Britain’s best restaurants have been unveiled by The Good Food Guide this week, with Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume restaurant again occupying the top spot.
L’Enclume, located in Cumbria, took the top position for the second consecutive time for the 2015 edition, having now achieved a perfect score in both of the past two guides. Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck came in second, also gaining a perfect 10 for the food rating in the guide, for the seventh year in a row. The only other restaurant to do so was Restaurant Gordon Ramsey, overseen by chef Clare Smyth.
Other restaurants in the top 10 included Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus, whose modern take on French cuisine and unique, intimate ambience charmed judges, and The Square, a regular at the top of prestigious restaurant rankings of this type ever since its inception in 1991.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsey’s head chef, Clare Smyth, became the first female to achieve a perfect score in fifteen years. She said she was “absolutely overjoyed” to claim the accolade, adding that “I have personally referenced the Good Food Guide for places to eat for years and value their opinion as it’s the customers’ opinion. 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 guide’s consultant editor, Elizabeth Carter, congratulated all three restaurants that scored the perfect ten. “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.
“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.”
The guide, now published by Waitrose, is compiled by experts based on public recommendations and will be available for purchase from 8 September.
Take a look at the top 10 below:
1. L’Enclume, Cumbria (10)
2. The Fat Duck, Berkshire (10)
3. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London (10)
4. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (9)
5. Hibiscus, London (9) — Take me to Hibiscus >>
6. Pollen Street Social, London (9)
7. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham (9)
8. The Square, London (8) — Take me to The Square >>
9. Le Champignon Sauvage, Gloucestershire (8)
10. The Ledbury, London (8)