It was a great week for Mark and Helen Baldwin, the owners of a Cowes restaurant which was recently awarded the Restaurant of the Year Award by Le Routiers. The restaurant was facing stiff competition from other restaurants around the country but managed to bag the top award thanks to what the judges termed as demonstrating exemplary service, quality of food and hospitality all year round.
The Mojac’s journey to the top started when it was nominated by the public to Les Routiers. A secret diner then visited the restaurant and looked through the various aspect of the service during the unplanned visit. Mark Baldwin stated that following the win, they were extremely delighted and couldn’t quite believe it. He stated that the announcement was great news for all the people who work at the restaurant since they had put in around 13 years of work and they were always trying to improve so it was great news to see the hard work paying off.
This year’s competition had been extremely competitive according to Les Routiers UK & Ireland and they had received a lot of positive feedback from the fans of the nominated restaurants. He mentioned that all this plus the excellent performance of the nominated restaurant had made it quite difficult to judge this year’s competition. The name of the Mojac restaurant comes from the couple’s two children, Tom and Jack.
Les Routiers is an international brand that is known all over the world. Les Routiers was established in 1934 in Paris and was a guide on which the best independent restaurants were and also recommended places to stay to people on the road. By the 60s, many people in France started to look for Les Routiers’ plaque whenever they were choosing a place to stay. The plaque meant that establishment promised hygienic, hospitable and well-managed facilities along with very good food.
By the time Les Routiers came to UK and Ireland, it had become closely associated with traditional hotels, B&Bs, bars, restaurants, cafes, bistros etc. Nowadays, when people see a place with the plaque, they know that they can expect good food, polite staff and good value for their money. The guide’s gold establishments are vetted every year to ensure that they’re keeping their standards consistently high and any other restaurant in the guide must also be vetted.