Fringe Review: Chef: Come Dine With Us - a feast of fun

Chef: Come Dine With Us
Chef: Come Dine With Us - George Square Theatre, Fringe 2016Chef: Come Dine With Us - George Square Theatre, Fringe 2016
Chef: Come Dine With Us - George Square Theatre, Fringe 2016

Haute cuisine meets hip hop - and this is a smorgasbord of treats which should be firmly on your Fringe menu this year.

Chef: Come Dine With Us

Assembly George Square Theatre (Venue 8)

Stars: ****

Run ends: August 29

Haute cuisine meets hip hop - this is a smorgasbord of treats which should be firmly on your Fringe menu this year.

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If the title of the show is leading you to think ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ then you are wide of the mark.

True, it features chefs, but these guys are so outgoing, talented and plain silly they make Ainsley Harriott look like a wallflower … and no ingredients are actually cooked in this show!

Chefs is mash-up of music, dance, and sketches loosely based around a food theme.

This Korean company – ‘’south Korean’’ they helpfully explain at the start – speak little English, but tap into the universal language of slapstick, with a beat box soundtrack and tons of breakdancing.

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Unusual ingredients these may be, but the end result is simply glorious fun; laugh out loud and richly entertaining stuff.

If the premise is daft - and it is - then the execution is incredibly slick and professional.

The show is based around a competition between two chefs - red chef and green chef – who bid to serve up a host of dishes, with the winner being decided by an audience member.

That’s pretty much where the food ends, and the fun begins. Each course sees a volunteer plucked from the audience to become part of the sketch which is built entirely around visual gags.

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Two insanely talented beatboxers provide a soundtrack which comprises everything from silly voices and sound effects to a full blown showtopping finale.

Chef rolls from one gag to the next and the cast gleefully subvert their own set pieces time after time, while making full use of their volunteers.

They pack comedy, dance, music, and sketches into a fantastic hour of entertainment. There’s even a huge dough fight with the audience!

To quote one audience member heading out the door, it was ‘’bonkers’’ – and it was, but it was also brilliant fun.

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Chef is already playing to big audiences and they can only grow as word of mouth gets round that there’s a new cook in town.

The next Bake Off will seem very stale unless Mary Berry backflips into the tent and starts rapping out her instructions …

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