The best food and drink in the Scottish Highlands has been crowned as part of a prestigious award ceremony.
Earlier this month, the winners of the annual Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards were unveiled. Now in its 19th year, the awards celebrate the best food, drink, and hospitality businesses in the Highlands across 16 categories.
The coveted Best Eatery prize, sponsored by Highland News and Media, went to IV10. The independent family-run café, bar, and deli is located in the town of Fortrose on the stunning Black Isle peninsula.
A bustling community hub, as well as a popular tourist destination, IV10 is renowned for its relaxed atmosphere and responsibly sourced produce. It offers a daily changing menu, with sample dishes including crispy hake, aioli, and piquillo pepper salsa, chorizo and piquillo chilli salsa pizza, and crispy courgette with a tzatziki dip.
IV10 also features sweet and savoury deli counters that showcase its in-house baking, serving up everything from scotch eggs to brownies and tarts. Its coffee is also is roasted locally on Black Isle by Vandyke Bros Speciality Coffee.
Meanwhile, taking home the prizes for Best Food and Best Drink were Isle of Skye Sea Salt Company and Downpour Coast & Croft Gin from North Uist Distillery respectively. The former is an award-winning pure sea salt made from the clear mineral rich waters of Skye’s Loch Snizort, while Downpour Coast & Croft is a citrusy gin with notes of juniper and thyme.
Elsewhere, due to a “standout performance”, a special Judges Award was given this year to Island Larder in Shetland. The island sweet shop was applauded for its “dedication to quality, sustainability, and community engagement” and its “performance across the board in a number of categories”.
Other winners at the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards 2024 include Lochmaddy Bay Prawns 2GO in North Uist and Miele’s Gelateria in Inverness, which took home the gongs for Best Street Food and Primary Producer respectively. In terms of the top Food and Drink Tourism Experience, the award went to the Islay Sea Adventures boat tour company.
Chair of the judging panel, Laura Robertson from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, commented: “Huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists. It is fantastic to see the passion and commitment each and every one of you puts into this sector and we hope this recognition will help your businesses continue to grow and flourish.”
Fellow judge Jonathan Farmer from Wester Ross Fisheriesadded: “It was an absolute pleasure to be involved in the judging process which saw a high level of entries across all categories. Myself, and my fellow judges really had our work out to select the winners, as many categories were very tight and hard fought.
“We hope we have done everyone who entered justice in our decisions.”
Read on for the full list of winners at the 2024 awards. Meanwhile, more information can be found on the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards website.
Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards 2024 winners
- BEST DRINK — North Uist Distillery – Downpour Coast & Croft Gin
- BEST EATERY AWARD sponsored by HIGHLAND NEWS & MEDIA — IV10
- BEST FOOD & DRINK TOURISM EXPERIENCE — Islay Sea Adventures
- BEST FOOD sponsored by SEAFOOD SCOTLAND — Isle of Skye Sea Salt Company
- BEST STREET FOOD AWARD — Lochmaddy Bay Prawns 2GO
- INDEPENDENT RETAILER OF THE YEAR AWARD — Brodie Countryfare
- INNOVATION AWARD sponsored by FOOD & DRINK TECHHUB — Hawthorne Dairy
- BEST MARKETING AWARD — Great Glen Charcuterie
- BEST START UP sponsored by BE PERSONNEL — Tiny Fish Ltd
- PRIMARY PRODUCER AWARD sponsored by SALMON SCOTLAND — Miele’s Gelateria
- RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR sponsored by HIGHLAND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES — Flavour
- SUPPLY CHAIN BUSINESS AWAD — Aquascot Ltd
- SUSTAINABILITY AWARD sponsored by WESTER ROSS FISHERIES — Threaplands Ltd
- YOUNG AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR sponsored by SCOTLAND FOOD & DRINK — Elliott Sabor, Orrin Restaurant
- JUDGES AWARD — Island Larder
- AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR AWARD sponsored by SAFFERY — Fraser Campbell, Cobbs Group
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