The finalists will have 45 minutes to prepare four portions of a main course and dessert using rice at the heart of both dishes. The winning dishes will celebrate ‘global cuisines, inspiring trends and exquisite flavour combinations’.

The triumphant team will be awarded the blue trophy and secure a gastro trip to Italy when it is safe to travel. Tilda Foodservice will be joined by a judging panel comprising of Cyrus Todiwala, David Mulcahy, Frank Coughlan, Harry Lomas and Jo Witchell.

The competing teams include:

• Alex Le’Marquand & Neal Harding from the RAF
• Wayne Corbett & Nicola Harper from Compass Group UK & Ireland
• Andrew Foulis & Marina Kritikopoulou from the House of Commons
• Istvan (Steve) Jonas & Ross Hamilton from Sodexo SFRS Scotland
• Saurav Nath & Vaibhav Patil from JKS Restaurants
• Terry O’Riordan & Oliver Jordan from The Craft Guild of Chefs
• Stuart Dos-Anjos & George Johnson from Cheshire College South and West
• Leon Witter & Alexis Becerra-Salas from Compass (Princess Grace Hospital)
• Lijo Joy & Sherin Sebastian from Compass (Caterham School)

Annette Coggins, head of foodservice at Tilda UK said: “It’s so rewarding to see that while the hospitality industry is in recovery, so many chef teams are excited to compete and do what they love most.

“There is an excellent array of finalists from all sectors who will bring so much to the competition, we at Tilda are looking forward to seeing what they will create with our rice! Good luck chefs!”