Fringe review: Chef - Come Dine With Us

Chef: Come Dine With Us,
Assembly, George Square — Chef: Come Dine With Us, Assembly, George Square

If the title is leading you to think ‘Ready, Steady, Cook,’ 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 – speak little English, but tap into the universal language of slapstick, with a beat box soundtrack and tons of break-dancing.

Unusual ingredients these may be, but the end result is simply glorious fun.

If the premise is daft - and it is - then the execution is incredibly slick. The show is based around a competition between two chefs - red chef and green chef – who bid to serve up a host of dishes.

The winner 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.

Two insanely talented beat-boxers provide a soundtrack which comprises everything from silly voices and sound effects to a full blown, show-topping finale.

Chef rolls from one gag to the next as the cast gleefully subvert their own set pieces time after time. They pack comedy, dance, music and sketches into a fantastic hour of entertainment.

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

Run ends 29 August