Great British Menu 2021 chefs: Kim Ratcharoen, London and South East heat

Senior sous-chef at three Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Kim Ratcharoen is one of four chefs competing for the London and South East region on Great British Menu 2021.

Series 16 of the competition starts on Wednesday 24th March and will air on BBC Two at 8pm every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for eight weeks. The London and South East heat will air on Wednesday 7th, Thursday 8th and Friday 9th April.

For the London and South East heat, host Andi Oliver is joined by veteran chef and judge Paul Ainsworth.

Kim is competing against Oli Marlow, executive chef of Roganic and Aulis in London and Hong Kong; Tony Parkin, head chef at  The Tudor Room in Surrey and Ben Murphy, head chef at Launceston Place in London.

As per the programme's new format, Ben Murphy was eliminated after the fish course. Despite high scores all round, Tony came last out of the three remaining, leaving Kim and Oli to cook for the judges chamber on Friday 9th April.

Check out the full line-up of chefs appearing on Great British Menu 2021.

Full name

Suphanta Ratcharoen

Nickname 

Kim

 Age/DOB

31, born 07/06/1989

 Place of birth / residence

Originally from Suratthani, Thailand. Now living in London

Relationship status / children

Engaged to Emily Brightman, head chef at Angela Hartnett's Murano

Height

 5’2 (very short!)

Type of chef (restaurant, hotel, development chef, etc.)

Restaurant. 

Favourite type of cuisine

I love all food but if I had to choose a cuisine it would have to be Chinese.

 Path to becoming a chef

I was studying economics at Sussex uni and fell in love with cooking so I went back to college for 1 year to study hospitality. In June 2015, I commenced my stage at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, where I have been ever since.

place of work, Past and present

My professional cooking career started at 64 Degrees and now I work at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Personal and professional mentors / role models 

I look up to my grandma. She was my motivation and someone who taught me to work hard.

Guilty pleasure dish

Egg-fried rice

Best / worst thing about being a chef

The best thing about being a chef is I am doing something that I absolutely love and at the same time making other people happy by serving delicious food.

Feelings about being on GBM

Honoured and proud

Thoughts about the 'British Innovation' theme this year

Interesting. Draws on my creativity

Plans for the future

Opening a fine dining Thai restaurant with my future wife

Dishes

Starter

For her starter, Kim cooked a dish dedicated to British agriculturist Jethro Tull, one of the forced behind the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century.

Called 'Planting a Seed,' it consisted of Sunflower satay Norfolk quail - confit leg with buckwheat and amaranth as well as tamarind-glazed breast - with pickled radishes, carrots, cucumber and carrot purée, Paul Ainsworth gave it 10/10 points.

Fish course

Kim's fish course, 'Get the Kettle On,' inspired by William Russell and Peter Hobbs' invention of the electric kettle, comprised a poached and pan fried dover sole fillet, served with a Tom Yum consommé, cauliflower fungus, shimeji mushrooms, radishes, pickled chilli and finger limes. It received a score of 7/10.

Main Course

Inspired by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's digging of the world's first tunnel under a river and the supper club he held with the city's investors to raise funds for his project, 'Feast Under the Thames Tunnel' was a recreation of what they were thought to have eaten, with a Thai-twist: roast beef sirloin, sweetbread nuggets, bone marrow sticky rice, kohlrabi and radish som tum and what Kim called 'pimp my beef' 20-ingredient sauce.

Paul gave the dish a 9/10 score. 

Dessert

For her dessert, Kim decided to tie her link to the brief to her own heritage, with 'It's my DNA,' a nod to Roselyn Franklin's contribution to our understanding of molecular structure, based on the classic Thai dessert, mango sticky rice. 

A toasted coconut parfait was served with toasted rice, macerated mango, lime gel, coriander and lemon balm cress. All three chefs scored a 10/10 for their dessert. 

Up against  regional record-beating chef Oli Marlow, Kim narrowly missed out on making it through to the national finals, but was commended by judges Matthew Fort, Oliver Peyton, Rachel Khoo and guest judge, geologist Chris Jackson for a highly impressive menu.