Pasta disaster averted

They may not have topped gatecrashers Carly Saunders and Tresne Middleton but Perth besties Chloe James and Kelly Ramsay could be well on their way to kitchen headquarters after earning two perfect scores for their entree in their second-attempt instant restaurant.

The WA duo returned to the kitchen in last night's episode, hoping to improve on their lukewarm cooking debut in the first instant restaurant round, and managed to get the tick of approval from judges Manu Feildel and Pete Evans for their crab pillows served with poached marron.

Although they weren't able to secure perfect scores all round, James told AAA she couldn't be happier with how their entree had turned out given the "pasta disaster" that had unfolded earlier on in the night.

"I think we went back to what we know," James explained. "Then we got 10 out of 10 for a dish that we have cooked for our parents before and it was definitely a dish that represents Kelly and I combined."

Having been criticised for their decision to use store-bought pastry in their first instant restaurant, Ramsay said this time they were not only adamant about showcasing the best of WA's produce but also that they had some good culinary techniques up their sleeves.

"We really wanted to highlight WA produce this time, so we use some stars from WA; we had beautiful marron, the blue swimmer crabs and the truffle," Ramsay said. "We started to work as a team and our dishes were about both of us. We're happy to have started low because it gave us room to only go up."

While many MKR fans were quick to cast judgment on the pair during their first week on air, James hoped last night's cook-off showed them in a different light.

The pair failed to reach the same level of excellence for the other two dishes.

Judge Manu Feildel raised concerns about the short cooking time Ramsay set for a chicken confit with brussels sprouts, speck and mushroom sauce, but she was adamant her well-practised recipe would wow the judges.

As Manu predicted, without a long cooking time and a quick sear for crispiness, the chicken failed to satisfy.

"If you're going to be using fancy French words you need to know what they mean," Manu said, while Pete Evans criticised the undercooked sprouts.

The cannoli with orange and chocolate ricotta and espresso-tini dessert proved technically difficult but came out “boring and disappointing” according to Manu, while Pete’s palate was overpowered by the coffee punch.

Experimental foodies Josh Geard and Danielle Najda's instant restaurant episode will air today at 7.30pm on Seven/GWN7.