IT WAS described as “absolute heaven” by one judge but the Sussex chef’s ice-cream was not enough to earn it a place at a prestigious banquet.

Michael Bremner, head chef and owner of Brighton's 64 Degrees, is one of eight chefs through to the national finals of BBC Two’s Great British Menu.

Each night this week one of the chef’s dishes is picked for the Great Britons Banquet at the Palace of Westminster, celebrating Britons who have been honoured by the Queen for going above and beyond the call of duty.

After a mixed week, last night Scottish-born Mr Bremner drew praise for his ice-cream dessert inspired by Scottish ice-cream maker Maitland Mackie CBE.

“Maybe I am the ice queen but I love it,” said Judge Grace Dent, the food reviewer, greeting the ice-cream which he served with salted caramel mousse in homemade ice bowls.

After tasting the pudding, which included chocolate and meringue wafer and honeycomb, Ms Dent added: “That whisky, it’s great.” Fellow judge Prue Leith, the restaurateur and journalist, said: ‘This is absolute heaven."

Judges said they were impressed with how Michael had adapted his dessert since getting feedback while serving it at an earlier stage in the competition, with Matthew Fort, the food critic, saying: “It’s a much more theatrical presentation, it’s sort of sit up and take notice."

Judge Oliver Peyton, the restaurateur, added: “I find it far more delicate now, and it’s quite hard to make whisky ice cream delicate.”

But overall the judges found the pudding didn’t have enough wow factor to make the shortlist, putting Michael in joint third place alongside Josh Eggleton, whose self-serve raspberry and beetroot ice-cream was a hit for its showmanship.

But Michael, whose restaurant is in Meeting House Lane, is still in with a shot of cooking for the banquet on Friday with his Message to the Lode Star mackerel dish that has made the shortlist of three. Each piece of cured mackerel featured a different garnish.

The puddings that won the judge’s hearts in last night’s round were Adam Reid’s “challenging” dish featuring empire apples surrounded by crumble, served inside a golden, sugar-blown apple, and Tommy Banks' “deeply personal” dish, inspired by his grandfather: a Tower of Douglas fir parfait on thin, white chocolate Tuille.