Las Iguanas Wins Restaurant Of The Year

At an awards ceremony held at the Ramada Encore in the HubMK the winners of the Restaurant of the Year were announced. Over 30,000 votes were cast by the people of Milton Keynes and area in this exciting competition. The overall winner was Las Iguanas who also picked up the award for best newcomer. The judges said that they definitely ticked all the boxes. They visited on a wet Friday lunchtime, were greeted warmly, served by knowledgeable staff and the food they were served was excellent. They also said it represented excellent value for money. They came out feeling that they’d had a trip to the Copacabana Beach!




Other awards went to

Brasserie Blanc – Best Business Lunch

Judges Comments
The judges considered that the food was well prepared and presented. Of particular merit was the fact that the steak ordered was well trimmed and cooked exactly as requested, the service was reliable and efficient with lots of smiles and the atmosphere is very relaxed, light and airy – very much in keeping with the French brasserie theme. This venue represented very good value by way of the set lunch with wine but also had an extensive wine list with prices that were reasonable within all categories.

Highly commended Taipan

Judges Comments
Taipan deserves to be highly commended in this category for the high standard of food (particularly the dim sum) and fast and efficient service.

The Plough at Wavendon - Best Fine Dining

Judges Comments
At the meeting between the judges to agree the winners, it became apparent that recognition of the different elements of eating out needed to be recognized. The Plough represents top end dining with good quality food made from local and named ingredients.

Best Service - Wagamama

All judges rated Wagamamas highly for being informal but efficient and having a very buzzy atmosphere with food that lived up to the descriptions given by the helpful and friendly staff. Although the food does not arrive at the same time you are told of this at the start and it shows that all food is cooked freshly to order. The judges were impressed with the quality and value of their experience and noted that it appealed to all age groups and both sexes.

Café Ganges -Highly commended

The judges felt that Café Ganges deserved to be highly commended in this category by virtue of their pleasant, efficient staff and the fact that the food was served professionally and at the same time – a feat in itself as all 6 members of the party had ordered different mains, vegetables, rice and breads and the restaurant was full!

Dragon Boat - Best Working Lunch

To recognize that venues need to cater for people who want an option to eat out in a limited time-frame, with good value and quality food, a new category designated “Working Lunch” was created. The judges visited over lunch and had the stopwatch running - they were in and out within the hour without the food or service suffering and szechuan chicken and pork ribs were particular favourites. The staff were welcoming and efficient.

Well done to all the winners. As evidenced by the judges’ comments there is a wealth of quality dining establishments in Milton Keynes and all finalists deserve to feel that they are winners as they are in such distinguished company.

To enter for Restaurant of the Year 2009 contact Tania Morgan at Kimbells on 01908 350209



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