Awards Night Culminates the 15th Year of the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards 2023/24
With Northamptonshire’s growing success in the Food & Drink sector this year, there has been probably the toughest competition yet when it comes to finding winners across all 19 categories at the awards. Celebrating our ‘Community’, local ‘Champions’ and ‘Culinary’ expertise, Stuart Branch, Chief People and Digital Officer for Weetabix, said, Weetabix is delighted to be headline sponsor for the fourth year running, especially as aspects of sustainability are included in every category. Sustainability is in our DNA at Weetabix and so important to our local communities, our customers, and our consumers. We are delighted that this ethos is shared amongst the brilliant people and businesses that come together through the awards process and are extremely proud to support Rachel and the team to ensure that those who achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze in each category receive the recognition they deserve as we know that they have worked so hard to achieve it. These awards not only provide us with an opportunity to recognise our amazing Weetabix Growers’ group of farmers but also to celebrate the brilliant businesses from around the county, giving us the opportunity to learn from each other, taking inspiration from the innovation, creativity, and ambition in this space.”
With 101 finalists and over 500 hours of volunteer judging taken place, this has to be one of the most supported events in the 15 years of having the awards.
The menu served by Portfolio Events included some wonderful examples of Northamptonshire food and drink including Dovely Bakery Rose Cottage multi seed loaf, Hamm Tun Fine Foods’ Northamptonshire blue cheese, Urban Microgreen mixed salad, New Lodge Vineyard Chilli Honey dressing, Three Hills Brewery Heidrun Session NEIPA, Eat Curious vegan Wellington, and Boughton House honey.
As sponsors of this year’s Gastro Pub of the Year and Young Chef of the Year awards, Booker were delighted with the calibre of entries: “It is fantastic to see such brilliant talent at Weetabix Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards in the Booker Gastro Pub & Booker Young Chef categories. Booker is really proud to be sponsoring both categories. It has been a hard time for the industry which is why it is even more important to get behind these fantastic local companies to allow them to keep bringing brilliant food and drink to their communities and to help encourage employment for the sector. All companies and the young chefs should be proud of their achievements and Booker will continue to offer the choice, prices, and services this sector requires while also continuing to support young chefs coming into the sector.” Darren Bown – Customer Director, Catering at Booker.
The results are as follows:
Artisan Local Drink of the Year, sponsored by J Sweeney Accountants
GOLD – Club 80 Navy Strength London Dry Gin, Silverstone Distillery
SILVER – Blueberry Juice, Mee Blueberries
SILVER – Oat Drink, Wild & Furrow
BRONZE – Heidrun Session NEIPA, Three Hills Brewing Ltd
BRONZE – Phipps Foundry Mild, Phipps Northampton Brewery Co Ltd
BRONZE – Paw Another, Bearly Organised Ltd
BRONZE – Winwick Hall Methode Champenoise, Winwick Hall Bruce Green Limited
Artisan Local Product of the Year, sponsored by Heygates
GOLD – Coffee Ice Cream, Your Cool
SILVER – Boughton Estate Homemade Honey, The Boughton Estate
SILVER – Shoetown Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods
BRONZE – Lemon Curd, Friars Farm
BRONZE – New Lodge Vineyard Chili Honey, Made by the Beekeeper
BRONZE – Northampton Cheesecake, F.F Tee Bakery
BRONZE – Steak Pasty, Duston Village Bakery
Artisan Local Vegetarian/Vegan Product of the Year, sponsored by Daily Bread
GOLD – Strawberry & Rose Cake, Mill House – The Old Stable Yard Tea Room
SILVER – Carrot, Parsnip & Pecan Cake, Sophisticake Creations
SILVER – Northamptonshire Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods
BRONZE – Fresh Oyster Mushrooms, Shoots & Spores
BRONZE – Harrington Wild Garlic Butter, The Tollemache Arms
BRONZE – Rose Cottage Multi Seed Loaf, Dovely Bakery
BRONZE – Salad Mix, Urban Microgreens
Booker Gastro Pub of the Year, sponsored by Booker
GOLD – The Tollemache Arms, Harrington
SILVER – The Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings
SILVER – The Sheaf Inn, West Haddon
SILVER – The Kings Arms, Polebrook
BRONZE – The Old Talbot, Potterspury
Booker Young Chef of the Year, sponsored by Booker
GOLD – Jade Walter – Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa
SILVER – Thomas Giles – The Falcon Hotel, Castle Ashby
BRONZE – Harvey Tapp – The Snooty Fox, Lowick
BRONZE – Levi Moukan – The Falcon, Fotheringhay
Canape of the Year, sponsored by Portfolio Events
Kamil Podgorski, Northampton College
Community Café of the Year, sponsored by The Good Loaf, and The Health and Wellbeing services at West Northamptonshire Council
GOLD – Bennett’s, Thrapston
SILVER – Bob’s Corby, Corby
SILVER – Polo Pavilion Tea Room, Winwick
BRONZE – Happy Mondays, Rushden
BRONZE – A Place to Bee, Kingsthorpe
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT – Lavender Bee Tea Room, Kettering
Event Venue of the Year, sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn
GOLD – Silverstone Circuits Ltd
CRYSTAL – The Granary at Fawsley
SILVER – Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens
SILVER – Kettering Park Hotel & Spa
SILVER – Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa
BRONZE – Furtho Manor Farm
Farming Environment Award, sponsored by Weetabix
GOLD – J.A. Knight & Sons
SILVER – Courteenhall
SILVER – Wold Farm
BRONZE – J.E Atkinson & Son
BRONZE – White House Farm
Certificate of Merit – Stetchworth Estate Farm
F&B Achiever of the Year, sponsored by Howes Percival
GOLD – Joe Buckley, The Tollemache Arms
GOLD – Eddie & James White, Whites of Earls Barton
BRONZE – Glenn Newman, The Granary, Fawsley, Daventry, and The Waterside Café at Northampton Active, Northampton
BRONZE – Steve Reid, Northampton Cheese Co., Northampton Charcuterie Co., and Friars Farm, Northampton
BRONZE – Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams
Food and Drink College Student of the Year, sponsored by University of Northampton
GOLD – Cohen O’Dell, Northampton College
SILVER – Thomas Walshaw, Moulton College
SILVER – Cara Payne, Northampton College
BRONZE – Chloe Matthews, Moulton College
BRONZE – Alex Mundey, Tresham College, Corby
BRONZE – Dante Newman, Tresham College, Corby
Healthy Food and Wellbeing of the Year, sponsored by Delapre Abbey
Producers:
GOLD – Mango Explosion Granola, Salma Soulful
SILVER – Organic Wheatgrass Juice, Britt’s Superfoods
BRONZE – Chocolate Super Shake, Nasty Vegan
BRONZE – Bresaola, Northampton Charcuterie Company
BRONZE – Carrot Cookies, The Loving Chef
Workplace:
GOLD – Sol Laug Haven
SILVER – Weatherbys
BRONZE – Silverstone Circuits Ltd
Local Food Hero of the Year, sponsored by Moulton College
GOLD – Rick Sharpe, The Roaming Artisan
SILVER – Milly Fyfe
SILVER – Claire Gurney, The Shack Food Project
BRONZE – Narinder Hammond, Skittles Community Shop
One to Watch, sponsored by Whitworth Bros. Ltd.
GOLD – Restaurant Ember
GOLD – Santina’s Wood Fired Pizza Co.
SILVER – Nasty Vegan
BRONZE – Butterwick Bakery
BRONZE – Royal Oak, Naseby
Outstanding Contribution to Food & Drink Northamptonshire
Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams
Patrons Award
Phil Martin, Northampton College
Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by Greedy Gordons
GOLD – The Palmichael, Burton Latimer
SILVER – Marseille, Northampton
SILVER – Murrays, Whittlebury Park, Towcester
BRONZE – Hopping Hare, Northampton
BRONZE – Karmana, Northampton
BRONZE – Tap and Kitchen, Oundle
Weetabix Sustainability Award, sponsored by Weetabix
GOLD – Sol Laug Haven
SILVER – Blue Skies Ltd
SILVER – SNVB (South Northants Volunteer Bureau)
BRONZE – The Farm Shed
BRONZE – Green Machine Refill
BRONZE – Silverstone Circuits Ltd
Whitco Chef of the Year, sponsored by Whitco
GOLD – Adam Phillips, The Falcon at Castle Ashby
SILVER – Zak Perrin, The Falcon at Fotheringhay
BRONZE – Piotr Czarnocki, Gourmand Pierre Private Dining
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Daniel Webster, Websters Catering and Events
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Laszlo Bodnarjuk, The Palmichael
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Reece Coles, Hops and Chops
World Cuisine Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by British Pepper & Spice
GOLD – June Plum, Wellingborough
SILVER – Marmaris, Northampton
SILVER – Mexican Fire Garden, Kettering
BRONZE – Little India, Earls Barton
BRONZE – Voujon, Long Buckby
The culinary themed trophies were created from upcycled metalware supporting the sustainable theme of some of our categories. These were presented by Helen Fospero who was the Master of Ceremonies, known for her presenting role on shows such as GMTV, Daybreak and Lorraine.
Mike Peters, Managing Director of Whitworth Bros Ltd, category sponsor of ‘One to Watch’ said “Every year the Awards ceremony and Gala Dinner is an evening to remember and this year was no exception. I’d encourage everyone to seek out the winners and finalists in each of the categories to support them throughout the year as we continue to make Northamptonshire a great place to eat, work and live.”
For more information on the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2023/24, please visit www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk.
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