Same-same but different for The Hot Plate

They had never met prior to be cast on new food series, The Hot Plate, but restaurateur Scott Pickett and UK food critic Tom Parker Bowles are now the best of pals.

So much so, that both insist they never disagreed on a single dish during the filming of the Nine series.

“We have mutual friends and chefs, but we just clicked. When the Producers asked who I would feel most comfortable working with, it was Scott straight away,” says Parker Bowles.

Pickett recalls, “I had worked in London and so we just started chatting about the London food scene and we said to the (producers), ‘Are you ready now?’ And they said, ‘No that’s great! We’ve been rolling for 15 minutes.

“So there was already that connection.”

London-based Parker Bowles, son of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has a background vastly different to the Aussie restaurateur, but agrees chemistry can’t be faked for the duration of a full series.

“You can be the best liar in the world but you couldn’t for 3 months. I see more of Scotty than I do of my wife. We eat together, we go out off camera together. You have to get on.

“It’s food, it’s a common language. So you know straight away if something is undercooked or overcooked. We never disagreed on a dish.”

“We’re same-same but different in that respect. We might be from a long way apart but we are the same age, both Sagittarians, our birthdays are 2 days apart. We have a common interest and love of food and restaurants, ” Pickett adds.

If the judges are same-same but different, can the same be said for the show? 2015 has seen a glut of food and cooking shows. Both say The Hot Plate is a restaurant show, with six established venues across the country tested on food, decor and service. Some teams have years of experience, while others are less seasoned.

“All the people are in the industry already. They already have good, local restaurants with a target market and demographic. They aren’t people saying ‘I want to be a restaurant owner.’ They’ve already taken risks, borrowed, begged, mortgaged houses to get in the game,” explains Pickett.

“But they just want to get better. Our role, with our experience and backgrounds, is to help find who they can really be. How we can get them to tweak what they already do, to evolve and be better.”

Parker Bowles steers away from comparisons to Gordon Ramsay whose Kitchen Nightmares series sees him dish out ‘advice’ to restaurateurs with a whole lot more heat.

“We’re not like Gordon, although we all love Gordon, and it’s not about saving the world with unicorns and fairies and flowers either,” he says.

“It’s not trying to make them into Three Hats or telling them we can make them a fortune. It’s getting people to find their strengths and weaknesses.

“We’ve seen some ‘interesting’ dishes, and some stunning dishes. There are tears and tantrums and all of that, but we have seen people who are good cooks become brilliant, and people who are scared of moving out of their comfort zone become quite inspiring.

“It’s not just about the food on the plate, although that is key, it’s about the whole restaurant.”

Parker Bowles has previously appeared in UK series Food Glorious Food but is adamant that television is ancillary to his writing.

“I’m a hack. I like sitting behind my computer. I argue with my Sub Editor and Editor. That’s it,” he continues.

“The moment you are on television you are 2 tiny cogs in a vast machine. We might go to hotels to do the publicity, but we call ourselves the ‘dancing monkeys.’”

But the show, with a $100,000 prize at the end, will need to fend off competition from Seven’s new format, Restaurant Revolution. Genres going head to head have split audiences already this year.

Parker Bowles is realistic that their fate lays with viewers, but also pragmatic that the sum total of their own contribution.

“We realise a great television show, whether or not the public like it, is to do with cameramen, lighting, producers, exec producers, runners. We just slot in,” he says.

“Yes we’re the ones in the camera, but so are the teams.

“We come in as cynics. I’m a hack, I write. He’ s a restaurateur. Those are our jobs. If all else fails we go back to that. It’s our bread and butter, TV is the jam on top.”

The Hot Plate premieres 7:30pm Tuesday and continues Wednesday and Thursday on Nine.