After eight weeks of devoted television viewing where we discovered for sure that what chefs think is great is exactly the opposite from what judges, representing the informed diner, think is great - and vice versa - except perhaps everyone can spot an irritating Scottish comedienne when they see one but are too polite to say, we learned that Stoke-born chef Niall Keating was the winner of the fish course in the 2020 Great British Menu and furthermore, so immaculate was it that it won him the title of Great British Menu Champion of Champions 2020
He gave a commanding and stupendously calm performance in the GBM kitchen at the Banquet itself as he prepared 100 plates of his soon-to-be legendary Witches of the Northern Lights. The dish which was greeted in breathless wonderment by the diners and served in small witches’ cauldrons was made up of lobster and bone marrow with spring onion and chives and three squid ink-blackened tortellini with a lobster dashi. The dish and its title were inspired by the books of the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.
So a triumph for the West Midlander but not particularly for the West Midlands as he works at 2 Michelin-starred The Dining Room at Whatley Manor in the invented county of The Cotswolds (according to the BBC) which in reality means not south Worcestershire or Gloucestershire but Wiltshire which is definitely not in the West Midlands. It looks like he’s got a great job there but perhaps one day he’ll come back home to delight we Mercians if there is a restaurant scene left in the region for him to come back to.
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| Andi Oliver gives Matthew Fort a helping hand with his Owl Hoot |
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| Owl Hoot poured successfully |
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| 4 contented judges |
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Preparing 300 tortellini for the banquet
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| Quite a lot of lobster and bone marrow tortellini |
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