Thousands of nominations have already been received for the prestigious Good Food Guide 2012 Restaurant of the Year Award, but with a month left to nominate, restaurants can still encourage diners to support them.

The Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year Award recognises culinary excellence and good service at restaurants, pubs and cafés across the UK.

The award gives people the opportunity to nominate their favourite local establishment across the UK regions, with the criteria that restaurants should be independently run and offer local produce where possible. The regional winners will be announced before The Good Food Guide judges whittle them down to crown their overall Restaurant of the Year.

At this halfway stage front runners include: Scotland

• Blackaddie - Dumfriesshire
• Stravaigin - Glasgow
• Ondine - Edinburgh
• Eat on the Green - Ellon, Aberdeenshire

North West

• The Lime Tree, Manchester
• Spire, Liverpool
• Northcote, Langho, Lancashire
• Food by Breda Murphy, nr Clitheroe, Lancashire

North East

• Salvo's, Leeds
• Lockwoods, Ripon
• Van Zeller, Harrogate

Midlands

• The Old Bakery, Lincoln
• Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire
• Edmunds, Birmingham

London

• Charlotte's Place, Ealing
• L'Etranger, South Kensington
• Hawksmoor, Spitalfields
• The French Table, Surbiton

East

• Roger Hickman's Restaurant, Norwich
• The Swan Inn, Monks Eleigh, Ipswich
• Alimentum, Cambridge

South East

• Orwells, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
• The Vanilla Pod, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
• Restaurant 27, Southsea, Hampshire
• The Swan Inn, Chiddingfold, Surrey

Wales

• Cwtch, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire
• Llys Meddyg, Newport, Pembrokeshire
• Maes yr Haf, The Gower, Swansea
• Bwyfy Mawddach, Dolgellau, Gwynedd

South West

• Browns Hotel, Tavistock, Devon
• The Swan, Southrop, Gloucestershire
• The Mill Tea and Dining, Lyme Regis, Dorset
• Bohemia, St. Helier, Jersey

Elizabeth Carter, Consultant Editor, The Good Food Guide, says: "Our Restaurant of the Year awards are a great way of recognising and rewarding outstanding cooking and exemplary service, and we still want to hear from your customers if you think your establishment has got what it takes to be a winner."

Last year's awards saw more than 25,000 members of the public nominating their favourite restaurants, with The Swan at Southrop in Gloucestershire beating off the competition to win the coveted crown of The Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year. The closing date for nominations is 29^th April 2011. Nominations can be made online or by sending in a postcard, available for restaurants to download and print.  Every customer who submits a nomination will be entered into a free prize draw for a meal for two. The regional winners will be announced at the end of May and the overall winner of The Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year Award will be announced at a ceremony at Kings Place, London on 23^rd June.

>>> Read more on the Good Food Guide 2016