The Harden’s London Restaurant Guide 2016 is out, with Chez Bruce again winning London’s Favourite Restaurant and Chiltern Firehouse taking the mantle of Most Disappointing Cooking for the first time.
Here are London’s top 10 favourite dining destinations, according to the results of Harden’s 2016 survey of over 6,750 restaurant-goers.
Bruce Poole’s iconic neighbourhood restaurant Chez Bruce was yet again voted London's Favourite Restaurant for the 11th year running. Here you’ll find “no fads – just classic, interesting, perfectly executed cooking” and a cheeseboard that’s “probably visible from space”.
Michel Roux Jr's “flawless and indulgent” Le Gavroche was for the second time voted London's Top Gastronomic experience, toppling Brett Graham's cuisine at The Ledbury off the top spot.
Simon Rogan’s year-old Claridge’s dining room Fera at Claridge’s was a newcomer in the Top 10 Gastronomic Experience, voted the capital’s fourth best gastronomic experience, with “wizard” tasting menus and “astonishingly good wine pairings”.
Also new to the top Gastronomic Experience list this year were Tom Sellers’s Restaurant Story (9), where the multicourse menu is “akin to a trip to the Fat Duck, but at under half the price”; and Mikael Jonsson’s open kitchen venture Hedone (10), thanks to its “unique technical mastery” of “the best ingredients in London”.
Gordon Ramsay continued to make something of a comeback in the survey this year. His flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay appeared on the top 10 Gastronomic Experience list (6) again after dropping off two years ago.
On the other end of the spectrum, here are London’s 10 most disappointing restaurants:
Topping the Most Disappointing Cooking list this year was paparazzi hotspot the Chiltern Firehouse. Nuno Mendes's hotel dining room has taken the title from the Oxo Tower restaurant, which has finally managed to escape the number one spot (now at 2) after 15 years.
The guide’s reporters said Chiltern Firehouse was “full of Z-listers, models and wannabe movers-and-shakers” and “so over-hyped it's hilarious”, as well as having “silly” prices and service that’s “confused (going on obnoxious)”.
Appearing on the Most Disappointing Cooking list for the first time is Jason Atherton's flagship Pollen Street Social (3). According to the survey, complaints of “passionless”, “unmemorable meals” and “conveyor belt service” typified feedback and led to tumbling ratings.
It appears alongside Heston Blumenthal's hotel dining room Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental (6) and Bruno Loubet's Grain Store (5) – another new entry in the top 10 .
The Ledbury was number two on the list of Top Gastronomic Experiences this year, watch our video with Brett Graham cooking egg raviolo with Bianchetto truffles:
The full list:
Top gastronomic experience
1 Le Gavroche
2 The Ledbury
3 Chez Bruce
4 Fera at Claridge’s
5 Dinner
6 Gordon Ramsay
7 Pied a Terre
8 Pollen Street Social
9 Story
10 Hedone
Favourite
1 Chez Bruce
2 Clos Maggiore
3 The Wolseley
4 Le Gavroche
5 J Sheekey
6 Gauthier Soho
7 Le Caprice
8 La Trompette
9 The Ledbury
10 Moro
Best breakfast/brunch
1 The Wolseley
2 The Delaunay
3 Duck & Waffle
4 Riding House Café
5 Roast
6 The Grazing Goat
7 Cecconis
8 Colbert
9 Dean Street Townhouse
10 Balthazar
Best bar/pub food
1 The Anchor & Hope
2 Harwood Arms
3 Bull & Last
4 The Ladbroke Arms
5 The Jugged Hare
6 The Truscott Arms
7 Princess Victoria
8 Pig & Butcher
9 The Camberwell Arms
10 The Eagle
Best for business
1 The Wolseley
2 The Delaunay
3 The Square
4 City Social
5 Galvin La Chapelle
6 L‘Anima
7 Coqd’Argent
8 The Don
9 Scott’s
10 Bleeding Heart Restaurant
Best for romance
1 Clos Maggiore
2 La Poule au Pot
3 Andrew Edmunds
4 Bleeding Heart Restaurant
5 Chez Bruce
6 Le Gavroche
7 Galvin LaChapelle
8 Fera at Claridge’s
9 Le Caprice
10 Gauthier Soho
Most disappointing cooking
1 Chiltern Firehouse
2 Oxo Tower (Rest’)
3 Pollen Street Social
4 Colbert
5 Grain Store
6 Dinner
7 Gordon Ramsay
8 Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester
9 Dabbous
10 The Wolseley
Most overpriced restaurant
1 The River Café
2 Oxo Tower (Rest’)
3 The Chiltern Firehouse
4 Dinner
5 Gordon Ramsay
6 Marcus
7 Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester
8 Pollen Street Social
9 Aqua Shard
10 Savoy Grill
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