Powys chef Corrin Harrison competes in Great British Menu

Tonight's episode (Tuesday, February 20) will see three newcomers join the competition.

These include Corrin Harrison from mid-Wales, who has spent most of his career at one of the UK’s best restaurants, Ynyshir, and has just set up a sister restaurant to it in Machynlleth.

From Llandudno is inventive chef, Nick Rudge. After training under Heston Blumenthal, he created a takeaway business during lockdown in 2021. It was a sell-out success, so he opened his own restaurant in Conwy, The Jackdaw, creating surprising dishes.

Corrin Harrison from mid-Wales (Image: BBC2 / Great British Menu)
From South Wales is Lewis Dwyer, who recently opened his own place, Hiraeth, to critical acclaim and quickly earned 2 AA rosettes.

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Also from South Wales is returner Larkin Cen, from The Monkey King at Newport’s Celtic Manor. He missed out on the regional finals last time and is determined to get further on this attempt.

He champions traditional Chinese cooking with a Western edge.

Setting them off cooking is presenter Andi Oliver. The chefs compete for a place at the banquet, which this year will be held in Paris to wish Team GB 'good luck' for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Conwy chef Nick Rudge (Image: BBC2 / Great British Menu)

A spokesperson, on behalf of the Great British Menu, gave readers an insight on what to expect from the Welsh heat.

They said: "To tie in with our theme, each dish must be inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The exception is the canape - which should sum up the chef’s style in one bite. This is the first thing their veteran chef and mentor will get to taste and when they serve their canape they’ll discover which veteran they’ve got. 

"Their rankings for the canape will decide any tie-break at the end of this first heat. After canape it’s straight into starters. These must be vegan and we’ve got some unique takes on the theme with the ‘Golden Letterbox’, a spicy mapo tofu dish with mushroom XO sauce celebrating the post-boxes painted gold in the towns of gold medal winners at London 2012.

"Continuing the golden theme there is ‘Another Gold for Team GB’, a medal made from Jerusalem artichoke parfait, with a madeira jelly and a nod to traditional Welsh breads with a caraway and laver cracker.

"There are also two takes on leek soup. One is a fermented grain, tofu and leek-filled cawl celebrating Olympic weightlifting, the other is an interpretation of a French onion soup, inspired by a Welsh athlete whom it was said could run seven miles in the time it took to boil the kettle."

The chefs are just getting used to the kitchen and the competition when a new veteran joins for the fish course.

The spokesperson said: "It’s one of last year’s winners so now they’ve got two veterans to please. They’re taking inspiration from around the globe on this course, with a salmon and tuna sushi dish celebrating the handover ceremony from Tokyo to Paris.

"There’s also ‘An Ode to Colin Jackson’ that features a re-imagining of a classic Caribbean saltfish dish, which was something Colin, the chef and Andi our presenter all ate when they were children; and ‘Monsieur Sardine’ inspired by a boat that got stuck in the harbour where the Paris Olympic nautical events will be held and centered around a fish finger buttie.

"Finally, one of the chefs limits his ingredients of a lobster and leek dish to what can be sourced within four kilometres of his restaurant to celebrate a 4,000 metre swimming race."

Wales: Starters and Fish will air tonight on BBC2 at 8pm.