THE GREAT FOOD CLUB

Love local food? Join the club!

If you enjoy eating out or cooking with top-quality ingredients, join the Great Food Club.

MELTON MOWBRAY-BASED Great Food Club was founded in 2010 by Old Stamfordian Matt Wright. It’s grown into one of the most extensive regional food and drink guides in the UK, comprising an app, website and annual printed guide featuring artwork by Matt’s father, Stamford local Graham Wright. The Club now has 16,000 members and a network of more than 650 independent businesses.

Covering the East Midlands and Cambridgeshire anyone can use the Great Food Club as a guide to excellent restaurants, pubs and farm shops. You don’t have to pay to access the GFC website or receive its weekly email newsletter the ‘Tuesday Digest’. And you can use the website to search for the places that the Great Food Club team have visited and recommended.

A trusted guide

Founder and editor Matt says: ‘Our reviewers visit or try the wares of restaurants, pubs, producers and shops to see if they meet our criteria before adding them to our website. We occasionally remove places if they fall outside our criteria.’

Hidden gems

Explaining how Great Food Club came about, Matt says: ‘I used to drive past Melton Mowbray’s town sign and see: The Rural Capital of Food. I love food and drink but struggled to find the producers, pubs and farm shops that the sign promised. After doing some research I discovered plenty of amazing places but they were all hidden away. So I created Great Food Club to shine a light on them and put them all in one easy-to-find place. I started off covering Leicestershire and Rutland but later widened it to cover the East Midlands and Cambridgeshire.’

Discerning criteria

‘To meet the original aim of Great Food Club, we feature restaurants, pubs, producers and food shops on merit, not because they pay us a fee. So our criteria for adding businesses to the Great Food Club consists of one question: would we recommend this independent food or drink business to a discerning friend? If the answer is yes, we add it to our website, free of charge. By doing that, we hopefully create a trusted guide to great places.’

Member offers

If you love eating out you might want to become a full Great Food Club member. Full members get the added benefit of a membership card (either hard copy or digital card on your phone) that unlocks more than 12 dining offers at recommended places such as The Olive Branch in Clipsham and Hambleton Hall near Oakham. Full members also receive a copy of the annual 140-page Great Food Club Handbook each year – the perfect glovebox companion during your foodie travels.

A business network

‘As well as being a guide to excellent independents, Great Food Club has become a linked network of businesses,’ says Matt, a former magazine editor. ‘Many businesses now interact with each other through the club, do business together, share information and support each other. That outcome wasn’t part of the original plan, but it’s a bonus.’

Stamford and area

Local businesses that the GFC recommends include Stamford venues The Blonde Beet, Grasmere Farm, Lambert’s and The King’s Head. Moving slightly further afield, GFC recommends The Bertie Arms in U ngton, Bowthorpe ark Farm near Bourne, Nene alley Spirits at Sacrewell Farm and revost at The Haycock in Wansford as well as many more in the heart of Rutland and further afield. Annual awards

Every October, the GFC announces its annual award winners and the annual Great Food Club Handbook appears each January. Great Food Club’s 2022/3 award-winners include Orbis in Stamford, The Olive Branch in Clipsham and Lily Honey Bakery in Oakham. Its Food Hero of the ear was Aaron atterson, executive head chef at Hambleton Hall.

To find out more about the Great Food Club, visit www.greatfoodclub. co.uk or follow Matt and the team on Instagram or Facebook – @ greatfoodclub

Eat well, save money!

Great Food Club members can claim unique offers at more than 120 restaurants, pubs and delis. Here are three examples. To claim these offers, GFC members need to show their Great Food Club membership card – either a hard copy or a digital card, available when you sign up for the GFC app.

The Lake Isle, Uppingham

2 off the la carte menu, Tuesday to Saturday lunchtimes.

Hambleton Hall, Hambleton, near Oakham

Complimentary glass of Champagne or aperitif each with dinner for two. Also, room upgrade subject to availability when staying overnight with dinner for two. Orbis, Stamford

2 off every Wednesday for up to four people per membership card.

What the GFC says…

Here’s what Great Food Club’s reviewers say about three of the Active team’s favourite local pubs, producers and restaurants:

Don Paddy’s, Uppingham

‘This friendly, bustling and perennially popular café, bar and restaurant in the centre of Uppingham offers good food and drink from a varied menu. On our visit, a shared seafood platter was simple, generous and tasty, served with three dips and salad. From a dessert menu of half-a-dozen items, a Grand Marnier crème caramel was shared and was very good – smooth, well-cooked caramel with soft zest infused with Grand Marnier.’

New Lodge Farm, Bulwick

‘You’ll find everything local and seasonal for your larder, including homemade pies, a superb array of fruit and veg, locally produced cheeses, bread, cakes, wine and preserves. The café is equally locally focused. On our visit, we enjoyed a delicious roast followed by a crumble made with apples from the New Lodge orchard.’

The Pickled Shop at Bulwick

A past winner of our Shop of the Year award, The Pickled Shop was almost completely destroyed by fire just a couple of years ago. Today, it is back to being one of the most beautiful village shops you’ll find. Not only does it sell delicious cakes and local produce, but it also has a stunning ‘tea terrace’ – Bulwick Village Shop is a slice of heaven in north Northamptonshire.’