It’s the team challenge for Legends Week and the contestants are on excursion again.
Waiting for the contestants in a park is Matt, wearing a stripy green, white, and navy jacket with a white shirt and dark blue cravat and pocket square, Gaz, wearing a beautiful blue suit and very light blue shirt, and George, wearing dark jeans, a grey jacket and a floral print shirt.
The contestants all arrive, looking very excited to be out and about.
ANUSHKA WATCH: Anushka, the owner of an optometrist outlet, or something like that, is wearing white today, and a matching cream/pale yellow cat eye look. She’s lookin’ cute.
Gaz starts to list the resume of this next Legend, and everyone’s starting to speculate. There’s a few whispers of “Yotam?”
“No, it can’t be,” Larissa says. “He’s too much of a legend.”
Well, Larissa, foolish to believe the MasterChef Australia has no influence in the culinary community.
“If you look behind you now, he’s about to touch down. Get ready for the legend that is Yotam Ottolenghi.”
Everyone starts screaming and freaking out. A red helicopter sets down, and Yotam appears.
If they were freaking out before, it is nothing compared to now. They’re applauding like mad, literally screaming, as Yotam walks towards the trio of judges.
He’s wearing a dark floral shirt and light brown pants.
As they talk to Yotam, he talks about where he gets his inspiration – often from street food.
What a coincidence, then, that the challenge theme is street food.
They’ll be cooking at Hawker restaurants just north of the Melbourne CBD. The HWKR pop up restaurants have had two previous MasterChef Aus winners cook there. @JohnsonLeung also said it was filmed in late January. (Thanks for the twitter tip!)
With three teams today, there are three different cuisines. Yellow is Mexican, blue is Malaysian, and green is Indian. They’ll have to make three different dishes – one dish must be vegetarian, and the other two need to have a protein. They’ll have 90 minutes before service, and then a further 90 minutes to serve and cook the rest of the food. The need to prepare enough food for 120 diners. The contestants won’t have a choice in which team they get.
“Make it delicious, but don’t overcomplicate it,” Yotam says. He goes on to say street food needs to be, “simple, delicious and bold.”
George comes around and they choose a team via coloured balls.
Yellow team, with Mexican cuisine, is Leah, Abbey, Derek, Waleed, Kyle and Nicole is chosen as the team leader.
Blue team, with Malaysian, is Steph, Sandeep, Tim, Larissa, Joe, and the team leader is Tessa.
Green, with Indian, is Anushka, Tati, Ben, Blake, Christina, and Simon as the team leader.
Time starts as the contestants run to start figuring out their menu. The montage begins.
Green immediately have a few problems. First of all, they chose beef, not lam from the fridge, and now there’s no more lamb. Secondly, when Gaz and George comes around, Gaz starts roasting them for having such a complex menu, when they were literally told to KISS (keep it simple, stupid).
“It’s a nightmare,” Gaz says, before walking away.
Kyle needs help pressing out the tortillas, and Derek comes over to help press them.
I couldn’t resist getting a photo of this – his arms are out for the lookin’.
Then, George announces, with 12 minutes to go, the diners are arriving in the masses.
Sandeep has a drama – the rice is mushy, not fluffy! This is a disaster! Probably, I don’t know what that really means…
Everyone’s freaking out as they try and get food ready for the diners.
Service starts, and blue team is the first to go out.
Yellow is second, bringing out their dishes, and first to get tasted.
Pulled lamb tacos – Matt says he’s transported back to Mexico. They love it.
Charred corn with chipotle mayo – they all love the look and the taste.
“Ten out of ten,” Yotam says. “I would be so happy to be served that on the streets of Mexico.”
Mexican beef lettuce cups with guacamole – They also love the look of this one.
“It looks sophisticated but simple,” Yotam says, before they all dig in.
It was alright, it was good, but they preferred the other two dishes.
Green team finally start to send stuff out, when they realise there’s no rice. Tati says that without the rice, they could be going home.
OMG! Sandeep. I have no words. “The atmosphere in the kitchen is like the Melbourne rental properties – too many people, too little space.”
Blue starts to bring their dishes to the judges.
Coconut prawns with curry sauce – They love the flavours.
“Cracking job by the blue team, great start,” George.
Satay beef – Yotam says the meat doesn’t look like it’s been caramelised enough and that it’s not cooked enough. George says they didn’t cut it well, either. Matt calls it a crowd pleaser, not necessarily a critic pleaser.
Nasi Goreng with Sambai – “The egg’s inside, yep,” Tessa says as she puts it down.
“It’s a bit claggy,” Gaz says, pressing at the rice. “The rice is overcooked. It’s more like a risotto.”
Sandeep was terrified that the rice would send them to elimination. Hopefully the other two dishes can make up for it.
It’s time for green to send out food to the trio of judges and Yotam.
Tandoori chicken – “Presentation is a bit disappointing,” Yotam.
Gaz is worried about why they have so much coriander on it. Overall, they like chicken, but that’s about it.
Vegetarian samosa – “Done by Anushka,” Simon says as he puts it down.
“That’s alright, actually, Matt said.
They’re a bit iff about it, and say at least it wasn’t as much as a mess as the blue teams rice.
South Indian fish curry – “Simon, were you intending to serve rice with this?” George asks.
Simon confirms they had planned on it, but didn’t have time. Gaz is not impressed by this, as it’s another problem with their dishes.
“In terms of a winning dish, we’re not looking for that, but it would be the yellow team, hands down,” George says, and everyone agrees, seeing how everyone loves it.
Matt says it comes down to blue and green. Green was average across the board, but blue had that terrible rice.
“If you walked in right now, knowing what you know, which section would you sit down in to get fed?” Matt asks.
“That’s a good question,” Yotam says.
Everything is done and dusted, and it’s time to find out who did it worst.
“We were genuinely thrilled that one team rose to occasion and knocked it out of the park,” Gaz says. “It nailed the brief absolutely. That team was the yellow team.”
The yellow team start to cheer and hug, while blue and green give them applause.
Matt tells them the prawns were the best dish of the day, but the rice was a mess. Green teams proteins were cooked perfectly, but it was missing something – no rice, no new sauce for the samosas. “That’s why, green team, you’re in the elimination.”
George gives them a prep talk, Yotam gives them a few words of advice, reminding them to cook what they’re good at. George tells them to get out.”
Tomorrow night, the elimination begins. Yotam is back, and he’s out for blood.
Lmao, I kid, but Anushka, Tati, Ben, Blake, Christina, or Simon will be sent home.
This episodes recap was written while I was watching the episode, and posted as soon as it’s complete. There will be spelling and grammar issues.
Felicity Feiner 
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