Le Gavroche and Gidleigh Park top Harden's UK Restaurant Survey

Le Gavroche is the top London restaurant, while Gidleigh Park has retained its place as the top restaurant in the rest of the UK, according to the 2012 edition of Harden's UK Restaurant Survey.

The guide, which is based on an annual survey of 8,000 restaurant-goers and was published today, rates restaurants on food, service and ambience, giving equal importance to each.

The top London restaurants (with last year's place in brackets) were:
1) Le Gavroche (2)
2) The Ledbury (4)
3) The Ritz (-)
4) Chez Bruce (5)
5) Min Jiang (-)

The top restaurants in the rest of the UK were:
1) Gidleigh Park, Chagford (1)
2) Waterside Inn, Bray (4)
3) Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Great Milton (2)
4) Mr Underhill's, Ludlow (3)
5) Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh (-)

Co-editor Peter Harden said: "It was widely feared that difficult ongoing economic conditions would throw the development of the UK's restaurant scene into reverse. While it is true that the rest of the country is not proving as resilient as the capital, it does seem that the UK-wide trend towards improving restaurants, evident over the past 5-10 years, is too strong to be easily derailed."

Brett Graham tops Sunday Times Food List >>

Spend on fine dining in London up in 2011, says American Express >>

Brett Graham's Ledbury serves best food in London, according to Harden's >>

By Neil Gerrard

E-mail your comments to Neil Gerrard here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/tabletalk

Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs