Fillet steak from Paul and Kirsty Westaway's farm-to-dining-table internet retailer, Perfect Night In, has won the fresh meat category in Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF) Diamond Awards 2013. The award was announced at the recent HEFF gala dinner, and comes during the winning business's first year of operation.
The winning steak is from forage-fed Aberdeen Angus-cross cattle, reared and finished on the Blade Farming system for a 260kg dead-weight carcase at 18 months of age. The Perfect Night In concept pairs prime steaks and rib roasts, all carrying the EBLEX Quality Standard Mark, with expertly matched wines from artisan vineyards in France and Italy.
“Neither our beef nor wine is available from any other shop or supermarket,” says Paul Westaway. “They are served mainly in big city A-list restaurants and we offer the only way these premium products are available to food enthusiasts for entertaining at home.”
The HEFF judges' comments included, “Melt in the mouth”, “taste of truly pastured cattle”, and “faultless”. The award winning steaks are available in multiples of two from www.yourperfectnightin.co.uk. On dispatch, they are super-chilled (1-2°C) and enclosed with re-usable freezer packs in insulated packaging. All packaging is made from recycled materials or is re-usable by customers. A DVD tutorial on how to cook the perfect steak and roast, featuring highly regarded head chef Matt Strefford from the two-AA-rosette Lion and Pheasant in Shrewsbury, is included with every first order.
Perfect Night In is based at Gamage Hall Farm, Dymock. Since taking on the farm in 2006, this is the Westaways’ sixth business enterprise there, which they occupy on a 15-year, zero-SFP, Farm Business Tenancy. The other five are a prize-winning pedigree Aberdeen Angus breeding herd, an Angus finishing unit supplying Blade Farming (and now, Perfect Night In), a livery service for owners of young pedigree Holstein Friesian bulls, the cattle semen marketing company Sterling Sires, and The Cider House holiday cottage.
