The Which? Good Food Guide (GFG) has expanded its Top 40 UK restaurant list to 50 this year, after seeing an increased number of ‘up-and-coming chefs making the grade’.
Released today, the 2010 edition of the guide has seen a particular surge in the number of restaurants scoring a 7/10, given for a ‘high level of ambition and individuality’ and which include new Top 50 entrants L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Fraiche, Murano, Midsummer House, and The Ledbury.
While the GFG awarded the top spots once again to Heston Blumenthal (who scored a 10/10 for the second year running), Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Raymond Blanc, editor Elizabeth Carter said an explosion of new talent could soon change the line-up.
“There are so many great British restaurants hitting their stride at the moment that we just had to expand to a Top 50,” she said. “Despite the credit crunch, the British restaurant scene has never been so vibrant.”
This year’s Best Chef award went to Stephen Harris of The Sportsman in Kent, who is praised for his ‘brilliant, idiosyncratic’ cooking, while the Best New Entry was named as Da Piero in Merseyside, which scored a 5/10.
The Good Food Guide’s Top 50 UK restaurants:
1. Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire (10/10)
2. Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London (9)
3. Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London (8)
4. Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire (8)
5. The Square, London (8)
6. Le Champignon Sauvage, Gloucs (8)
7. Le Gavroche, London (8)
8. The Vineyard at Stockcross, Berkshire (8)
9. Pied-à-Terre, London (8)
10. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (8)
11. Maze, London (8)
12. Tom Aikens, London (8)
13. L'Enclume, Cumbria (8)
14. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh (8)
15. The Capital, London (7)
16. The Waterside Inn, Berkshire (7)
17. Bohemia, St Helier, Jersey (7)
18. Hibiscus, London (7)
19. Danesfield House, Bucks (7)
20. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, London (new) (7)
21. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham (7)
22. Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon (7)
23. Holbeck Ghyll, Cumbria (7)
24. Fischer's Baslow Hall, Derbyshire (7)
25. Antony's Leeds, Yorkshire (7)
26. Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor, Cheshire (7)
27. Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Scotland (7)
28. Michael Wignall at the Latymer, Surrey (7)
29. Whatley Manor, Wiltshire (7)
30. Fraiche, Merseyside (new) (7)
31. Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Wales (7)
32. Mr Underhill's, Shropshire (7)
33. Murano, London (new) (7)
34. Midsummer House, Cambridge (new) (7)
35. Hambleton Hall, Leics (7)
36. The Crown at Whitebrook, Wales (7)
37. Robert Thompson at the Hambrough, Isle of Wight (new) (7)
38. The Creel, Scotland (7)
39. Harry's Place, Lincs (7)
40. The Old Vicarage, Derbyshire (7)
41. The Ledbury, London (new) (7)
42. The Greenhouse, London (6)
43. Club Gascon, London (6)
44. The Kitchin, Edinburgh (6)
45. Galvin at Windows, London (new) (6)
46. The Sportsman, Kent (new)(6)
47. Purnell's Birmingham, West Midlands (new)(6)
48. The Yorke Arms, Yorkshire (new)(6)
49. ramsons, Greater Manchester (new) (6)
50. La Bécasse, Shropshire (new) (6)