L’Enclume, Fat Duck and Gordon Ramsay make Good Food Guide history
Now in its 64th year, the guide crowned Simon Rogan’s Cumbrian restaurant L’Enclume, followed by Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck (which scored a 10 for the seventh year in a row) and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which went up two spots.
Rogan said: “We feel so privileged to be at the number one spot for a second year for L’Enclume. The full 10 rating really is a reflection of all the continued focus and improvements we have been undertaking at L’Enclume every single month.
“The team just keeps on getting stronger and stronger, and we now also have a hugely skilled front-of-house staff who more than match our culinary standards.”
Top 10
Restaurant Nathan Outlaw took the number four spot, followed by Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus, which went from seven to five.
Jason Atherton retained his sixth place with his flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social, followed by Nottingham’s Restaurant Sat Bains at number seven, and Philip Howard’s The Square at number eight.
David Everitt-Matthias’s Le Champignon Sauvage entered the top ten for the first time at nine, and Brett Graham’s The Ledbury completed the list.
Top score for Clare Smyth
In another first, Clare Smyth, chef/proprietor at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has become the first female chef in 15 years to be awarded a perfect 10 score by the guide.
Elizabeth Carter, consultant editor of the Waitrose Good Food Guide, said: “After a break of a decade, Gordon Ramsay’s Chelsea flagship has once again been awarded a perfect 10. Now the domain of Clare Smyth, with support from what is, without doubt, one of the best front-of-house teams in the UK, this most impressive of London’s premier restaurants is back in that elite club.
“Further congratulations, too, for Smyth is the first female chef to achieve our top score in 15 years. With her brilliantly artistic, elegant, modern French cooking she perfectly complements the witty, cerebral Fat Duck and the sensual farm-to-table delights of L’Enclume at the pinnacle of our Top 50 list.”
Smyth added: “This is incredible, I’m absolutely overjoyed, we all are. I have personally referenced The Good Food Guide for places to eat for years and value their opinion as it’s the customers’ opinion.
“It makes it so much more significant when you know it’s through customer feedback. Like all restaurants we are one big team and my team here is tremendous, so a huge thank you from every one of us.”
The three restaurants that made history 15 years ago by ranking a perfect 10 were Nico Ladenis’s Chez Nico, Oak Room by Marco Pierre White and Gunn Eriksen’s Altnaharrie Inn.
The 2015 Good Food Guide will reveal its full ranking of the UK’s top 50 restaurants on 8 September.
