A Burton woman's veggie restaurant has been crowned the best of its kind in the Midlands - less than a year after its launch.

Lauren Nally, 23, and boyfriend Ritchie Stainsby, 27, scooped the accolade for their café, No.12 Hounds Gate, at this year's Midlands Food Drinks and Hospitality awards.

The Nottingham-based vegan and vegetarian restaurant offers customers a wide variety of plant-based goodness, including freshly made open sandwiches topped with colourful veggies, healthy smoothie bowls and filling dishes such as podded peas, avocado and poached egg crostini.

The pair launched the restaurant in September last year following a five-month trip around South-East Asia.

They had become so accustomed to eating vegan and vegetarian food that when they returned home to Nottingham, they said they had struggled to find anywhere vegetarian to eat.

Lauren and Ritchie with their award
Lauren and Ritchie with their award

Lauren, who is originally from Burton, said: "In Vietnam during the Lunar year everyone turns vegan, where there are whole vegan supermarkets with the best food you could ever imagine. They even had fish alternatives that looked like fish.

"When we came home we went to go for breakfast in Nottingham and we were like, 'where do we go? So we sat down and put a menu together and thought maybe we should try it ourselves."

No.12 Hounds Gate offers dishes including caramelised peach breakfast sundae or the Great British Fake Off - a veggie breakfast with garlic and rosemary mushrooms, marbled potatoes, crispy maple ‘bacon’, wilted spinach, heritage tomatoes and sunny side up eggs.

Lauren, who gave up meat three years ago, added: "We are both over the moon. We are so ecstatic. We can't believe we have achieved so much in the first year of business.

"We are so chuffed and excited for the future."