Great Taste Winner Celebrated at London Restaurant Week
Premium beef from Northern Irish award winning Hannan Meats was given pride of place by a top chef at the start of the prestigious London Restaurant Week recently.
Celebrity chef Mark Hix also marked the achievement of Hannan Meats in winning the Supreme Champion title in this year's prestigious UK Great Taste Awards by organising a unique 'Carnivore's Feast' at the Oyster and Chop House in Smithfield, one of his high-end restaurants with a complete menu of beef from Hannan Meats.
Hannan Meats, based in Moira, County Down, was among almost 50 Northern Ireland food and drink companies to win gold stars in this year's awards. Hannan also set a UK record by winning 26 gold stars. The company, in addition, was among five Northern Ireland companies to have products listed among the Top 50 UK foods.
Hannan Meats, led by Managing Director Peter Hannan, was only the second Northern Ireland company to win the Supreme Champion award. The first was McCartney's Butchers, also based in Moira, winner of the Supreme Champion title in 2011/12.
The event for London Restaurant Week, now in its second year, also gave Mr Hannan an opportunity to brief diners on what to look for in quality steak. Mr Hix showed diners how to cook sirloin to maximise the meat's flavour and texture. The event was held at his Oyster and Chop House near Smithfield.
Mr Hix runs seven quality restaurants in London that all feature beef and bacon provided by the Northern Ireland company.
Diners were among the first in the UK to experience beef from a unique Himalayan Salt Chamber in Europe installed by Hannan Meats to develop a range of dry-aged beef and bacon products. The salt chamber at the Moira plant is the first in Europe.
Commenting on the event, Mr Hix said: "This event recognises the superb quality of meat especially sirloin that is provided to us by Hannan Meats and showcased the creativity and great commitment of Peter Hannan to superb customer service."
Mr Hannan, who set up the business in 1992, imported the salt blocks from the foothills of the Himalaya's in Pakistan to offer customers dry-aged beef with a distinctively rich flavour and texture.
Mr Hannan, commenting on the event, said: "We were delighted when Mark Hix decided to create an original menu for London Restaurant Week based exclusively on the meat products that we've developed in our salt chamber using beef from our farmers in Northern Ireland.
"The event gave us an exceptional opportunity to show the superb quality of meat now readily available from Northern Ireland suppliers that top chefs can use to create wonderful menus for diners seeking delicious and different meals using high quality ingredients with provenance.
"Being named Supreme Champion in this year's UK Great Taste Awards and the endorsement by Mark Hix has resulted in a huge increase in our products and orders for other foodservice operators as well as top retailers such as Fortnum and Mason and Selfridges. The Great Taste Awards has given our business a tremendous business boost.
"Sales of our award winning guanciale product, for instance, have grown an amazing 1,500 per cent in the past month."
The achievements of Hannan Meats and other Northern Ireland companies will also be showcased at an event hosted by Invest Northern Ireland next month in the Europa Hotel, Belfast.
Pic Caption: L-R: Simon Burdess, Commercial Director, Fortnum & Mason; Peter Hannan, Hannan Meats and Nigel Barden, BBC Radio 2 Presenter.