The Fat Fowl, Bradford on Avon

Gary Say, 28, recently took over the top job and his first experience as a head chef has been going well so far.

"It's a little nerve-wracking because it is my reputation on the line but I feel ready for it and am confident," he said.

"It can be a bit daunting because the onus is on me to take it to another level. The scary thought is the buck stops with me. There's a lot more to it than just cooking, like being in charge of a team, but it's a great challenge."

For Mr Say, the most important aspect of his cooking is making sure the food is all about seasonal flavours and locally sourced produce.

"I see cooking as a craft not an art and I'm more down to earth with more concentration on flavours. I find lots of chefs disguise tastes with too many flavours and the dishes are too busy.

"Today there is so much choice and emphasis on the fact you can get foods at all times of the year but it's often being brought by cargo from South America and there is no taste. I like to source stuff as locally.

"My veg supplier can give me something like a puffball mushroom picked in the morning and it will be on the table that night. It has much better nutritional value and it's a pleasure to cook with."

Dishes on the current menu include mallard duck, pigeon and rainbow trout, all of which were supplied locally.

Mr Say only became a chef in 2000 after a temporary job in a factory canteen led him to think there must be more to cooking.

After contacting a number of local pubs he was taken on by The Pear Tree, Whitley, where he began to discover more about cooking and from there went to the Linnet,at Great Hinton and then Woolley Grange Hotel, Bradford on Avon.

"The Woolley Grange is an established two rosette hotel restaurant but The Fat Fowl is very much at its beginning," he said.

"It is primarily a food restaurant and a coffee shop during the day so it's a very different environment.

"It's really friendly and warming. We have a very relaxed and informal atmosphere and it's just a nice place to chill out."

The restaurant has an evolving lunchtime menu which changes daily while the dinner menu changes once a month.

FACT FILE:

• The Fat Fowl is in Silver Street, Bradford on Avon.

• It is open seven days a week.

• Lunch is served everyday from 12-2.30pm and dinner Thursday-Saturday from 7-9pm.

• Jazz nights on the first Wednesday of each month and some Sunday evenings.

• There is disabled access and a disabled toilet.