A FISHMONGER has been awarded with two gold star awards at this year's Great Taste Awards.

The Fresh Fish Shop in Commercial Square, Haywards Heath, won the stars for their Thai white fish green curry, as well as their cod, garlic and chorizo oven-ready recipes.

Judges praised the fishmonger's well-balanced Thai flavours, generous portions of fish and good flavour.

Speaking about their wild-caught Scottish cod, they said: "The smell is extremely aromatic, with lots of paprika and herbal notes.

"The fish is firm and flakes easily and is well-complimented by its accompaniments. It's very tasty."

Owner and managing director of The Fresh Fish Shop Sebastian Candelon said: "We are very proud that our homemade oven-ready dishes have received prestigious gold stars in the Great Taste Awards, widely perceived as the 'Oscars' of the food and drink industry.

"We are committed to sourcing our fish from sustainable stocks and we use produce from local growers wherever possible to create our range of oven-ready meals, which are prepared in our own production kitchen by our expert in-house team.

"These gold stars are testament to the passion and attention they put into making these fresh dishes every day."

The Fresh Fish Shop will add this latest award to previous gold stars won by the fishmongers at the awards for their homemade fish pates.

Sebastian said: "It is fantastic to add two further accolades to that number."

The fishmonger's range of oven-ready fish dishes are also available in a range of food retailers, with Sebastian hopeful that other outlets looking to expand their produce selection will consider their award-winning range.

Established in 1994, the Great Taste Awards are organised by the Guild of Fine Food and are the world's largest, longest-standing and most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers.

Judges, including food writer Joanna Blythman and 2018 MasterChef champion Kenny Tutt, blind-tested the entries, with 14,133 different products from 108 countries submitted for consideration for the awards.

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