WEST Somerset restaurants and food providers have been sweeping up the accolades­ against competition from around the county.

The Best Chef and Best Restaurant Fine Dining titles at this year’s Somerset Life Food and Drink Awards were both won locally.

Dunster’s Justin Reeves, of Reeves Restaurant, was awarded Best Chef of the Year while The Café at Porlock Weir won Best Restaurant Dining Experience.

And Shurton’s local pub The Babbling Brook, won Best Sunday Roast of the Year.

The presentation event, held at Junction 24 Conference Centre, North Petherton last week, also saw a number of other West Somerset food providers win awards, after 150 establishments and individuals were nominated and over 1,500 of the magazine’s readers voted for their favourites.

Justin Reeves was up against chefs from the Michelin starred Pony & Trap in Chew Magna and the 2 Rosette AA awarded Son Easton Park Hotel near Bath.

“To have won the award against such accomplished chefs really is quite breath-taking,” he said.

“However, the award is really for everyone working at Reeves and not just me; it’s a team effort.”

The Café at Porlock Weir saw off competition from some of Somerset’s best fine dining establishments, including the popular Willow Tree Restaurant and the Augustus Restaurant in Taunton.

Another top eatery was Shurton’s local pub The Babbling Brook, which won Best Sunday Roast of the Year award for producing what landlord Jeff Bryant says is “the sort of food mum used to cook.”

A number of other West Somerset establishments were highly commended in the awards. They are:

* Dunkery Beacon Country House at Wootton Courtney, in the Best Hotel Restaurant category.

* Chantry Tea Gardens, Kilve, in the Best Tearoom/Coffee Shop of the Year category.

* Thorne’s Butchers, Wiveliscombe in Best Butcher of the Year category.

* Wiveliscombe Farmers’ Market in Best Farmers’ Market of the Year category.

The Somerset Life Food and Drink Awards celebrate the best of the county, and has become an important event for food providers of all kinds. Readers nominate their choices and the judges visit every nomination unannounced.