The Restaurant opens its doors for a third series, as world-renowned chef, Raymond Blanc, along with partners David Moore and Sarah Willingham, is on the hunt for a couple to back in a new venture. This time, all three are investing their own money in the winners’ restaurant, so the stakes are high from the off.

For the nine couples picked to take part it is an opportunity to change their lives for ever, and among the pairs ready to prove they have the recipe for success are best friends, husband-and-wife teams, a mother and son and Army colleagues.

But with the restaurant industry going through tough times, it’s going to be harder than ever for the couples to prove they can succeed. Called to Bristol to meet Blanc they are introduced to the world of the high street restaurant.

They are given just one hour to cook a dish that sells their culinary skills as well as their vision for a restaurant. They need a strong partnership and a restaurant pitch that stands out if they are going to make it through.

Some couples impress but others crack under the pressure and a shock announcement proves no one is safe.

Only the best will go on to the next stage and move one step closer to the prize.

Thursday 28 October
8.00-9.00pm BBC TWO

TOP chef Raymond Blanc is looking for couples to compete in the third series of his BBC2 show, The Restaurant.

If you’re over 18 and fancy a go, log on to: bbc.co.uk/restaurant.

Michele English (34) and Russell Clement (30) are the winners of BBC Two’s The Restaurant.

In last night’s final they triumphed to win the once-in-a-lifetime prize of joining Raymond Blanc in opening a new restaurant.

Michele and Russell have an exciting few months ahead of them as they source a restaurant with Raymond.

While doing this, and planning for its launch next year, they will have the opportunity to gain even more experience and knowledge to further their development in every skill needed to open a restaurant by spending some time training at Brasserie Blanc in Bristol.

Front-of-house Michele comments: “When we applied for The Restaurant, we dreamed of winning and now that dream has come true we are so excited about the future and still can’t believe we are really going into business with Raymond Blanc!”

Adds chef Russell: “I am thrilled to have achieved what we set out to achieve after what has been a long and sometimes difficult journey. I am so looking forward to new and exciting times.”

Over eight weeks, viewers have seen nine couples competing for the incredible opportunity to go into business with legendary chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.

In the final, The Cheerful Souls Michele and Russell pitted their talents against front-of-house Alasdair Hooper and chef James Knight-Pachecho whose restaurant was called The Gallery.

For their ultimate showdown, the couples set off on board the Orient Express and were challenged to cook for, serve and delight 40 discerning guests, who included Raymond Blanc himself along with his tough inspectors, Sarah Willingham and David Moore.

With tiny galleys, narrow corridors and carriages swaying and rocking beneath them, the couples had to devise and deliver a lavish menu to passengers who were expecting nothing but the absolute best.

Both pairs worked tirelessly, and each had their share of triumphs and troubles, but it was Michele and Russell who ultimately proved to Raymond that they had what it takes.

Says Raymond: “I chose Michele and Russell as my winners because they worked together as the most outstanding team, they had the best and most consistent skills as a chef and front-of-house partnership and their restaurant regularly made a profit. I very much look forward to opening a restaurant with them.”

The runners-up are best friends James Knight-Pacheco and Alasdair Hooper. Faced with the elimination challenge more times than any other couple, they valiantly battled it through to make the final.

And, for them, there was also good news. Raymond offered them the opportunity to come and spend some time working and training with his team.

Raymond explains: “I couldn’t just say good-bye to James and Alasdair as they were such worthy finalists so I have offered them three months’ training at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons to help them with their dream of opening a fine dining restaurant.”

James commented: “Obviously, we’re incredibly disappointed not to have won, but we are so pleased for Michele and Russell and couldn’t have lost to a more formidable opponent. We are 100% behind them and can’t wait to go along to their opening night.”

Alasdair continued: “This has been an amazing experience, a fantastic journey, and to see The Gallery in reality was the realisation of a dream we’ve had for years.

“This can only lead on to better things and we still hope to open a restaurant one day, but with the addition of a spell checker and some valium (maybe more for me than James)!”

It’s pork night in tonight’s episode of The Restaurant and Pete and Laura are in a pickle about what to serve their vegetarians!

Tuesday 23 September – 8pm – BBC Two

Last week, nine couples lined up to take part in the ongoing challenge to open a restaurant good enough to impress Raymond Blanc. Just eight restaurants were prepared for launch night, and only seven actually opened. James and Alasdair’s dream was halted at the last moment by a gas leak. Mike and Harriet’s Blue Goose opened its doors to the public, but with such catastrophic results that Raymond has already warned them that they’re in real danger of being closed.

In tonight’s episode, Raymond sets the eight couples their first major test – letting their customers pay only what they think their meals are worth. All the restaurants must decide how to encourage the locals to give generously. In prosperous Marlow, chef James at The Gallery rests his hopes on haute cuisine, whereas Stephen and Helen cater for families who probably won’t pay so much per head, so the pressure is on for them to ensure a full house. But if a restaurant is too full and customers are made to wait, they are unlikely to pay.

The eight couples walk a tightrope between being too full and too empty, between buying in too little food and too much. In addition, eagle-eyed inspectors Sarah Willingham and David Moore are also snooping around making their own judgements. Helped by their insights, Raymond must decide which of the couples has fared worst and face his weekly challenge… and the risk of losing their restaurant.

You can tune into the show at 9pm tonight and tomorrow night.

I love The Restaurant and am thoroughly looking forward to the watching the second episode tonight on BBC two.

The clip above was from last weeks show and shows one of the couples having their dish ripped to shreds by the judges…..It looked ok to me.

Watch the clip below for a preview of tonight’s episode.

As world-renowned chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc returns to BBC Two for a new series of The Restaurant, he shares his culinary vision with Catharine Davey.

Born in Besancon, France, in 1949, Raymond is acknowledged as one of the finest chefs in the world. His exquisite cooking has received tributes from every national and international guide to culinary excellence and his hotel and restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, in Great Milton, Oxford, is the only country-house hotel in the UK to have received two Michelin stars for a total of 22 years.

Raymond began his love affair with gastronomy at an early age, learning a respect for the natural world from his parents.

“I come from a working-class family and I am one of five children,” he says. “In order to feed such a big family with little money, we quickly learnt to respect food. And this is the first thing that I pass on to any of the people who come to work with me – they must respect the food! I was lucky to live in a very rural part of France and I had a wonderful introduction to food and to connecting food with family and with seasonality – with the rhythm, the mood and the cycle of the seasons. I learnt, from an early age, about the importance of sitting down together and sharing a meal.”

As The Restaurant returns for a second series, nine very different pairs of contestants compete to win the coveted prize of going into partnership with Raymond. Each week, Raymond shares his culinary knowledge with the couples and puts them through a series of tough challenges, designed to identify those with the flair, enthusiasm and ability to succeed in the catering trade.

“This is reality TV in its truest sense,” says Raymond. “There is something very real about the show and that is the prize that follows it. The prize is to come into a partnership with me. I aim to dedicate a serious amount of my time and a lot of resources from my company to help these young people really make a successful restaurant.”

Raymond, along with eagle-eyed industry experts Sarah Willingham, one-time owner of The Bombay Bicycle Club, and David Moore, manager of two Michelin-starred London eatery Pied a Terre, knows exactly what he is looking for.

“We talk a lot about passion,” he says. “But passion is not enough – you need willpower. Very few people have the ability to make a dream real and, to make it real, they have to face some very serious challenges. Very quickly, we separate the dreamers from the real, potential candidates.”

Raymond refers back to Jane and Jeremy, the winners of the coveted prize in the first series. Despite the fact that the couple have now returned to Cornwall, where they want to open their own restaurant, Raymond talks about how the experience was a positive one for all concerned.

“Jane and Jeremy were the deserved winners of series one. They showed great strengths when they ran their restaurant,” he says. “They worked with me for eight months and, for all of us, there was a fantastic learning curve. And I believe that they walk away from this much better equipped to run a successful restaurant. I wish them great success in the future and they know I will be on hand to offer my support and advice should they want it.”

Raymond knows better than anyone what it takes to achieve success. At the age of 28, he opened his first restaurant, Le Quat’ Saisons, in Summertown, Oxford. After just one year, the restaurant was named Egon Ronay Restaurant of the Year and a host of other accolades, including Michelin stars and Pestle & Mortar awards, followed.

“We are looking for a pair with complimentary strengths – a proper partnership,” he says. “We are also looking for the ability to drive a team. And we are searching for important features, like good business sense, the ability to communicate – that is hugely important – and we want to see great creativity.”

Without formal training, Raymond attributes his own culinary brilliance to his early familiarity with the basic rhythms of the natural world.

“At the age of seven, my father gave me a handful of soil, not just to look at or to smell but to taste,” says Raymond. “How right he was! In a handful of soil there are numerous trace elements. And by looking at the soil – tasting it – you can identify a clay soil or an acidic soil. You can understand what should grow in that soil and at what time of year. And, of course, I became a hunter-gatherer. Like any other boy in my village, I knew where to find mushrooms, fruit… All this seasonal knowledge was passed on to me very early in my life.”

In his own working practices and through The Restaurant, Raymond is keen to promote an awareness of a sustainable food philosophy.

“We have about 40 farmers who work with us at Le Manoir,” he says. “We have always tried to source our produce from local farms. The garden – like the garden that I grew up in – is so important. The garden is the soul of food. I do not want produce that has been flown in from New Zealand – which has been pumped up with fertilisers, pesticides and sulphur dioxide! I want something that has been grown locally. But I think things are starting to happen, customers are now interested in the provenance of ingredients. And people are starting to learn how to grow produce again – in allotments, in their gardens, even on their windowsills. We are really reconnecting with the deeper meaning of gastronomy. And it is a gastronomy that is not elitist – it is inclusive.”

Equally, Raymond is a businessman and realist and he fully comprehends that the financial realities of running a successful restaurant are not always compatible with a wholly organic approach to purchasing.

“The great news is that the restaurant business is reconnecting with its soul – with its core values,” he says. “Farmers are re-discovering their own regions. It’s a really exciting moment because ecological and environmental issues have become the most important thing. But it all comes at a cost. Of course, a high end restaurant can afford to buy organic produce, but in a high-street restaurant that has to offer lower pricing, buying organic can, of course, pose a great problem. The key is to do a little bit but not so much that you go out of business. You cannot teach anyone anything if you are closed!”

Raymond hopes that the future of the food industry is one which will continue to embrace environmental issues.

“It is important to have a sense of place,” he says. “As we increasingly are becoming citizens of the world, I think it is important to rediscover a sense of belonging. In the past, we have simply reduced food down to a mere commodity. Now it is time to reconnect with the true meaning of gastronomy because the current approach is not sustainable.”

And, for himself, this culinary master has two wishes for the future – to achieve a third Michelin star for his beloved Le Manoir and to find the perfect winning couple for this series of The Restaurant.

“It’s a huge prize!” says Raymond. “Most people work a lifetime to get their own restaurant. So, to be given not only a restaurant but all the existing infrastructure around it is of great value. And it’s a huge responsibility for me to choose the right pair. Viewers will see some excellent competitors in this series. But can they run a successful restaurant? A good restaurant is meant to make things look easy but, beneath the surface, is a great complexity – like the engine of a Rolls Royce. That is the great trick – the secret magic of success…”

Tonight at 8:00pm – BBC2

World-renowned chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc returns to BBC Two for The Restaurant, the series in which nine couples battle it out for a once in a lifetime opportunity to open a new restaurant with him.

Passionate Blanc will be hands-on in his role as master restauranteur. To inspire the couples for each week’s challenges, he will share and demonstrate his creative talents with them in a search to find the pair with the flair, enthusiasm and abilities necessary to succeed in the tough but hugely rewarding world to which he has dedicated his life.

Each couple competes to prove they have the vision and talent to create their perfect restaurant and open it to the paying public. They must turn their business into a success or risk facing one of Raymond’s rigorous challenges.

Each week’s losing couple will have their restaurant closed – for good.

Adding to the pressure are eagle-eyed inspectors and industry experts Sarah Willingham and David Moore, on a mission to scrutinise all aspects of the couples’ restaurants, food, service and business acumen.

Each week, Raymond eliminates one couple until just the triumphant winners remain.

Co-executive Producer, Patrick Uden, explains the concept behind the series: “Almost anyone who can cook or is a great host has at some point been told, ‘You should run a restaurant’. And many people see it as a dream of liberation from the nine-to-five drudgery of their current life.

“Raymond Blanc embodies that dream; he has elevated the idea of a restaurant to a fairyland otherness and on entering his world the spirits are lifted.

“In The Restaurant, Raymond offers hope to those who aspire to enter this world, yet he is also all too aware of the dark side: the sheer hard graft required, the long hours, the problems that can arise at any time – staff not turning up, wrong deliveries, an oven breaking down, the list of pitfalls is seemingly endless.

“But for those with the right passion, skills and determination, the rewards can be great.”

Co-executive Producer, Chloe Solomon, continues: “Raymond is legendary for discovering talent. He fires-up the imagination and, because he is completely self-taught, knows all too well the value of knowledge and training.

“He has nurtured more Michelin-starred chefs and front of house managers than any other chef, and our couples hope he will spot that potential in them as he pushes, inspires and encourages them to fulfil their potential.

“More than anything, Raymond is excited by a desire and capacity to learn. This spirit of the possible is at the heart of The Restaurant.”

Tomorrow at 8:00pm – BBC2

BBC Two’s The Restaurant is set to return for a second series later this year.

In the show, world-renowned chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc offers one couple the opportunity of a lifetime – to go into business with him, opening their own restaurant..

The production team are now looking for potential applicants.

Application forms will be available from Tuesday 29 January via bbc.co.uk/restaurant.

Raymond Blanc comments: “I started with nothing, but hard work and passion have got me my dream so it is a privilege for me to be able to give this chance to others.

“What I’m looking for are nine couples who have the potential to really put themselves into this and become the best. I am not looking for lots of prior experience in the industry, what I want is people who share my love for the world of restaurants and who will commit themselves wholeheartedly to the challenge of creating good food and excellent service.”

In the series each of the couples are handed the keys to their own restaurant, which they must turn into their dream place and open to the paying public.

Over eight weeks, they are also put through a series of tough challenges designed to test specific culinary, business and front-of-house skills.

Raymond explains: “This time I’m going to be looking for even more determination, strength and heart. The business side will be as important as ever but I want to see even more passion in the kitchen and desire to give that excellent service.

“I’m looking forward to setting some tough culinary challenges so I can see what they are made of.”

The couples must prove to Raymond that they have what it takes to run a successful restaurant but, following each challenge, he and his panel of experts will decide which pair must close their restaurant doors for good and leave their dreams behind.

In the final episode, the two remaining couples battle it out for the coveted prize – a restaurant backed by Raymond Blanc.

Royal Marine cook Jeremy Hooper (33) and his wife Jane (29), a trainee teacher from Devon, have won BBC Two’s The Restaurant.

The couple seen winning in tonight’s programme will join forces with Raymond Blanc to open a new restaurant in Thame close to Raymond’s renowned Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons.

Says Jane: “We have won the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s what we’ve always dreamed of doing but we never imagined our dreams would become reality so soon, or with such an amazing mentor.

“We couldn’t wish for a more well-respected, knowledgeable, and experienced mentor than Raymond. We know that we still have a lot to learn and that it’s going to be very hard work, but we know we’ve got a great teacher and we are ready for our next challenge!”

Adds Jeremy: “We worked very hard and took the competition very seriously, and to win was an amazing achievement for us. We intend to focus and be 100% driven on making our partnership with Raymond a successful one.”

Over eight weeks viewers have seen the couple battle it out with the other contestants for the unique opportunity to go into business with legendary chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.

Says Raymond: “Jeremy and Jane have a passion. Jeremy’s background means that he can cook, but as restaurateurs consistently they have to be able to run front of house and make money. Over the weeks they have become a driven team who are able to pass on their knowledge to their staff.”

Adds Raymond: “I have been enormously impressed by how much effort all the couples have put in to the competition – their determination to make it work has been obvious.”

Nine couples started out in the competition and to test their skills they had to run their own restaurants for the very first time.

In the final, to help him make the ultimate and difficult decision, Raymond told the finalists Jeremy and Jane, and Laura and Jess to take their restaurants to his home town of Besançon in France – the place where he grew up and started his own career.

The two couples were shocked to learn that they had less than 48 hours to reopen their own restaurant there for one night and introduce the French to their British cuisine.

This proved to be the toughest of all the challenges the couples have been given during the series, and there were plenty of tears and tantrums as the kitchen and front of house struggled to cope with the packed restaurants, pleasing Raymond’s family and, most importantly, impressing the woman who taught him to cook … his mother Anne Marie.