The Good Food Guide has awarded Raymond Blanc with its inaugrual Lifetime Achievement award, as part of celebrations marking the guide’s 60th anniversary.
Blanc’s Oxfordshire restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons has appeared in 26 editions of the guide, which was first published in 1951. Blanc himself has featured in 32 editions.
Having first appeared in the 1978 edition with the Maison Blanc patisserie and boulangerie, Blanc’s two-Michelin starred restaurant has since been awarded a score of 9/10 nine times (1999-2008), and has this year been named the third best in the UK after Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road.
Elizabeth Carter, consultant editor at the Good Food Guide, said: “In its 60 year history, The Good Food Guide has borne witness to, and in part brought about, a changing approach to dining out in the UK.
“Few chefs have had more of a hand in shaping modern British dining than Raymond Blanc, a true culinary giant who has impressed diners and inspired fellow chefs since 1978.”
Blanc added that it was a “personal honour” to see many former Le Manoir chefs go on to appear in the guide themselves.
“The Good Food Guide is one of the most valuable restaurant guides in the UK, and one that I am proud to be associated with,” he said.
To see the full list of winners in the Good Food Guide 2011, click here.