Food Hero of the Year: Great Food Club Awards 2020/21
The winner of this special annual award (for which there is no shortlist) is the team behind March House Farm Shop in Great Dalby, Leicestershire for their inspirational hard work and dynamism over the tumultuous past 12 months. In the same week that lockdown began in March 2020, March House Farm launched an excellent online […]
Private Chef of the Year: Great Food Club Awards 2020/21
Winner Craig Floate, Nottingham Finalists Knife, Fork & Spooner, Ketton, RutlandStanley Street Food, Barnwell, NorthamptonshireThe Enterprising Chef, Melbourne, Derbyshire The winner of this new category is Craig Floate for his excellent classic cooking and impressive customer service. All Finalists have much to commend them, with each offering a very different culinary experience to the next. […]
Street Food Producer of the Year: Great Food Club Awards 2020/21
Winner Smoqued, Swadlincote, Derbyshire Finalists Feast & The Furious, Melton Mowbray, LeicestershireNoni’s Family Kitchen, LeicesterChez Sebastien Artisan Pizza, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire The winner is Smoqued for its authentic and carefully prepared South American street food. From a distinctive yellow 1973 Citroen H-Van, Smoqued, run by James Gordon, serves mouthwatering dishes such as Lamb Barbacoa Tacos […]
Toffee Apple Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce – and Cidentro Cider
A sponsored recipe from Cidentro Cider Happy autumn! It’s apple-harvest season and cider-makers are busy at work in their orchards. Inspired by all the apples being gathered in, here’s a delicious autumnal recipe for Toffee Apple Cake. Try it with Cidentro Cider, which recently won Silver and Bronze Medals at the International Cider Challenge 2020. […]
Price & Fretwell’s ‘NHS Hamper’ raises £525 for Nottinghamshire hospital
Award-winning catering butcher Price & Fretwell has donated £525 to Kings Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The money was raised through sales of its ‘Supporting the NHS Hamper’. Co-founder Darren Price (pictured above with two nurses from Kings Mill Hospital) said: “We donated the money to Ward 22 of the hospital where my grandmother Elizabeth Fretwell recently passed […]
Burleighs Gin crowdfunding campaign hits £100k target in first week
But there’s still time to invest… Burleighs Gin of Leicestershire has hit its initial crowd-funding target of £100,000 in a single week. However, the distillery is still calling on food and drink lovers to invest after extending the campaign to October 7. Burleighs is currently valued at £2.3 million and has so far received more […]
Crystal Clear Compliance helps food & drink businesses get Covid-secure
Sponsored post Crystal Clear Compliance of Great Easton near Market Harborough works with pubs, restaurants and food shops to help them survive and thrive. Founder Lucy Walsh and her team help independent businesses deal with new post-Covid health & safety and environmental regulations. The government requires every business to complete a Covid risk assessment. Crystal […]
Have you tried Cocoa Amore’s stunning Noir range?
Sponsored post Since the beginning of lockdown, Leicestershire’s Cocoa Amore have been rolling out their brand new ‘Noir’ range in sleek black cardboard packaging. The range features a fantastic spectrum of chocolatey treats, from boxes of chocolates, to tins of fondant truffles, to exciting new filled bars. For the first time, Cocoa Amore have made their […]
The School of Artisan Food at Welbeck reopens to students
It’s back to school to celebrate Sourdough September! The School of Artisan Food at the heart of Nottinghamshire’s Welbeck Estate has reopened and welcomed back students for the first time since lockdown. A new programme of culinary and baking courses has been launched, as well as activities to celebrate Sourdough September. “We are delighted to […]
The Engine Yard at Belvoir is back open for breakfasts, gin, pizza, ice creams and more!
A sponsored post from The Engine Yard The Fuel Tank café/restaurant and Balloon Bar at Belvoir Castle’s Engine Yard are back open – and so are all the other independent shops that make up this rural food & shopping hub. The Fuel Tank is now serving breakfasts from Friday to Sunday, 10am-11.30am. If you’re after a […]
Sunny or grey, Burleighs’ summer specials will hit the spot!
Enjoy your picnic in style with a Burleighs Gin Hamper and take advantage of a sublime summer miniatures offer Sponsored post There is still time to enjoy the summer – and what better way to enjoy the sun than with a Great British gin picnic? Burleighs Distiller’s Cut Gin is the perfect summer tipple to enjoy with friends – […]
Discover chocolate’s terroir with Cocoa Amore’s set of eight Single Origin bars
Sponsored post Cocoa is much like wine or whiskey in that its flavour is intrinsically linked to where it is grown. Factors that alter its flavour include climate, soil and local geography. Cocoa Amore’s Single Origin range allows you to discover these fascinating flavour nuances for yourself. The set includes eight 30g chocolate bars from […]
Sponsored post: The story behind Price & Fretwell’s award-winning Church Hill Farm chicken
Derbyshire catering butcher Price & Fretwell is renowned for its award-winning beef – but its Church Hill Farm chicken is highly prized, too. Price & Fretwell is the East Midlands’ exclusive supplier of Church Hill Farm chicken, which comes from the Yorkshire Wolds. Church Hill Farm chicken has won both a Great Taste Award and […]
How The Rustic Crust of Nottinghamshire’s home-made pizza oven grew into a gleaming 55-seater restaurant
In 2007, Ross and Camille Oliver were the proud owners of a well-used garden pizza oven. Now they run one of the region’s most talked-about new independent restaurants… During a trip to Rome in 2007, Ross and Camille Oliver fell in love with real pizza. On returning to their Nottinghamshire home, they wanted to create […]
Burleighs Gin of Leicestershire celebrates sixth birthday!
Burleighs Gin is six years old, having distilled its first batch of gin on June 24, 2014. As a thank you to all its loyal fans, it is offering £6 discount per bottle on Signature, Distiller’s Cut & Pink Edition Gin until the end of June, using the code TURNING6. Shop here. Burleighs commercial director […]
Owen Taylor & Sons claims top haul in Q Guild of Butchers ‘Star’ Awards
Owen Taylor & Sons Butchers in Leabrooks near Alfreton, Derbyshire, has won two ‘Best of the Best’ Diamond accolades in June’s Q Guild of Butchers 2020 Smithfield ‘Star’ Awards. The shop bagged double wins with its gluten-free sausage and home-made pastrami in the ‘Fresh from the Deli’ category. Both products also picked up a top-ranked […]
‘On some days we’re cooking for more customers than we did pre-lockdown’
VIDEO INTERVIEW: The Hammer & Pincers of Wymeswold – GFC Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year 2020 – reveal how they’ve made a success of lockdown with a positive, flexible approach… The Hammer & Pincers in Wymeswold, Leicestershire – Great Food Club’s Fine-Dining Restaurant of the Year 2019/20 – has responded to coronavirus with positivity and […]
‘The depth of community support we’ve received has been incredible’
VIDEO: Melton Mowbray’s Round Corner Brewing – GFC Drink Producer of the Year 2020 – explain how they’ve survived the Covid crisis… Everything was going beautifully. They’d won international brewing awards (not to mention the title of Great Food Club Drink Producer of the Year 2020), their taproom was thriving and their beers were getting into […]
Great Food Club Awards 2019/20 – The Winners
The 2019/20 Winners Fine-Dining Restaurant of the Year – full details & picturesThe Hammer & Pincers, Wymeswold, LeicsLast year’s winner: John’s House, Mountsorrel, Leics Casual-Dining Restaurant of the Year (new category) – full details & picturesHouse of Feasts, Eye Green, Peterborough, Cambs Dining Pub of the Year – full details & picturesThe Wheatsheaf, Greetham, RutlandLast […]
Video interview with Price & Fretwell – our Catering Butcher of the Year 2020
Until lockdown, Derbyshire’s Price & Fretwell had been supplying scores of pubs, hotels and restaurants with award-winning meat. Business was booming. But suddenly, in March 2020, the hospitality sector – which accounted for 98% of this butcher’s sales – closed. To stay alive, Price & Fretwell dug in and began delivering to households. In the […]
Advertorial: Award-winning Price & Fretwell pivots to deliver local meat to households
Price & Fretwell of Tibshelf, Derbyshire, was on the brink of disaster for the first time in its 30-year history when the hospitality sector closed in late March 2020. With pubs & restaurants accounting for 98% of sales, Great Food Club’s Catering Butcher of the Year 2020 was rushing towards a cliff edge more precipitous […]
The female head distiller making waves at Burleighs Gin of Leicestershire
Advertisement feature Distilling is traditionally a male pursuit. There’s no reason why it should be – except the shackles of history – but many more men make gin, vodka, rum and whisky than women. The same is true for brewing. However, things are changing. The gin boom is creating more women distillers. And one is […]
The difference between real bread and its factory rival
By Tim Hart, owner, Hambleton Bakery The age of supermarket retail has brought many benefits – convenient car parks, one-stop shopping and low prices to name three. But some products don’t fit the ideal of fully-stocked aisles, with everything available 24/7. British bread production has been industrialised to combine large, remote centres of production, plastic-wrapped […]
Where to take a gourmet minibreak in the East Midlands – five stunning options
Advertisement feature The East Midlands isn’t top of many mini-breakers’ lists. But it should be. Great Food Club’s home turf (we’re based in Melton Mowbray) contains pretty Rutland, the stunning Vale of Belvoir, the unsung beauty of Leicestershire’s Bradgate Park and the rugged Derbyshire Peak District. It’s also home to pies and Stilton, many special […]
Fosse Meadows Farm stars on BBC TV and launches awesome offers
Award-winning independent chicken and cockerel producer Fosse Meadows Farm of North Kilworth, Leicestershire, will star on BBC TV on Monday, January 6, 2020. Owners Nick and Jacob will appear on The Farmers’ Country Showdown, BBC One, 3.45pm. The show will be repeated the following morning (Tuesday 7th) at 7.15am, and is also available on BBC […]
Lunch For Even Less 2020 brings top-quality dining at jaw-dropping prices
Starting on Monday, January 6 and running until April 30, six of the East Midlands’ best pubs and restaurants are teaming up again to offer some brilliant lunch deals. Get booking those tables! Hambleton Hall, near Oakham, Rutland Two courses for £28 (third course for £7)Offer valid Monday, January 6 to Friday, January 17 and […]
Everards MD Stephen Gould is officially one of the UK’s kindest business leaders!
Everards of Leicestershire‘s managing director Stephen Gould is officially one of the kindest leaders in the UK! He was recognised in a list of ’50 Kind Leaders’ announced on World Kindness Day (November 13). The list was created by the Women of the Future Programme to recognise the contribution kind leaders give to business, the […]
Leicester’s NORTH42 Gin lands exclusive partnership with Selfridges
A new brand of craft gin, created by two female entrepreneurs from Leicester, is to launch exclusively in Selfridges Birmingham. And it’s all down to a chance remark made at a women’s business event. Sally Davis, who is behind Leicester-based North42 brand, told a Birmingham audience at the launch of Back Her Business, a Treasury-led […]
What diners really, really hate (and other useful insights)
In October 2018, a survey by Feed it Back entitled ‘The Main Reasons Customers Leave Negative Reviews’ found the following: The main complaint on review websites is speed of service – 20% of negative comments relate to slow food service or long wait time 6 out of the top 10 complaints from restaurant customers about […]
Redhill Farm celebrates its 20th birthday
Redhill Farm Free Range Pork of Lincolnshire – Great Food Club Producer of the Year 2017/18 and 2018/19 – will celebrate its 20th anniversary this summer. Farmers Terry and Jane Tomlinson started from scratch selling at farmers’ markets. Redhill Farm now boasts a purpose-built farm shop, butchery and smokehouse. It also runs an online shop and a […]
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