Food and Culture Awards 2023
Food and Culture Awards 2023
The winners have been announced at a fantastic event celebrating the best in south west London and Surrey
The region’s best restaurants, pubs, cafes, theatres, festivals and entertainment venues have been announced, as voted by the readers of Time & Leisure. Gathering at New Wimbledon Theatre on Monday, we celebrated the achievements of all the finalists who had been nominated for their outstanding achievements across 17 categories. Click here to see all the winners, highly commended, commended and recommended places across south west London and Surrey.
We were delighted to be joined by our awards ambassadors, top chef Adam Byatt and acclaimed restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas, both of whom oversee Michelin-starred local restaurants and value the importance of shining a light on neighbourhood gems. They are hugely inspirational and they shared their stories and advice while on stage with our co-presenter Angellica Bell.
Angellica, 2017 champion of Celebrity MasterChef and a regular face on our TV screens, is no stranger to these awards having attended on numerous occasions from the very beginning. She was joined on stage by Robin Hutchinson, MBE, chair of the charity Creative Youth, organisers of FUSE International and curators of new creative space FUSEBOX, and director of The Community Brain.
Angellica and Robin announced the worthy winners, who each received a bottle of fabulous gin from Wimbledon Brewery.
Among our most popular categories were our neighbourhood awards, which were sponsored by local BIDs: Love Wimbledon, Positively Putney, Go Epsom and Enjoy Sutton. Huge thanks to all of our sponsors, which also included Bluprint and Wimbledon Brewery, and hosts for the afternoon, New Wimbledon Theatre.
The event opened with the guests arriving via the stage door and straight on to the stage of New Wimbledon Theatre – an impressive way to see the venue as an actor would – and were treated to samples of excellent food and drink from Chimney Fire Coffee, Wimbledon Brewery, The Bakehouse in Putney, The Cheese Merchant, Doctor Funk’s Rum, as well as tasters from Island Poké in Wimbledon and Indian dishes from Bombay Delight.
Rogue Opera performed from the balcony – their ethos is all about bringing opera to new audiences – do look out for them at Wandsworth Arts Fringe Festival in June.
Photography: Tucker Images