THE head chef at a west Suffolk restaurant has been selected to compete with the best in Britain in the new series of BBC2’s popular television programme The Great British Menu.

Paul Foster from Tuddenham Mill will feature in the seventh series of the show, which has been themed “The Olympic Feast”.

He will be demonstrating his award-winning cooking skills on the programme every evening for a week from the April 16, as one of 24 chefs from eight regions competing for the chance to create a four course menu fit for Olympic heroes.

His menus are going to be judged by Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort, assisted by the show’s regional judge, Michelin starred Purnell’s Restaurant chef and culinary star Glynn Purnell.

Paul will be competing against two award winning chefs who are returning to the show from last year: Daniel Clifford, from the Michelin starred Midsummer House in Cambridge and Aktar Islam Lasan from the Lasan Restaurant Group in Birmingham, who was the Central region winner last year.

“There I am, going up against a Michelin-starred chef and last year’s champion – but I love it,” said Paul. “There is a lot of pressure: you’re only cooking three dishes, but it feels like doing a 50-cover service.”

Although it will be a tough challenge for the very talented, Paul has already been wowing food critics such as Jay Rayner and was recently awarded 3 AA Rosettes for his menus at Tuddenham Mill, which is located near Bury St Edmunds and is owned and managed by Agellus Hotels.