The Good Food Guide is back under new ownership in its 70th year, providing modern diners with a much needed, up to the minute, authoritative and genuinely independent guide on the best places to eat across Britain.
Having been published as a printed guide since the early 1950s, their unrivalled content, produced by a team of hand selected experts, is now available as an app, with The Good Food Club having recently launched, offering local guides, member perks and unlimited access to their editorial content on a monthly subscription basis.
The Good Food Guide remains the longest standing and bestselling guide on dining out in Great Britain, and now, in a landscape of social media, myriad Tripadvisor reviews and armchair critics, is more essential to the savvy diner than ever before. It is independently published, and provides recommendations from anonymous inspections, where every meal is paid for in full, ensuring integrity and impartiality with each review.
On Monday 17th October long-standing Editor of The Good Food Guide Elizabeth Carter, Publisher and Founder of sister Business CODE Hospitality Adam Hyman, and fellow Good Food Guide Editor Chloe Hamilton, were joined by some of Britain’s leading chefs and restaurateurs to announce The Good Food Guide: Top 20 Most Exciting
Restaurants of 2022. The evening took place at The Groucho Club in London and was supported by Birra Morretti and LayloWines.
Birmingham was crowned the Most Exciting Food Destination, whilst three venues were awarded the coveted ‘World Class’ accolade, and industry bastions and newcomers were honoured. The Top 20 list was chosen by The Good Food Guide’s independent, impartial inspectors, and includes restaurants from across Britain.
L’Enclume, Simon Rogan’s restaurant in the Lake District village of Cartmel has retained its position as top restaurant. This comes after L’Enclume was awarded its third Michelin star in February of this year, making it the only restaurant in the north of England to do so, as well as 2022 marking two decades since Simon first opened the doors.
The Lake District restaurant first appeared in the 2004 Good Food Guide and editor Elizabeth Carter said: ‘L’Enclume has matured but has not aged. They are all about experience and commitment, with a young team bringing in fresh ideas, rather than Simon imposing his vision.
“Forced to be flexible because of their farm, they are nimble and open minded, and have retained a light atmosphere and unique, chatty service style. They are such an example to their industry peers’.
On the news of L’Enclume’s no.1 position, Simon said: “We could not be prouder to have remained in the top spot in the Good Food Guide 2022! We’ve held this position a few times before and are so happy to have retained it in the first year since the guide’s return.
“It’s so meaningful for us on so many different levels, the world has changed, and we’ve all been through tremendous challenges in the last few years. We’ve supported each other as a team through thick and thin, and that’s what has got us here.
“These challenges have forged lifelong friendships that are unshakable. As this collective, we are ready for the future, whatever it may hold. We are safe in the knowledge that together, we will do our best to look after our guests, our industry and our planet.
What a year it’s been so far, and what a great journey the last 20 years have been!”
Ynyshir in Wales, Moor Hall in Lancashire, The Raby Hunt in Co Durham and The Sportsman in Kent made up the rest of the top five entries, whilst L’Enclume, Ynyshir and Moor Hall were awarded the prestigious ‘World Class’ title, run by extraordinary chef-proprietors who are redefining the profession, pushing the boundaries of what eating in a restaurant is all about.
The full Top 20 list:
- L’Enclume, Cumbria
- Ynyshir, Ceredigion
- Moor Hall, Lancashire
- The Raby Hunt, Co Durham
- The Sportsman, Kent
- Outlaw’s New Road, Cornwall
- Osip, Somerset
- Pollen Street Social, London
- Inver, Argyll & Bute
- Wilderness, Birmingham
- Restaurant Story, London
- SY23, Ceredigion
- Pine, Northumberland
- Annwn, Pembrokeshire
- Condita, Edinburgh
- Grace & Savour, West Midlands
- Da Terra, London
- Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
- Kol, London
- Endo at The Rotunda, London
Additional awards presented on the night included Birmingham being crowned the Most Exciting Foodie Destination, with Carters of Moseley, Wilderness and Grace & Savour all representing the area in the Top 20 list.
The Good Food Guide said: ‘No other English provincial city is as well served with such a range of unique and frequently exceptional restaurants right across the price range. At the top of the scale, three exceptional places from the Birmingham area feature in our 20 most exciting restaurants in Britain – an extraordinary feat.
“But getting the balance just right extends to others including Opheem, with its unmistakably curry-based but uniquely modern-British approach, and Harborne Kitchen, where Jamie Desogus pulls off a real coup, making the restaurant a bit of a holy grail in terms of packing mass-appeal into posh nosh. Nowhere but in Britain – and perhaps even more specifically in Birmingham – could this cooking occur.’
Nick Rudge of The Jackdaw in North Wales was named as Chef to Watch with the Guide saying of his talents ‘His cooking walks a fine line between being refined and being generous and delicious. It isn’t food to admire (although it looks great) or debate, it’s food to eat – his menu is an exciting mix of good ingredients and unwavering Welshness.
‘Rudge spent seven years at The Fat Duck, where he worked his way up to sous chef before leaving in July 2020 to open this simple and appealing first venture above a former bingo hall – it’s rather like discovering a secret room hidden in the busiest part of the town. His focus takes in the smallest details both in the perfectly pitched service and the fact that it feels special without being formal. The work that has gone into the virtually all-Welsh drinks list is amazing, too.’
Restaurateurs of the Year was awarded to Paul and Chris Charalambous of Cultar Restaurant Group in Glasgow’s West End which is regarded as a masterclass in exceptional hospitality.
