Double Taste Triumph for Portadown's Yellow Door Deli
Portadown's Yellow Door Deli was the big Northern Ireland winner in the final of the Great Taste Awards 2014 in London last night (8 September). The company won a top award with a distinctive Northern Irish dish.
The company, headed by top chef Simon Dougan, won the Farmhouse and Deli Signature Dish for the second successive year in the prestigious annual awards run by the UK Guild of Fine Food. Yellow Door Deli is the first company in the UK and Ireland to win a major Great Taste Award in successive years.
Yellow Door Deli gained the top award for a delicious Strangford Prawn and Comber Potato Soup, created by managing director Simon Dougan.
Simon Dougan, commenting on the award, "Winning this major award in successive years is a marvellous endorsement of the quality of our food and of the ingredients which are all sourced from Northern Irish suppliers.
"Our objective is to showcase the exceptional quality and provenance of Northern Ireland food to a discerning international audience. What we are seeking to do is to create original Northern Irish dishes from the superb ingredients so readily available in this region."
John Hood, Invest Northern Ireland Director of Food, said: "This is a tremendous achievement by Yellow Door. Gaining this important award for the second successive year is great for Yellow Door and for Northern Ireland food in general. Yellow Door is the only company to win a major title in the finals of the UK's most prestigious food competition, often referred to as the 'Oscars' of the food industry in the UK and Ireland.
"Our companies have a marvellous track record of success in this competition and are helping to raise our profile significantly in the highly competitive global food industry. I congratulate all four Northern Ireland companies which reached the final stages of the event."
Mr Hood presented The Golden Fork for the best Northern Ireland product to Hannan Meats of Moira for three sweet cured bacon ribs. The Co. Down butchery business, owned and managed by Peter Hannan, won the award for the second successive year and had an all-time record three meat products in the Top Five listed for the Supreme Champion Award.
In addition to Yellow Door and Hannan Meats, two other local companies - Baronscourt Venison, Omagh, and Suki Teahouse, Belfast - reached the final stage.
The Supreme Champion Award was won by an English company, Snowflake Luxury Gelato's Raspberry Sorbetto.
Hannan Meats is the most successful food producer in the UK in terms of gold awards from the Guild of Fine Food, achieving 128 over the past four years.
The guild, at the start of the Great Taste process, issues gold stars - 1,2,3 depending on quality of taste and originality. Three star winners are then judged for the Top 50 Foods and those listed companies are then in the running for the Supreme Champion Award. This year's competition produced 10,000 entries including over 700 from 125 Northern Ireland companies.
This year's awards included the first-ever judging session to be held in Belfast and hosted by Invest Northern Ireland. Overall, 405 judges including leading retail buyers, chefs and food writers were involved in the seven-week judging process that involved 10,000 individual products from the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Pic Cap L-R:Stephen Dowd and Simon Dougan of The Yellow Doorwith Invest Northern Ireland Director of FoodJohn Hood.