A pan-Asian restaurant in Pembrokeshire has won the top gong for Wales at the prestigious annual Golden Chopsticks Awards which took place on Monday, September 26 at the Marriott Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square.
The awards celebrate the very best of East and South East Asian cuisine across the nation and, with 19 awards up for grabs, it marks the outstanding standard of the restaurant sector.
And for Saundersfoot's Lokky's it was truly a night to remember as it scooped up the award for Best Restaurant in Wales at the evening's event. The recently refurbished restaurant - which is part of the Woodridge Inn Hotel - describes itself as: "The place where irresistible flavours and aromatic ingredients of Thai, Filipino, Japanese and Korean cuisine are perfectly partnered with heavenly cocktails, chilled beers and friendly service." It serves such dishes as oxtail gyoza, katsu beef shortrib and sushi alongside a Sunday roast at the weekends.
Read more: Wales' best restaurant and hotel crowned at the AA Hospitality Awards
It adds: "It’s the place where Pan-Asian food is prepared by our team of chefs whose passion is authentic Asian cuisine. Lokky’s menu is constructed using influences from across Asia. It’s the place where you can either forget about the day you had or celebrate the successes of life."
And it seems its customers wholeheartedly agree. Take just one look at the vast array of five-star reviews on TripAdvisor, and you'll see why many customers return time and again.
One reviewer wrote:" Raising the Bar for Saundersfoot/Tenby. Finally a restaurant delivering something different in Saundersfoot/Tenby!", while another said: "Superb place. Great food, and service in a modern setting".
Of the night, the awards' host and co-founder Gok Wan MBE, said of the event and nominees: "After the amazing success of our first three awards, we knew it was going to be a tall order to go bigger and better this year, but we feel we pulled it off! The Golden Chopsticks Awards has well and truly cemented itself into the culinary calendar.
"What an amazing night, bringing together the good and the great from the oriental food world in one room, with finalists covering the broad spectrum of E and SE Asian food from Chinese, Japanese and Thai to Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino and Korean. It was fantastic to see so many accomplished restaurateurs in the room, alongside the rising stars of the future! It was a real honour to host what is now one of my favourite nights of the year!"
Head judge and renowned chef Ken Hom also added: "I am more than delighted to be part of the fourth Golden Chopsticks Awards which sets the highest standard from which East and South East Asian restaurants in the UK can all be judged. I congratulate all the winners and finalists as well as the judges for their hard work!"
And it wasn't the only win of the night for a Welsh establishment. The award for Best Delivery Experience was won by Golden Dragon GD Box in Wales' capital, Cardiff.
Posting on its social media of the win, the team wrote: "We did it!!! We are absolutely delighted to win this award tonight. The best Delivery Experience award in [the] country! Once again we want to thank all our customer who has supported us throughout and it is you guys that keeps us improving and deliver us the best takeaway experience. Also we like to thank Just Eat for sponsoring the award."
The categories of the awards were judged by some of the world's most famous foodie faces, including Ken Hom CBE, Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer, School of Wok’s Jeremy Pang, The Breakfast Group's Eric Yu, Sonny Leong, Katy Tse Blair MBE, previous Masterchef winner Ping Coombes, Delicious. magazine editor Karen Barnes and author Fuchsia Dunlop.
Big foodie stars such as Chris Baber, John Gregory Smith, Andy Clarke, Kim Joy, Suzie Lee, Thuy Pham and Gok’s brother Kwoklyn Wan were also spotted at the event and a surprise appearance from noughties pop band Blue also made for a momentus occasion.
The Golden Chopsticks weren't the only awards of the night to celebrate culinary excellence across the UK. The AA Hospitality Awards also took place in London with a number of top establishments in Wales also being recognised. Read more on that here.
READ NEXT:
- Aldi's new drink tastes exactly like Quality Street's Purple One sweet
- Full list of UK's top restaurants announced at AA Hospitality Awards 2022
- Woman complains to McDonald’s after being sold ‘absolutely appalling’ chicken burger
- Marco Pierre White surprises diners in Swansea by turning up at his own restaurant
- Beloved Welsh restaurant announces 'gut-wrenching' closure as energy prices soar
