UNITED KINGDOM Good Food guide 2012

photos taken from the good food guide

In my last trip to London,i was able to try Hibiscus, Pollen street social and Gordon Ramsay and this list of the GOod Food guide only makes me want to go back to try the rest. The fat duck is a train ride away so it was not possible to do it on my trip because my focus was on the summer olympics so i tried to stay in the city center and went about to cover olympic games. Pollen street social by Jason Atherton is very near Hibiscus and has a great bar. Hibiscus has its stars "maitre d Laurent, and server John ( i joke with them and called them Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano),Gordon is an institution and i think he carries that to all his different brands throughout the country.

I wasnt able to try Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck this time but we managed to get a reservation at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Hyde Park (thanks to my super amazing best friend) and that dinner was the bomb. Every dish was top notch. Amazing dinner.

I am salivating writing this so i will stop.. Here's the Good FOod Guide's top 10!

The Good Food Guide's Top 50 listing is now firmly established; a placing within it is greatly coveted by all chefs and restaurateurs. This year, we have seen some changes in the top 10.
1. The Fat Duck, Berkshire (10)
2. L’Enclume, Cumbria (9)
3. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottinghamshire (9)
4. Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London (9)
5. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (8)
6. Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire (8)
7. Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London (8)
8. Pollen Street Social, London (8)
9. Hibiscus, London (8)
10. The Square, London (8)

Heston hangs on
Heston Blumenthal retains the UK’s culinary crown, with the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire retaining its 10 out of 10 rating in continued recognition that eating here is the experience of a lifetime. Once again the Fat Duck is the only restaurant in the Guide to be awarded this rating, and as the Guide's scoring guidelines explain, it is extremely rare that a restaurant can achieve perfect dishes on a consistent basis. But a new elite of chefs are hot on Heston's heels...

The new elite

The Good Food Guide 2012 reveals that a passionate group of chefs and their highly individual cooking styles are having a significant and thrilling impact on the UK dining scene – as shown in this year's Top 50 rankings. Chefs Simon Rogan at L’Enclume, Sat Bains at Restaurant Sat Bains and new entry Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social are redefining ideas on what is good food and what constitutes a great restaurant.
Elizabeth Carter, Consultant Editor of the Guide, confirms: ‘Personally I am extremely excited by the surge this collective of chefs is showing in our top 10 rankings – whilst it’s impossible to pigeonhole them, each is devising quality dishes fusing classical skills and modern methods – it’s the vividness of the imagination they all display which is truly thrilling.’

A vibrant dining scene
Other chefs making their presence felt at the upper end of the Guide’s ranking include honorary Englishman Claude Bosi, whose London restaurant Hibiscus appears in the top 10 for the first time as a serious contender on the international food scene, and Cornwall’s Nathan Outlaw, holding on to the number 5 position, who offers one of the finest dining experiences in the south west (or anywhere).
Popular stalwarts Raymond Blanc, Marcus Wareing, Gordon Ramsay and Philip Howard make up the rest of the top 10 as they all continue to deliver excellent fine dining to the public.
The Good Food Guide 2012 showcases what has been a fascinating year for dining in the UK. The dining scene across the country is vibrant, with some supremely talented chefs serving innovative food which is winning our readers’ hearts – there is much to be excited about.