Chop to it
Let’s
face it, food doesn’t get much of a run on primetime free-to-air
TV. I suspect that most serious foodies are already plugged into
Lifestyle Food on pay TV. Sure, there’s the odd re-run of
Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson however, primetime TV is a bit
of a wasteland for lovers of the gastronomic arts.
A few years back, Seven dipped a toe into the spicy
consommé of reality television and food with My Restaurant
Rules; while currently, if you stay up late enough, you can
catch Gordon Ramsay in his Kitchen Nightmares series.
Now Nine has come up with a plan to combine both ideas, and the
result is The Chopping Block.
Like My Restaurant Rules, it’s a
competition between eating houses; and like Kitchen Nightmares,
both places are in trouble and there’s an expert on hand
to turn around their respective fortunes. But it’s a show
that I expect will exceed the limitations of both those predecessors.
Each week, The Chopping Block pits two
down-on-their-luck restaurants against each other. The plan is
that, with some expert help from top Aussie chef Matt Moran, each
place gets a bit of a makeover. They’re then assessed by
food critic David Grant, and the one judged the best scores a
very handy $20,000 prize.
The behind-the-scenes look at restaurants is a bit
of an eye-opener. Not that any of the places featured (at least
in the episodes seen) are a bona fide health hazard; but let’s
just say some of their practices seem to sail a bit close to the
wind.
Then of course there’s the personalities involved.
I think it’s fair to say that those who go into the restaurant
game aren’t exactly shrinking violets. This makes for some
interesting television as the egos collide. A few hundred guests
out the front doesn’t hurt either, as it really helps to
escalate the tensions.
Matt Moran is a bit of a Gordon Ramsay-lite. He
doesn’t tear into the contestants the way Ramsay would,
but he’s often pretty blunt in his assessments. That goes
for David Grant as well. The only thing is that Moran is more
polished as a television presenter. He has an easy charm, and
a likeable personality. Grant on the other hand is a bit stiffer,
and often sounds like he’s reading one of his reviews out
of a newspaper.
The show is held together by Catriona Rowntree,
the once-ubiquitous face of Nine, but now starting to drift into
the background a little. Rowntree, to be frank, was never really
my cup of tea; and she doesn’t do anything here to change
that. Her breathless delivery of every line becomes a bit wearying
after a while; and she rarely breaks out of her comfort zone.
One thing I’m a bit perplexed about is why
the show offers a cash prize. The publicity alone for the two
restaurants featured each week would have to be worth five times
the money on offer. I’d also like to see the show branch
out a little, as it’s very much centred on Sydney; and some
focus on other cities would be welcome.
The Chopping Block isn’t really a
spicy gumbo; but neither is it a totally bland dish. It has some
tasty elements – many of them provided by the contestants
themselves – but sometimes loses the recipe a bit. Certainly,
it hasn’t set the ratings on fire for Nine, so its future
may be doubtful, but there’s enough in this show to warrant
giving it a go.
Phil James
