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


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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.
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Hide AdThe 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
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Hide Ad- 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
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Hide AdF&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
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Hide AdWorld 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.