A BASINGSTOKE restaurant has been stamped with a Blue Ribbon at the Good Food Award, recognising those who strive for culinary excellence within their field.

Basingstoke Gazette: Spirits & Spices, BasingstokeSpirits & Spices, Basingstoke

Chosen for the quality of their food, service and salue, Kings Furlong Indian restaurant Spices and Spirits has won this years Good Food Award.

Founded on independence and integrity in 2002, the Good Food Award has a host of categories and rate a number of titles from gastro pubs, fish and chips, cafes and takeaways, while their sister publication Good Hotel Award launching in 2014.

Basingstoke Gazette: Spirits & Spices, BasingstokeSpirits & Spices, Basingstoke

Opened in 2019, Spices and Spirits is run by a husband-and-wife team – Nitin and Anushree Patil. The restaurant was relaunched in July this year.

Nitin said: "We are very happy to receive the award because our customers and guests must have voted for us.

"The award is not possible without them [customers]. The award is not for us, it is for them because they chose us and they supported us."

Basingstoke Gazette: Spirits & Spices, BasingstokeSpirits & Spices, Basingstoke

Speaking on what the award means to the restaurant, Nitin said: "The Good Food Award is about good quality food that is presented well. So this means quite a lot because I feel we are offering authentic Indian cuisine in Basingstoke, which is very unique compared to the curry houses, so we don't like to call ourselves a curry house because our curry section is much smaller compared to what is offered [elsewhere], so good food is the key for us to get the customers walking in and I think we feel very, very proud about it."

Basingstoke Gazette: Spirits & Spices, BasingstokeSpirits & Spices, Basingstoke

Talking about what is in store for the future at Spices and Spirits, Natim said the restaurant aims to go Michelin star in a 'years time or so'.

The Good Food Awards said: "With some 596,140 eating establishments within the UK, competition for our Good Food Award was unsurprisingly tough.

"It was heartwarming to see the support our finalists received given the adversity everyone faced.

"The Good Food Awards recognise the hard-working teams who strive for excellence within their field. Chosen for their food quality, service and value, our prestigious awards are bestowed upon those with high customer ratings/votes and are known as – the Blue Ribbon for Delicious Dishes."