Seeking to recognise the best roast dinners served across the country and honour the professionals who work hard to create them, finalists were scored on quality, service, cleanliness, value for money, presentation and taste by a panel of judges, including Knorr® Professional and Unilever Food Solutions executive chef Alex Hall.
Hall said: “This year the competition saw an exceptionally high standard of entries from establishments across the UK.
“Winning the titles of Britain’s Best Meat Roast and Britain’s Best Vegetarian Roast is an incredible achievement and a testament to the work that the team at the Victoria Inn and King Street Tavern have clearly put in to serving outstanding roast dinners.”
Hard work
As well as the prestigious titles, each winner will also receive a prize package including a £3,000 voucher to spend on equipment for their businesses, a professional photo shoot and digital marketing communications.
The Victoria Inn, reportedly one of the oldest pubs in Cornwall, is a 12th century village pub in Perranuthnoe, won the Best Meat Roast category with a dish of Sirloin Cornish beef served with Yorkshire pudding, buttered kale, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, swede mash, creamed leeks and cauliflower cheese with a rich gravy.
Victoria Inn general manager Mo Johns said: “We are so proud and excited to have won this national title.
“Our Head Chef Olly Stains and his brilliant team cook an amazing roast. It’s the result of a lot of hard work and attention to detail. They have a passion for cooking and take care in everything they do.
“Everything we buy is fresh and local. Feedback about our meat roast is phenomenal. Customers come back again and again, some reserving the same tables every weekend.”
Over the moon
King Street Tavern, first established in 1859, prides itself on being a traditional town pub, winning the Best Vegetarian Roast category with its Mediterranean roast vegetable tart served with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire pudding and vegetarian gravy.
King Street Tavern owner Paul Mulholland said: “We are all stunned and over the moon.
“This form of recognition for creative ingredients is quite simply brilliant, and something to shout about.
“Our vegetarian roast is adapted from our standard roast, and we let the ingredients sing for themselves. It’s a very ‘homely’ roast, and this is what our customers love.”
