Award-winning Birmingham chef to represent West Midlands in BBC’s Great British Menu

An award-winning chef from Birmingham will be representing the Central Region on Great British Menu.

The BBC Two show has top chefs from across the regions competing to produce a menu that is served at a prestigious banquet for special events and prominent guests.

Chef Tom Shepherd will be representing the Central Region on the show on Tuesday (March 21). He runs the Michelin award-winning restaurant Upstairs by Tom Shepherd in Lichfield.

His restaurant’s team tweeted: “We’re immensely proud to share that our very own @tom_chef1 has been selected to represent the Central Region in this year’s @GBMofficial Tune in with us from Tuesday 21st to see how he handles the pressure of the GBM Kitchen! Good luck Chef!”

According to BBC, Shepherd grew up watching the show and is ready to impress. The “proud Brummie” is a newcomer to the Great British Menu kitchen, but he’s already won many awards. He received an Acorn award in 2018 - which celebrates the top 30 under 30 within the hospitality industry.

He started his career at New Hall Hotel in Walmley, and worked as a sous chef with Michael Wignall at The Latymer in Bagshot before working as a Development chef at Restaurant Sat Baines in Nottingham. His first head chef role was at Michelin-starred Adam’s Restaurant in Birmingham. He stayed there for two and a half years, during which time he retained the restaurant’s 3 AA Rosettes and Michelin star.

In 2021, he opened his own restaurant Upstairs by Tom Shepherd, and received a Michelin star just a few months later.

He describes his food as “seasonal, modern interpretation of classic combinations, where the emphasis is on creating big flavour”.

For his Birmingham inspired menu, Tom will be playing homage to British created video game Pac-man 3, and Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel ‘Fungus the Bogeyman.’