The chef - who swapped the restaurant world for school catering in 2023 - impressed the judges with her dessert entitled ‘Books, The Mind’s Food’.
Made with hay-infused set cream, fermented strawberries and a white chocolate disc, served with honey parfait and a sable biscuit sandwich the dish was inspired by writer Hannah More.
She fought off competition from fellow banquet chefs Jean Delport and Sally Abé to win the award, which is determined by the banquet guests voting for their favorite dish.
Delport won the fish course and the meat course while Abé won the starter course.
Taking to Instagram, Francis said that the competition had been “a wild ride”.
“Could not have done any of this without the support of those around me. Without backing from a restaurant it really took a village of talented loved ones to get me to the banquet of Great British Menu.”
“I was so fortunate to be able to have my wonderful parents and amazing fiancé at the banquet supporting me, but there was a huge team of people that helped every single step of the way, from pep talks, to late night prop making. Thank you everyone x”
Born in Bristol, Francis joined Christ’s College Finchley as its head chef and senior food educator in collaboration with charity Chefs in Schools having previously been head chef at Shoreditch restaurant Maene.
