Virgin1 unveils hot new series Restaurant In Our Living Room Premieres tonight (September 24th) at 9pm, a programme truly designed to tickle your tastebuds. This new concept in competitive dining sees culinary couples going head-to-head to create the ultimate dining experience in their own homes.
However, this is no intimate dinner party – this is dining out credit-crunch style. Couples will be opening their homes to complete strangers but will they decide to cater for 60 diners or just a table of 2? All contestants know is that they have a strict budget and just three days to transform their homes into a fully-functioning restaurant, and it’s really not as easy as it looks! This is dining out with a difference, guests only have to pay what they think the meal is worth and the winning couple is the one which takes the most on the night.
In each episode two pairs of food fanatics are pitted against each other to create the best Restaurant In Our Living Room. The series is inspired by real underground restaurants, or supper clubs, where disillusioned foodies, fed up with over-priced, over-hyped restaurants, are fighting the recession by opening their kitchens to paying customers. Even celebrities are tucking in, with Jo Wood creating her own home restaurant this summer serving customers organic fare straight from her Richmond garden.
It’s up to each couple what they serve, and the pressure of catering in their own home leads contestants to draw upon a range of innovative tactics to win. Viewers will see everything from outrageous themed nights and seven course gastronomy to the ruthlessly practical. From pet hairs in the wine and tongue-reading at an organic health themed night to a drive-thru diner with a chuck-wagon, a Bollywood evening and an Italian feast complete with opera singers, whatever is on the menu these couples will go to almost any lengths to get diners opening their wallets.
Everything is at stake as guests take everything from service, entertainment and restaurant design into account when paying their bill. Was the food more greasy spoon than Michelin star? Or the service closer to Fawlty Towers than Oxo Tower? It’s up to the diners to decide.
When service closes, the two couples meet to share their experiences from the heat of the kitchen. Once takings have been counted the winning restaurant and ultimate foodie prize are revealed – a meal anywhere in the world at one of the globe’s finest restaurants.
There is a trailer on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKxbP1R4_4k there is also a facebook fan page which will be featuring handy recipes and hints and tips each week. The link for this is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-In-Our-Living-Room/129468470689
Whatched a couple of these now, very entertaining but quite one sided, seems the simple way to win this and go on the trip is to feed as many people as possible, which kind of penalises the couples with small homes, there must be a better way to work out the winner, which is more fair, last night (the drive in) was the only one so far that has gone against that formula and I think only because what they did was, well not that good, some else cooked the hog roast, the rest of the food came from iceland, the served 64 people but only made about £5.40 odd a head, most winged that they had only eaten a roll in the back of a car, so I am glad the other chap won he sat 40 people but cooked the whole meal him self in a small kitchen, so well done to him good victory!
Watched this with my wife last night and really enjoyed it. With Christmas coming we are hosting quite a few couples and it gave us some good tips. Going food shopping tonight with my wife and will be spending a bit more than usual I would think !