Harden's National Guide 2022: Restaurant Sat Bains, Purnell's and Da Terra shine in Harden's top 100 list
Harden's Guide 2023: £100 per head ‘no longer enough' for a top tier meal
Harden's London Restaurants 2022: Core by Clare Smyth and Da Terra are the best restaurants in the capital
Muse By Tom Aikens, Sollip, Kate Nicholls and more celebrated at Harden's London Restaurant Awards 2021
Fraiche named Harden's Best Restaurant 2020
Harden's Guide 2020: London restaurants emerge from record slump
Harden’s London Restaurant Awards 2019 winners revealed
York is the UK’s new foodie hotspot according to Harden's top 100 and the city's top chefs agree!
Harden's 2019 reports record closures for London restaurants
Restaurants charging £100 per head are no longer considered a top price category restaurant following record price rises, according to Harden’s restaurant guide.
Harden’s London Restaurants 2023 notes a general rise of 8.1% in restaurant prices in the 12 months to August 2022 amongst the 1675 establishments it reviews.
Amongst the 58 restaurants charging over £130 per head the rate of increase was 11.7%.
Commenting on these findings, Editor Peter Harden said: “It was the post-Brexit, 2017 edition (published in autumn 2016) in which we first introduced a £100+ top price band at the front of the book. At that time, there were 37 such entries, of which just one had a formula price over £150 per head. Fast forward five years, and £100+ is – in this edition – for the first time the delimiter merely of our second highest price category.”
Record price rises at upscale restaurants mean £100 per head is no longer enough for a “top tier” meal -- inflation at top restaurants is going bonkers compared to those at cheaper ones (nearly ⅓ higher). pic.twitter.com/MJZmiayTwo
— Harden's Guides (@HardensBites) November 10, 2022
Revealing the new top category in the guide, Peter said: “Our highest band is now set at £130+. Now, there are 154 entries in the guide above the £100 level. And in a neat symmetry with the figures above, there are 37 restaurants with a formula price over £150 per head. In fact, there are 17 entries now over £200 per head and six above £250! It feels like everything is speeding up. That’s because it is.”
The general rate of increase was a record in the last decade and the highest in the 20 years since 2000 when the guide started calculating price rise data; with the exception of a blip after the recovery from the great crash (when a rate of 11% was briefly registered in 2011).
Openings and Closures
The guide notes that there has been no ‘twang back’, post pandemic, with 136 newcomers recorded as opening in the year: the lowest level of openings since 2011.
Commenting on this Peter explained: “Many restaurants were already challenged post-Covid. We saw that in reduced opening times; constant anguish in the trade about disastrous post-Brexit staffing problems; and – amidst rising prices – with consumers’ perception of value starting to dive.”
The rate of openings fell this year in London Restaurants but so did the rate of closures. So, before the latest energy and inflation crisis, restaurants had weathered the storm according to the new, 32nd edition of Harden's London Restaurants 2023. But growth was muted. pic.twitter.com/6RpCPqut8B
— Harden's Guides (@HardensBites) November 10, 2022
Looking to the future, Peter added: “How this will now play out with the increased challenge of mounting inflation remains to be seen. It is not a good sign that our data precedes the most recent spikes in prices, and yet diners in our poll were already expressing concerns related to these never-before-seen levels of expense.”
Harden’s 2023 Top Performers
Core by Clare Smyth again topped the poll for where most diners had their best gastronomic experience of the year.
The Selby brothers and their 'Evelyn's table' at the Blue Posts won the #1 food rating in London in the Harden's annual poll of diners. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/vDoZ5PHnZe
— Harden's Guides (@HardensBites) November 10, 2022
The highest average food rating went to Evelyn’s Table amongst restaurants charging over £130 per head, with the guide noting that chef-patrons, the Selby brothers’, “very snug little basement venue for counter-top fine dining shows levels of skill and technique to compete with much better-known places that leave you with a far higher bill” and advise “file this under ‘one to watch’ as they plan to build out the ambition even further”.
Theatreland seafood veteran, J Sheekey, was the poll’s most-mentioned restaurant while Bruce Poole’s neighbourhood star Chez Bruce in Wandsworth topped nominations as diners’ favourite for the 17th year in a row.
Despite worries about Jeremy King’s departure, The Wolseley remained diners’ top choice for a business meal or breakfast and Covent Garden’s Clos Maggiore was again first choice for an important date.
The Harwood Arms topped the category for best Bar & Pub.
The Oxo Tower was again the restaurant registering the most disappointments, while the River Café yet again was voted the capital’s most overpriced establishment, with the guide noting that “no one can doubt the quality of the food, even so the gobsmacking prices are hard to justify”.
In these challenging times…
The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.
Over the last 16 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 560,000 followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.
A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.
Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.
Support Us
CONTRIBUTE
Harden's Guide 2023: £100 per head ‘no longer enough' for a top tier meal
Harden's National Guide 2022: Restaurant Sat Bains, Purnell's and Da Terra shine in Harden's top 100 list
Harden's London Restaurants 2022: Core by Clare Smyth and Da Terra are the best restaurants in the capital
Muse By Tom Aikens, Sollip, Kate Nicholls and more celebrated at Harden's London Restaurant Awards 2021
Fraiche named Harden's Best Restaurant 2020
Harden's Guide 2020: London restaurants emerge from record slump
Harden’s London Restaurant Awards 2019 winners revealed
York is the UK’s new foodie hotspot according to Harden's top 100 and the city's top chefs agree!
Harden's 2019 reports record closures for London restaurants
