[johnny]

It comes out mid September and the GFG are also releasing a 60 year anniversary cookbook, with recipes from leading chefs/ restaurants etc. Just a bit of cheeky self promo, we have been awarded GFG restaurant of the year for the north east for 2011!! Well chuffed, hope can turn into positive customer footfall.

Well done richard

link to your place please. always good to have a place for eats when im travelling back home

[chef1]

Here's the list, so for not posting this sooner very early start this morning


Have London restaurants gone off the boil?

Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay remain the cream of the culinary crop, but there’s a change in the air as out-of-towners climb up the restaurant ladder, reveals the 60th anniversary edition of The Good Food Guide 2011*.

For the third year in a row, Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, has taken the top spot and received the highest accolade – a 10 out of 10 rating**. As The Good Food Guide sums up, “a razor-sharp culinary intelligence is at work here, summoning up a procession of ‘world-beating’ dishes for the bedazzled throngs.”

It seems that London’s grip on the UK’s culinary crown might be slipping, as Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant was the only one in London to make it into the top five. In second place, Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road was praised as “the nearest thing to a world-class restaurant experience currently on offer in the capital.”
Rounding off the top five are Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire in third, with up-and-coming chefs at L’Enclume in Cumbria and Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall taking fourth and fifth place.

One of the qualities they all share is the dedication to local, fresh produce. At L’Enclume, chef Simon Rogan has leased an organic farm where the produce dictates his menu, while 80 per cent of Nathan Outlaw’s menu is Cornish-landed fish, described as an “education in seafood.”
Elizabeth Carter, Consultant Editor, The Good Food Guide, says:

Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay continue to delight us with their stuff of genius, world class style and truly memorable dining experiences.
“But we’ve seen significant changes in the UK restaurant scene over the last year. A crop of talent has sprung up all over the country, pushing London restaurants out of the top spots with their culinary delights.”
- Ends -



*The Good Food Guide 2011 can be ordered on 01992 822800 (£16.99, p&p free), at www.which.co.uk/gfgbook or bought at bookshops from Wednesday 8 September. Advance copies are available for journalists, but all other content is under embargo until Wednesday 8 September.
**10/10 – it is extremely rare that a restaurant can achieve perfect dishes on a consistent basis.

The Good Food Guide 2011 Top 10 restaurants:
1 The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire (10)
2 Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London (9)
3 Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire (8)
4 L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria (8)
5 Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Rock, Cornwall (8)
6 Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (8)
7 Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London (8)
8 Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (8)
9 Pied-à-Terre, London (8)
10 The Square, London (8)

The Good Food Guide 2010 Top 10 restaurants:
1 The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire (10)
2 Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London (9)
3 Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London (8)
4 Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire (8)
5 The Square, London (8)
6 Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (8)
7 Le Gavroche, London (8)
8 The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury, Berkshire (8)
9 Pied-à-Terre, London (8)
10 Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Fowey, Cornwall (8)

Discuss

[chef1]

AS with last year 4-10 is all listed on 8-points so what makes number 4 better than 10 anyone know?

[chef1]

Despite all the press, all the people that knock Gordon and RHR it is still ranked 9 in the Good Food guide and number two restaurant in the UK

[benchef]

AS with last year 4-10 is all listed on 8-points so what makes number 4 better than 10 anyone know?

dito i was looking at all the sevens ??

is there secret marks ?

[gilly]

completly guessing here but maybe they have a range of 70-80 marks out of a hundred for the 8 points mark and the people who are higher up in the list scored slightly better than those below but still not quite a nine if that makes sense to you

[richard1]

Despite all the press, all the people that knock Gordon and RHR it is still ranked 9 in the Good Food guide and number two restaurant in the UK

Is it really the second best place to dine in the UK and still maintaining a score of nine, over the likes of the Square, Ledbury etc etc. Is it really the very best place to eat in London? I doubt it.
I dinned at RHR about 18 months ago and my abiding memory was the service. It was outstanding. IMO I honestly do not believe the food should be rated a nine. Its very good BUT certainly not outstanding or frankly memorable. I do try not to knock Ramsay, although he doesn't help himself. For me he was once a fantastic chef, who nailed classic French cuisine. I would stick my neck out and say he was the better chef over MPW. (He's another one now who has sold himself down the river, with his lets pretend I used a ton of chicken fooking stock cubes at three star level!!!)

That said I can't help feeling that RHR somehow gets preferential treatment from the guides, which isn't necessarily objective or really a true indicator of the restaurant. Could this be a case of where his huge media persona saves him perhaps???

[chef1]

AS with last year 4-10 is all listed on 8-points so what makes number 4 better than 10 anyone know?

dito i was looking at all the sevens ??

is there secret marks ?

I'll e-mail the GFG and ask them

[chef1]

This from Liz Carter Consultant Editor at Which Good Food Guide

These are my notes taken from a telephone converstaion, thank you Liz for calling personally

“Our Rating are driven by inspectors visits, these are all uninvited and unannounced. The Which Good Food Guide is a “Consumer Guide” we are looking for restaurants, that continually moving forward, offer innovation, and outstanding, food and service”

As a consumer driven guide we take the feedback of our readers very seriously, many have been with us for a number of years and their views and opinion on the restaurants that they visit are important to us.
So whilst this year Le Manoir through to the “Square” all scored 8, being an outstanding level, it will be deemed based on the above points how we then list them, 3-10”

Comments

[keencook]

l enclume is never in the top 4 restaurants in the country not even close