All about our feathery friends. This 'Best Of' episode of The Mind of a Chef opens the birdcage on some of our familiar (and some not so familiar) poultry dishes. Chinese chicken noodle soup, and chicken and dumplings make an appearance, but also stuffed Faroe Island puffin and duck-on-a-string get some screen time as well.

Jeremy's restaurant opens in a matter of days, but it's all on the QT. Jeremy does not want the council to find out until just before it opens. Which is why Jeremy and Kaleb are laying pipes for water and electrics across a field in the dead of night. Pepper the heifer is still very much alive and is enjoying the company of Break Heart Maestro a lot.
Two days until Restaurant Opening Day, Jeremy informs the council and it's game on: Alan and his team of builders work at full throttle, Pip and her team of chefs do too, and the blend of excitement and panic is affecting everyone. The day itself arrives. Will the Diddly Squat Farm Restaurant sink or swim? Or will the council shut it down before the first steak hits the grill?

Chef Ludo Lefebvre began his US career cooking at Los Angeles restaurant Bastide, but after it closed for renovations he opted not to return and instead chose to do things his way. Borrowing a friend’s bakery space, which was closed in the evenings, Ludo created a unique dining experience in the form of small, reservations-only, “chef’s choice” dinners. These dinners became known as LudoBites, a pop-up deemed by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold as "a transforming moment” for the LA dining scene.

Spring has sprung at Diddly Squat Farm, and that heralds the release of cows and chickens from their winter captivity. Jeremy's restaurant plans are in tatters, but that's not the end of his dealings with the council, who are also sending letters raising issues about what's being sold in the shop itself. From here on in, Jeremy decides that he and all around him must operate in a world of loop-holes and just-within-the-law cunning wheezes. Pepper the prized heifer still isn't pregnant and her last chance saloon arrives in the shape of a bull called Break Heart Maestro.
A chat with Alan the builder provides a Eureka Moment: the restaurant idea is not dead after all! There's much excitement as building work begins and Jeremy meets a chef called Pip. There's less excitement when he has to take his first steer to the abattoir.