Great British Menu 2022 chefs: Adam Handling, Scotland heat

33 year-old Chef and owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, Adam Handling is one of four chefs that represented Scotland on Great British Menu 2022

Series 17 of the competition starts on February 1st 2022 on BBC Two at 8pm and will air every Tuesday at 8pm, every Wednesday at 9pm (as of the week commencing March 7th) and Thursday at 8pm for eight weeks.

Adam is competing against chefs Fraser Smith, Calum Montgomery and Stuart Ralston in a bid to represent Scotland in the national finals, and ultimately serve a dish at the banquet celebrating the BBC's 100th anniversary. This is Adam's second time on Great British Menu, as he took part for the first time in 2016 (series 11).

Fraser was the first to leave the competition after cooking his fish course. Despite putting up some great dishes, Calum was next to leave the Great British Menu kitchen, leaving Adam and Stuart to face judges Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona and Ed Gamble on Thursday 3rd March 2022.

Both chefs put up a good fight, but Adam was the one to win over the judges, letting him through to represent Scotland in the regional Finals. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to secure a course at the banquet.

Biography 

Eager to avoid going to university, Adam Handling successfully applied for an apprenticeship at Gleneagles, becoming the hotel's very first apprentice. He remained there for almost three years before leaving to spend time in London, then at Newcastle's Malmaison as a sous-chef for two and a half years.

The chef returned to Scotland to take on his first head chef position at the Fairmont St Andrews Hotel, where he worked for just over two years, earning 2 AA Rosettes for the restaurant. After a six-month tour of duty on the six-star liner, Crystal Serenity, the chef moved down to London to work at the newly-refurbished St. Ermin's Hotel in St James' Park.

It was then that the chef appeared on MasterChef: The Professionals 2013, reaching the finals, which led to the opportunity to get his name above the door at the St Ermin's restaurant, renamed Restaurant Adam Handling at Caxton. 

Since then, he has opened a string of restaurants under the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, starting with The Frog E1 (consecutively moved to Hoxton, before closing in 2020) followed by Frog by Adam Handling and Eve Bar in Covent Garden, alongside the now closed Adam Handling Chelsea at Belmond Cadogan.

He then opened the The Loch & the Tyne Old Windsor and Ugly Butterfly (first at the Belmond Cadogan Chelsea, since relocated to St. Ives, Cornwall). 

The chef recently won a Michelin star for his Covent Garden restaurant in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland 2022.

Sustainability is central to the chef's approach to food, specifically minimising food waste. His dishes on Great British Menu will celebrate Scottish Gardening show, 'Beechgrove Garden' and kids TV programme, 'Balamory.'