BBQ champions Aaron and Chris hoped to set the bar high with a menu to impress the carnivores in tonight’s MKR, but they missed the mark right from the moment the second round of Instant Restaurants kicked off.
Glancing over the team’s menu, OGs Nick and Christian were intimidated: “They’ve offered a big menu full of meat and knowing how hard it is to get right, if they can pull off all of these – I mean – it’s a huge task,” Christian said.
The team’s entrée of Crispy Pork Belly Tacos received mixed critiques: the beautifully balanced dish was full of flavours but the pork was not crispy.
While Christian thought the incredibly well-balanced dish showed what Aaron and Chris were capable of, Claudean said the dish was a miss for her: “The menu reads Crispy Pork Belly. The pork belly was not crispy.”
Both Manu and Colin were wowed by the flavours in the dish, but agreed it could’ve been a 10 if the meat was crispy. The team, who prided themselves on their pork belly, were devastated to learn their entrée was disappointing.
The perfectionists in Aaron and Chris were determined to deliver a faultless BBQ plate for their main: a huge undertaking featuring an impressive array of meats including chicken wings, lamb neck and pork ribs with coleslaw, pickles and corn bread.
The team’s main was deemed the best main of the competition by some guests, but the judges disagreed, finding the lamb way too dry.
Manu threw his favourite phrase at the boys: “Where’s the sauce?”
Deflated, Chris said: “I absolutely died when he said that because that is my biggest fear. I can’t believe that happened. We need to try and just make sure dessert is singing above the rest.”
“It was almost a bit embarrassing, we’ve tested ourselves on the biggest stages in barbecue. We need to prove to these guys that we can cook,” Aaron added.
Capping off the night, the boys delivered a stunning lemon pie. The judges loved the pastry and the curd, but the generous amount of meringue made the pie overly sweet. Again, almost perfect.
All round, it was an impressive night for Aaron and Chris with a guest score of 30 out of 50 and an overall score of 72/110.
