Wahaca, Feng Sushi and Devon-based café ODE were announced among the winners of the Sustainable Restaurant Association Awards 2013.
Cafe-ODE, in Shaldon, Devon, followed its partner restaurant ODE-dining in becoming Sustainable Restaurant of the Year, in the second year of the awards organised by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), in association with Unilever Food Solutions.
Most Sustainable Small Restaurant Group of the Year, Wahaca, co-owned by former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby, repeated its success of 2012.
Feng Sushi, the Luke Johnson-backed chain, picked up the Innovation award. The judges applauded the group’s commitment to work with UK producers to grow vegetables traditionally sourced from overseas as well as effectively ensuring a reliable supply of sustainable, seasonal fish.
The Preston Park Tavern in Brighton was named Sustainable Pub of the Year.
Marriott Hotels International, with 58 sites across the UK, has been named Sustainable Large Restaurant Group of the Year.
Mark Linehan, managing director of the SRA, paid tribute to cafe-ODE owners Tim and Clare Bouget: “To set out to open the most sustainable restaurant and achieve it is a terrific feat. To do it twice is extraordinary. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of cafe-ODE’s success is that it is a very popular local restaurant, serving high quality, but simple, well sourced food in the heart of a thriving community. It epitomises the efforts and achievements of all the Sustainable Restaurant Awards winners.”
