Competition has helped Bo'ness chef prepare for Olympics

Gareth Linden (35) was part of a group of Scottish chefs invited to Wales for the Battle for the Dragon cooking contest.

A team from England also made the trip and they stopped Scotland from tasting victory by just four points.

Gareth, who has worked at the Champany Inn in Linlithgow, explained the defeat was not all bad news.

He said: “This was the first real chance our team has had to work together so to lose by only four points, to a team that has more experience than us, is not the worst result.”

Each team had to cook a three course meal for 80 people in three hours under the watchful eyes of industry experts.

Judges award half of the overall mark on flavour and the other 50 per cent is based on organisation, kitchen cleanliness, the menu and presentation.

Both Scotland and England were awarded silver with Wales scooping a bronze award.

Gareth said: “This was great practice in the run-up to the Culinary Olympics which are in Germany later this year.”

Scotland’s best and most skilled chefs will be heading to Erfurt in October to compete with the creme de la creme of cooking on the biggest stage of all.

Teams from around the world will have to whisk up a tantalising menu in six hours for 130 people and serve it in three hours to be crowned Olympic champions.

Gareth said: “In the past Scotland has finished in the top 12 and in the 1990s we were in the top five. Our aim is to get back to the top.”