A CHEF from Dalry certainly left a lasting impression after his appearance on Channel 4’s Come Dine with Me: The Professionals.
Andy Neilson appeared on the show representing his restaurant Bloc+ in Glasgow, alongside other city centre venues Amore d’Italia and Maki and Ramen.
Andy described his food, drink and music venues approach as a “street food ethos with a bit of wacky”, which was certainly proved on the show.
Bloc+ choose to give each meal a “funny, pun name” which certainly caused some confusion with their opponents from Italian and Japanese restaurants.
And their, ‘Thai Me Up’, Vegan jackfruit wings with maple, soy and chilli glaze as well Andy’s main, ‘Send Noodz’, instant ramen noodle hot dog with kimchi fries, certainly brought a few smiles, in terms of taste as well as their unique names.
They rounded off their meal with deep fried sticky toffee pudding, which definitely raised eyebrows - especially with the calorie counting pair from Maki and Ramen.
As well as good food, Andy brought some typical Ayrshire charm throughout the show, including some questionable chat about “chef’s bum” and describing tasting a prawn head as “like chewing a bag of toenails”.
Despite describing himself as like a “dictator but some people might want to drop the tator part”, Andy, along with his teammate, front of house staff member Pixie, won the overall contest.
They scored 31 points out of 40, pipping Amore d’Italia and Maki and Ramen by one and two points respectively.
Andy admitted it was “a shock” on the show but he and Pixie were jubilant as they celebrated with the £1,000 cash prize while popping champagne with the other contestants.
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