Tonight on MKR, a dessert disaster undid a near-perfect entrée for modern Italians Simone and Viviana, with a final combined score of 74 out of 110 proving they are a force to be reckoned with without a simple mistake in the kitchen.
The best friends’ Instant Restaurant, Sotto le Stelle (Under the Stars), served up a Ricotta and Prawn Cannoli Salati entrée: the first dish to earn a 10 in the competition from Colin.
“If you twist a tradition you need to make sure to nail it,” declared Simone.
Promising “Italian food you haven’t tasted before,” there were high expectations, especially for the main dish: Tagliatelle Ragu Di Polpo (Octopus).
Viviana wiped away happy tears as Colin and Manu gave maximum acclaim to their main pasta dish: “You are not professional chefs, [but] have taught me new dishes, new flavours and new techniques. I love that,” Manu praised.
“I think this dish is going to be one we remember for a long time.”
On top of the world after their main, Under the Stars came crashing back down to Earth after Viviana realised she forgot the flour in the Pistachio Tortino dessert. In tears, she exclaimed “it’s my fault,” as the dessert dish didn’t cook through.
Without enough plates to serve, Simone and Viviana went with a last resort: asking teams to share one dessert between two, while the judges received one each.
Manu admitted: “In all my years ofMKR we’ve never had this type of trouble before, it has never happened before in the competition.”
Dessert wasn’t the only drama at the table when Mike questioned whether Simone was a professional chef, not a home cook, after finding out he has a restaurant and works front-of-house.
Simone and Viviana defended the accusation: Simone is not a chef. Was this a ploy to get them off their game?
Scoring a two from Colin and a three from Manu, alongside teams commenting their dessert tasted like dough, Simone and Viviana’s dessert brought their overall score to 74 out of 110.
