TWO West Somerset restaurants have scooped top awards at the annual Somerset Life Magazine Food and Drink Awards competition.

Reeves Restaurant in Dunster and the Coleridge Restaurant at the Dunkery Beacon Hotel were among the top winners.

The competition, the largest in the country, attracts over 1,500 nominations from readers and has ten food-led categories.

Winners – selected by judges who visit each establishment unannounced – were at a black tie presentation dinner on Thursday (October 19) at the Somerset Cricket Ground in Taunton.

Reeves Restaurant was named the ‘Best Somerset Restaurant’ award and Justin Reeves was also runner up in the ‘Chef of the Year’, a category which he had won for the past two years.

For the second consecutive year, the Coleridge Restaurant won the Best Hotel Restaurant award. John and Jane Bradley saw off competition including from the Tarr Farm Inn, Dulverton.

Also in the running for a prestigious award were David Pollard and Paul Gibbs who have transformed the Periwinkle Tearooms back to former glories.