Casamia named as the UK's Best Restaurant by SquareMeal 2018

The SquareMeal top 100 best UK restaurants for 2018 has been announced, but which restaurants have made the list?

• Who is Peter Sanchez-Iglesias and where is Casamia?
• Which restaurants made it on to the SquareMeal Best UK Restaurant list of 2017?
• Read the original article on the 2018 top 100 restaurant list here

Casamia in Bristol, run by chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, has been named as the best regional restaurant in the UK in 2018 by online restaurant guide Squaremeal.co.uk. The list showcases the best 100 restaurants outside London and is voted for by food bloggers, Squaremeal readers and foodies.

Flying into first place is Casamia in Bristol which was ranked the top restaurant having previously achieved 12th position in last year’s list. Casamia's kitchen is run by chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias with his father Paco running front-of-house and his mother running the accounts.

On the Casamia instagram they said:  "WOW! We are totally blown away, being voted Best UK Restaurant 2018 by @squaremeal.co.uk Thank you everyone for the support and following us on our journey and to my team, who continue to smash it for Bristol."

Casamia is situated on Bristol’s historic waterfront and offers a seasonally focused menu where diners are often served by the chefs, in an elegant room that blurs the boundaries between kitchen and customers.

The win is particularly poignant for the Sanchez-Iglesias family after Jonray Sanchez-Iglesias (Peter's brother) sadly passed away in 2015. The kitchen was originally run by both brothers with Peter taking the helm after Jonray's death.

SquareMeal editor, Ben McCormack, said: "With its 14-course tasting menu, space for just 35 diners, restricted opening hours and contemporary good looks, Casamia has everything you would expect from an ambitious destination restaurant in one of Britain's most vibrant cities".

Upon hearing the news of Casamia’s fantastic achievement Peter said: “We’ve always thought outside the box and questioned everything, down to the last little detail, to be able to make the restaurant into the dining experience we want it to be. This award shows that what we’re doing could be even more incredible in the future, and it should encourage everybody to believe that you can have a number one restaurant based in Bristol.”

Increasing by one place to be named as the second-best restaurant in the top 100 is Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in Cumbria which holds two Michelin stars. Chef Rogan’s culinary style is all about distilling the essence of flavour, allowing nature, landscape and the seasons to gel harmoniously on the plate.

Last year’s top restaurant The Sportman in Kent which has been awarded the third place in the list. Run by chef Stephen Harris, it offers “locally sourced and home-created ingredients” that The Sportsman’s kitchen puts to use in “sublime dishes evocative of the seaside”.

Oxfordshire’s Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons has been named the fourth most popular restaurant (falling two places from last year’s list). Famed for their “exceptionally creative” French-inspired cooking, the restaurant offers “superb, well-balanced menu full of seasonal flavours and surprises”.

Across the border to Berkshire sees Bray's The Fat Duck in fifth place, Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-starred wonderland continues to excite diners with its innovative dishes.

Tom Kerridge’s The Hand and Flowers in Marlow has attained sixth place in the list of the UK’s top 100 restaurants with chef Kerridge continuing his success of fifth place back in 2017.

Enjoying an increase of ten places to be the 7th most popular restaurant in the UK's top 100  is Brighton-based 64 Degrees with Great British Menu 2017’s Michael Bremner at the helm delivering a daily menu of “clever, clever” small plates (four each of meat, fish, veg and desserts)

Representing the East Midlands is the two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Sat Bains where chef patron Sat offers colour-coded tasting menus which utilise local produce.

Daniel Clifford is another member of the two-Michelin star club and his restaurant Midsummer House is celebrating its 20th year anniversary which is renowned for its exquisite tasting menus with dishes like maple-glazed veal sweetbread with poached turnip, ox tongue, pistachio and maple syrup foam on offer.

Coming in at tenth place is The Waterside Inn which is situated in Bray (meaning two of the top 100 restaurants are based in this small Berkshire town) The Waterside offers top-end French gastronomy and is headed up by celebrated chef Alain Roux.

Visit the Squaremeal.co.uk website to view the full list of the top 100 restaurants here.