TWO Worcestershire cafés have each received prestigious food awards for the second year running.

The Balcony Café, at the Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery, and Buongiorno Café, Bridge Street, Evesham, have both received Good Food Awards in the food category for the second successive years.

The national awards are by invitation only and the winners are hand-picked to join the highly respected independent awards scheme. Any food outlet regularly appearing on the programme must earn their places every year by maintaining the same exceptional standards that gained them initial entry into the Good Food Awards.

The Good Food Awards are compiled, scored and written from scratch each year so there are always new entries and deletions. The Good Food Awards are compiled, scored and written from scratch each year so there are always new entries and deletions. The award judging is based on tasty delicious dishes, ranking among competitors, consistent positive customer feedback and a great food hygiene score.

Balcony Café owner Stephen Williams said he and his staff are always pleased to receive an award. “We have had a certificate of excellence for two or three years running from Trip Advisor and this is our second year for a Good Food Award.

“We pride ourselves on providing high quality food and we use local suppliers of free range ingredients. We were the first place in Worcester to receive a healthy eating award. We had our unannounced inspection this week and three environmental health officers had lunch here afterwards.”

The Balcony Café also boasts the top food hygiene rating (five stars) from Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

Stephen, who has worked in catering for about 30 years, said the café serves light brunch, light lunches of home-made soups, Paninis, sandwiches, a dish of the day and home-made cakes. Most of the cakes are made on the premises and during the festive period, the café offers a Christmas lunch all prepared and cooked at the café.

Rachel Burnett is a regular customer at Buongiorno Café in Evesham – she makes special journeys from her home in Pershore three or four times a week to eat there and meet friends for coffee.

She came across Buongiorno by accident when the café she planned to use one day had shut.

She said it is a very friendly family-run café with great home-made food. “It is really good and it is very reasonably priced. It is a typical family-run place and the staff are really courteous. It is a fabulous place and I think it deserves an award.

“We live in Pershore and we come over to Evesham just to go to the café. We have young children and they are really good with children,” said Rachel.