Pip Lacey through to Great British Menu banquet

Murano head chef Pip Lacey has beat the seven other finalists on BBC TV cookery competition Great British Menu to win the right to cook the starter at a summer banquet celebrating 140 years of Wimbledon.

Lacey, who holds a Michelin star at Murano, was tied in joint first place with Tom Brown, head chef at Outlaw's at the Capital in London, and Tommy Heaney, head chef of Leicester's at the Great House in Bridgend, south Wales.

The judges Matthew Fort, Andi Oliver, and Oliver Peyton, chose Lacey, who won the heats for the Central region to make it to the final, to go through to the banquet, where she will cook her dish, called Whatever the Weather.

Served in a large yellow tennis ball bowl, the dish consists of pickled heritage radish, sautéed runner beans, pickled courgettes, honey-soused tomatoes, tomato hearts, and goat's cheese ravioli, served with "hot tomato rain" in watering cans.

The finals, the culmination of an eight-week competition, continue during the rest of this week and will see the chefs compete for a place to cook the main course and dessert at the banquet.

The other finalists are: Ellis Barrie, co-owner of the Marram Grass on Anglesey (North West); Tommy Banks, head chef of the Black Swan at Oldstead (North East); Michael Bremner, head chef and owner of 64 Degrees in Brighton (Scotland); Phil Carmichael, executive chef at Berner's Tavern in London (Wales); and Selin Kiazim, chef director at Oklava in London (London and the South East).

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