What I’ve Been Watching
Kate Wobschall watches the Hairy Bikers Go West Vroom with a view as biker duo celebrate the best of British
They’re the loveable North East duo who never seem to be off our TV screens. No, not Ant and Dec (their heads are as empty as their football team’s trophy cabinet) – the Hairy Bikers, aka Si King and Dave Myers.
They’re on the road again for their latest series – and it’s an emotional one this time as it’s the first since Dave’s recovery from cancer.
He admits that at one point he wasn’t sure he’d ever be back on his bike alongside his mate – but he made it and the pair are resuming the hunt for local food heroes to tickle the nation’s taste buds.
The Hairy Bikers Go West (BBC2, Tuesday, 7pm) saw the bearded besties head to Scotland to meet, among others, an award-winning haggismaker and a family of Syrian refugees who have opened a successful bakery.
It is, if you’ll pardon the pun, exactly the sort of fare we’ve come to expect from the bikers – celebrating small, niche food producers who offer the sort of stuff you didn’t know you needed until you tried it.
And why would you change such an enduring recipe (cringe) for success?
Unlike some TV chefs who are so irritating they make me want to throw a Le Creuset at the telly – Rick Stein and his insufferable smugness, anyone – they’re reasonably likeable.
You could put up with having a pint with them in your local, especially if they brought a few nibbles to put out on the bar.
I warmed up for the new series by watching a Go Local episode filmed last year in their native North East. The aim was to match up a Michelin-starred restaurant with some local suppliers.
Off they went to Hjem, in the chocolate box pretty village of Wall, near Hexham, to sample some of the highly-rated dishes on the menu.
It’s run by Swedish chef (not the one off the Muppet Show ,a different one) Alex Nietosvuori and his partner, local lass Ally Thompson.
A far cry from the Jim Henson creation who would simply “put the chicken in the oven”, Alex brings his 21st century Scandinavian cooking techniques to the table to showcase his lavish 18-course tasting menu.
It’s Dave and Si’s job to come up with some unusual, locallyproduced ingredients that could make it onto that menu.
And obviously, being in Northumberland, they find someone who makes kimchi. As in the traditional Korean banchan made from salted, fermented cabbage and other vegetables.
Be grateful we don’t yet have scratch and sniff TV as the lads visit the Belle and Herbs fermentary in Wallsend, started during the pandemic by friends Sam Storey and Pan Phyu Phyu Hmwe.
Fermented food is the next ‘megatrend’, they’d have you believe, and they wow the Bikers with their version of it. Dave and Si eventually use in a pork and kimchi stew.
They also try their hand at landing some wild salmon off the coast of Berwick-uponTweed. The fish proved elusive but in true Blue Peter fashion, the Bikers just buy one the fishermen had caught earlier.
They also sample some unique chocolate treats from Morpeth to put on the menu, with the aim of tempting the Hjem team into using at least one of the producers.
It’s an entertaining enough concept for a TV show but it’s also a lovely way to introduce these independent, small-scale producers to a wider audience.
Okay, it’s unlikely many of their offerings are going to price match Aldi but you can’t begrudge these niche suppliers their moment on the big stage when some of them almost literally live and breathe what they do; the cheesemakers, the beekeepers, the herb growers (not that kind), the caviar farmers who dedicate their lives to their art.
So with a spot of luck, we’re going to be hearing about a lot more of the same in this seven-parter that will see the pair go from Scotland to Devon, stopping off in Merseyside, Lancashire, Bristol and
North Wales along the way. Specialities include a poached lobster served with Scottish Bucatini pasta to a Lancashire butter and potato pie.
But the food itself takes a back seat and it’s the people who make the series; their
It’s an emotional one this time as it’s the first since Dave’s recovery from cancer
characters and personalities that are, Si reckons, defined by the countryside in which they live. It’s a celebration not only of the food they make but the social history of their communities that they’re striving to preserve. And long may there be an appetite for that.