Oldfields Restaurant in Durham has outpaced its competitors to gain a ‘Slow Food’ Award.

The recognition owes nothing to speed of service at the Claypath restaurant, which was described by the judges as “very attentive, pleasant and professional”.

The Slow Food Award is from the Durham  and Newcastle Convivium of ‘Slow Food’, an association with 85,000 members worldwide who promote the importance  of ethical, traditional and humane, fairly-traded food production and preparation.

The Durham and Newcastle Convivium of ‘Slow Food’, founded  in 2006, invites  230 mail-list members and friends each month to share a convivial meal, with between 30 and 70 attending on average.

In an unannounced visit to Oldfields Restaurant in Durham, the Convivium judges were impressed by the origin and quality of the food, as well as the service. ‘Slow Food’ encourages ethical, fairly-traded production of food of known local provenance, made with traditional craft skills and with humane husbandry of animals and crops.

David Harding, Convener of the Durham and Newcastle Convivium, said: “We were extremely impressed by the standard of service, menu and quality of locally-produced food at Oldfields. The surroundings, atmosphere and staff attentiveness made for a very convivial meal. We judged every restaurant nominated by our members for an award this year, and only two in Durham met our Slow Food criteria, one of which was Oldfields Restaurant.”

In its citation for Oldfields, Slow Food said: “Slow encourages health and well-being throughout the food chain, especially of diners, and meals being slowly pleasurable and shared convivially with others, respecting seasonality and taste”.

Oldfields Restaurants is committed to sourcing as much produce as possible from local suppliers and recently published a cookbook – “Passion for Real Food”, with 50 seasonal recipes and profiles from the North East producer/suppliers to Oldfields restaurants.

Bill Oldfield, restaurant director, said: “I must admit to being rather concerned when we won an award for ‘Slow Food’ because we pride ourselves on the quality of our service. However, the philosophy of the Slow movement embodies so much of what we have been developing in terms of locally-produced, real food from farms, gardens and suppliers we know intimately, that it really is another feather in our cap. It endorses all that we strive to achieve.”

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