"For me this will be the most important series, because we're looking for Britain's best local restaurant. It's about discovering talent that we, as a nation, didn't quite realise we were sat on."
Gordon Ramsay has been on a nationwide hunt for The F Word's Best Local Restaurant and the show begins this week when The F Word returns to Channel 4 on Wednesday.
Out of thousands put forward for nomination by the public via the Channel 4 Food website 18 restaurants, in 9 categories, have been selected to be part of the series. "We had 10,000 nominations for 4,500 restaurants" says Ramsay, shocked by the immense response to the campaign. The categories are Italian, Indian, French, Chinese, Spanish, Thai, The Americas, British, and Rest of the World.
Each week, the top two from each category will face the challenge of cooking with Gordon in the F Word restaurant for 50 paying diners. "We'll get the two best local Chinese restaurants, for example, and we'll have the chefs in to cook against each other. And we'll do the same for each category." The best restaurants will compete for a place in the grand final, with the winning restaurant being crowned The F Word's Best Local Restaurant 2010.
The economic downturn has hit the hospitality business extremely hard and Gordon aims to help out the local restaurants that face the threat of the rise of the chain. "The last 12 months has been a horrific time for the industry across the board. When you look how many restaurants have been closing in the past 18 months on the back of this recession, it's a great shame. So we're trying to discover the best local talent, and bring it into the F-Word kitchen, where they'll go up against each other."
We'll be following The F Word's search for the Best Local Restaurant with a close eye and will of course be routing for the local Thai restaurants all the way!
Don't miss the first round of the competition on Channel 4 at 9pm, Tuesday 3rd November.
Links:
The F Word at Channel 4
