Great British Menu returns this summer to crown first-ever champion of champions
Great British Menu will be back this summer with some familiar faces to crown its champion of champions.
The cookery challenge series will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service by tasking its returning finalists and new challengers to create dishes that salute the staff of the NHS.
Veteran judges Andi Oliver, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort will be joined a variety of esteemed chefs, including Paul Ainsworth, to narrow the heat each week to two competitors making each regional final on Fridays.
Also judging will be heroes of the NHS including Aneira Thomas (the first baby born on the NHS), Dan Smith (a paramedic on the scene at the Manchester bombing), Jenny Turner (Britain’s longest-serving nurse) and Dr Rangan Chatterjee (from Doctor in the House).
[Judge Andi Oliver]
The top competitors will have the shot to prepare a glorious four-course meal to be served at a celebratory banquet at Britain’s oldest operational medical center, the Great Hall of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
“I am so absolutely thrilled to be returning to GBM and when I heard that this year we would be celebrating the extraordinary people who work in our beloved NHS I jumped for joy,” Andi Oliver said today (June 19).
“The combination of culinary excellence from our incredible chefs and the hugely emotional and personal connection that we all have to the NHS means that this will be an exceptional year for the competition.”
Below, Digital Spy presents a full rundown of contestants and guests judges by region:
North East
Judge: Dr Anne Weaver (lead clinician with the London Air Ambulance)
Chefs:
Dan Fletcher, Fenchurch at The Sky Garden, London
Danny Parker, House Of Tides, Newcastle
Dave Coulson, Peace and Loaf, Newcastle
London and South East
Judge: Jenny Turner (Britain’s longest-serving nurse)
Chefs:
James Cochran, formally James Cochran EC3, London, now 1251, London
Scott Goss, The Twenty Six, Tunbridge Wells
Selin Kiazim, Oklava, London
Scotland
Judge: Dr Sara Kayat (GP & TV expert)
Chefs:
Benedict Reade, Edinburgh Food Studio, Edinburgh
Lorna McNee, Andrew Fairlie, Perthshire
Ross Bryans, formally Corrigan’s Mayfair, London
Central
Judge: Dan Smith (Paramedic on site at Manchester bombing)
Chefs:
Marianne Lumb, Marianne, London
Ryan Simpson-Trotman, Orwells, Oxfordshire
Sabrina Gidda, Bernardi’s, London
Wales
Judge: Aneira Thomas (first baby born on NHS and retired mental health nurse)
Chefs:
Andrew Sheridan, Sosban, Carmarthenshire
Chris Harrod, The Whitebrook, Monmouthshire
Jason Hughes, Chateau Rhianfa, Anglesey
South West
Judge: Barbara Childs (Matron in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital)
Chefs:
Jude Kereama, Kota, Cornwall
Olivia Barry, Adelina Yard, Bristol
Tom Brown, formally Outlaw’s at the Capital, London now Cornerstone, London
North West
Judge: Dr Jake Dunning MBE (Infectious disease specialist who worked on West Africa Ebola epidemic)
Chefs:
Craig Sherrington, Virginia House, Cumbria
Ellis Barrie, The Marram Grass, Anglesey
Liam Simpson-Trotman, Orwells, Oxfordshire
Northern Ireland
Judge: Shehan Hettiaratchy (Lead trauma surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, who helped treat Grenfell Tower fire victims)
Chefs:
James Devine – formally Noble, Belfast now Ardtara Country House, Londonderry
Shauna Froydenlund, Marcus at The Berkeley, London
Tommy Heaney, The Great House, Bridgend
Finals judges
Starter: Dr Rangan Chatterjee – BBC’s Doctor In The House
Fish: Chris Ogden, pioneer of robotic surgery for prostate cancer
Main: Tom Lynch MBE – paramedic and founder of the Ambulance Cycle Response Unit
Dessert: Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, Head of Maternity, Children & Young People for NHS England
Veteran judges
Tom Aikens – The Pawn, Hong Kong and Tom’s Kitchen, various locations
Daniel Clifford – Midsummer House, Cambridge
Angela Hartnett – Murano and Merchants Tavern, both London
Michael O’Hare – The Man Behind the Curtain, Leeds
Jeremy Lee – Quo Vadis, London
Paul Ainsworth – No 6 and Rojano’s, both Padstow
Phil Howard – Elystan Street, London
Richard Corrigan – Corrigan’s Mayfair and Bentley’s, both London
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