Pick of the day

HIDDEN RESTAURANTS WITH MICHEL ROUX JR

C4, 8pm MICHELIN-STARRED chef Michel Roux Jr has a long and distinguished career working in fine dining restaurants. So it seems that he is relishing the chance to shrug off the shackles of stiff white linen and excessive cutlery to head out on the road.

“No silverware, no crisp white linen, no pretence,” says Michel, who’s clearly feeling rebellious as he introduces us to his latest project, a “hidden restaurant” called The Oast House in Manchester.

It’s a dusty-looking converted barn where people used to dry hops for beer in the 16th century, and there is not a sommelier or pastry chef in sight.

He says: “As much as I love the fripperies of fine dining, with all its pomp and circumstance, I just wanted to do something completely different.”

But now for the real reason for the TV show. Michel will be creating a different three-course menu for his guests every night, and for inspiration, he’s going on a research trip.

He wants to find restaurants in bizarre and extraordinary places where chefs are creating a food revolution.

“Maverick chefs are tearing up the rule book,” he says, excited as a child about to go to Disney World.

In this episode he visits a floating cafe accessed by boat in the middle of an estuary, as well as another culinary feast inside a sculpture.

Helping him out is chef Freddy Bird, who created a restaurant in a once-dilapidated lido in a Bristol backstreet.

This week, Freddy visits a Latin American “bustaurant” and another foodie venue hidden at the back of a campsite. Inspired.