The event was fantastically well attended with the room full of lively conversation, debate and tuxedos/cocktail dresses. I was seated with the attendees from Whittlebury Hall, whom it turned out, had come en masse (ten of them) to support their entry into the chef of the year category (Nige - who didn't even know he had entered until after the fact). I immediately felt the sense of camaraderie with a team who turns out in such force to support one of their number, even if it is for the free booze. Talking to the guys, they put a good case forward for Mrs P and I to visit and I hope to do so in the near future, it's great to start building up some decent fine dining destinations.
Looking around though, Whittlebury Hall wasn't the only contingent to empty it's kitchens to spend their Sunday evening pretending that they didn't care if they won or not; local pubs, independent restaurant as well as the highstreet chains rubbed shoulders with micro producers and growing suppliers who all put in a sterling performance with spare chairs being the real premium of the evening.
Before we get to the food, I must give a quick shout out to The Shures. Well, more precisely to the young mans amazing shoes, which could, quite legitimately, have been used to impress Bear Grylls by spearing fish in a Indonesian survival situation. As remarkable as their dress sense was though, they performed admirably and kept the room going through the evening, well done boys.
Interspersed between the awards, entertainment and gawping at the paintings/sculptures we also had food. I think it's fair to say that through the course of the evening, the kitchen struggled. In fairness, catering for an audience comprised solely of chefs and associated professional foodies is going to be really, really tough. But then trying to do it for 200 of them all at the same time is a Herculean task reserved only for the terminally foolish of the industry. Because the evening should be all about the celebration of the winners, it would be unfair to concentrate on those areas which didn't quite meet perfection. So I'll only briefly run through the dishes just to give you a sense of what kept us all going through the evening.
Firstly, a vegetable terrine with parmesan crisp and leafy greens at the back. Nicely seasoned, it held together well and the crisp had some serious cheesiness to it.
Venison with roast potatoes, cabbage and puree. This was... underdone, but the gravy was good.
Finally, the desert looked pretty and tasted great too. The biscuit was my favourite part of the dish but the strawberry mousse held up well and there wasn't a single plate on the table which wasn't cleaned off.
For those of us who were driving back home, the Virtual Orchard had put on bottles of their apple juice for the tables, and I have to say that it was quite delicious. I'll have to seek out a few more of those at home.
So for a full list of the winners, keep your eye on the MKFA website and you'll be able to catch up with all the movers and shakers in the area. There were certainly a few surprises in the mix and a few results that I wouldn't have predicted!
Here are a few highlights from what I can remember:
Best Restaurant: Woburn Brasserie
Best use of local ingredients: The Bell and Bear
Best Cafe: MK Coffee Shop
Best Family Restaurant: Red Hot World Buffet
Best Branded Restaurant: Chiquito
Best local product (food): Moo Kow Jam
I'll link back to the full list once it's revealed. But for now, I'll sign off with the overriding memories of a night filled with fun, laughter and a whole lot of people who were not thinking about going into work the following morning.
And here is a statue of a bloke with his knob out - he proved popular with the room all night long, usually in scenarios involving the stuffed cows. I'll leave you to work out the details.
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