Beachside café makes it a hat trick of sustainability success for Devon chef
London (PRWEB UK) 17 February 2014 -- A two Michelin Star restaurant, a London pub group, a small French hotel, and one of the best known Italian restaurant chains, were among the wide variety of winners at the Sustainable Restaurant Awards 2014, presented in London today.
The big winner was cafe-ODE, in south Devon, which today made it a hat trick of successes for restaurateur and chef Tim Bouget, as the seaside café was named Sustainable Restaurant of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Raymond Blanc, President of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, presented Tim, whose other restaurant ODE-dining won the coveted prize in 2012, with the top honour at the awards, sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions, at Roast restaurant in London’s Borough Market.
Tim and his wife Clare bought a derelict stable building in 2012 and set about turning it into Britain’s most sustainable restaurant. They used almost entirely reclaimed or recycled materials, planted a grass roof to attract local wildlife, installed electric car charge points and bike racks and moved the local village brewery onsite when it was destined to close. Almost all of the food served is bought from local farmers and is grown or reared to the highest possible environmental and ethical standards.
Three of the 18 awards have been won by Scottish restaurants. Iglu, in Edinburgh was named Scottish Sustainable Restaurant of the Year with the James Miller Room, Turnberry, and The Bay Fish and Chips, Stonehaven, receiving the SRA Awards for Society and Environment respectively.
There was a genuine Scottish flavour to the event too, with the lunch, featuring haggis bon bons and Arbroath Smokies Cullen Skink, prepared by chefs from three Three Star SRA Rated restaurants, Café St Honore, The Scottish Cafe and Restaurant, both in Edinburgh, and The Bay Fish and Chips.
The other regional awards saw success for; Made in Belfast, The Gallery, Barry, and Bruno Loubet's Grain Store, Kings Cross, named Northern Irish, Welsh and London Sustainable Restaurants of the Year.
Three-strong, Hertfordshire-based Lussmanns Fish & Grill, was named Small Group of the Year, while the 35-site pub group, Geronimo Inns, picked up the Large Group of the Year award. The Railway, in Streatham, south London, was the winner of Sustainable Pub of the Year.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was, like Tim Bouget, celebrating a hat trick, as the restaurant at River Cottage HQ, in Axminster, won the SRA Sourcing Award for the third year in a row.
Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons received the award for Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year and bartlett mitchell, one of the first contract caterers to join the SRA, was presented with the Sustainable Caterer of the Year award.
All of these 14 awards were decided on the basis of the scores achieved by businesses in their SRA Sustainability Rating. The Gate, in Islington, north London, was rewarded with the Most Improved award for increasing its score by 19%.
The two awards judged by a specially appointed panel of SRA experts are for Innovation, which was won by Carluccio’s for being the first restaurant group to post all its menus on Good Food Talks, an app launched in 2013 to enable the visually impaired to read menus, and Best Food Waste Strategy, which was won by The Belfry at Yarcombe which has taken the bold step of insisting customers order their meals at least 24 hours in advance.
2013 saw the SRA launch its Sustainability Rating globally. Restaurants from North and South America, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, have all put their credentials to the test, but the award for International Sustainable Restaurant of Year was won by Les Orangeries, in Lussac les Chateaux,near Poitiers.
Mark Linehan, Managing Director of the SRA, said: “Competition for these awards is getting stiffer every year, as more restaurants respond to increasing consumer demand for a sustainable dining experience. And, as the number of restaurants, pubs, hotels and caterers entering the awards increases, so the standard also rises, which can only be good news for diners. For Tim Bouget's restaurants to win the top award three years running is an incredible achievement.”
Full list of Sustainable Restaurant Awards categories:
Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: cafe-ODE
Sponsored by Southbank Fresh Fish
Sustainable Small Group of the Year: Lussmanns Fish & Grill
Sponsored by Illy
Sustainable Large Group of the Year: Geronimo Inns
Sponsored by Chapman Ventilation
SRA Award for Sourcing: River Cottage
Sponsored by Reynolds Catering Supplies
SRA Award for Environment: The Bay Fish and Chips
Sponsored by SWR Waste Management
SRA Award for Society : James Miller Room
Sponsored by Steelite International
SRA Innovation Award: Carluccio’s
Sponsored by Eureka Executive
SRA Award for Best Food Waste Strategy: The Belfry at Yarcombe
Sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions
Scottish Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: Iglu
Sponsored by Speyside Glenlivet
Northern Irish Restaurant of the Year: Made In Belfast
Alliance National
Welsh Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: The Gallery
Delphis Eco
London Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: Grain Store
Sponsored by Paper Round
Most Improved:The Gate
Sponsored by Firstchoice Produce
Sustainable Pub of the Year: The Railway
Sponsored by Aspall Cyder
Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year:Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
Sponsored by Space Catering
Sustainable Caterer of the Year: bartlett mitchell
Sponsored by Greenlife
Sustainable International Restaurant of the Year: Les Orangeries
Sponsored by Eurostar
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is a not for profit membership organisation helping restaurants become more sustainable and diners make more sustainable choices when dining out. We help our Members source food more sustainably, manage resources more efficiently and work more closely with their community. The SRA Sustainability Star Rating scheme means diners can find a restaurant that matches their sustainability priorities.
http://www.thesra.org
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Media Contact
Tom Tanner
020 7479 4235/07976 288636
tom(at)thesra(dot)org
Ed Franklin, Sustainable Restaurant Association, http://www.thesra.org, +44 2074794235, [email protected]
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