Café Maitreya have been named the Observer Food magazine's vegetarian restaurant of the year.

This was despite stiff competition from bigger and wealthier restaurants in flashier places.

"It's a great honour for us and once again we have to thank you, our customers. We've known for a little while but had to keep the news under wraps. " said Cafe Maitreya. " Gordon Ramsay handed out our award at the Observer's food awards last week in London's west end, and some of you will have seen us in the weekend magazine or on UKTV last Friday.

"The award comes after winning the Vegetarian Society's top award the last two years and has left us somewhat overwhelmed. We're surprised, delighted and touched that so many people put our name forward. We really do feel honoured - and motivated to continue striving to meet the high standards expected. We've only been open 5 years and feel we still have improvements to make. We won't be resting on our laurels but want to continue to aim for the best we can be.

As usual we've been busy trying to make the most of local seasonal ingredients. The menu is changing fairly rapidly at the moment but you're likely to see interesting things with nettle, wild garlic and Wye Valley asparagus.