- The Fawltys are very pleased with their new chef, Kurt. He was recommended to them by their friend André who runs a nice restaurant in town. All in all, he's working out quite well and they decide to have a gourmet evening on Thursdays to try and promote, in Basil's eye at any rate, a better class of clientèle. Kurt gets along well with everyone and seems to have a particular interest in Manuel. When the big day finally arrives, they find themselves with only four guests booked for the dining room - which Sybil puts down to Basil's advert in the local paper saying 'no riff-raff' - and there seems to be something about Kurt that André forgot to mention. It's pandemonium as a manic Basil tries to make up for their collective lapses.—garykmcd
- The cream of Torquay society turns out for a special gourmet night at Fawlty Towers. Expectations are high but so, unfortunately, is the chef. In fact, he's incapably drunk! A desperate Basil hurtles round to a friend's restaurant in a car that's about as reliable as his chef. His mission is to find a replacement main course - he's out for a duck.—freddyjasonmyer
- The Fawltys acquire a new chef, Kurt, from their friend Andre, who runs a restaurant in downtown Torquay. Kurt, who is Greek, proves to be a great addition to the Fawlty Towers staff, and gets on very well with everyone, and seems to take a particular liking to Manuel. With this new asset to their team, Basil organizes a gourmet night, to climb another rung in the social ladder.
On the gourmet night itself, a series of mishaps occur. First of all, Basil's social awkwardness confuses and offends the dinner guests. Secondly, Kurt, who turns out to be gay and alcoholic, gets a crush on Manuel and is promptly rejected, leaving him to get drunk and fall unconscious. Hastily, Basil has to cancel the gourmet menu, and can only offer the guests three options: Duck with orange, duck with cherries, or "duck surprise" (duck without orange or cherries). Basil leaves Polly and Manuel to entertain the guests while he goes to Andre's restaurant to collect the duck.
Throughout the ordeal, Basil's car has been having mechanical issues, which proves problematic while he rushes between Fawlty Towers and Andre's restaurant. After Basil collects the duck, he brings it back to the hotel, where it accidentally gets dropped on the kitchen floor, prompting Basil to rush back into town to get another duck from Andre. Andre prepares a new duck for Basil, which Basil eagerly collects. However, unbeknownst to Basil or Andre, the duck has been unintentionally swapped with a pudding. On the way back to Fawlty Towers, the car stalls again, then promptly fails to restart, leaving Basil to take out his frustration by beating the vehicle with a tree branch.
Eventually, Basil returns to the hotel, places the dish on a trolley, and wheels it out to the hungry guests. However, upon removing the cloche, it reveals the pudding underneath. When one of the guests asks about the duck, Basil bluntly responds: "Duck's off."
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content