London's Gilbert Scott Restaurant signs up Abernethy Butter

Diners at one of London's grandest restaurants, The Gilbert Scott, are now experiencing hand crafted and hand rolled butter from Northern Ireland. The restaurant has placed a weekly contract with Abernethy Butter, the award winning Northern Irish artisan producer.

The contract from The Gilbert Scott follows an approach to Will and Allison Abernethy who began producing the unique butter in 2005 at their farm in Dromara, county Down. They have also secured orders from top UK chefs including Heston Blumenthal and Marcus Wareing.

Allison Abernethy, commenting on the new business with The Gilbert Scott, says: "We were delighted when the restaurant asked us to send some samples and then placed a regular order for our butter.

'It's very exciting for us to be associated with the restaurant in such an impressive setting. Our business with some of the leading restaurants in Britain is developing rapidly as top chefs hear about the unique taste of our premium quality butter," she adds.

Inspired by the history of the spectacular building at St Pancras, once the Midland Railway's 150-bed hotel, the restaurant has a longstanding history on providing meals from the best of British produce.

Established in 2005, the Abernethy Butter Company makes creamy hand churned butter daily on the family farm from cream from local dairy farmers. They handcraft butter in 125g rolls which don't contain any additives or preservatives. The butter has a shelf life of 12 weeks.

In addition, the butter is being used for handcrafting a creamy and smooth fudge, particularly for special occasions such as weddings. In 2011, the fudge gained a UK Great Taste Award from the Guild of Fine Food.

The artisan business achieved two gold stars at the Great Taste Awards in 2012 and won a bronze award in the dairy category at the Royal Highland Show 2012.

In January 2013, Abernethy Butter went on sale at Fortnum and Mason in London.

The Gilbert Scott restaurant is a feature of a spectacular building dating back to 1866. Construction of the Midland Grand Hotel, as it was then known, began in 1868 and the hotel opened officially on the 5th of May 1873.

The Gilbert Scott restaurant features pillars of polished limestone lining the walls with their gilded capitals carved with conkers, pea pods and bursting pomegranates.