Out Of The Frying Pan: October 2012

Sunday 28 October 2012

Top 100 UK Restaurants 2012

A little later than usual (why break the habit of a blogging lifetime?), I've got my hands on the London venues featured in the National Restaurant Awards' top 100 UK restaurants for 2012. It seems London grows ever more prominent in the country's top 100, with 59 in this year's list. For the third year in a row, The Ledbury holds on to its top spot; a remarkable feat.

The notable entries begin with Quo Vadis, which is now astonishingly one of the ten best places to eat in the UK. The second outing I had there last year was nothing to write home about and I was surprised to see it so high. 10 Greek Street is the highest new London entry, with much buzz being generated around its modern, simple menus.

Elsewhere there is a general slide outside of the top 10, where Pollen Street Social and The Square maintained their high rankings. The excellent Polpo falls over 60 places, with a similar decline for Koffman's. Most other restaurants experience a slide of a few places here and there, with Texture and Koya two of the biggest climbers.

Other unsurprising new entries are Dabbous and Medlar who have both earned their first Michelin Stars to top off a fantastic year. Alyn Williams takes the highest new entry for London outside of 10 Greek Street to go along with the award of a first star also. José Pizarro endured an interesting year, with his tapas bar José dropping out of the list completely but his restaurant Pizarro shooting in at 28.

Once again, the moral of the story is that London really is the place to be when it comes to eating out in the UK. There are so many amazing restaurants that aren't on this list, but it's usually a good barometer of how a restaurant is faring. With over half the best restaurants in the UK, London is doing very well indeed.

1 The Ledbury

2 Pollen Street Social

7 The Square

9 Quo Vadis

10 Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

12 10 Greek Street

14 Zuma

15 Alyn Williams

18 Galvin La Chapelle

21 Roganic

22 St John

23 Bocca Di Lupo

25 L'Anima

26 Hibiscus

27 Zucca

28 Pizarro

30 Chez Bruce

31 Dabbous

32 Brawn

33 Texture

35 Koya

37 The River Café

38 Yauatcha

39 Medlar

43 Viajante

45 Hawksmoor Seven Dials

46 Arbutus

47 Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

48 Hakkasan Mayfair

50 Upstairs at The Ten Bells

51 The Dock Kitchen

52 Hedone

54 St John Hotel

55 Burger and Lobster

56 Corrigan's Mayfair

58 Galvin at Windows

59 La Petite Maison

61 Theo Randall at the Intercontinental

62 The Delaunay

63 Le Gavroche

65 Bar Boulud

67 Hix Soho

69 Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

71 The Wolesley

73 Roka

74 Koffmann's

75 MeatLiquor

76 Galvin Bistrot De Luxe

77 Bistrot Bruno Loubet

80 Barrafina

81 Moro

82 CUT at 45 Park Lane

83 Umu

86 Pitt Cue

88 Polpo

92 Racine

93 Helene Darroze at The Connaught

95 Brasserie Zedel

96 Goodman Mayfair

Monday 8 October 2012

Toku - St. James, Saturday May 12th, 2012

Whilst I'd never profess to wholly enjoy racing into a restaurant to whiz through a quick lunch, it's a damn good test of how any decent restaurant copes under pressure. Not that I'm some kind of mystery customer - or am I..? - but observing this often becomes an interesting sideshow to a speedy restaurant lunch.

A mid-May afternoon was the day for a working lunch at Toku, part of the huge and impressive Japan Centre on south Regent Street. The great thing about Japanese food for lunch is that it lends itself to speedy, efficient and clean portions of food. If there's any kind of restaurant one can get a good feeding in half an hour, Japanese should be it.

We both had relatively straightforward don meals - rice with assorted toppings - which are a great test of any Japanese restaurant's standards. I went for a Japanese tradition close to my heart (and one day I'm sure it will eventually be the undoing of my heart): tempura. You cannot really go wrong with decent Japanese tempura and this was happily satisfactory. A mixture of sweet potato, asparagus, squid, potato and prawns was a hearty but not overly filling lunch combination.

The wife went for the chicken don, another substantial and simple Japanese standard. It was well-cooked: moist, succulent and just what one needs to get going for the afternoon. It was a little stodgy for me with the rice to chicken ratio too high on the filler, but generally very good.

There's not a lot to say about Toku other than the fact that it's just what you need and expect from a quick Japanese lunch. It's not as cheap as I'd like but then it is right next to Piccadilly Circus, making it super-convenient. Plus, given where it is, there's usually enough time for a quick browse around the supermarket in the Japan Centre for a basketful of sauces, meats, seafood and sweets to take home. Well, that might just be me...

Toku

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Michelin Guide 2013 - London Restaurants

It's barely October and yet we appear to have been given a list of new Michelin-Starred restaurants. Well, not given... Apparently results have been leaked and as such I'm obliged to summarise what this means for eating out in London.

There are a couple of big moves, the most notable being the elevation of Sketch's restaurant from one to two stars. The excessive gaudiness of Sketch seems to be doing the trick, making it the eighth London restaurant to currently hold two stars. The rest of the elite group of two- and three-star restaurants remains unchanged.

More good news abounds for the eight new star recipients which I've highlighted below. Tom Aikens' refurbishment finished and the star duly came back with the re-opening. One of my favourites - Launceston Place - finally got the star it has deserved for some time. The restaurant everyone seems to be going to right now - Dabbous - continues its meteoric rise and the least surprising new star of all goes to Medlar of Chelsea.

The two casualties of the 2013 guide are Gauthier Soho and Zafferano. The latter represents another dent in A to Z restaurants' reputation, given that they closed the former Michelin-Starred Aubergine a few years back. The latter vindicates me slightly for this piece I wrote on Gauthier Soho, though having been back (with a review to come), I'm slightly conflicted since the more recent visit wasn't too bad.

There are now 62 restaurants in London with at least one Michelin Star. Whatever you think about the guide itself, this shows an impressive recognition of just how stocked we now are with amazing restaurants. With a new Top 100 UK Restaurants to come by the end of the year, there is a good chance over half the UK's best could now be in London.

Three Stars:
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea

Two Stars:

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair

Hibiscus, Mayfair

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Strand & Covent Garden

Le Gavroche, Mayfair

Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, Belgravia
Sketch (The Lecture Room & Library), Mayfair - One to Two Stars

The Ledbury, North Kensington

The Square, Mayfair

One Star:

Alyn Williams at the Westbury, Mayfair - New Star
Amaya, Belgravia

Apsleys, A Heinz Beck Restaurant, Belgravia