Gold, silver and bronze awards served up to Northamptonshire’s best dining venues and chefs

The winners of the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drinks (WNFAD) awards 2022 have been revealed in a long-awaited black-tie ceremony at the Royal & Derngate theatre.

The competition, now in its fourteenth year, received hundreds of nominations and applications across 15 categories from a diverse range of ambitious and driven individuals and businesses across Northamptonshire’s food and drink sector.

The awards aim to celebrate all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The results were announced at a dazzling Awards dinner staged at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate on Wednesday, October 12 and here they are:

Artisan Local Drink of the Year

- GOLD: Blue Aurora, English Blueberry Ice Wine

- GOLD: Stonyfield English Quality Sparkling Wine, Rosé

- GOLD: Lactodorum Towcester Gin, Wharf Distillery

- SILVER: Heidrun Session NEIPA, Three Hills Brewing

- SILVER: Fresh Oat Drink, Wild and Furrow

- BRONZE: Solstice Malt Whisky, Wharf Distillery

Artisan Local Product of the Year (sponsored by Heygates Flour and Animal Feed)

- GOLD: Naked Dairy Gelato, Rocky’s Gelato

- SILVER: Northamptonshire Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods

- SILVER: Blueberry & Lavender Jam, Mee Farmers

- SILVER: White Sourdough, Whittlebury Bakery

- BRONZE: Garlic & Fennel Salami, Northampton Charcuterie Company

- BRONZE: Tomato & Chilli Chutney, Green Kitchen Preserves

- BRONZE: Elderflower Sorbet, Your Cool

Artisan Local Vegetarian / Vegan Product of the Year (sponsored by Daily Bread)

GOLD: Oinkin’ Pattie from The Curious Vegan Co.

SILVER: Spiced Rhubarb Chutney from The Food Library

SILVER: Tongue Taster from Northampton Cheese Company

BRONZE: Cucumber & Dill Sauerkraut from Mille Pickles

BRONZE: Almond and Coconut Granola from Salma Shah

BRONZE: Vegan Blue Raspberry Bottles from Sweet Lounge

Booker Dining Venue of the Year (sponsored by Booker)

GOLD: Electric Pavillion, Northampton

GOLD: Hibiscus Fine Dining, Northampton

GOLD: Restaurant Ember, Wellingborough

GOLD: The Snooty Fox, Lowick

SILVER: The Butchers Arms, Greens Norton

SILVER: The Folly Inn, Towcester

SILVER: Tollemache Arms, Harrington

BRONZE: Tap & Kitchen, Oundle

BRONZE: The Plough Inn, Shutlanger

BRONZE: The Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings

Booker Young Chef of the Year (sponsored by Booker)

GOLD: Hannah Dunne, Restaurant Ember

GOLD: Shawn Monk, The Falcon Inn, Fotheringhay

SILVER: Nicole Wicks, Rushton Hall

BRONZE: David Smith- The Palmichael

BRONZE: Matthew Heritage, The Falcon Inn, Fotheringhay

Community Café of the Year (Supported by The Good Loaf)

GOLD: Saints Coffee, Northampton

SILVER: Café 1850, Northampton

BRONZE: Aspen Café, Bosworth Garden Centre

BRONZE: Café Track, Northampton

BRONZE: Johnny’s Happy Place, Kettering

BRONZE: The Place to Bee, Kingsthorpe

Outstanding Contribution to Food and Drink in Northamptonshire Award (sponsored by All Things Business)

Winner – Colin Richardson

Farming Environment Award (sponsored by Weetabix Growers Group)

GOLD - Phillip Johnson & Daughters, Rectory Farm

SILVER - J.A Knight & Son

BRONZE - Bartlow Estate

F&B Achiever of the Year (sponsored by Howes Percival LLP)

GOLD: Andy Collins- Whittlebury Bakery

SILVER: Aldo Gallone- E. Gallone Ltd

SILVER: Joe Buckley- Tollemache Arms

BRONZE: Suzy Keeping & Chris D’alessio- KDR Events

Food and Drink College Student of the Year

GOLD: Bilal Ismail- Northampton College

GOLD: Tia ‘Echo’ Morris- Northampton College

SILVER: Elisabeth Knott- Moulton College

BRONZE: Luke Wolstencroft- Tresham College

BRONZE: Will McGowan- Tresham College

Healthy Food and Wellbeing Award (sponsored by Delapré Abbey)

Healthy Food & Wellbeing- Producers

GOLD: Cucumber & Dill Sauerkraut, Millie Pickles

SILVER: Chocolate flavour Super Shake- Nasty Vegan

SILVER: Organic Wheatgrass Juice - Britt’s Superfoods

BRONZE: Kebab-ish, Bite me Spices

BRONZE: Tomato and Red pepper Relish, Friars Farm

Healthy Food and Wellbeing award, Workplace

GOLD: Mercedes AMG HPP

SILVER: Silverstone Circuits Ltd

SILVER: Sol Havens CIC

BRONZE: Northampton General Hospital

Local Food Hero of the Year (sponsored by Moulton College)

GOLD: Towcester Community Larder

SILVER: The Green Patch

BRONZE: Community Health works UK CIC

BRONZE: Elliotts’ Rectory Farm

BRONZE: Foodkind CIC

BRONZE: Jamie’s Quality Butchers

One To Watch (sponsored by Whitworth Bros. Ltd Flour Millers)

GOLD: The Flavour Trailer

SILVER: Northampton Cheese Company

BRONZE: Jute Coffee

BRONZE: Nakasero

BRONZE: Nasty Vegan

Weetabix Sustainability Award (sponsored by Weetabix)

GOLD: Ganders Goat

SILVER: Jute Coffee Limited

SILVER: West Lodge Farm Park

BRONZE: Foodkind CIC

BRONZE: The Roastery

Whitco Chef of the Year (sponsored by Whitco)

GOLD: Bart Polinski- Hibiscus Fine Dining

SILVER: Arturs Dzerins- Electric Pavilion

BRONZE: Ben Drury, The Red Lion, Cranford

BRONZE: Michael O’Gorman, University of Northampton, Waterside Campus

World Cuisine Restaurant of the Year (sponsored by British Pepper & Spice)

GOLD: Alacati Grill, Daventry

GOLD: Mewar Haveli, Northampton

SILVER: June Plum, Wellingborough

BRONZE: Pjayz Kitchen, Northampton

The evening began with formal welcomes from awards director, Rachel Mallows MBE DL of The Mallows Company, Jo Gordon from Royal & Derngate and Stuart Branch of headline sponsors, Weetabix, before guests tucked into a three course meal made up of Northamptonshire ingredients.

The winners of all the categories were presented with trophies by the evening’s special guest presenter and journalist Helen Fospero, best known for her presenting role on shows such as GMTV, Daybreak and Lorraine, who for the second year was the Master of Ceremonies.

For more details on the competition visit the Awards’ website at www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk or contact Rachel Mallows or Sophie Smith on 01933 664437 or email [email protected]

You can also follow the awards on twitter and Instagram at @foodawardsHQ or on Facebook.