Operating out of the Moore Park Inn, Archie’s on the Park has won the best restaurant in a hotel/motel/motor inn at the regional round of the Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence for 2008.

This is the second consecutive year that Archie’s on the Park has won this award and owners Tony and Kris Middleton couldn’t be more pleased.

“We’ve got a good team of guys and girls. It is consistency and good team work,” said Mrs Middleton.

“When you get a good core of quality people who work well together it has got to show in the overall delivery.”

The Middletons came to Armidale six years ago in search of a good education for their children and settled in at Moore Park Inn.

Since then the restaurant has continued to thrive and produce some of the finest dining experiences in the New England region.

“Part of the appeal is the location,” Mrs Middleton said.

“Just the ambience of the room, the fact that we don’t crowd our tables is a comment we hear time and again from our guests.

“Both Kris and I work the floor too, so we have the pleasure of meeting our guests.”

Eating at Archie’s is an experience that offers the best of both worlds, haute cuisine meets with the laid back pace of the New England.

“We promote local wines, and we have a fairly good coverage. New England is now an official wine region, so we can link the food to locally produced wines,” Mrs Middleton said.

In the six years that Kris and Tony have owned Archie’s on the Park, they have hosted almost 100 weddings.

They are also great supporters of trainees and work placement students through the schools.

“This is an excellent way of finding quality staff that we would consider offering apprenticeships or traineeships,” Mrs Middleton said.

“We have an excellent head chef in Ben Maling. He has an excellent team working for him and with him, and it shows, so the recognition received in winning this award is well deserved.”

The Middletons plan to hang their award in the restaurant along a stretch of wall that is fast becoming their wall of fame.