The Restaurant – grand final
Twins Laura and Jess, children's entertainers from London, and Royal Marine chef Jeremy and his wife Jane, a trainee teacher from Devon, have made it to the grand final of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two's The Restaurant (Wednesday 17 October, 8pm).
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The two remaining couples will now battle it out for the unique opportunity to go into business with legendary chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.
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Says Raymond: "I have been enormously impressed by how much effort all nine couples have put in to the competition – their determination to make it work has been obvious. In this final challenge I wanted to test the couples' flexibility and resilience.
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"When I opened my first restaurant in Oxfordshire I brought a little bit of France to the UK, so I wanted the couples to take a little bit of Britain to France and see how they fared. It is all credit to them that they made a good impression. They had to create something at the drop of a hat and they all did really well.
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"Our final couples have shown fantastic teamwork, winning restaurant of the week more than once along the way. They have excellent concepts and they have shown strength together, becoming driven teams who are able to pass on their knowledge."
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Nine couples started out in the competition and to test their skills all the couples had to run their own restaurants for the very first time. But to help him make this week's ultimate decision, Raymond tells the finalists to take their restaurants to his home town of Besançon in France – the place where he grew up and started his own career.
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The two couples, however, are shocked to learn that they have less than 48 hours to reopen their own restaurant there for one night, and introduce the French to their British cuisine.
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This proves to be the toughest of all the challenges the couples have been given during the series. They must come up with a menu that will appeal to the French, negotiate for ingredients in Raymond Blanc's hometown market, and train their new French team.
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There are tears and tantrums as the kitchen and front of house struggle to cope with the packed restaurants, as well as pleasing Raymond, his family and, most of all, the woman who taught him to cook ... his mother Anne Marie.
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Will she like her first whole-food burger served by the twins' Brown And Green restaurant, or will she prefer Jeremy and Jane's taster menu extravaganza served from Eight In The Country?
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Laughs Raymond: "My maman tasted her first lamb burger and she asked for the recipe – an accolade indeed."
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At stake this week is the chance of a lifetime – a restaurant in partnership with and backed by Raymond Blanc.
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