UK's 100 best restaurants for 2018 revealed
Find out if your favourite foodie spot made the cut
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Your support makes all the difference.The annual list of the UK’s 100 best restaurants has been revealed, with a tiny Thai restaurant in Soho, London, claiming the top spot.
The Estrella Damn National Restaurant Awards, in association with Restaurant magazine, are based on the views of 150 chefs, restaurateurs and food writers who vote for their best dining experiences over the past 12 months.
They take into consideration not only the food, but the staff, atmosphere, music, design and price.
Crowned National Restaurant of the Year for 2018 is Kiln – a small Thai restaurant in Soho, London, that offers just a dozen stools and the opportunity for diners to watch chefs cook regional cuisine in an open kitchen.
Headed up by chef and owner Ben Chapman, it’s best known for dishes like guinea fowl jungle curry and curried crab.
Second place has been awarded to Sabor – meaning flavour in Spanish – a new tapas bar and grill in Mayfair opened by chef Nieves Barragan, formerly of Barrafina, which won in 2015.
Chinese restaurant A Wong came in third place while fourth was taken by a new entry, Core by Clare Smyth – an establishment in Notting Hill that celebrates the finest British ingredients; run by the first and only female chef to head up a restaurant with three Michelin stars in the UK, during her time at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
Other new entries include Brat – which took 14th place – a Shoreditch grill created by Tomos Parry, who previously ran the kitchen at Kitty Fisher’s.
The Sportsman, the seaside pub in Kent that has headed the rankings for the past two years, dropped to ninth place for 2018. However, it was named Gastropub of the Year.
Other big winners of the night included Raymond Blanc, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the Belmond Manoir aux Quat’saisons in Oxford, as well as his work on sustainability in the restaurant industry.
Here’s the top 100 in full:
- Kiln, Soho
- Sabor, Mayfair
- A Wong, Victoria
- Core by Clare Smyth, Notting Hill
- L’Enclume, Cumbria
- Moor Hall, Lancashire
- Lyle’s, Shoreditch
- Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
- The Sportsman, Kent
- Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall
- Claude Bosi at Bibendum, Chelsea
- The Coach, Marlow
- Coombeshead Farm, Cornwall
- Brat, Shoreditch
- Padella, London Bridge
- The Quality Chop House, Clerkenwell
- The Ledbury, Notting Hill
- Freemasons at Wiswell, Lancashire
- Wreckfish, Liverpool
- The Black Swan at Oldstead
- The River Café, Hammersmith
- Indian Accent, Mayfair
- Paul Ainsworth at No 6, Padstow
- El Pastor, London Bridge
- Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxford
- Ondine, Edinburgh
- Casamia, Bristol
- Ynyshir, Powys
- Som Saa, Shoreditch
- House of Tides, Newcastle
- The Clove Club, Shoreditch
- The Fat Duck, Bray
- Chez Bruce, Wandsworth
- Elystan Street, Chelsea
- The Crown at Burchetts Green, Maidenhead
- Trinity, Clapham
- The Little Fish Market, Hove
- The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny
- Quo Vadis, Soho
- The Seahorse, Dartmouth
- Barrafina, Covent Garden
- Lorne, Victoria
- The Waterside Inn, Bray
- Brawn, Bethnal Green
- The Raby Hunt, Darlington
- Hispi, Didsbury
- Hoppers, Soho
- Midsummer House, Cambridge
- Noble Rot, Bloomsbury
- Gymkhana, Mayfair
- Nuala, Old Street
- Hedone, Chiswick
- Alchemilla, Nottingham
- Kricket, Soho
- Pollen St Social, Mayfair
- Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo
- Root, Bristol
- St John Bread & Wine, Shoreditch
- The Star Inn Harome, Yorkshire
- Farang, Highbury
- Holborn Dining Room, Holborn
- The Hand & Flowers, Marlow
- Wilson’s, Bristol
- 40 Maltby Street, London Bridge
- Black Axe Mangal, Islington
- Carter’s of Moseley, Birmingham
- The Palomar, Soho
- Smoking Goat, Shoreditch
- The Beehive, Berkshire
- The Hardwick, Abergavenny
- Timberyard, Edinburgh
- Xu, Chinatown
- The Dairy, Clapham
- Le Gavroche, Mayfair
- Paco Tapas, Bristol
- The Parkers Arms, Clitheroe
- Rambla, Soho
- Wine & Brine, County Armagh
- Frog by Adam Handling, Covent Garden
- Where The Light Gets In, Stockport
- Bonhams, Mayfair
- Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Edinburgh
- Fraiche, Oxton
- Restaurant Story, London Bridge
- Sardine, Hoxton
- The Ritz, Picadilly
- Kitchen Table, Fitzrovia
- Inver, Argyll & Bute
- Lima, Fitzrovia
- The Fordwich Arms, Canterbury
- Frenchie, Covent Garden
- The Elephant, Torquay
- Barbary, Covent Garden
- Neo Bistro, Mayfair
- Mark Greenaway, Edinburgh
- Morston Hall Hotel, Norfolk
- Northcote Manor, Langho
- Westerns Laundry, Highbury
- Perilla, Newington Green
- Ikoyi, Piccadilly
You can find out more about the National Restaurant Awards here.
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