Verveine Sweeps the Board!

This year’s prestigious annual Hampshire Life Food & Drink Awards were held at the luxury Four Seasons Hotel in Dogmersfield Park last night

Having had fabulous success in winning ‘Restaurant of the Year’ and ‘Chef of the Year’ in 2011, the Verveine Fishmarket Restaurant team from Milford on Sea sat nervously awaiting the announcement of this year’s award winners.  Achieving recognition is tough, but repeating it is even harder.

Incredibly, they beat last year’s two awards, by winning three awards this year!  The glass trophies for ‘Chef of the Year’, ‘Best Local Menu’ and ‘Best Customer Service’ will be sitting in the restaurant next time you visit.

Verveine were also recently recognised as 'Hampshire's Best Fish Restaurant' by Trip Advisor.  Quite a performance by David, Stacey, Jon and the rest of the team.

What makes this story even more extraordinary, is that David & his business partner, Stacey, only opened Verveine in February 2010.

Verveine is an award winning contemporary dining venue in the heart of Milford on Sea village. The menu features fresh local produce cooked in innovative ways, and the team aim to bring you fine dining with quality local ingredients at affordable prices.

Uniquely, the restaurant also has an ajoining traditional village fishmongers offering local fresh fish & seafood.

The regularly changing restaurant menu consists of personal touches like freshly smoked salmon from the in-house smokery, homemade daily baked fresh bread, plus their own pasta, ice cream and sorbets. Believing that the New Forest has the best to offer all year round, they try their utmost to source all ingredients on the doorstep whether its wild bass from The Solent, crab and lobster from Lymington, local cheeses from Sway or pheasants from a local shoot in the New Forest.  You will also find even more is homemade, from the butter and artisan bread, preserves & pickles, and of course fish from their own fishmongers.

To ensure the freshest ingredients, David and his team can often be seen foraging for samphire and purslane in Keyhaven, elderflowers and dandelions in the village, or picking brambles, gooseberries and potatoes at the local farm.

Modern British cuisine is the speciality, with fresh fish and seafood dishes, complimented with exciting meat & pasta dishes. The kitchen prides itself on making every effort to make dining at Verveine a special experience, whether you are visiting for a light lunch or enjoying the evening dining menu.

Chef proprietor David Wykes trained in Michelin starred kitchens in France & the UK.  His initial apprenticeship was served at the 5 Star Grand Hotel in both Jersey and Brighton. David then moved to Oxford, where he worked at the Michelin Star and 3 AA Rosette kitchen in the Bath Place Hotel under the direction of Jeremy Blake O'Conner (Formerly executive chef at The Gavroche.)   From Oxford, David moved to France where he worked his way up through the ranks of many multi Michelin Star French kitchens including; restaurant L'Univers, Les Viviers, Auberge D'Azur, Restaurant Jules Albert, and the world famous Restaurant Chantecler at the Hotel Negresco in Nice.  As a head chef, David has won multiple AA Rosettes in his own right in Oxford and Royal Tonbridge Wells.

Ultimately, David has a passion to create quality food using only the finest produce. Nothing makes David's day more, than seeing people delighted by the food he creates.

The Verveine team always look forward to giving you a warm welcome whenever you dine with them, so why not book now to see why the are winning awards from every corner of the food world!

www.verveine.co.uk | Tel: 01590 642176