MasterChef pair high on Heathrow dining

John Torode and Gregg Wallace have turned their critical gaze on airport food and written a guide to eating out at Heathrow.

The BBC MasterChef judges produced Food on the Fly after airport catering chiefs commissioned them to eat their way around the 73 restaurants, bars and cafés which operate there, in a bid to improve quality.

More than 10,000 copies of the guide will be handed out to passengers, and it will be available on the internet from July. Torode and Wallace advised Heathrow food bosses to offer a healthier selection of dishes, and to work harder to champion British food.

More than 26 million food orders are taken at Heathrow every year, including for 1.5 tonnes of caviar, 250,000 pieces of sushi and 630,000 portions of steak.

Torode said: “We were really amazed by the choice of food and the service at the airport. These people do an incredible job, especially given that they are open from 5am to almost midnight, every day.

“I think Heathrow has come on incredibly well. The days when you’d get there, it stank and all you could get was a truly dire full English breakfast have gone.”

His favourites were the Rhubarb restaurant outlet, where he had an “excellent” burger and chips, and Carluccio’s for its “wonderful” pasta. He also recommends Giraffe restaurant and the Caviar House & Prunier Seafood Bar.