CASSINGTON courgette cake, Tiddington tagine and sustainable scones have won an Oxford cafe a nomination for Most Sustainable Restaurant in Oxfordshire.

The Vaults and Garden Cafe is up against two others for the title – Restore Garden Cafe in Cowley Road, Oxford, and the Partridge Inn, Wallingford.

The award aims to celebrate restaurants using the best locally-sourced, seasonal and low carbon food Oxfordshire has to offer.

The Vaults, which nestles beneath the Radcliffe Camera behind High Street, has been serving locally-grown tomato salad for the past 12 years.

Owner Will Pouget, who took it on in August 2003, almost immediately formed a partnership with Worton Organic Garden in Cassington, and to this day the cafe gets 60 per cent of its produce from there, including courgettes, pumpkins and some of its 50 varieties of tomatoes.

Mr Pouget, 41, who lives in Abingdon Road, said: "Every Monday, after they shut their farm shop after the weekend, we buy everything they have left over which won't keep.

"It very much dictates some of the key ingredients on our menu.

"In the first few years we definitely had some difficulties, like we would get 120 kg of courgettes and we'd have to serve some fresh and turn the rest into chutney."

These days, the cafe serves soups and quiches to which seasonal ingredients like cauliflower, pumpkin and mushroom can easily be included. But that still means customers can never be entirely certain what will be on the menu from one week to the next.

Mr Pouget added: "For some people that's quite tricky because they want the dish they had two weeks ago, but it's changed.

"People just have to get on board with the ethos."

With a degree in environmental science from Kings College, London, one might expect Mr Pouget to serve his soups with a lecture on the threat of climate change.

But he says: "I find all that so boring – it's irrelevant.

"I just like having a relationship with people through trading: they've grown it and they have pride in it, and that creates a lot of love and respect."

Good Food Oxford, which is sponsoring the Most Sustainable Restaurant category at this year's Oxfordshire Restaurant of the Year awards, said the Vaults had a "clear vision and synergistic source policy, working with local farmers to take on their surplus".

The Garden Cafe at Restore, meanwhile, is described on the shortlist as "a beautiful oasis" with a "wonderful garden for outdoor eating" and a welcoming indoor café.

The cafe even uses home-grown produce from the Restore gardens and allotments.

Finally, the Partridge is nominated for its strong relationships with local suppliers, wide selection of vegetarian dishes and efforts to tackle food waste.

The Restaurant of the Year Awards will be held at the King's Centre in Osney Mead on Tuesday, November 1.