Devon’s Top Culinary Talents Celebrated at 2024 Food Drink Devon Awards

Devon’s talented food and drink scene was alive at Monday (7th October) night’s 13th Food Drink Devon Awards.  Over 450 individuals from the county’s finest food and drink producers, hospitality and catering businesses and speciality retailers celebrated in style at the esteemed awards’ ceremony, held at Sandy Park the home to Gallagher Premiership Rugby team, the Exeter Chiefs.

During the evening, Luke Heaver, Head Chef at The Salutation Inn (Topsham) was awarded the coveted title of ‘Chef of the Year’.  The award acknowledges the explosion of talented chefs in the region who have been driving innovation, championing local produce and producing exceptional quality food.  After sampling Luke’s menu, judges praised him for ‘having the confidence and skill to offer something slightly different and utterly delicious’.

Celebrating sustainability, Food Drink Devon’s ‘Sustainability Pioneer Award’shines a light on businesses going that extra mile in their endeavours to be environmentally friendly.  Devon Farm Kitchen (Torquay) claimed the award with judges praising their use of ceramic plates and bowls removing the need for plastic trays and pots and their recyclable boxes and sleeves, while raising funds for Rowcroft Hospice.

Competition was fierce in the ‘Taste of Devon Product Awards’ with a staggering 340 product entries.  The ‘Food Product of the Year’ accolade went to Pipers Farm (Cullompton) for their Boneless Rib of Beef with ‘New Food Product of the Year’ being awarded to Shepherd Shack (Dawlish) for their Thai Pork Pie.  Ventons Devon Cyder (Cullompton) fought off stiff competition to claim ‘Drink Product of the Year’ for their Thirst Responder, while Cottage Beer Project (Morebath) took home the title of ‘New Drink Product of the Year’ for their Panther.  Celebrating the very best wine the county produces, the inaugural ‘Devon Wine of the Year’ was won by Sandridge Barton Wines (Stoke Gabriel) for their Classic Cuvée.

From the 340 product entries, all of which were blind-tasted by independent judges, some really impressed achieving a faultless score of 100% and a ‘Platinum’ award.  Deserving producers and their products were those who gained a ‘Taste of Devon Product Award’ as listed above, and, Bays Brewery’s Devon Rock, Bell & Loxton for their Devon Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil, Boo Chi Kombucha and their REVIVE: Fresh Mint, Burts’ Reaper Chilli & Lime Ridges, Cottage Beer Project’s Hit For Six, Devon Cove Produce and their Cove Hazelnut Liqueur, Exe Chocolate X Two Drifters’ Spiced & Signature Rum Cocktail, FIKA Coffee House and their Biltong, Forage and Combe’s Wild Garlic Oil, Greendale Farm Shop’s Smoked Hake Loin and Ivybridge Brewing Co for their Moorland Mosaic and Red Lake.

Other ‘Platinum’ winners included Luscombe Drinks for their Hot Ginger Beer, Many Hands Brew Co’s Sock Puppets and Shadow Puppets, Rare & Pasture for their Porkfurter Organic and Pork and Fennel Salami Organic, Salcombe Distilling Co.’s ‘Four Seas’ by Salcombe Gin, Sharpham Dairy and their Sharpham Elmhirst, South Devon Chilli Farm’s Hot Salsa, Spindle Wood Farm’s Pasture Raised Whole Chicken, TORS Vodka and their Vodka and Caramel & Coffee Vodka Liqueur and Utopian Brewing’s Utopian Premium Lager. 

The highly prestigious ‘Best Fine Dining Restaurant’ award was presented to High Grange Devon (Axminster), commenting on the restaurant, judges said ‘cookery of the highest calibre, the chef is a master of the grill and his control over heat and smoke is something to admire’.  The ‘Best Hotel Restaurant’ award went to Dartmoor’s exceptional Two Bridges Hotel, with judges ‘blown away by the staff’ and their ‘well balanced and complex flavours’.  River Exe Café, set on the beautiful River Exe won ‘Best Restaurant’ with judges praising the ‘truly unique and brilliantly executed experience’.  Bayards Cove Inn (Dartmouth) was the proud winner of the ‘Best Pub’ category with judges commending them for a ‘memorable dining experience’ and commenting on their ‘passion for Devon's culinary landscape’. 

Shilstone House Cafe (Modbury) took home the accolade for ‘Best Café’, judges described it as ‘a real hidden gem’.  Ashburton Cookery School & Chefs Academy (Ashburton) took home the ‘Best Training School’ with the ‘incredible’ and ‘attentive’ teacher and ‘great structure’ all praised.  For the second year in a row, The Tors Inn (Okehampton) was the successful winner of ‘Best Takeaway’, with judges particularly commending their ‘beautiful setting, excellent service and warm welcome’.

In the ‘Retail Awards’ ‘Best Large Retailer’ went to Loddiswell’s Aune Valley Meat, described as ‘wow’ with floor to ceiling displays of Devon produce.  Copplestone Farm Shop (Crediton) won ‘Best Small Retailer’, with judges stating ‘Copplestone is a lucky village to have such an asset on their doorstep’.  Devon Hampers (Lifton) triumphed in the ‘Best Online Retailer’ category, offering ‘hampers for all occasions with locally sourced produce’.  

This year’s awards’ ceremony promoted sustainability and minimising waste.  All the heart trophies presented were crafted by DCW Polymers from reformed plastic, sourced exclusively from local hospitality businesses.

Nurturing the next generation of culinary talent, students from the Michael Caines Academy at Exeter College designed, created and served the canapes during the welcome drinks and helped serve the meal throughout the evening.  The menu was created and overseen by Craig Beacham head chef at Sandy Park with Matt Mason, chef director and head head chef, James Checkley, both from Winslade Manor, creating the dessert. They all transformed the best raw ingredients into a delicious banquet with the menu featuring fabulous local seasonal produce from Food Drink Devon members including Sharpham Dairy, M C Kelly and West Country Fruit Sales.

Commenting on the awards; Greg Parsons, Chair of Food Drink Devon, said: "Devon boasts a world class food and drink scene and a growing community of companies doing ‘good’ business together. This year, we’ve seen a record number of entries for the Food Drink Devon Awards and it’s no surprise that we’ve also recognised a record number of Gold and Platinum winners. The purpose of these awards isn’t to rank businesses against one another, but to highlight the products and destinations we’re proud to call Devon’s finest and promote them across the county and beyond."

A special thank you goes to sponsors of the awards DCW Polymers, West Country Fruit Sales, Empire Services, Caterfood, Bays Brewery, Ocean City Media, Vigo, Impact Design & Marketing, Vale Labels, inkREADible Labels, Stephens Scown, PL1 Events and Hedgerow Print.

Covering food production, preparation, retailing, cooking and service, the Food Drink Devon Awards honour businesses demonstrating a consistent commitment to quality, sustainability, provenance, excellent customer service and support for their local communities and other local businesses.  Judging for the awards was carried out by a panel of independent and unbiased experts which this year included Rebecca Mitchell, Marc Millon, Fiona Beckett, Andy Clarke, Orlando Murrin, Steve Ashworth and Sue Stoneman as well as others.  All results and winners were verified by an independent adjudicator, with entrants receiving the opportunity to benefit from invaluable product feedback provided by the panel.

For more information on Food Drink Devon, visit fooddrinkdevon.co.uk and follow @FoodDrinkDevon on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.   A full list of all the winners can be found at www.fooddrinkdevon.co.uk/awards.

Photo: 2024 Food Drink Devon Award Winners. Credit: Steve Haywood.