Yesterday (Saturday) I was up bright and early and made my way to Paris House in Woburn. It was the day to deliberate and decide on the winners of the Best Local Food & Drink Produce for the Milton Keynes Food & Leisure Awards 2016.
A cup of English Breakfast Tea to start and then it was down to business. My fellow judges were Michelin star holder and owner of Paris House Phil Fanning. MK Food & Leisure Awards Chef of the Year winner 2015 Jeffrey Payne. And fellow blogger and local food lover Rob from Robs Ribs.
First up was the food nominees:
Kandola’s Kitchen – Chocolates
Gunter Weber – Rural Honey
Frosts Food Hall – Chicken Liver Pâté
Fistful of Spice – Caribbean Hot Sauce Mango Chilli
Virtual Orchard – Cider Vinegar
The Indian Orchard – Garlic and Tamarind Pickle
Jam Moo Kow – Plum & Cinnamon Jam
Wodehill – Croxton Ewe Cheese
Amazing-Grains – Rye Bread
How many of you knew that these products existed? Well worth checking them out and I’d love to hear what you think of them or maybe you could message me with a local product that you love that that didn’t make it in this years shortlist that you would love to be considered for next years awards?
Then it was the turn of the drinks category:
Hornes Brewery – Triple Goat Porter 4.6% vol
Bucks Star Brewery – Cloudy Artisan Beer 4% vol
White Park Brewery – Oast House 4.8% vol
Concrete Cow Brewery – MK IPA 5% vol
Deliberations were hard but by the end of the morning we had decided on our winners which will be announced at the Awards Night on May 8 at The Sculpture Gallery, Woburn Abbey.