This year, the Great British Menu celebrated its 20th season – 785 episodes and counting. But the show’s roots stretch far deeper than a 2005 BBC planning session. As early as the 4th century BC, chefs have been locked in culinary rivalries to win favour with kings, queens, emperors and tsars – their reputations (and sometimes lives) hanging on a single dish.
Take the court of Louis XV in the early 1700s. Chefs at Versailles were locked in constant competition to create ever-more elaborate dishes for the king and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Pompadour. Legendary chef Vincent La Chapelle and his rivals were known to duel (culinarily, and occasionally literally) over whose version of a dish – quenelle of pike, peut-être – would win the monarch’s favour.
On this side of the Channel, coronation feasts throughout the Tudor and Georgian eras were equally fiercely fought, with guilds and royal kitchens presenting dishes – roast peacock, gilded pies, even mechanical sugar sculptures that moved – in royal culinary contests. The 1821 coronation of George IV featured 160 dishes served in elaborate procession, each chef hoping his dish would earn the highest praise from the monarch.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, and Britain’s best chefs now compete for glory on a national stage. Rather than (just) royalty, the winning dishes are served to modern-day heroes including Olympic and Paralympic champions at an annual gala dinner.
One restaurant group knows a thing or three about reaching the final: The Tommy Banks Group. Alongside the general himself, Will Lockwood (head chef of Roots), and Callum Leslie (executive chef of The Black Swan at Oldstead and The Abbey Inn Byland) have both shone on the show.
Tommy Banks, right, in his two-acre kitchen garden at The Black Swan at Oldstead.
To commemorate their achievements, Banks hosted the Ultimate Great British Menu dinner this October. Taking place at the Yorkshireman's Michelin-starred Roots restaurant in York, the dinner saw the three GBM finalists come together to cook a menu including each of their winning dishes.
As a buoyant Leslie told us on the night, it’s a treat for the three chefs to be cooking together in the same kitchen again – a rare reunion of the OG squad from the Michelin-starred Black Swan in Oldstead. The whole evening had the warm, nostalgic feel of getting the old band back together.
The night kicked off with Lockwood’s winning canapé: an aged beef tartare with a celeriac cream and topped by dehydrated smoked ox heart. It was a bold, brilliant start to what proved a feast for the ages.
Where most tasting menus ebb and flow, this was hit after hit, each dish a proper flex.
Will Lockwood, head chef, Roots
Where most tasting menus ebb and flow, this was hit after hit, each dish a proper flex.
Lockwood’s aptly entitled ‘The Soup Dragon’ followed – a bowl of barbecued potato and hen of the woods topped with a silky pour of watercress velouté. A crisp puck of blue potato strings dotted with wild garlic emulsion and fennel pollen vinegar gel added bite and texture.
The next course was so impressive, Lockwood delivered it in person. As he explained, ‘Buried Treasure’ – his dish from the 2023 season – sees scallops and razor clams joined by expertly charred leeks and mussels pickled in elderflower vinegar. All this is crowned with torched Killeen cheese and a potato emulsion – “basically cheesy mash,” he joked with a wry smile. The dish was a perfect 10. Don’t believe me? Ask Angela Hartnett – she gave it the same score. If God made fish pies, this would be it. My wife’s observation: “That’s sex in a pot.” Enough said.
Tommy Banks brought the next course to the table. You’d have to be a real GBM aficionado to remember this one from 2017: Turbot ‘Strawberries and cream’ – the winning fish dish from the Wimbledon season. Noilly Prat and jersey cream do the heavy lifting, while brightness and acidity are brought by slices of sour-salty umeboshi strawberries.
Tommy Banks, multi-award-winning, Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur
Next up was Callum Leslie’s time in the spotlight. ‘Priestley’s Carbon Cycle’ – one of the highlights of this year’s season of the show – comprises ribeye served atop crunchy beef-fat soil, a braised ox cheek and mushroom ragout, smoked beef fat hollandaise, lovage emulsion and pickled hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. It is a beast of a dish – rich, robust and unapologetically indulgent. Tom Kerridge agreed, giving it a 10 out of 10. The beef itself comes from Dexter cattle on Tommy’s own farm. As Callum explained: “It’s short, stocky, and eats all day – perfect for beef.”
The night is wrapped up by a killer one-two punch of puddings. First is Banks’s ‘My Great Briton’. Named in honour of his beloved grandfather, it’s a dish that would undoubtedly have made him proud.
A Douglas Fir parfait and sherbet is accompanied by lemon verbena gel, white chocolate and ewe’s milk sorbet. Awarded an emotional 10 by Tom Aikens during the show, it helped Tommy win the joint highest overall score in the history of Great British Menu.
The final dish came in the form of ‘Make the Moors Never Change’ – a mind-boggling dish from Leslie that proves that mushrooms can belong in a dessert.
Callum Leslie, executive chef of The Black Swan at Oldstead and The Abbey Inn Byland
What a finale. What a meal. The experience really was a celebration of Great British excellence, showcasing the creativity, hyper-local ingredients and preservation techniques for which the group has become renowned.
The good news? You can enjoy it too – the trio are planning more dates for an encore service in the near future. Watch this space.
If you can’t wait that long for a taste of the north, then book yourself in at The Abbey Inn – Tommy’s pub with rooms – for one of the group’s three ‘Celebration of Game’ dinners. Each evening will feature a five-course tasting menu of seasonal, game-inspired dishes from Callum Leslie alongside a renowned guest chef with a passion for wild game. No doubt, the kind of thing Louis XV would have lapped up.
For more information, see rootsyork.com; blackswanoldstead.co.uk; abbeyinnbyland.co.uk
