DUELLING chefs got into a violent brawl before one fractured his colleague's jaw during a row over a tuna and sweetcorn baguette.

Peter Lopian, head chef at the Crown and Cushion Hotel in Chipping Norton, needed hospital treatment after cook and colleague Hugo Ramalho-Pereira lamped him during the kitchen fight.

Oxford Magistrates' Court heard at the sentencing hearing for one count of wounding on Friday how the 27-year from Portugal had been ‘stressed’ while working the kitchens on May 19 this year.

Magistrates were told that complaints from customers about the quality of the food had led to boiling tensions amongst the pots and pans.

Events simmered to an explosive climax, prosecutors said, over the preparation of the popular fish and vegetable staple and the pair then squared up to each other.

Prosecutor Andy Callender said: “The two colleagues accept they got face-to-face.

"The victim accepts he licks [Ramalho-Pereira’s] nose.

“The defendant then punches the victim to the cheek causing a fracture to his cheek bone.”

The prosecutor added: “All because of a request for a tuna and sweetcorn baguette without the sweetcorn.”

A statement read out to the court from victim Mr Lopian read: “I stuck my tongue out and licked his nose, I don’t know why I did that.

"He stepped back and punched me to the left side of my face.”

He said he was ‘astounded’ at what happened next and the unfolding violence.

In mitigation, Jayne Wilkinson said that the row had involved some element of provocation with the nose licking and said it had been set amidst a stressful kitchen setting.

She said: “The circumstances are bizarre.

“I am not sure kitchens are what you see on programmes with Gordon Ramsay but it is usually a fairly heated environment – excuse the pun.

“And there are a lot of egos there and there is usually a lot of shouting and banging.

“My client says he was shocked when someone licks his nose and lashed out.”

Reports prepared ahead of his sentencing by the National Probation Service also said that Ramalho-Pereira was ‘remorseful’ at what he had done.

The court went on to hear that he no longer lives in the UK and had flown in from his native Portugal for the sentencing hearing that day but plans to move to Manchester later this year.

Sentencing, presiding magistrate Chris Ballinger, said: “This was a very serious incident.

“We understand that this was a stressful environment and a particularly stressful day for everybody in the kitchen.

“The punishment for this offence is to pay a large amount of compensation.”

He was ordered to pay compensation totalling £1,000 to his victim.

The Crown and Cushion, originally a 15th century coaching inn, is now a 40-bedroom hotel.

It was once owned by Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, and the hotel says 'his legacy of decadence lives on today'.