Now in their 22nd year, the awards recognise the best of the capital’s venues that have opened in the past 12 months, apart from two new categories, Best Sushi Bar and Best Park Café.
Time Out’s food and drink editor Guy Dimond said: “Venues serving ‘small plates’ and those not taking advanced bookings have had a particularly strong showing this year, and this is reflected in our shortlist for Best New Restaurant.
“Surprisingly, the appetite for fine dining shows no sign of decline, and we’ve recognised this with its own category, Best New Fine Dining Restaurant.”
Surprise visit
Judges drew up their shortlists, based on anonymous reviews conducted over the past year. They then anonymously revisited all the shortlisted venues to see if they still lived up to their early promise.
Dimond added: “Venues are judged anonymously by the Time Out editorial team by repeat visits, on a number of criteria such as quality of food and drink, service, ambience and value for money, to find the capital’s true winners.
“Eating and drinking remains one of the key interests of Time Out’s readership, something we reflect both on our website, in our weekly magazine - and in our annual guidebook, the Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide, which comes out next week.”
Last year, Hix Soho restaurant was named Best New Restaurant. This year's winner of the award is British steakhouse, Hawksmoor Seven Dials (pictured), while the winner of Best New Bar is Worship Street Whistling Shop.
The full list of this year’s winners is as follows:
Best New Restaurant
Hawksmoor Seven Dials
Best New Bar
Worship Street Whistling Shop
Best New Cheap Eats
Manchurian Legends
Best New Design
Massimo
Best New Fine Dining
Pollen Street Social
Best New Local Restaurant
Malina
Best Park Café
Lido Café
Best Sushi Bar
Yashin