The quirky Perth friends are the first team eliminated from MKR’s Kitchen Headquarters.
The force wasn’t with sci-fi food nerds Kieran and Nastassia tonight, who were ordered to hang up their aprons and leave the MKR kitchen after serving the judges raw quail.
Their disappointing menu score of 27 out of 60 saw them become the first team to succumb to the pressure of the sudden death cook-off in Kitchen Headquarters. Melbourne cousins Sam and Chris scraped through with a score of 40/60 for their three-course menu.
The night was off to an even start with little separating the teams’ entrees with guest judges Colin Fassnidge, Karen Martini, Guy Grossi and Liz Egan blind tasting dishes for the first time in MKR history.
But after their entrée of scallops on black pudding with pancetta, their main course of quail with leeks, wild mushroom and juniper sauce was left mostly uneaten on the plate. While the judges thought the main looked very professional and vibrant on the plate, unfortunately they couldn’t taste the hero of the dish as it was raw.
Nastassia’s dessert of berry mini cakes with strawberry and balsamic ice-cream was a massive hit with the judging panel with Colin saying, “I’d pay for that.”
Pete said it was “a very clever dessert”, while Manu commented: “It looks very simple on the plate but it delivers more on the palate.”
Kieran, who set his juniper sauce on fire during the showdown, said: “The crucible that is the MKR kitchen has been a once in a lifetime. We’ve shown people the potential in us. And we’ve definitely become a lot closer as friends. This competition has really brought us together even more.”
Tonight the remaining teams will open food stalls at the busy Sydney Markets in an attempt to gain immunity by winning the People’s Choice award.
source 7 and a huge thanks to Courtney for shooting me the press release due to technical problems