KITCHEN NIGHTMARES: RESCUING LA PARRA

Watched an episode of Kitchen Nightmares last night. Gordon Ramsay's mission was to help a small resto named La Parra to get out of "dire straits" and make a profit. He had a week to do it.

He first observed La Parra's operations for 3 days and was he shocked!

First, the resto had 72 items on its menu which all fell on chef Lance to do the cooking. To speed things up, lance cooked all orders in one griddle leading to a hideous mixing of flavors, and usually burnt-looking products.

Then, there was this barbecue grill that was supposed to serve kebabs prepared by Lance's assistant ( an old timer whose name I didn't get.) Problem was to keep up with demand, this guy usually cooked the kebabs too far in advance so these tended to be dry and tasteless when they reached the customer. To make things worse,any leftovers were still served the following day.

The biggest shocker for Gordon was to see dog poo at the dining area,which he noticed three times on separate occasions.

When time came for the Hell's Kitchen star to make his recommendations he strongly suggested that Chef Lance reduce his menu to a manageable number:15. This way he could cope with customer orders and not leave them waiting for so long.

He also made Lance and his partner Alex taste the kind of food they were serving by blindfolding them and letting them sample pureed menu items like prawns with chocolate and chicken banana. These were Lance's original creations which he thought were a hit with customers.

Gordon pointed out that his combinations hid the natural taste of the seafood and meat. He wanted Lance to simplify, so he recommended his own simple menu.

Chef Lance's pride obviously was getting in the way because he didn't seem to appreciate Gordon's suggestions. That is until he saw the number of returned plates from customers one evening that confirmed what Ramsay had been telling him all along.

When he finally gave in and complied with Gordon's plan and recommended changes, they had a successful night, where customers complimented them on their food, and remarked that they would return.

The episode ended with Ramsay coming back a month later to check on La Parra. He was pleased to see that Lance had kept to the plan by keeping to a simple, uncluttered menu and cooked the food from a pan, and not the griddle. There were obviously more returning customers, and based on ticket sales, La Parra was sure to recover!