Reality bites for Perry’s hopefuls

Leading chef and restaurateur Neil Perry says contestants on Seven’s new series Restaurant Revolution have their work cut out for them as they learn the realities of what can be a cruel industry.

Neil Perry. Picture: supplied

Perry is the head judge on the hotly anticipated new reality food competition, which will see five teams design and open pop-up restaurants around the country with the hope of winning $200,000.

“They’re a really interesting group of people and they’re about to learn what restaurants can be when they’re open and they’re full on,” Perry, left, explained toAAA .

“You finish at 1am and you’ve got to be back in the kitchen at 8am to be ready for lunch. It catches up on you day after day and week after week. They’re all going to meet a form of tiredness and exhaustion that they’ve never met before in their life.”

The Rockpool Bar and Grill owner will bring 40 years of restaurant experience to his mentoring role on the show, which marks his first foray into the world of reality food competitions.

“I mentored all my staff and there’s nearly 700 of them now, built five really awesome restaurant brands and been working with Qantas for 18 years so I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin,” Perry said.

But the influential foodie is still on guard.

“You’ve got to put faith in the producers that they show you in the best light and know that sometimes the best TV is the time you’re caught off guard,” he said.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed that I end up being one of the nice guys.”

Perth contestants, sisters Carmen and Nicole Watts, opened their Spanish fusion restaurant La Linea on the busy Oxford Street food strip this week — something Perry believes will do well with Leederville’s “young, hipster” crowd.

“They’ve got a really great price-point concept so you can go in there and you don’t have to spend a fortune. You can have a multiple number of dishes,” he said.

But if the sisters win the show, they might have Perry as competition before too long — the decorated chef hopes to bring two more of his successful brands to Perth. “I’d love to do Spice Temple at some stage and that might happen in the next couple of years, and also I’d like to do two or three Burger Projects,” he said.

“I’d love one in Leederville.”

Restaurant Revolution airs on Seven/GWN7 soon.

Source: The West Australian, Jillian McHugh, July 16^th 2015