The winner of Top Gastronomic Experience was Core by Clare Smyth, nominated alongside The Ledbury, Le Gavroche and Simon Rogan's Aulis. Tomos Parry's Brat in Shoreditch was awarded Best Newcomer and Wine List of the Year went to Ollie Dabbous' new restaurant, Hide.
Nominations for the awards are taken from an annual survey by Hardens and this year, 8,500 restaurant-goers contributed 50,000 nominations. Two places in each category are reserved for up-and-coming restaurants that have opened in the last two to three years.
Harden's London Restaurant Awards 2018 Credit: Darren Bell
A first for this year, the awards were held at The Langham, London. Guests enjoyed Gusbourne sparkling wine and canapés including mushroom tartare and sesame prawn toast.
Peter Harden, the co-founder of Harden's introduced the awards and spoke about the new Harden's mobile app, before handing over to TV broadcaster Nigel Barden, who compered the ceremony.
Peter said: “I was delighted by today’s awards. I thought that the venue worked splendidly and we’ve really built on the first two years at The Hippodrome. I thought that the feedback from everyone to the winners that we announced, such as Core and Brat was excellent – I think that people felt that we’d made good calls.
Peter Harden and Sam Hart Credit: Darren Bell
Harden’s awards are really based on consumer surveys and feedback rather than just the opinions of individuals and it gratifies me the way that everyone in the industry respects that and seems to appreciate that recognition being passed on to them.”
Outstanding Achievement Award
This year's Harden's Outstanding Achievement award - sponsored by The Langham, London - was presented to restaurateur brothers Sam and Eddie Hart. The Hart brothers are best known for their group of London tapas restaurants, Barrafina, which has a total of three sites in Soho and Covent Garden. The flagship restaurant in Frith Street was awarded a Michelin star in 2013 and it has retained this to date.
Top Gastronomic Experience
Presenting the award for Top Gastronomic Experience was last year's winner, Marianne Lumb. She said: “I’m still fizzing with excitement. I presented the award this year and I was even more nervous than I was last year!
"What’s so nice about the Harden’s awards is that it is like a family, it’s a small family business and that radiates everywhere. It was so amazing for the restaurant – not just for business but for your team, it’s a massive pat on the back for them, and you really need that, because it’s not easy what we do! When you’re having really long hard weeks, it’s just what you need.”
Core by Clare Smyth team win
Top Gastronomic Experience
Credit: Darren Bell
Peter commented: “The beats of Sisters are doing it for themselves were echoing around the room as Clare Smyth's team took to the stage to accept their award as London’s Top Gastronomic experience, which was presented to them by last year's winner Marianne Lumb. To have wins in two consecutive years from first Marianne and then Clare shows the dominance of restaurants run by male chefs at the top of the London restaurant scene is breaking down.”
Jonny Bone, head chef of Core by Clare Smyth, said: “It’s great to be part of an industry that’s so supportive and diverse in London – we’re very happy and privileged to have won. I think that these awards encompass everything from every part of the industry.”
Tomos Parry, whose restaurant Brat won Best Newcomer said: “We’ve only been open for six months so it’s really nice for the team, winning an award like this at this point – it’s like another jolt for them. It’s nice for them to look back and think that we’ve done pretty well in those last six months. I really like the way that the voting system for Harden’s awards is pretty fair and balanced. It’s really well respected as well.”
He added: “It’s a nice and eclectic mix too. I was looking at the list and there’s only a couple of restaurants in Shoreditch on there so it was great to represent East London.”
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