A Kent restaurant that serves local produce has been nominated for a top award.

The Bay Restaurant at The White Cliffs Hotel at St Margaret's at Cliffe, near Dover, is in line for The Good Food Guide's Restaurant of the Year Award.

The accolade recognises excellence and good service at restaurants, pubs and cafes throughout the UK and is awarded to independently owned eateries that use local produce, offer regional dishes and excellent customer service.

The winning restaurant will be voted for by members of the public across 10 regions in the UK. If The Bay Restaurant wins the South East award, it will go through to a national awards ceremony in London next month (MAY) where the Restaurant of the Year will be announced. The Good Food Guide is published by Which? magazine.

Gavin Oakley, chef and owner of The Bay Restaurant, said: "We're delighted to have been nominated. Winning a Which? award is one of the most prestigious accolades a restaurant can receive."

The restaurant was launched less than two years ago and won its first coveted AA dining rosette within just two months. Despite being a relative newcomer, it has already been included as a Reader Recommendation in the 2010 edition of The Good Food Guide.

In it, the restaurant wins praise for its local, free-range, organic and sustainable food sourced from the Kentish coast and countryside, and the way it is cooked.