The Lowdown: Restaurant Dream Team

Er, CBBC seems a bit young for First Dates…​

We agree, but this is luckily a more age appropriate idea. Sirieix and McEvedy are on the hunt for six children who will be able to run their own restaurant.

That’s pretty difficult, even for an adult…​

That’s true. Sirieix says applicants will need to be the ‘restaurant dream team, la crème de la crème’. The production team are looking for six friends in school years five to nine, who’ll have a pretty tough job on their hands.

What are the requirements?​

Three of the kids will run the front of house and create a theme for the restaurant. The call for entries also says they’ll also need to ‘deal with customer complaints’ and handle ‘difficult or challenging’ diners.

No pressure then. What about the kitchen team? I imagine it will be Turkey Twizzlers on the menu​

Not likely. The three kitchen crew will need to come up with a themed menu, with some help, that can be cooked in large quantities in a short amount of time. CBBC is looking for children who have ‘genuine cooking skills’ and can ‘deliver them under pressure’. They’ll need to work as part of a team and ‘be familiar with a wide range of ingredients and how to cook them’.

How will it be judged?​

Teams will go head to head in a restaurant that’s been split down the middle with only one progressing to the next round. Unlike other reality shows, Restaurant Dream Team seems keen to avoid any Apprentice-style walkouts from its young contestants. Its application form states: ‘as this is a competition you need to be prepared to be a good winner and a good loser’.

Aren’t TV cooking shows a bit intense for kids?​

Actually there’s been junior versions of many popular cooking shows, which often tend to be kinder and on a smaller-scale (not just in terms of the contestants) than their adult counterparts. One of the longest running is the US version of MasterChef Junior, which counts Gordon Ramsay as one of the judges. It has brought out a softer side of the chef rarely seen on TV, including a recent episode where he dressed up as Mrs Doubtfire. McEvedy herself previously judged CBBC’s BAFTA winning Junior Bake Off for two years in 2015 and 2016, where it was hard not to be impressed by the skills of the young bakers who took part. We imagine Restaurant Dream Team will have a similarly high standard of competitors.

Good luck to them, let’s just hope they can reach the kitchen cupboards.​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/be-on-a-show-restaurant-dream-team​​​