Recently in Cateys Category

Brett Graham's two-Michelin-starred restaurant the Ledbury in London has won yet another award after being named the top restaurant in the UK in the Sunday Times Food List.

The award comes after the Ledbury recently topped both the Zagat and Harden's surveys for best food in London and after Graham earlier this year won the prestigious Chef of the Year Catey.

The Sunday Times Food List is based on food quality alone, chosen by 8,000 restaurant goers from across the UK and compiled by Harden's Restaurant Guide in conjunction with Rémy Martin.

Graham commented: "It's a huge honour to top the list, especially as it comes from such a broad base of customers. This is a testament to everyone in the extremely talented and energetic young team here at the Ledbury."

Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, came second in the Food List while last year's winner, Gidleigh Park, placed third. 

Gidleigh Park also won the Rémy Martin X.O. Excellence Award for Best All Round Restaurant, while Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley picked up the Coeur de Cognac Award for Best Dessert, and Heston Blumenthal's Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental received the Rémy Martin V.S.O.P Best Newcomer Award.

Other findings from the Sunday Times Food List, which will publish the top 100 restaurants in Britain in full on Sunday (30 October), include that half of the top 100 restaurants are outside London (up from 40% last year); while Asian restaurants have fallen by half; and there are 31 new entries.

Veteran food critic Egon Ronay has died aged 94 after a short illness.

He passed away this morning at his Berkshire home with his wife and two daughters by his side.

A Catey Lifetime Achievement award winner, Ronay was a legendary name in the hospitality industry, a man who consistently demanded quality and never compromised on his values who earned the respect of consumers and industry heavyweights alike.

Born in Hungary in 1915, Ronay was the son of a Budapest restaurateur whose businesses were destroyed during and after World War II. He emigrated to Britain with little money in 1946 to escape the Russian occupation.

Ronay did not immediately embark on the career that was to make him famous, but worked in London restaurants before opening his own, the Marquee in Knightsbridge in 1952.

His first foray into food criticism was as a critic for the Daily Telegraph, and he launched his eponymous famous guides in 1957. The guides' reputation grew swiftly and they were eventually sold to the AA in 1985, although Ronay's name and services were retained. However, he regained the rights to the books in court in the late 1990s after arguing that the company's actions were in danger of tarnishing his name.

In the late 1990s Ronay launched a guide to eating at seven British airports run by the British Airports Authority. Although the publication was small, Ronay described its launch as "an emotional moment to go into print again". He was also instrumental in raising the quality of motorway food, by teaming up with motorway service area operator Welcome Break to award stars to cafés and restaurants trying to improve standards.
 
Ronay was a highly respected figure whose forthright views asked difficult questions when necessary and who never tired in the quest for quality. He will be sorely missed by the industry.

Michelin-starred restaurateurs Anthony Demetre and Will Smith are to launch a new restaurant in the capital, Guide Girl can reveal.

The co-owners of the critically acclaimed Arbutus and Wild Honey restaurants are planning a third West End site.

The duo has just exchanged on a property in Covent Garden, with high end restaurant specialist Restaurant Property understood to have brokered the deal for the site off market.

The news comes after Demetre and Smith, who won the Independent Restaurateur of the Year Catey in 2008, shelved plans for a City restaurant last year.

After working together for nearly 10 years, Demetre and Smith launched their first solo venture Arbutus in Soho in May 2006 and it became an instant hit with the critics.

With Smith in charge of front of house and Demetre behind the stove, Arbutus gained universal praise for its competitive pricing policy, excellent food and its casual, non-tablecloth approach to fine dining. It scooped up a string of awards for best new restaurant and received a Michelin star in January 2007.

In July 2007, Demetre and Smith opened their second restaurant, Wild Honey in Mayfair, which quickly repeated the success of its predecessor garnering critical acclaim and a Michelin star just six months after opening.

Providing top quality food and service at affordable prices, it's great news for the London restaurant scene that Demetre and Smith are continuing to roll out their winning concept.

Anthony Demetre and Will Smith masterclass - 2008 Chef Conference 

This week's Restaurant of the Week is the 2009 Catey Menu of the Year winner, the Harwood Arms in London's Fulham.

Good beer, a simple countryside-in-London atmosphere, and unfussy yet inventive British cuisine. This pretty much sums up the Harwood Arms, which launched last October as a joint venture between rural celebrity chef Mike Robinson, publican Edwin Vaux and Brett Graham, head chef at the Michelin-starred the Ledbury.

The menu at the 60-cover gastropub is the brainchild of Graham and head chef Stephen Williams and it's a menu of exclusively English produce. Its creativity is what stands the Harwood Arms apart from competitors and marks its appeal amidst a sea of so-called London gastropubs.

And of course there's the price point: à la carte starters rarely exceed £6, mains rarely £15. The key: everything is fastidiously seasonal and, beyond the protein, the luxuriousness of the dish is in the cooking alone.

Angela Hartnett was one of the big winners at last night's Cateys, picking up the sought after Chef award.

Angela, who is chef-patron of the Michelin-starred Murano as well as the York & Albany in London, became the first female chef in the Cateys' 26-year history to receive the prestigious accolade.

It's fantastic to see a woman recognised in the traditionally testosterone-fuelled world of professional cooking and Angela truly deserves her status as the first female chef to win the Chef Catey.

She beat off fellow Gordon Ramsay Holdings chef Jason Atherton of the Michelin-starred Maze and John Williams of the Ritz to win the coveted award.

The "F" word (female, not her boss, Gordon Ramsay's, trademark expletive), is an ongoing issue for Angela and she says there are still so few women in the hospitality industry.

"If being a woman is one of the assets that make you stand out because you're in a male environment, and as good a chef as, if not better than, a man, then use it. It's part of who you are," she told Caterer last year.

"I'm not saying parade yourself naked through the kitchen - but women have certain attributes that blokes don't have and vice versa. I don't see it as a problem."

See the full list of the 2009 Catey winners here.

UPDATE

Angela winning the Chef award has made headlines beyond the hospitality industry.

The Evening Standard says: "Hartnett beats the boys to be named top chef at food Oascars", while Bloomberg writes: "Hartnett becomes first woman to win UK chef award". The Daily Telegraph says: "Hartnett has become the first female chef to win a 'Catey', one of the highest accolades in the restaurant world."

Picture supplied by Jonathan Player/Rex Features.