The battle is over The UK's top chefs have cooked for the Queen and convinced the French that we can match their gastronomic prowess. In this series, they were out to prove to the world that we are up there with the best when it comes to contemporary cuisine.

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2008 Finalists

This year's winners

The chefs were competing for the opportunity to cook a fantastic four-course dinner to be held in June, at the restaurant at the top of the iconic 'The Gherkin' building in London. The host is a chef who is responsible for putting contemporary British cooking on the global culinary map - Heston Blumenthal - and his guests will include top chefs from around the world along with gourmets and celebrities who represent a cross-section of modern Britain.

This year the series kicked off with seven special programmes in which Great British Menu judge, Matthew Fort, travelled around the UK, selecting the two chefs who'd go through to represent their region in the competition. In addition to some of our returning champions are previous participants and talented newcomers, to ensure the competition in the kitchen was as fierce as ever.

Sourcing the best ingredients from their local area, the chefs created a starter, a fish course, a meat course and a dessert that they believe truly epitomises the very best of contemporary, cutting edge British cooking for the regional heats. After seven weeks and seven heats, we had seven finalists.

• Central: Glynn Purnell
• Wales: Stephen Terry
• North: Nigel Haworth
• Scotland: Tom Kitchin
• Northern Ireland: Danny Millar
• South-west: Chris Horridge
• London and the South-east: Jason Atherton

From Monday 19 May 2008, the seven winners from the regional heats cooked their entire menus for the Great British Menu judges (Oliver Peyton, Prue Leith and Matthew Fort) in the national finals. The great British public got the chance to vote for their favourite dishes and decided which chefs are going forward to the 'The Gherkin' and glory.

• Starter: Jason Atherton's Bacon, lettuce and tomato with Croque Monsieur for London and the South-east
• Fish course: Stephen Terry's Organic salmon and smoked salmon with crab fritters and cockle 'popcorn' for Wales
• Main course: Jason Atherton's Dexter beef fillet, ox cheek, smoked potato purée and marrow bone for London and the South-east
• Dessert: Glynn Purnell's Marinated strawberries with tarragon and black pepper honeycomb with burnt English cream surprise for Central

Try the Great British Menu 2007 as voted for by the British public to be served at the British ambassador's banquet in Paris.

Get recipes from the first series.

Get recipes from the second series.