The Chefs Line

Restaurant kitchens are run with a military-like hierarchy.

This is known as the chefs' line.

It escalates in authority, starting from the apprentice chef,

right up to the head chef.

And now, in a David versus Goliath battle,

passionate home cooks from all walks of life

will take on the chefs' line.

Each week will feature a different cuisine.

This week it's Vietnamese

and these four home cooks are ready to battle the chefs' line

from Vietnamese restaurant Dandelion.

There's no way I can out-cook a chef from Dandelion.

That's crazy! (LAUGHS)

Order in, please. One banh xeo, three green prawn.

The cooks with the best plates on the pass

will go through to the next round.

But the home cook whose dish doesn't deliver will be sent home.

Judged by executive chef Dan Hong,

renowned chef Mark Olive

and food writer Melissa Leong.

Let's cook! Good luck.

Which home cook has what it takes

to make it to the end of The Chefs' Line?

Vietnamese Week begins with four home cooks

ready to put their skills to the test.

And this is my Vietnamese banquet.

Kicking off with 25-year-old Filipino fashion stylist, Iyan.

Delicious.

Expect really tasty food and a little bit of, you know,

love and spice from all sorts of places.

Are you excited? Are you excited?

Mother of three, Emmylou, will embrace her heritage...

My mum is Vietnamese, my dad is from Zimbabwe.

..taking flavours to inventive new levels.

I do always challenge traditional ways,

so... super excited about that.

My grandma and my aunt are the connection that I have

with Vietnamese cooking.

22-year-old Cecile will put her family food knowledge to the test.

I am so nervous. Oh, my God.

And finally, fresh produce wholesaler, Thanh...

I have learned all my recipes from my mum and dad.

My mum's fish sauce recipe is quite spicy.

..is ready to turn those family recipes into a winning dish.

So there is a bit of competition, I think. (LAUGHS)

Welcome to The Chefs' Line.

This week, you will be cooking a cuisine

that is very close to my heart.

It's Vietnamese cooking.

Home cooks, are we ready?

Yes!

That's what I want to hear. Fantastic.

Iyan, down the back. Have you got your game on?

Absolutely.

Emmylou, how about you? Definitely ready to go.

Cecile? Oh, I giggle too much. (GIGGLES)

I love that food makes you so happy that you giggle all the time.

What a cute little package. And, Thanh?

I'm... I'm ready. I'm ready, yeah. Fantastic.

It's time to show us your Vietnamese cuisine.

Your home cooking is about to face the chefs' line

from the most awarded Vietnamese restaurant in Australia.

That is Dandelion.

Oh!

Melbourne restaurant Dandelion,

famous for being one of the most vibrant and diverse

Vietnamese restaurants in the country,

has picked up six Chef's Hats in six years.

One banh xeo, three green prawn.

Leading the charge of his chefs' line

is owner and executive chef, Geoff Lindsay.

At Dandelion, we cook a contemporary version of Vietnamese food

inspired by Australian produce and by the cooks that I work with.

Vietnamese food has a great combination

of the raw and the cooked,

the hot and the cold, the sweet and the sour.

Oh! And there we have it, time to plate.

The happiest time of the day.

I come up with some pretty wacky ideas.

Sometimes they say to me, "No, no, boss. You can't do that."

But we try to push the borders a little bit.

And pushing the boundaries

could be the key for Dandelion to create a winning dish.

Yum! Full moon chilli mud crab.

Thank you, Geoff Lindsay. My pleasure.

Welcome, Dandelion.

Can you please introduce your chefs' line?

This is Vincent, he's our apprentice chef.

This is Tim Tam, our station chef.

My second in command, Ennis,

and I'm Geoff Lindsay, the owner and executive chef at Dandelion.

What do you think, guys?

Can you beat 'em?

Yes! Yeah, we'll give it a go!

Let's do it!

So, first to cook this week

is going to be apprentice chef Vincent.

Vincent, please step up.

Vincent, how are you feeling?

A bit challenging, but I will try my best.

With just three months at Dandelion behind him,

apprentice Vincent will need to dig deep to win this battle.

His task is to cook his best Vietnamese wrap or roll

from the restaurant's menu.

Wraps and rolls Vietnamese style

are vegetables, herbs, noodles and meat

wrapped in rice paper or lettuce.

And tonight the home cooks will need to create their own version.

Picking the best plate will be one of us.

And to make it fair, that judge will be blind tasting.

That judge will be...

..Melissa!

Excellent.

I'm very, very much looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Melissa will taste and judge everyone's dishes

without knowing who cooked what.

You have one hour to get your plate on the pass.

Let's cook! Good luck!

One of these four home cooks

will end up cooking against executive chef Geoff.

But to get there, they'll need to create a better dish

than apprentice chef Vincent.

The apprentice from Dandelion better watch out

because I'm going to cook a really delicious meal.

Well, Mark, it's Vietnamese Week. I'm so excited about this battle. Yeah.

First challenge is wraps and rolls,

and I eat it every Monday at my mother's house.

And whether it be fried spring rolls

wrapped in lettuce and lots of herbs,

or it could be something wrapped in rice paper with lots of herbs,

it's really all about the texture and also that dipping sauce -

how well that complements.

Oh, look, totally. And, look, I'd love to meet your mother, actually.

Well, you should come over for dinner one time.

I think I'd like to see you do the dishes.

Oh. Thanks, mate.

Oh, I'm excited but I'm slightly nervous.

Um... spring rolls is one of my favourite things to eat and cook.

I have made pork, cabbage and carrot spring rolls

so many times.

I couldn't even tell you how many.

Garlic, cabbage, carrot, onion, pork mince.

I like to use kecap manis.

I like them slightly sweet.

It does need just a little bit of extra something. That's quite sweet.

I don't think that kecap manis is definitely something

that Vietnamese people would say is traditional

but it has become our tradition over time.

Want to make sure that it's got

all the balance of flavours that it needs.

I'm just boiling a pork belly and I'm just going to slice that up.

Just got some goji beans and ginger in there.

And I've also got some king prawns.

Tonight I'm cooking king prawn lettuce wraps,

and it's inspired from my dad

and how he likes to have lettuce wraps instead of rice paper rolls.

So I'm doing a nuoc cham, and I like a spicy version.

My parents like to have a spicy dipping sauce.

So my secret ingredient is in the nuoc cham sauce,

and it's Australian finger limes.

It can be too overwhelming, so I've just got to get the spice right.

And I think the effervescent burst of the tanginess just goes so well

and adds a new dynamic texture to the dish.

Fingers crossed.

I'm making, um, roast pork and apple, um, rice paper wraps.

Within an hour, you can't really cook

a beautiful red, crisp, crackling and crunchy pork.

I'm really worried about my roast pork.

So I baste it with a soy and sugar mix.

That's my little cheat for tonight.

And hopefully everything will go well.

We'll see how it caramelises.

We shall see. (LAUGHS)

Hey, Iyan!

Hey, Mark. How are you going? Good. How's it all going here?

Oh, look, so right now I'm about to prepare my noodles

that are gonna go into my Vietnamese spring rolls.

Yeah. So I've got a pork and prawn spring roll.

Right, OK. I love the flavours of san choy bau.

Beautiful. So I'm trying to incorporate that.

That's a little twist in the... It is. That's my little twist.

A little something-something, a little bit fancy.

So you're very organised in the kitchen at home?

Yeah, I think so.

I've got my mixture here of my pork and my prawn...

Yeah. ..that I've roughly chopped.

So what do you do outside of work with a bit of fun?

I work as a drag queen on the side.

So lots and lots of dancing.

What's your drag name? Asia Buffet. How fitting!

Asia Buffet, 'cause she always feeds the children.

That's what she's doing.

But today I'm going to feed Mel, so that's what I'm doing.

Well, you'd better get your pumps on and keep going.

I know, I know, that's right. Oh. Thank you!

Pumps are on and they're racing

as all our home cooks try and outdo apprentice Vincent.

Vincent? Just check the temperature on the deep-fryer.

And with added pressure

from executive chef Geoff over his shoulder,