The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes
Begins Monday, 14th October at 7:30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ +
The new series of The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes sees ten volunteers, all living with Young Onset Dementia, run an upmarket restaurant under the guidance of top chef Ben Bayly.
Four out of five Kiwis know or have known someone living with dementia but it’s a disease that’s been an uncomfortable discussion point, until now. The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes Series 1 helped lift the stigma attached to the label of dementia and change attitudes towards the disease.
In Series 2, the focus is on people living with Young Onset Dementia, whose symptoms develop before the age of 65. Research suggests that as many as one in ten people living with dementia are still of working age, many still with mortgages and dependent children.
The ten new volunteers include a former lawyer, a scientist, an engineer, a journalist and a rugby league legend. Over the course of the series we see how working in the restaurant impacts not only their lives – but those of their families as well. By the end of the experiment will the volunteers have shown that those diagnosed with dementia still have a role to play at work and in society? And will their time in the restaurant have helped them discover the people they used to be?
Over four weeks the volunteers deal with complex cooking, picky diners, hospitality industry heavyweights, old teammates and a marriage proposal – hoping to prove to themselves and others that they can run a restaurant, and more importantly show that they can still make a valuable contribution to society.
Chef Ben Bayly is back to mentor and support the volunteers along with his team, Front of House expert, Chris Martin and Executive Chef, Mike Shatura. Ben is a high profile restaurateur, who also hosts “A New Zealand Food Story” and was named as the Champion for Change for 2023 in the Cuisine Good Food Awards.
Joining the team is Neuropsychologist, Dr Christina Ilsa. Christina assesses the volunteers at the beginning of their time in the restaurant and again at the end, in order to gauge what impact the four weeks have on their sense of wellbeing and purpose. With almost 70,000 Kiwis living with dementia today this series gives unprecedented insight into how we can improve the life of those impacted by this devastating disease.
This series of the Restaurant that Makes Mistakes is filmed at Origine Restaurant, in the heart of Auckland’s fine dining district.
Made with the support of NZ On Air