Shropshire Star

Award-winning Shropshire chef Jason on Great British Menu

He has two AA rosettes, but that doesn't mean Shropshire's Jason Hodnett doesn't get nervous when his reputation is on the line.

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Mr Hodnett from The Raven, in Much Wenlock, represents the central region in TV's Great British Menu competition next week.

He is up against chefs from across the UK attempting to produce a menu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Women's Institute.

This will be the second year the 30-year-old has appeared on the show, also taking part last year when he paid tribute to his grandfather with his menu for a banquet at London's St Paul's Cathedral to mark the 70th anniversary of D Day.

However, appearing on the show for a second time didn't make the experience any easier for Mr Hodnett.

He said: "It was a little bit harder, people are probably under the assumption it would be easer but actually it was more difficult because you know what is expected of you. The only good thing was that I knew more about how it was going to work, that you are going to be pulled away to do some filming."

He did give a few hints about the kind of food he would be making.

"I wanted to do something based around the values of the WI, like education, thrift and crafts. It is a wide open brief so you could really do anything but a lot of people seemed to keep doing a similar sort of thing.

"With this programme it all comes down to the judge that you have, one judge might really like the idea you're going with while another might not."

He added: "I'm the first chef from Shropshire who was born in Shropshire to appear on the show so I really wanted to give it my all."

And as for the future, Mr Hodnett said: "Shrewsbury could be doing much better than it is, we've only ever had one Michelin-starred restaurant.

"I'd really like to open a small restaurant in the future offering a real experience for diners."

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