London Restaurant News

London No Longer Has the ‘Best Restaurant’ in the U.K.

Tomos Parry’s Brat in Shoreditch is runner-up to Lancashire’s Moor Hall, with Clare Smyth ‘Chef of the Year’ at the National Restaurant Awards

by James Hansen@jameskhansen Jun 11, 2019, 8:00am BST

Cheesecake in front of the wood oven at Brat, Eater London’s Restaurant of the Year

The 2019 National Restaurant Awards sees last year’s winner, Kiln, in Soho, lose out: two Michelin-starred Lancashire restaurant Moor Hall now holds the title of ‘best restaurant in the U.K.,’ at least according to these particular awards.

London restaurants take up seven of the top 10 places, with Michelin-starred Brat at #2; Tom Brown’s Hackney Wick restaurant Cornerstone at #3; Clare Smyth’s two-Michelin-starred Core in Notting Hill at #4 for the second year in a row; Nieves Barragan-Mohacho’s Michelin-starred Sabor at #5 down from #2; Monica Galetti’s Mere at #7, Claude Bosi’s two-Michelin-starred Bibendum at #8, and Brett Graham’s two-Michelin-starred The Ledbury at #10.

Other notable London inclusions include last year’s winner, Kiln, at #15; Michelin-starred Lyle’s at #17; West African-inspired Ikoyi, also Michelin-starred which rises from #100 to #33; Pip Lacey’s Coal Drops Yard debut Hicce at #48; London Fields’ Bright entering at #64; and Chef’s Table star Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express at #96. The awards, which are operated by William Reed and thus connected, if loosely, to the World’s 50 Best, highlight the strange inconsistencies, and differing priorities, of the restaurant world’s awarding bodies: The Ledbury, Lyle’s, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, and The Clove Club are all in the top 50 “in the world,” but are outranked here by restaurants not even on the top 100. It will be interesting to see if any of the U.K. top 10 enter into the new World’s 50 Best, announced 25 June in Singapore. Core, in particular, seems overdue.

Overall, then: 53 of the 100 restaurants are in London, the same number as last year, but the list does include the recently closed Hedone in Chiswick. In the individual awards, newly opened Emilia won the ‘One to Watch’ title, while Ollie Dabbous’ Hide won ‘Wine List of the Year’; Sally Abe of the Harwood Arms won ‘Chef to Watch’ despite having held a Michelin star at her Fulham restaurant since 2017 and having worked in Michelin-starred kitchens at senior level for a decade, and Clare Smyth took home ‘Chef of the Year,’ which Barragan-Mohacho won last year. Of the 100 restaurants on the list, 90 have male head or executive chefs, despite the stronger representation in the top ten places.

Here is the full list:

1. Moor Hall
2. Brat
3. Cornerstone
4. Core by Clare Smyth
5. Sabor
6. L’Enclume
7. Mere
8. Claude Bosi at Bibendum
9. Ynyshir
10. The Ledbury
11. A. Wong
12. The River Café
13. The Sportsman
14. Restaurant Sat Bains
15. Kiln
16. Paul Ainsworth at No. 6
17. Lyle’s
18. Forest Side
19. Casamia
20. House of Tides
21. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw
22. Roganic
23. The French House
24. Elystan Street
25. The Ritz
26. Frenchie
27. Brawn
28. Noble Rot
29. The Black Swan at Oldstead
30. The Fordwich Arms
31. Chez Bruce
32. Hide
33. Ikoyi
34. Trinity
35. The Crown at Burchett’s Green
36. The Coach
37. The Hand & Flowers
38. The Parkers Arms
39. Freemasons at Wiswell
40. Skosh
41. The Elephant
42. Roots
43. The Clove Club
44. The Frog by Adam Handling
45. Roux at Parliament Square
46. Burlington at The Devonshire Arms
47. Cora Pearl
48. Hicce
49. Ondine
50. The Quality Chop House
51. Black Axe Mangal
52. Pollen Street Social
53. Whatley Manor
54. Coombeshead Farm
55. St. John
56. The Angel Inn at Hetton
57. The Dairy
58. The Fat Duck
59. The Palomar
60. Helene Darozze at The Connaught
61. Kym’s
62. Social Eating House
63. The Kitchin
64. Bright
65. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
66. Etch
67. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons
68. Timberyard
69. Midsummer House
70. Rochelle Canteen
71. Two Lights
72. 40 Maltby Street
73. Mana
74. The Walnut Tree
75. Indian Accent
76. Kitchen Table by Bubbledogs
77. Yügo
78. Restaurant Story
79. The Little Chartroom
80. The Laughing Heart
81. The Mash Inn
82. Raby Hunt
~~83. Hedone~~
84. Restaurant Andrew Fairlie
85. The Woodspeen
86. Wine and Brine
87. Holborn Dining Room
88. The Harwood Arms
89. Brigadiers
90. Perilla
91. The Little Fish Market
92. The Man Behind the Curtain
93. Carters of Moseley
94. Darjeeling Express
95. Joro
96. Le Cochon Aveugle
97. The White Swan at Fence
98. Spring
99. Holbeck Ghyll
100. Trullo

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