The town’s first ever chilli cook-off saw fiery competition on Sunday afternoon.

The Royal Castle Hotel and the Deli at Dartmouth fought off fierce rivalry to take top honours last weekend.

On Sunday, July 8, the event organised by Dartmouth Food Festival as part of the town’s Wild West weekend invited local eateries to unleash their finest chilli recipes on the public and professional judging panels.

The Deli at Dartmouth won the Professional’s Choice Award for their recipe, which was also the hottest chilli of the day.

Meanwhile, The Royal Castle Hotel won the public vote and took home the People’s Choice Award.

Ankur Biswas, head chef at The Royal Castle Hotel, said: “I learnt this chilli con carne from Socorro while working in Southern California at Hilton Anaheim. Although it was not made for the hotel, she invited all the foreign students to have a meal with her family. The meat is slowly braised with onion, garlic and spices for around 4-5 hours. A good chilli is hard to beat and we will be serving it in the Hotel this week.”

Dartmouth Food Festival’s, Jane Green said: “Congratulations to the winners - The Royal Castle Hotel and Deli at Dartmouth - and a big thank you to all the other businesses who took part and produced wonderful chillis - Brown’s Hotel; Café Alf Resco; The Dolphin Inn; The Market House Inn; YARN; The Green Dragon, Stoke Fleming and Radius 7.

“Thanks also to our brilliant volunteers, electrician Colin Wheedon, The Flavel and The Royal Castle Hotel for helping out with emergency supplies, Landworks for donating the beautiful wooden chopping boards as prizes, Antonia and her band for great music, Michael Sutton’s Cellar, South Devon Chilli Farm, Bays Brewery and all the Old Market traders for being so helpful and supportive.

“The event was a great opportunity to work together with the Regatta Committee in conjunction with the Music Festival to make the whole Wild West Weekend a huge success. This was the first Chilli Cook-Off held in Dartmouth and was a great inclusive event for all the town and a good opportunity for establishments to meet. It was a lovely atmosphere and we have received some very positive feedback. I would like to personally thank all those involved. Hopefully this is the first of many.”