The Editor's Hospitality Blog

ENTRIES CLOSE AT 5PM TODAY!!

To kick off the launch of Caterer's new networking site, Table Talk, we have two tickets to Hospitality Action's dinner cooked by last year's finalists from BBC Two's Great British Menu.

The multi-Michelin-starred dinner, to be held on 18 May, will include courses from Jason Atherton of Maze, Nigel Haworth of Northcote Manor in Langho, Lancashire, Chris Horridge of Cliveden House in Taplow, Berkshire, 2008 Catey Newcomer Tom Kitchin of the Kitchin in Leith, Danny Millar, head chef and director of Balloo House in Killinchy, Northern Ireland, Glynn Purnell of Purnell's, Birmingham, and Stephen Terry of the Hardwick in Abergavenny.

All you need to do is go to Table Talk and share your "Taste of Home". But hurry the closing date is fast approaching! 

Enter the competition here 

Philip Taylor is the latest contestant to be fired from Alan Sugar's Apprentice show.

This week in The Apprentice, the contestants were tasked with chosing two items from new product designers and selling the product to two large retail companies in Liverpool and Manchester.

Team Ignite led by Lorraine Tighe tried to sell a cardboard cat play pen and the shopping bags to attach bikes.

In the boardroom Philip Taylor and Lorriane come to heads as Sir Alan slates everyone for their sales skills which resulted in practically nothing.

Hospitality contestant Yasmina Siadatan was saved again despite being on the losing team as Lorriane selects Kate and Philip back to the board room.

Alan expresses his concern for the vindictive behaviour from both Kate and Philip and whether Lorriane is fuelling the fire.

Lorriane admitted to being a "slow burner" but despite this, Philip was shown the door and asked to leave.

Alan Sugar commented that Philip showed his true colours and his bad attitude is what cost him the job.

This week, Sir Alan Sugar's Apprentice hopefuls were asked to undertake a rebranding exercise, giving the seaside town of Margate a makeover.

Although this task was probably right up Howard Ebison's street, Empire ended up being project managed by "bossy" Debra and included Mona Lewis and James as fellow team-mates. They decided to chase the pink pound and, in a braver move than the other team, rebrand Margate as a gay resort.

Meanwhile, Yasmina Siadatan headed up Ignite (made up of Kate, Lorraine and Ben) and went for the safe bet of making Margate more family friendly and thanks to a more consistent marketing campaign won the task.

Howard, who "had the ideas and Debra suppressed them", according to Sir Alan, avoided being dragged into the boardroom (despite the wearing of a red shirt and matching red tie on the first day of the task - that's got to be a yellow card).

Debra, James and Mona faced Sir Alan, Nick and Margaret in The Apprentice boardroom and after raising the fact that Mona hadn't been behind the task from the outset and showed little commitment throughout (even though she attempted to converse with Margate's resident he-she), Sir Alan decided that Mona should be fired.

So Hospitality Watch lives on to write another blog as our industry hopefuls Yasmina and Howard make it to the last seven.

Well it's really hotting up now for the contestants of Sir Alan Sugar's cult TV show The Apprentice. We're down to the final six and our Yasmina Siadatan and Howard Ebison of Mya Lacarte restaurant and Mitchells & Butlers fame are still in the running for the top job and a six-figure salary.

Last night's task required the teams to source and sell two items aimed at the baby market. Sir Alan decided to put the two parents - James and Lorraine - in charge of the teams, so Lorraine led Kate and Howard and James led Yasmina, ice-maiden Debra and I'll-bite-your-bloody-teeth-out Ben.

Yasmina's team went for a high-risk strategy opting for a top-end rocking horse, retailing from £1,700 upwards and a blow-up birthing pool, while Howard's team played a safer game and chose a nifty collapsible buggy and a baby crash helmet.

The final week of BBC Two's Great British Menu starts tonight and we want to know who you think will win and if you guess correctly you could be in with a chance to win £100 worth of Amazon vouchers.

Over the last eight weeks, 16 of the nation's top chefs have been battling each other for the right to cook at a homecoming banquet to honour men and women recently returned from active service in Afghanistan and their familes.

The feast to be held at RAF Halton House will be a culinary 21 gun salute to those who have put their lives on the line for their country.

This week the judges will score all the dishes in the final out of 10 and this will account for 50% of the overall vote, other other half down to the public.

The finalists for this year's GBM are:

South East

Tristan Welch - head chef, Launceston Place, London

South West

Shaun Rankin -head chef, Bohemia Bar & Restaurant, The Club Hotel & Spa, Jersey.

North West

Nigel Haworth - chef patron, Northcote Manor, Blackburn

North East

Kenny Atkinson - head chef, Seaham Hall, Seaham, Northumbria

Midlands

Glynn Purnell - chef proprietor, Purnell's, Birmingham

Scotland

Tom Kitchin - chef proprietor, The Kitchin, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland

Wales

James Sommerin - The Crown at Whitebrook, Monmouth

Northern Ireland

Danny Millar - Balloo House, Killinchy

Tell us who you think make it though to the final and win £100 of Amazon vouchers! Good luck!

Howard Ebison has been fired from Sir Alan Sugar's Apprentice series after a closely fought task which saw him head to head with hospitality rival Yasmina Siadatan.

In this week's show, Sir Alan asked the final six would-be apprentices to host an hour's slot on a shopping channel. Although both teams managed to bumble their way through the task, Ignite, led by Howard and supported by Kate and Lorraine, failed to make enough money to keep themselves out of the boardroom.

Despite good presenting skills from Howard, Kate was described as performing like a "programmed robot" so Ignite struggled to sell enough of their products which included an air guitar, craft toys, some garish leather jackets and an innovative chip pan which only used one tablespoon of oil to cook a batch of chips.

Meanwhile, Yasmina's team of Empire, which included Debra and James, opted for cheaper items (a remote-control toy car, ponchos, hairclips and a gardening tool) but managed to shift more of them.