An owner of several restaurants across the UK, including Cornwall, is competing in this year’s popular BBC Two cooking show The Great British Menu.

Scottish chef Adam Handling who owns the Adam Handling Restaurant Group and the Ugly Butterfly in Carbis Bay, St Ives will represent Scotland in the Scottish heat which began airing on Tuesday.

The chefs will be inspired by the best British animation and illustration this year when creating their dishes.

Host Andi Oliver and regular judges Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona and Ed Gamble will be surprised with plenty of familiar characters, from cartoons and novels to video games.

Taking inspiration from the likes of ‘Wind in the Willows’ and Disney animation ‘Brave’, Adam will be creating spectacular dishes in the hope of securing a place at the 2023 banquet.

Michelin-starred chef Adam opened the Ugly Butterfly in August 2021 during the G7 summit. The venue offers British food inspired by Cornwall.

Adam's brand of restaurants are said to have a strong focus on sustainability and hyper-local foods - produce sourced from the immediate surrounding area. 

Adam said: "Everything we do at our restaurants and bars is based on the location and surroundings.

"It’s super important to me to support the local suppliers and Carbis Bay has a beautiful seaside and rural setting, so we’ll be using more of the seafood and foraged ingredients that the area is well-known for."

Adam also has several awards under his belt, including Scottish Chef of the Year, British Culinary Federation’s Chef of the Year and Chef of the Year in the Food and Travel Awards.

As well as appearing on The Great British Menu, Adam has also featured on other TV programmes including Saturday Kitchen Live, and Great British Menu and has been a judge on amateur MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals.

He has also authored four books, the most recent of which is his boxset trilogy: Frog by Adam Handling; Why Waste?; and Perfect, Three Cherries.