The Good Food Guide celebrates Britain’s best restaurants and the top entries and award-winners in the 2016 Good Food Guide have been revealed today ahead of the launch of its 65th anniversary issue, with Belfast restaurant OX winning the prestigious Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year.

The Editors’ Awards are a strand of the Good Food Guide’s annual awards which recognise restaurants and chefs who have shown excellence in their field.

On the prestigious win, Alain Kerloc’h, co-owner of OX said “Our team is completely humbled by winning the Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide this year. It is not just fantastic for OX but great for Belfast and Northern Ireland too.”

Stevie Toman, co-owner and chef at OX said “This is a huge honour for our team and especially coming so quickly after winning the Best Menu at the Cateys. The competition in the UK for both is enormous so it’s a great win for Belfast and another nod to the great people and local producers we love to work with.”

It has been a fantastic summer for the team at OX who also recently won the Best Menu award at the 32nd Catey Awards, the hospitality industry’s answer to the Oscars. Speaking after receiving the award, chef and co-owner Stephen Toman said “Winning Best Menu at the Cateys is fantastic, as everything at OX begins with the menu. Since opening in April 2013, taking a risk on a new kind of dining for Belfast has really paid off for us, and this kind of recognition for our menu, from our peers and colleagues in the industry, is really rewarding. The best part of an award like this is the opportunity it gives us to showcase our wonderful Northern Ireland ingredients, producers and suppliers.”

Co-owners Stephen and Alain each have a background in formal dining, with complex and sophisticated menus and high levels of service. With OX (and their gorgeous, honey-toned wine bar right next door in OX Cave), their aim is to provide the same quality of food and attentive service, along with a focus on dining with seasonal creativity, but in a relaxed, simple and welcoming environment.

OX is enterprising, ambitious and inventive, and is now the winner of the Editors Awards as Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide in the UK!

Food NI chief executive Michele Shirlow has congratulated Ox in Belfast in national restaurant awards, announced today.

 Ox was named Restaurant of the Year in the Waitrose Good Food Guide 2016 Editors’ Awards.

 Mrs Shirlow said: “This is a stunning achievement by the team at Ox in one of the UK’s most prestigious awards for premium restaurants. It’s tremendous news for the restaurant and also for its quality suppliers in Northern Ireland food and drink industry.

“The award positions Ox among the very best in the UK and also highlights the quality of the food scene in Belfast and Northern Ireland to a national audience. It enhances Northern Ireland’s reputation as a European centre of culinary excellence, a standing which is adding substantially to our appeal to tourists seeking a destination with a variety of attractions including great food.

“This is extremely important because research shows that upwards of a third of visitor spend is on food and drink. They expect to experience locally sourced food produced by people dedicated to excellent products with outstanding success.

“The awards show potential visitors that they can expect highly creative menus here with dishes using wholesome ingredients with safety and provenance. It is also an important development as we prepare for next year’s Northern Ireland Year of Food, a year-long programme which will focus attention on dynamic, innovative and quality conscious restaurant scene and our superb local food and drink.”