‘Cooking better than ever!’ Galton Blackiston’s restaurant at Morston Hall awarded four coveted AA red rosettes

Galton Blackiston (Image: GY and Gorleston Macmillan)

The restaurant at the Blakeney hotel was one of just 10 from across the country to receive four red rosettes at the AA Hospitality Awards in London last night, a step up from its previous award of three.

The long-established scheme recognises and rewards the excellent services provided by the country's very best establishments, and just 10pc of restaurants nationwide are of a standard worthy of one rosette and above.

Its latest AA inspection called Morston Hall 'a heaven-sent location for sourcing prime produce from land and sea' that has been 'run for a quarter of a century with personable warmth and easy-going charm by chef-patron Galton Blackiston and wife Tracy'.

Mr Blackiston, who was in London for the ceremony, said they were delighted with the accolade which now puts them in the top 50 restaurants in the country.

Chef patron of Michelin starred Morston Hall in Norfolk, Galton Blackiston has released a new book - Hook Line Sinker. Pictures: John Scott Blackwell (Image: John Scott Blackwell)

'We had three rosettes but to get four last night really is another step up,' he said.

'I think it is no coincidence that for the past few years we have had Greg Anderson as head chef.

'He has a fantastic pedigree as a chef coming to us from a two-star Michelin restaurant in Cumbria and he and I marry everything together quite well.

'I believe we are cooking better now than in the whole 25 years we have been here.'

Mr Blackiston said their mantra is to cook by the season using fresh, local produce.

'The ingredients we get are second to none in our neck of the woods,' he said. 'We like to source the best and there are good vibes all round.'

And his enthusiasm for the hospitality industry is stronger than ever. 'They keep sending awards our way,' he said. 'That keeps us going.'

Mr Blackiston is a regular chef on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and is going to be a new columnist in the EDP's Saturday magazine Heaven once a month.

Next month his new seafood cookbook Hook Line Sinker hits the shelves. It features over 90 recipes created throughout his lifelong love affair with fish and shellfish and is available for pre-order ahead of its release date on October 16 on the website www.morstonhall.com.