Deli owner samples them all..........

And that's not all - he also tried two types of sausages, 15 different raspberry jams, oriental sauces, smoked trout and smoked kippers that he thinks were almost raw.

"I didn't want to touch the eels," he said, "but I did and I was really shocked and surprised because it was quite good."

Quentin, who opened his food shop in Devonshire Road at the end of April, is a member of the Guild of Fine Food Retailers and was invited to take part in judging the awards - the national award winners will actually be announced in September.

"It was fun. I got there and there and there was a lady from You And Yours on Radio 4 on our table so she was interviewing us at the same time, which was interesting."

He seems to have enjoyed the fudge and ice cream most of all, and admits to preferring sweet over savoury.

Quentin (pictured right) has always been interested in food and remembers baking with his grandmother when he was just three years old.

"She was a professional pastry chef, and she used to make Sad cakes, which are a version of Eccles cakes, and scones were her absolute favourite. She made all her own bread, and baked every day - the smell of baking was always in her kitchen."

Having learned to cook himself over the years, "a good amateur", he wanted to work in food and so left his job in manufacturing to open his own delicatessen in Bexhill with partner Tracey Neve.

"I have always loved food, so I wanted to be involved with food somehow. I do love cooking, but I didn't want to be stuck behind the oven all day long.

"Bexhill hasn't had a good deli since the one in St Leonards Road closed about nine years ago. I spoke to a lot of people in Bexhill before I opened and they were saying how the town needed a classic deli. In my view a deli sells unusual stuff that you can't buy in supermarkets, something different, good quality food that is both local and international."

Quentin has a table in the middle of the shop where customers can try before they buy - tempting morsels such as marinated garlic, lemon stuffed green olives, mixed mushrooms - then measure out themselves how much they want to take.

"The olives are very popular, and so is the cheese. But customers steer clear of traditional cheeses so that tells me to move away from the Red Leicester and Double Gloucester and go for more unusual cheese. I think people are bored with what is in supermarkets on the whole. I still use supermarkets myself from time to time, not as much as I used to, and I was shocked at some of their prices.

"I have Parma ham in here which I cut to the customers' requirements, and sell it for 18 per kilo, but I saw in Sainsbury's they sell it pre-packed for over 40 per kilo. I know they have their overheads, but it shocked me.

"They are very greedy."

He has received great support since opening the deli, which stocks a wide range of highly desirable items from dried mushrooms to local jam, arborio rice to semi-dried tomatoes, with wines from Cooden Cellars, winner of Independent Wine Merchant of The Year.

"I haven't had a single bad comment. I have had so many people coming in and saying Bexhill needed this. They come in and look around...even if they don't buy straight away, most of them are coming back and buying."