Harden's London Restaurant Guide 2016

The Staff Canteen
The Harden’s London Restaurant Guide 2016 is out, with Chez Bruce again winning London’s Favourite Restaurant and Chiltern Firehouse taking the mantle of Most Disappointing Cooking for the first time. Here are London’s top 10 favourite dining destinations, according to the results of Harden’s 2016 survey of over 6,750 restaurant-goers. Bruce Poole’s iconic neighbourhood restaurant Chez Bruce was yet again voted London's Favourite Restaurant for the 11th year running. Here you’ll find “no fads – just classic, interesting, perfectly executed cooking” and a cheeseboard that’s “probably visible from space”. d3ddd97d82c1f9613c00f3470d7b940fMichel Roux Jr's “flawless and indulgent” Le Gavroche was for the second time voted London's Top Gastronomic experience, toppling Brett Graham's cuisine at The Ledbury off the top spot. Simon Rogan’s year-old Claridge’s dining room Fera at Claridge’s was a newcomer in the Top 10 Gastronomic Experience, voted the capital’s fourth best gastronomic experience, with “wizard” tasting menus and “astonishingly good wine pairings”. Also new to the top Gastronomic Experience list this year were Tom Sellers’s Restaurant Story (9), where the multicourse menu is “akin to a trip to the Fat Duck, but at under half the price”; and Mikael Jonsson’s open kitchen venture Hedone (10), thanks to its “unique technical mastery” of “the best ingredients in London”. Gordon Ramsay continued to make something of a comeback in the survey this year. His flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay appeared on the top 10 Gastronomic Experience list (6) again after dropping off two years ago. On the other end of the spectrum, here are London’s 10 most disappointing restaurants: Topping the Most Disappointing Cooking list this year was paparazzi hotspot the Chiltern Firehouse. Nuno Mendes's hotel dining room has taken the title from the Oxo Tower restaurant, which has finally managed to escape the number one spot (now at 2) after 15 years. Pollen-Street-Social-Lond-007The guide’s reporters said Chiltern Firehouse was “full of Z-listers, models and wannabe movers-and-shakers” and “so over-hyped it's hilarious”, as well as having “silly” prices and service that’s “confused (going on obnoxious)”. Appearing on the Most Disappointing Cooking list for the first time is Jason Atherton's flagship Pollen Street Social (3). According to the survey, complaints of “passionless”, “unmemorable meals” and “conveyor belt service” typified feedback and led to tumbling ratings. It appears alongside Heston Blumenthal's hotel dining room Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental (6) and Bruno Loubet's Grain Store (5) – another new entry in the top 10 . The Ledbury was number two on the list of Top Gastronomic Experiences this year, watch our video with Brett Graham cooking egg raviolo with Bianchetto truffles:  

The full list:

Top gastronomic experience

1 Le Gavroche 2 The Ledbury 3 Chez Bruce 4 Fera at Claridge’s 5 Dinner 6 Gordon Ramsay 7 Pied a Terre 8 Pollen Street Social 9 Story 10 Hedone

Favourite

1 Chez Bruce 2 Clos Maggiore 3 The Wolseley 4 Le Gavroche 5 J Sheekey 6 Gauthier Soho 7 Le Caprice 8 La Trompette 9 The Ledbury 10 Moro

Best breakfast/brunch

1 The Wolseley 2 The Delaunay 3 Duck & Waffle 4 Riding House Café 5 Roast 6 The Grazing Goat 7 Cecconis 8 Colbert 9 Dean Street Townhouse 10 Balthazar

Best bar/pub food

1 The Anchor & Hope 2 Harwood Arms 3 Bull & Last 4 The Ladbroke Arms 5 The Jugged Hare 6 The Truscott Arms 7 Princess Victoria 8 Pig & Butcher 9 The Camberwell Arms 10 The Eagle

Best for business

1 The Wolseley 2 The Delaunay 3 The Square 4 City Social 5 Galvin La Chapelle 6 L‘Anima 7 Coqd’Argent 8 The Don 9 Scott’s 10 Bleeding Heart Restaurant

Best for romance

1 Clos Maggiore 2 La Poule au Pot 3 Andrew Edmunds 4 Bleeding Heart Restaurant 5 Chez Bruce 6 Le Gavroche 7 Galvin LaChapelle 8 Fera at Claridge’s 9 Le Caprice 10 Gauthier Soho

Most disappointing cooking

1 Chiltern Firehouse 2 Oxo Tower (Rest’) 3 Pollen Street Social 4 Colbert 5 Grain Store 6 Dinner 7 Gordon Ramsay 8 Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester 9 Dabbous 10 The Wolseley

Most overpriced restaurant

1 The River Café 2 Oxo Tower (Rest’) 3 The Chiltern Firehouse 4 Dinner 5 Gordon Ramsay 6 Marcus 7 Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester 8 Pollen Street Social 9 Aqua Shard 10 Savoy Grill
In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.

The Staff Canteen

The Staff Canteen

Editor 5th November 2015

Harden's London Restaurant Guide 2016