Recently in Heston Blumenthal 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.

Jason Atherton's first solo venture, Pollen Street Social, has been named London's best new fine dining restaurant in the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2011.

The restaurant in Mayfair was praised for its great innovation and brilliant execution as well as its flexible approach to dining.

Pollen Street Social beat stiff competition to win the award, including Heston Blumenthal's Dinner, Hedone in Chiswick, and Medlar on King's Road, the first restaurant from former Chez Bruce chef and manager Joe Mercer Nairne and David O'Connor.

Meanwhile Will Beckett and Huw Gott's steak restaurant Hawksmoor Seven Dials won Time Out's best new restaurant award. The Covent Garden restaurant is the second Hawksmoor after the original in Farringdon located in the former Watney Combe brewery.

Time Out's food and drink editor Guy Dimond said despite the tough economic climate 2011 had been one of the best years for new restaurant launches in London.

"With all the doom and gloom you'd think that this would have been a bad year for restaurant openings but I don't remember such a strong year in more than a decade," he said.

""The trend towards no bookings and small, sharing plates has continued and this is a reflection of the economic climate. Operators are able to get more people through the doors and small plates are a much simpler way to manage margins."  

Other winners were Massimo's Restaurant and Oyster Bar at the Corinthia Hotel, which won the best new design award for its David Collins Studio designed interiors.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2011 results:
 
Best New Bar
Worship Street Whistling Shop 
Nominees
Booking Office
Experimental Cocktail Club
Zetter Townhouse 
 
Best New Cheap Eats
Manchurian Legends
Nominees
Ariana II 
KaoSarn 

Meza  

Best New Design 
Massimo
Nominees
Nopi
Riding House Café
Spuntino
 
Best New Fine Dining
Pollen Street Social
Nominees
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Hedone
Medlar

Best New Local Restaurant
Malina
Nominees
Brawn
Corner Room 
Kateh

Best New Restaurant
Hawksmoor Seven Dials 
Nominees
Kopapa
Morito
Spuntino

Best Park Café
Lido Café
Nominees
Fulham Palace Café
Pavilion Café 

Best Sushi Bar
Yashin
Nominees
Atari-ya
Dinings
Sushi of Shiori

Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck has retained its place as the UK's best restaurant in the Good Food Guide but other chefs including Simon Rogan, Sat Bains and Jason Atherton are starting to redefine ideas on what makes a great restaurant, according to the guide.

Blumenthal's three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, has retained its perfect score of 10 out of 10 in the 2012 edition of the Good Food Guide, while a number of other establishments have scored an almost perfect nine out of 10.

They include Rogan's Michelin-starred L'Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, and Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham, which have ranked in second and third place of the guide's list of the Top 50 UK Restaurants respectively.  

Elizabeth Carter, consultant editor of the Good Food Guide, commented: "Simon Rogan is all about pushing boundaries, changing perceptions and forging links between nature and the kitchen. His cooking is a revelation from start to finish."

Rogan said he was thrilled with the result. "This means so much me and the team - coming second in the country with a 9/10 score is unbelievable," he said.

Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social in London has come in as the highest new entry in the top 10, landing in eighth place less than six months after opening. Carter described Atherton as a chef whose pace-setting invention was a triumph.
 
Meanwhile celebrity chefs continue to be recognised in the Good Food Guide's top 10, with Gordon Ramsay's flagship in London's Chelsea ranking in fourth place, Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saison in Oxfordshire in sixth place, and Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley in seventh place.

"The Good Food Guide 2012 showcases what has been a fascinating year for dining in the UK.  The dining scene across the country is vibrant, with some supremely talented chefs serving innovative food which is winning our readers' hearts - there is much to be excited about," said Carter. 

Three-Michelin-starred US chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's new London venture Spice Market deserves to bomb, according to Matthew Norman.

The Daily Telegraph's food critic finds only grey gloop and vegetable slurry at the South East Asia-inspired restaurant housed in the W London Leicester Square.

"Awaiting us in the valley of death was steamed pollack with shiitake mushrooms and ginger, the ugliest dish I have ever seen," Norman complains. "Mounds of drab white fish were adorned with a hideous grey-green spring onion and tarragon gloop, while the mushrooms were as stone cold as the fish."

Writing in The Independent, Tracey MacLeod finds something disorientating about Nopi, the new all-day brasserie from Yotam Ottolenghi, with its unfamiliar ingredients, unpredictable meal structure and unclassifiable décor.

She says: "That disorientation intensified after a visit to the loos, a nightclub-style hall of mirrors which makes it hard to avoid catching unexpected views of yourself mid-act. I'll do anything for lunch, but I won't do that."

Meanwhile the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams finds the food at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal a bit unsurprising but adds that even when playing it safe the chef still manages to spellbind.

The Observer's Jay Rayner says Vietnamese eatery Café East is the best kind of cheap restaurant while The Independent's Lisa Markwell finds Meateasy so trendy it hurts but adds that it does serve the very best of fast food.

Finally writing in The Guardian, John Lanchester enjoys the Iberico pork at Opera Tavern, the latest venture from tapas specialists Salt Yard Group.

AA Gill finds the Royal Academy restaurant, operated by Peyton and Byrne, is far from a work of art and the menu is making promises the kitchen isn't up to keeping.

The Sunday Times food critic says while the restaurant looks good and the menu starts off well, things go horribly wrong with the main courses. He says: "My main course of lemon sole with beetroot salad and a citrus dressing was not a nice thing. The fish was little fillets rolled into earplugs and poached until they turned into wads of nose-blown tissue paper, covered in a tasteless white cream. The citrus beetroot hadn't been introduced to the fish and apparently disliked it as much as I did."

Meanwhile The Guardian's John Lanchester says Stevie Parle's food at the Dock Kitchen is good but inconsistent. "Whoever cooked that can cook. Overall, though, I was disappointed by the Dock Kitchen, which I suspect was having an off day," he complains.

The Independent's Lisa Markwell finds Dinner by Heston Blumenthal lives up to the hype, while The Observer's Jay Rayner says that although it may stand in the shadow of Dinner, Chabrot holds its own with classic French cooking.

Finally The Daily Telegraph's Matthew Norman gives two cheers for the burgermeisters of buzz after visiting Les Deux Salons, while writing for The Times Giles Coren reviews the Grazing Goat where he finds nice food but rather steep prices.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is the inevitable topic among the food critics in this week and it seems the new restaurant does live up to the hype.

According to Giles Coren, writing in The Times, Blumenthal's pure genius makes Dinner the best new restaurant in the world. "It is the first new dining room to open in Knightsbridge for 100 years that is not incredibly boring, ugly and joyless. And that is saying something. And the menu is thrilling. And believe me, I am not easily thrilled by menus," he says.

The Guardian's food editor, Matthew Fort, says Dinner reclaims and reinvents our own cooking heritage, reinvigorating the tired and ordinary orthodoxies of traditional British cooking: "Over two sittings, I tasted virtually all the 25 dishes on the menu. It says a great deal that even under these intense circumstances so many startling dishes, and some outstanding ones, emerged from behind the terse menu labels."

Meanwhile, the London Evening Standard's veteran critic Fay Maschler finds a few faults at Dinner but loves the meat fruit and desserts. "Were a vegetarian to stray misguidedly into Dinner, he or she might well be disappointed by the £20 dish of Braised Celery (c. 1730) with Parmesan, pickled walnuts, apples and onion, which we shared," she complains.

Finally Matthew Norman writing in the Daily Telegraph says if there's been a more flawless and exhilarating restaurant opening in the past decade than Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, he missed it. "The best thing of all about Dinner is a quality never before associated with a Michelin deity. It is colossal fun," he enthuses.

In other reviews, The Guardian's John Lanchester says Japanese restaurant Koya is very good at making noodles, while The Independent on Sunday's Lisa Markwell says Alan Yau's Busaba chain still offers the same comfort 10 years after its launch.

The Observer's Jay Rayner has a patchy experience at the Devonshire Brasserie, Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire and the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams says the food at Kopapa is dramatic but it just all depends whether you're pro or anti that kind of thing.

The opening of Heston Blumenthal's eagerly awaited London restaurant has been delayed.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which was set to open at the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge on 1 December, will now not open until the end of January.

Booking lines, which were meant to open today, have also been delayed and the restaurant will now start taking reservations from 1 December on 020 7201 3833.

Dinner is Blumenthal's first restaurant venture outside Bray, where he runs the three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck and the Hind's Head and the Crown pubs.

The kitchen will be headed up by the Fat Duck group executive chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, with the menu celebrating the best of British produce and inspired by recipes dating back to the 16th century.

Dishes will include bergamot cured mackerel salad; slow cooked short rib of beef; and scallops with cucumber ketchup and peas; with a set lunch menu priced £25 for three courses and dinner starting from £55 for three courses à la carte.

Blumenthal's restaurant will be housed in the space formerly occupied by the Mandarin Oriental's Park and Foliage restaurants with expansive windows offering views over Hyde Park.

Interiors will be developed by US-based designer Adam D. Tihany, who said the restaurant will reflect the chef's modern take on tradition. Features will include floor to ceiling glass walls between the kitchen and dinning room as well as a pulley system modelled on a 16th century design for the Royal British Court's kitchens resembling an oversized watch, mechanically rotating a spit over an open fire.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will be the second high profile opening at the Mandarin Oriental, which earlier this year opened renowned US-based French chef Daniel Boulud's Bar Boulud.

Celebrity chefs continue to dominate the UK's dining scene, according to the latest edition of The Good Food Guide, which lists Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc's restaurants as the top three in the country.

The Good Food Guide, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, has named Blumenthal's three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, the top UK restaurant for the third year running awarding it the top score of 10/10.

Ramsay's three-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant in London came in second place scoring 9/10, with Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire in third place with a score of 8/10.

The remainder of the Top 10 UK restaurants is dominated by establishments outside of the capital including Simon Rogan's L'Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria; Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Rock, Cornwall; and Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham.

"Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay continue to delight us with their stuff of genius, world class style and truly memorable dining experiences," comments Elizabeth Carter, consultant editor at The Good Food Guide.

"But we've seen significant changes in the UK restaurant scene over the last year.  A crop of talent has sprung up all over the country, pushing London restaurants out of the top spots with their culinary delights."

The Good Food Guide 2011 will be published on 8 September priced £16.99.

UPDATE: The Good Food Guide today released its Top 10 restaurants but industry blogger Chef Hermes got his hands on the list of all 60 restaurants. See list below.

The Good Food Guide 2011 Top 60 restaurants (thanks to Chef Hermes):
1. The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire (10)
2. Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London (9)
3. Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons,Great Milton, Oxfordshire (8)
4. L'Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria (8)
5. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw,Rock, Cornwall (8)
6. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (8)
7. Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London (8)
8. Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (8)
9. Pied-à-Terre, London (8)
10. The Square, London (8)
11. Hibiscus, London (8)
12. Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, London (8)
13. Adam Simmonds at Danesfield House, Marlow, Buckinghamshire (8)
14. Whatley Manor, Easton Grey, Wiltshire (8)
15. Le Gavroche, London (8)
16. Tom Aikens, London (8)
17. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh, Scotland (8)
18. The Waterside Inn, Bray,Berkshire (7)
19. Bohemia, St Helier, Jersey (7)
20. Fraiche, Oxton, Merseyside (7)
21. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, London (7)
22. Murano, London (7)
23. Anthony's Restaurant, Leeds, Yorkshire (7)
24. Fischer's Baslow Hall, Baslow, Derbyshire (7)
25. Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon (7)
26. Robert Thompson at the Hambrough, Ventnor, Isle of Wight (7)
27. Midsummer House, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (7)
28. Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Wales (7)
29. The Ledbury, London (7)
30. The Crown at Whitebrook, Whitebrook, Wales (7)
31. The Pass, Lower Beeding, West Sussex (7)
32. Mr Underhill's, Ludlow, Shropshire (7)
33. Michael Wignall at the Latymer, Bagshot, Surrey (7)
34. Hambleton Hall, Hambleton, Leicestershire & Rutland (7)
35. Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland (7)
36. Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor, Chester, Cheshire (7)
37. The Creel, St Margaret's Hope, Scotland (7)
38. Harry's Place, Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire (7)
39. The Old Vicarage, Ridgeway, Derbyshire (7)
40. The Greenhouse, London (6)
41. The Kitchin, Edinburgh, Scotland (6)
42. Purnell's, Birmingham, West Midlands (6)
43. Artichoke, Amersham, Buckinghamshire (6)
44. The Sportsman, Whitstable, Kent (6)
45. Club Gascon, London (6)
46. Ramsons, Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester (6)
47. The Yorke Arms, Ramsgill, Yorkshire (6)
48. La Bécasse, Ludlow, Shropshire (6)
49. The Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire (6)
50. Galvin at Windows, London (6)
51. Chez Bruce, London (6)
52. Northcote, Langho, Lancashire (6)
53. Read's, Faversham, Kent (6)
54. The Cellar, Anstruther, Scotland (6)
55. Arbutus, London (6)
56. Zafferano, London (6)
57. The Peat Inn, Peat Inn, Scotland (6)
58. The Capital, London (6)
59. Seven Park Place, London (6)
60. Alimentum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (6)

Good news for wannabe culinary wizards: celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has created a range of packaged food products for supermarket Waitrose.

The three-Michelin-starred chef patron of the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, has created a range of 20 different products for the supermarket.

The items - including chilled ready meals and storage-cupboard products - will go on sale at Waitrose later this year, with a larger selection of goods coming out in time for Christmas.

Priced from £3 upwards, with most products costing in excess of £10, Blumenthal's will be the most expensive range of products sold at Waitrose. The items will include Scottish salmon smoked with Lapsong Souchong tea; Japanese Ponzu dressing; and coriander and rose salt.

The move follows Blumenthal's joint advertising campaign for Waitrose with celebrity domestic goddess Delia Smith.

Blumenthal commented: "We have had an enormous amount of fun developing the different products in the [Waitrose] range and hope that it will offer a little something for everyone to taste and enjoy."

Heston Blumenthal has unveiled the name of his highly anticipated London restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel which will be called Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.

The restaurant, which is set to open at the luxury Knightsbridge hotel in November, will serve a menu centred on contemporary British food based on historical concepts.

The kitchen will be headed up by the Fat Duck group executive chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, who will showcase some of the dishes at Italian chef congress Identità London next week.

Blumenthal said the name Dinner reflects the concept the restaurant is based on. "I wanted to find a name that encapsulated the concept, which has a strong focus on dishes inspired by historic British gastronomy, but was also a bit of fun," he said.

"There has always been confusion in the UK over the names of our midday and evening meals and their origins, so researching this, I discovered the word dinner comes from the old 13th century French word disner, which initially stood for breakfast, and developed to the main meal of the day."

Blumenthal's restaurant will be housed in the space currently occupied by the Mandarin Oriental's Park and Foliage restaurants with expansive windows offering views over Hyde Park.

Interiors will be developed by US-based designer Adam D. Tihany, who said the restaurant will reflect the chef's modern take on tradition. "It will be relatively classic - wooden floors and coffered ceilings - but it'll have some quirkiness to it, too, to give a sense of Blumenthal's creative way of thinking," he said.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will be the second high profile opening at the Mandarin Oriental, which last month opened renowned US-based French chef Daniel Boulud's Bar Boulud.