Two very different restaurants, 700 miles apart, were named joint winners of the Sustainable Restaurant of the Year award yesterday (23 February) in London. Daylesford Organic, which operates three organic cafés in the Cotswolds and London, and The Captain’s Galley (Britain’s most northerly mainland restaurant) received their awards from Raymond Blanc, president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
Former fish trader Jim Cowie launched The Captain’s Galley at the harbour-side in Scrabster, Caithness in 2002. His 18-cover restaurant only serves seafood that’s in season and in plentiful supply. This autumn, he is organising a sustainable seafood festival to help people better understand which fish to eat and enjoy.
Daylesford’s 2,000-acre organic farm provides the majority of the ingredients for its three cafes, in Kingham in Gloucestershire, Notting Hill and Pimlico. It shares the same passion for increasing public awareness about sustainability and has established its own foundation to educate children and young people in sustainable food, growing and farming.
MORE WINNERS
The People’s Favourite: Star Bistro, Cheltenham
Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Sustainable Innovation: Wahaca (for serving grasshoppers as an alternative protein source)
Sustainable Pub of the Year: The Truscott Arms, W9
Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year: The Pig, Brockenhurst
Sustainable Caterer of the Year: bartlett mitchell (for the second year in a row)
Sustainable Small Group: Lussmanns Fish & Grill’s three Hertfordshire restaurants (also for the second time)
The Welsh Sustainable Restaurant off the Year: The Gallery, Barry (another repeat performance)
International Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: Les Orangeries, Lussac Les Chateaux (for the second year in a row)
SRA Award for Society: Carluccio’s (for its work with Action Against Hunger, Kids Company and The Clink) and The Brookwood Partnership (a school caterer that’s created a superhero to help motivate children to fight food waste)
The SRA Award for Sourcing: ODE-dining, Shaldon and River Cottage HQ
SRA Award for Environment: Arbor Restaurant at The Green House Hotel, Bournemouth
Most Improved Sustainability: Ceviche, W1
Best Food Waste Strategy: Bennett Hay
Irish Sustainable Restaurants of the Year: KSG, at University College Cork
Sustainable Large Group of the Year: D&D London
Now in their fourth year, the Sustainable Restaurant Awards gala lunch was held at Oval Space in east London on 23 February, sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions.
