13 September 2011

Liverpool Food and Drink Awards 2011 – winners

We’ve got a longer feature on the Liverpool Food and Drink Awards elsewhere on the site, but below are the headline winners from this year’s event.

They happen to contain a lot of our personal favourites from around the city, but knowing that only those outlets that take part in the Food and Drink Festival launch – ergo only those who pay to play – are involved rather robs the awards of their authority in our view.

That’s no slight on those who did participate, but among some of our favourite Liverpool eateries a number didn’t get so much as a nomination, apparently simply because they didn’t participate in the festival.

Etsu (picture, above), Fraiche, Viva Brazil, Kimo’s, Salthouse Tapas – not a word. Some have some PR spend, but Etsu and Fraiche made it a policy not to divert money to external publicity.

“Talk is cheap,” Michelin-starred Marc Wilkinson of Fraiche told us back in May, having decided to spend any available cash on the restaurant, rather than public relations.

“I’ve seen too many bad restaurants employ PR to drum up exposure in the press, only to close down a couple of years later,” said Wilkinson. “It’s what you put on your plates that counts.”

That’s certainly the hope, but look down the list of the following Food and Drink Awards winners over the last three years.

They include some of the best of Liverpool – but they ignore many others that are as good, if not better.

Until the awards are city-wide and constitute a voting process that can’t be skewed by PR activities or block voting, they remain merely a taster board of our city’s gastronomy – rather than the full menu.

Liverpool 2011 Food and Drink Awards winners

Liverpool’s Favourite Restaurant – Puschka

Restaurant of Overall Excellence – 60 Hope Street

Favourite European Restaurant – Lunya

Outstanding Customer Service – Bem Brazil

Favourite Bar or Pub award – the Hub Alehouse and Kitchen (pictured, below)

Most Family Friendly Restaurant – Yo Sushi

Favourite Independent Cafe or Coffee Shop – Bold Street Coffee

Favourite International Restaurant – Sapporo Teppanyaki

Favourite Neighbourhood Restaurant – Almond

Liverpool’s Favourite Food Producer – Liverpool Cheese Company

Favourite Sunday Lunch – The Swan

Restaurant of Excellence – 60 Hope Street

Liverpool 2010 Food and Drink Awards winners

Most Child-friendly Restaurant – Wagamama

Best Value for Money – Buffet Club

The People of Liverpool’s Favourite Restaurant – Lunya (pictured below)

Best Promotion of the Festival – Skinnimalinx

Best Customer Service – Delifonseca

Best Small Independent Restaurant – Almond

Best Bar – Alma de Cuba

Restaurant of Overall Excellence – The London Carriage Works

Liverpool 2009 Food and Drink Awards winners

Best restaurant – The Italian Fish Club

Best Bar – The London Carriage Works

Restaurant of Excellence – Delifonseca

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