Brett Graham and his team at The Ledbury have won for the third year running as the top London restaurant in the All In London’s All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List, 2014.
It has been another great year for the 2 Michelin star, Notting Hill restaurant, the consistency and innovation of which has confirmed its position as London’s ruling eatery by scooping the award.
The list of London’s top 100 restaurants, compiled by the website All In London.co.uk, unifies and normalises the myriad of dining awards and ratings into one easy to digest, definitive index. In short, the website’s development team has formulated a mathematical algorithm which weights and assesses the various local, national and global awards, accolades and industry momentum to rank restaurants based on their standing over the preceding 12 months.
When presented with the award, head chef Brett Graham hinted at the keys to The Ledbury's success: “Consistency is important to us and this award shows what a great job our team is doing here 7 days a week.” He added, “I like to think we try our best to make people’s experience a relaxed one and not over-service them at the table."
Second place this year was taken by The Ledbury’s sister restaurant The Square, obviously
Philip Howard and co-owner Nigel Platts-Martin's eatery is still a culinary force to be reckoned with after over 20 years… and third place went to Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley (now simply “Marcus”), the winner of the Ultimate Restaurant List in 2011.
Angela Hartnett’s empire continues to go from strength-to-strength; she climbs 21 places with ‘Murano by
Angela Hartnett’, which is placed at number 12. The biggest climber this year was ‘Launceston Place’ which under the guidance of Head Chef
Tim Allen who took over in 2012, jumped 30 places to position 37.
Other notable entries include Restaurant Story and HKK entering the list neck and neck at 23, while Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs is in at 61.
All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List 2014, Top 10:
1. The Ledbury - Score: 8.597
2. The Square - Score: 8.442
3. Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley (now “Marcus”) - Score: 8.425
4.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal - Score: 8.367
5.
Le Gavroche - Score: 8.191
6. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay - Score: 8.125
7. Alain Ducasse at
The Dorchester - Score: 8.068
8. Hibiscus - Score: 8.025
9. Pollen Street Social - Score: 7.911
10.
Pied á Terre - Score: 7.725
As for the future, All In London anticipates high-ranking entries in 2015's list to include the likes of:
- Ametsa With Arzak Instruction is the new restaurant at The Halkin and has already won itself a Michelin star.
- Fera at Claridge’s by Simon Rogan.
- Chiltern Firehouse with Nuno Mendes (formerly of Viajante) at the kitchen helm.
- Typing Room, Viajante’s replacement in The Town Hall Hotel, has young, ambitious Lee Westcott (protégé of Jason Atherton and previously Head Chef at Chelsea’s Tom’s kitchen) as Head Chef.
- City Social by Jason Atherton. His track record and current status suggests this latest offering is also destined for great things.
- Lyle’s is the first solo venture from James Lowe of the hugely successful Young Turks, his previous partner Isaac McHale having opened Clove Club which has been a hit this year.
- Pavilion in Kensington is a recent opening from Adam Simmonds, who previously ran the Michelin starred restaurant at Danesfield House in Marlow.
- Merchant’s Tavern is the latest of Angela Hartnett’s London offerings run by her boyfriend Neil Borthwick.
- Gymkhana counts the ever-popular Trishna as it’s older sister and has received much critical praise including scooping the ‘National Restaurant of the Year’ title in June 2014.
A hardcopy of 2014’s All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List will be available across London and via All In London.co.uk from 15th July.
