MasterChef winner Tom Hamblet joins Lainston House

MasterChef: The Professionals 2023 champion Tom Hamblet has been named head chef of the flagship restaurant at Lainston House hotel near Winchester.

He will join the Exclusive Collection property’s Avenue restaurant, which will relaunch on 27 November following a redesign by Russell Sage Studio, whose previous clients include the Goring hotel and 67 Pall Mall.

It comes after Hamblet, a former sous chef at the Camellia restaurant at sister hotel South Lodge in Sussex, completed two successful residencies at the property following his MasterChef win.

As head chef of the Avenue, Hamblet will serve an eight-course tasting menu priced at £125, which will include the likes of laminated brioche with garden herb butter; scallop, anchovy, seaweed pickle and ajo blanco; and whipped cheesecake tart, pear, fig leaf, blackberry and pastis sorbet.

The meal will end with ‘Squeeze them ins’, such as Lainston apple juice, ginger pâte de fruit and salted nut nougat.

The chef will also lead masterclasses at the Season Cookery School at Lainston House, where guests will have the opportunity to learn the recipes that inspired his dishes from MasterChef: The Professionals.

Hamblet said: “It has been an incredible journey working with the talented team at Lainston House during my residency. I’m thrilled to be taking the head chef role for the relaunch of the Avenue, continuing to explore the region’s rich culinary heritage to create an unforgettable flavour-focused dining experience that helps put Hampshire on the map as an unmissable dining destination.”

Lainston House is set in a 17th-century, Queen Anne red brick property and includes 50 bedrooms, two restaurants and 63 acres of grounds.