GOING out for dinner with two of Scotland's best chefs and not having enough cash to pay your share of the bill is one way of breaking the ice.

Jacqueline O'Donnell blushes beetroot red at the memory.

"I was mortified," she groans.

"Neil Rankin, Stevie McLaughlin and I had gone out to get to know each other before we met in the kitchens for the first time.

"And not being in London very often, and not knowing where I was going to eat or how much it might cost, I thought I had enough cash on me when they suggested going for an Indian meal.

"But I didn't and I had to tap them for the rest..."

She shakes her head in misery. "It was so embarrassing. But they were very nice about it."

Jacqueline, Stevie - head chef at restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles - and Edinburgh-born Neil Rankin, of the Smokehouse in London's Islington, are up against each other on BBC2's Great British Menu.

A regular on BBC Radio Scotland's Scots Kitchen, Jacqueline is the first Scots female, and the first Glaswegian, to appear on the show in its nine-year history.

(Two previous winners are Scottish - Michael Smith, of the Three Chimneys restaurant on Skye, who won last year, and Nick Nairn, who won in 2006.)

The brief for the 2014 series - to produce 21st century dishes worthy of war heroes - was right up Jacqueline's street.

"It was a great honour to be asked. I'm a traditional cook, I love old-fashioned food and methods, and I think that goes right back to my childhood and learning to cook with my gran," she smiles.

"I remember being sent out to my granny's garden to pull rhubarb or turn the soil for tatties, or pick up any apples and my reward was always a stick of tart rhubarb with a wee newspaper pokey of sugar."

While Jacqueline is remaining tight-lipped about her progress in the show, she admits nothing prepared her for the ferocity of the competition.

"It was very, very hard," she recalls.

"I'm not a brash, arrogant person, I'm quite easy going and take a light-hearted approach to my cooking.

"I'm fine with the security blanket of a stove or a table in front of me and I love to teach people how to cook.

"And I've done telly before, so I thought I'd be okay."

"But in an environment as tense as this, I was way out of my comfort zone."

She adds, with a laugh: "This experience - which was fantastic, despite the pressure involved - has taught me I'm really not that competitive..."

To reach the banquet, the three chefs must first impress a veteran chef of the competition, who puts through the top two to the Friday regional final.

The chefs must then prepare their menus again for not only the regular judges - Prue Leith, Matthew Fort and Oliver Peyton - but also a guest judge who served in the Second World War, or played an important part on the home front.

They include Jim Radford, the youngest person to serve in the Merchant Navy on D-Day, and Molly Rose, a wartime Spitfire pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary service.

"That part was really lovely" adds Jacqueline.

"It was very emotional.

"It made us all realise how much we go about our lives without caring for older people as much as we should do.

"They did so much to allow us to lead the lives we lead, to eat the food we put on our tables and it's easy to forget that."

Jacqueline, 45, who has two young children, found it hard to be separated from her family during filming.

"I'm not surprised that women don't take part in these competitions as much as men," she explains.

"Even running a restaurant when you have children is a struggle, so to be away from them in London for so long was really difficult."

Jacqueline grins: "As for whetting my appetite to have my own TV show - well, I'd love to. But it would be nice and friendly. And most definitely filmed in Glasgow..."

l Great British Menu: The D-Day Banquet screens on BBC2 at 7.30pm on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday and 6.30pm on Friday. The final 'banquet' programme will be broadcast on June 6, the 70th anniversary of D-Day.