Sabina were in with a shout – or even Justin or Scott.
But clearly,
the judges seem to be going with some totally different criteria in their heads.
Tomorrow we have
an immunity challenge and I am rooting for Tommy.
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