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Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) is to continue to operate its restaurant at Claridge's but the hotel's owner, the Maybourne Hotel Group, has extended the contract by only 12 months.

The celebrity chef, who has run the former Michelin-starred restaurant at the five-star Mayfair hotel since 2001, was widely tipped not to have the 10-year lease renewed after Maybourne closed his previous restaurants at the Connaught and the Berkeley.

"While the GRH contract was due for renewal this year, it has been agreed to extend it into 2012," said a spokeswoman for Maybourne.

GRH's latest accounts revealed that Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's saw a 6.3% decline in footfall in the year to 31 August 2010. The restaurant, which was previously run by Mark Sargeant, lost its Michelin star in 2009 after seven years.

GRH previously operated four restaurants at Maybourne's London hotels including Angela Hartnett at Connaught; and Pétrus and Boxwood Café at the Berkeley. None of the restaurants' contracts were renewed upon expiry and are now occupied by Hélène Darroze; Marcus Wareing and Pierre Koffmann respectively.

The AA will today announce the latest additions to its restaurant awards, with 13 establishments being honoured with three AA rosettes.

Among the winners are a mix of newcomers and existing operators including six establishments in London, six in England and one in Scotland.

New restaurants being elevated to the three-rosette-status, which rewards outstanding restaurants demanding recognition well beyond their local area, include Limewood in the New Forest and Kenny Atkinson's eatery at Rockliffe Hall in Darlington, County Durham, as well as Pierre Koffmann's eponymous restaurant at the Berkeley hotel; Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes's Viajante; and Alexis Gauthier's eponymous restaurant, all in London.

Among the more established operators to have gained three rosettes are the Ritz in London and the Royal Oak at Paley Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire, which last year gained a Michelin star.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings' Maze in London has been demoted to three AA rosettes, having previously held four rosettes, following the departure of both chef patron Jason Atherton and executive chef James Durrant last summer.

Three AA Rosette winners:

London:
The Ritz, Piccadilly
Viajante, Bethnal Green
Gauthier, Soho
Koffmann's, Knightsbridge
Roussillon, Pimlico
Maze, Mayfair

England:
The Royal Oak at Paley Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire
Lower Slaughter Manor, Gloucestershire
Peacock at Rowsley, Derbyshire
Kenny Atkinson at the Orangery, Darlington, Co Durham
Limewood, Lyndhurst, New Forest
The Black Swan, Oldstead, Yorkshire

Scotland:
The Torridon, Torridon

Read Caterersearch coverage for comments from the new AA rosette winner.

Liverpool chef Claire Lara has been named the winner of the BBC's Masterchef: The Professionals 2010.

30-year-old Lara, who is the first woman to win the title, was crowned the winner after a gruelling final under the watchful eyes of judges Michel Roux Jr and Gregg Wallace in which she beat fellow competitors David Coulson and John Calton.

The judges praised Lara for her brilliance and consistency throughout the competition. "Claire has an immense amount of talent. Her cooking skills are a revelation," said Roux. "We started this competition looking for a talent and we have uncovered a diamond. She has that exceptional talent that will take her to stardom."

A speechless Lara said: "I am so happy. I thought everyone was pretty good. This is brilliant."

The final of Masterchef: The Professionals comprised a series of tasks, which included a patisserie challenge judged by acclaimed French patissier Pierre Hermé as well as a service at René Redzepi's Noma in Copenhagen, which was this year named the best restaurant in the world.

Another challenge saw the contestants create a three-course menu at a dinner held at London's Pearl restaurant for some of the UK's most acclaimed chefs with more than 40 Michelin stars between them. They included Pierre Koffmann, Alain Roux, Michael Caines, Brett Graham and Phil Howard.

The Masterchef: The Professionals final culminated in a cook off during which the chefs each created a three course meal.

Lara's winning menu comprised a starter of crispy skinned sea trout with apple purée and caper and cider beurre blanc; followed by a main course of roasted boneless pigeon on mashed potato and peas and pancetta with quince jelly and a red wine sauce. Her dessert comprised raspberry and white chocolate millefeuille with lemon thyme discs and raspberries.

Giles Coren enjoys the food at Street Kitchen, a mobile pop-up restaurant, which forms part of the London Restaurant Festival fortnight.

Serving food by Jun Tanaka (Pearl) and Mark Jankel (The Food Initiative), The Times' food critic says he has the the perfect restaurant experience: "No menu, no waiters, no lighting, no music, no waiting around, nothing."

Meanwhile The Sunday Times' AA Gill finds what he calls the top roadside restaurant in Britain in the House of Bruar by Blair Atholl, Perthshire.

"Altogether, the food at Bruar is a miracle of loaves-and-fishes proportions. It's probably the best motorway restaurant in Britain," he  enthuses.

Writing in the Independent, Tracey Macleod finds a "dream of a local restaurant" in Trullo in Islington, north London, which serves high quality Italian food at affordable prices.

Lisa Markwell, writing in the Independent on Sunday, says despite the huge meat-and-potato portions at Moran's in Sheffield and the chef's overuse of salt she'd return thanks to the team's enthusiasm and commitment.

John Lanchester of The Guardian finds well-judged, of-the-moment cooking at a great price at the Hawke & Hunter in Edinburgh and can't understand why the place is empty?

The Observer's Jay Rayner says there's a beer for everyone at the third outpost of London-based pub group the Draft House at Tower Bridge - even one for people like him who don't like really like beer.

The Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams dines at Koffmann's where, a challenging pig's trotter aside, she loves the deceptively plain cooking at this smart French restaurant.

Chris and Jeff Galvin's latest restaurant venture Galvin La Chapelle has been named the top newcomer by London restaurant guide Zagat.

The French restaurant in Spitalfields, east London, was praised for its "striking setting" and "absolutely superb" food offering and beat Italian restaurant Babbo and Philip Howard and Rebecca Mascarenhas's Kitchen W8 to win the award.

The 2011 Zagat London Restaurants survey, which includes ratings and reviews of nearly 1,200 restaurants in London and the surrounding area by more than 4,850 regular diners, gave Brett Graham's two-Michelin-starred Ledbury the award for best food, with The Ritz picking up the award for best décor and Caprice Holdings' Mark's Club coming top for service.

Gordon Ramsay's three-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant on Royal Hospital Road was named the most popular restaurant overall at the awards presentation, which took place at Koffmann's this morning.

Gordon Ramsay said he was honoured to have won the award. "It's all down to the team so big thanks to them," he said.

The celebrity chef also extended thanks to Pierre Koffmann, adding that he would not have been able to open the restaurant on the former site of La Tante Claire 12 years ago without his help. "He let me pay him half of the money upfront and the other half a year later, which coming from a French man was pretty amazing," he said.

Iconic French chef Pierre Koffmann's return to the London restaurant scene was the focus of this weekend's restaurant reviews and his cooking did not disappoint the critics.

The former three-Michelin-starred chef launched his new eponymous restaurant at London's Berkeley hotel last month, where he serves a menu of traditional French fare full of gutsy flavours.

Writing in The Times, Giles Coren comments that the restaurant marks the return of a much missed old master, while The Independent's Tracey MacLeod says "like a legendary rock star going back on the road for one last triumphant tour, Koffmann has returned to his roots".  Meanwhile in The Independent on Sunday Lisa Markwell is enthused by the charming service at Koffmann's as much as the food.

Elsewhere, The Observer's Jay Rayner discovers a truly authentic Japanese restaurant in Sushi of Shiori, which serves a menu showing exquisite attention to detail but which is sadly let down by the ever important rice. "Unfortunately the rice at Shiori just ain't all that: cold, claggy, under-flavoured, underwhelming. It is such a shame, because everything else is so good," he says.

The Sunday Telegraph's food critic Zoe Williams wants to love vegetarian Italian restaurant Amico Bio but just can't because despite the charming ambience and service the food is just awful. "It's enough to give vegetarianism a bad name, but anything's enough for that. This is enough to put you off all vegetables," she complains.

The second London Restaurant Festival will run in the capital for two weeks in October.

The event was launched last year by the London Evening Standard's food critic Fay Maschler and Simon Davis, who together run restaurant consultancy Private View. It is a citywide celebration of dining out designed to raise the profile of restaurants involved and drive footfall.

Supported by Mayor of London Boris Johnson and tourism body Visit London, the 2010 London Restaurant Festival will run for two weeks from 4-18 October compared with six days last year. Restaurant operators in the capital can register to take part in the event by entering their details on its website.

Last year, the London Restaurant Festival attracted more than 500 operators and saw a myriad of events take place including the high profile pop up restaurant of iconic chef Pierre Koffmann on the roof of department store Selfridges, which ran for more than seven weeks.

Last week, Italian chef Francesco Mazzei, co-owner of L'Anima in the City of London (which is closing for an extension this summer), went on a mission to find the perfect potato for gnocchi.

Mazzei and his team of chefs set out to test three different varieties of potatoes to see which one would make the best base for the Italian staple, with iconic French chef Pierre Koffmann testing the final product.

The varieties of potatoes on the menu were: Markies, Ramos and Sierra Gold which were supplied by QV Foods.

After boiling, peeling and ricing the potatoes, the chefs added flower and egg yolk to make the gnocchi dough, which they rolled out into strips, cut into pieces and shaped with a ridged, wooden gnocchi board.

First up was the Markies potato, which Mazzei mixed with dried spinach to give the gnocchi a vivid green colour. Markies are the new rival of the ever popular Maris Piper; they are a good all-round kitchen potato with a floury texture and mild flavour.

Mazzei served the Markies gnocchi with basil pesto and the result was a bright green plate of food made up of gorgeous, light and fluffy gnocchi perfectly balanced by the sweet basil sauce. "A definite winner," judge Koffmann declared.  

Tom Kitchin, chef-proprietor of the Micheli-starred Kitchin in Edinburgh, receives fulsome praise from Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph for scouring the Highlands for the best quality ingredients.

The result is an exceptionally well produced menu that is unashamedly Scottish, hardy rather than twirly, showcasing the influence of Kitchin's mentors Pierre Koffmann and Alain Ducasse.

Meanwhile Sicilian restaurant Mennula garners another rave review, with John Walsh in The Independent praising chef-patron Santino Busciglio's knack of combining his grandmother's recipes with new flavours.

In The Times Giles Coren takes up a new cause: that of the vegetarian diner. In his search for a restaurant that serves non-meat eaters with something that is inspiring and enticing, he comes up with a corker in Philip Howard's new restaurant, Kitchen W8 in London.

His counterpart at the Sunday Times, AA Gill, is equally impressed with Kitchen W8 saying that while the food isn't quite as immaculately pristine as The Square, it is far better than anything else you can eat in Kensington.

Jay Rayner, restaurant critic of The Observer, pays a visit to Polpo, a Venetian-style bacaro in London's Soho, and likes what he finds. He is impressed by the authentic bare brick walls and distressed painted wood and - apart from a couple of minor gripes - with the quality and the price of the food, which is served tapas-style.

Selfridges is planning a permanent restaurant on the roof of its London department store following the massive success of Pierre Koffmann's pop-up restaurant.

The iconic store on Oxford Street has revealed it is looking for a chef to head up the potential venture.

Koffmann, the former three-Michelin-starred chef patron of the famous La Tante Claire restaurant, was initially scheduled to run his temporary eaterie for one week as part of the London Restaurant Festival. But it was extended for 39 days following the huge number of requests for bookings. 

Selfridges food and restaurants director Ewan Venters said demand far exceeded expectations, with the restaurant catering for 8,000 diners in total.

"We created an environment that equalled the quality of food produced by Koffmann, which led to so many guests say that we ought to have a permanent feature on the roof of Selfridges," he said.

"So much so that the search has begun to find the right chef and concept for a future project, whatever that might look like."