Member Article

North East Restaurant Awards toast the best places to eat

An awards presentation toasting the cream of the North East Restaurant industry took place this week in Newcastle. The North East Restaurant Awards celebrate the North East’s best restaurants in categories of different genres and cities. All of the winners have been voted for by members of The Gourmet Society over the past few months.

Winners include Secco Ristorante, which won Best Newcastle Restaurant and Oldfields Restaurants which collected an award for Best Service. Other restaurants to pick up awards include the Prickly Pear in Sunderland which won Best Sunderland Restaurant, The Smithy Bistro in Ponteland which won Best Northumberland Restaurant and Joe Rigatoni’s which won Best Teesside Restaurant.

Rob Collins, North East director of The Gourmet Society, said: “This is the first North East Restaurant Awards we have ever staged and it’s great that there is now some recognition that the North East has some fantastic restaurants. “Statistics show that 70 per cent of people eat out at least once a week so it’s inevitable that diners are becoming more discerning.”

Cristina De Giorgi, director of The Gusto Group which owns Secco Ristorante, said: “It’s fantastic to be voted Best Newcastle Restaurant by The Gourmet Society members. The restaurant industry in this part of the country has changed dramatically over the past few years and is now in a position to contend with the eating out scene in Leeds, Edinburgh and Manchester. “Restaurants in the North East have access to some of the best local produce in the country and it’s great that people are now realising that the North East can produce great quality local food.”

A full list of winners and further information on The Gourmet Society and the North East Restaurant Awards can be found at www.thegourmetsociety.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .