He has crossed swords with Raquel Welch, charmed Sophia Loren and cooked three times for the Queen. Now Joe Dipiazza has brought his talents to a Lichfield village pub.

Italian-born Joe has launched La Maison, at the Fox and Hounds, Shenstone, offering his brand of Euro-fusion food.

Joe came to England with his parents when he was 12 and attended Bishop Walsh School, Sutton Coldfield, before starting his training at Birmingham’s Albany Hotel.

From there he went on to work at The Grand and The Metropole, in Birmingham, as well as setting up a restaurant in Spain.

While head chef at the Grand Hotel, in Colmore Row, Joe had his run-in with actress Raquel Welch, who was in Britain to promote a book about healthy eating.

“She gave me a recipe for soup and said I had to follow it exactly – but there was no salt, none at all. I said I couldn’t cook it like that and she got cross with me,” he said. “In the end I added the salt, not a lot but just enough to bring out the natural tastes, and I didn’t receive a single complaint.”

Sophia Loren presented no such problems when she visited Birmingham in 1985 and his experiences of cooking for the Queen, twice in Birmingham and once in Brighton, were amongst the best of his whole career.

Now Joe, along with Portuguese wife Cinda, is preparing to win over diners at La Maison with his fusion dishes and flambé, Steak Diane and paella specialities.