Urban Chef

[petrus]

After watching the first two episodes of this new BBC programme, I am not very impressed. It is based on a chef who wants to run a restaurant sourced from produce in the London area. Too rendolent of Jamie Oliver for my taste (and not enough cooking)

What do others think?

Petrus

[britcook]

I think his girlfriend's comment, "He's a nutter" was fairly apt. Good idea for sourcing but it don't look too good, olive oil is going to be a real problem...as is practically everything else.

[Basildog]

Is he serving wine/cooking with wine? Many vines inside the M25?

Rice? etc etc

The list is long.

Just cos it's local, doesn't mean it's the best.We don't stock Cornish wines as i personally don't rate them, especially for value.I use local when its good stuff, not because it's local.

[June Pickering]

Of all the cookery programmes I've watched in my two years of living here, this is definitely the worst. That guy putting his finger in the honey container was just too much to bear. Will I get my own show if I write in with a quirky idea for a kitchen? The premise is interesting but so unrealistic. Why can't he use produce from Surrey which is very close to London and of great quality? We even have a vineyard of note. He should use the train not the Tube. I suppose he'll triumph by the last episodes and I wish him well if he got that new place up and going.

[Matthew Grant]

June, he has got the place running, there are reviews here somewhere.

I'm in agreement with June and Basildog, I haven't seen the show but can't help feeling that this is purely a publicity stunt, why would you want to theme your restaurant on produce from such a narrow (largely urban) area. It may be interesting as an experiment but surely long term this is destined not to work?

[Charlie O]

Link to Konstram thread here.

I've only seen half of one show but I quite enjoyed parts of it.

I wouldn't call it a cooking show though - I would see it more as entertainment (with the guy hunting for mushrooms with someone who only eats roadkill) with an interesting message behind it.

Taken along with the Great British Menu, the BBC have become rather zealous about paying attention to sourcing ingredients but, if you accept that these shows aren't aimed at the serious cook, who can argue with that?

(Ok - this one takes it to extremes, and in the GBM series the concept proved better than its execution )

[Corinna Dunne]

Taken along with the Great British Menu, the BBC have become rather zealous about paying attention to sourcing ingredients but, if you accept that these shows aren't aimed at the serious cook, who can argue with that?

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I haven't seen the show yet... but fully agree with Charlie O's point. Anything directed at the mainstream, that encourages people to think more about locally sourced product is a good thing. The change will only come about if it is from the ground up, not from the pontificating top down. I really hope that we're turning the corner. And it's good to see the media playing a rule in this... even if the execution isn't always perfect.

[Carlovski]

Sourcing locally, and in the amount of area enclosed by the M25 is a worthwhile and noble idea. But the actual area enclosed by the M25, i.e London is a rubbish place to try and source decent ingredients. Restaurants in New York which try and source locally do it by buying from the markets, which bring produce from New York STATE - a bit more sensible. As a gimmick it might work, but culinary wise I think he should be more selective - give preference to the most local producers but temper it with consideration of quality and availability.

Fish caught in Essex and brought to Billingsgate is local as far as I'm concerned - it's not a product of modern logistics - it's been going on since roman times.

[Corinna Dunne]

I absolutely agree with you. And it seems in this case, the "angle" has taken precedent over the message. So probably a particularly flawed way of hammering it home.

[petrus]

I absolutely agree with you.  And it seems in this case, the "angle" has taken precedent over the message.  So probably a particularly flawed way of hammering it home.

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Let me preface this by sayng that I have not (yet) see Wedensday's episode, but it seemed to be the programme was a sort of "double bluff" ie here is someone wo thinks he can source from within London, let's see how he has to compromise.

Anyway, it might be more interesting than AWT v Galton Blackiston

[June Pickering]

As a reality show per se, this one isn't the worst around. I've begun thinking if the insistence on using high price, local produce (agreeably of high quality) doesn't also increase prices to the clientele of a restaurant. With prices already being so inflated in the UK, I wonder how many want to pay extra for the pleasure of eating rooftop honey or eels from the Thames. I guess the answer is many people. Maybe with the Eurostar terminal shifting up his way, this chef will be in the centre of the action soon!