With thousands of entries already received for The Good Food Guide Readers’ Restaurant of the Year Awards, the frontrunners from across the country have been announced today, as the awards nomination period reaches the halfway point.
But it is still all to play for in these esteemed awards, and any restaurant, pub of café still wishing to get involved has until 14 April to encourage their diners to nominate them.
The awards, organised by the UK’s bestselling restaurant guide, champion local eateries and recognise great food and service from across the UK. Members of the public have until 14 April 2013 to nominate their favourite local, independently-run dining establishments. Ten regional winners will be announced from the public nominations before The Good Food Guide judges crown their overall Readers’ Restaurant of the Year 2014.
Frontrunners
At this halfway stage frontrunners across the regions include:
London: Charlotte’s Place, Ealing; Dishoom, Covent Garden; Angelus, Lancaster Gate; Brula, Twickenham
South East: The Ambrette, Margate, Kent; The Horse Guards Inn, Tillington, West Sussex; L’Ortolan, Shinfield, Berkshire; The Thomas Lord, West Meon, Hampshire
South West: The Muset, Bristol; The Seahorse, Dartmouth, Devon; Menu Gordon Jones, Bath, Somerset; The Hasletown Inn, St Ives, Cornwall
East: The Mistley Thorn, Mistley, Essex; Roger Hickman’s, Norwich, Norfolk; The Leaping Hare, Stanton, Suffolk; Relish, nr Norwich, Norfolk
Midlands: Perkins, Plumtree, Nottinghamshire; Turners, Birmingham; The Vine House, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire; The Inn At Grinshill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
North East: Sukhothai, Leeds; Eric’s Restaurant, Huddersfield, Yorkshire; Lockwoods, Ripon, Yorkshire; Yorke Arms, Ramsgill, Yorkshire
North West: Grenache, Manchester; Lunya, Liverpool; The Cartford Inn, Little Eccleston, Lancashire; The General Burgoyne, Ulverston
Scotland: Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow; Stravaigin, Glasgow; Mountain Café, Aviemore; Cail Bruich Restaurant, Glasgow
Wales: Sosban, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire; Bar 44, Cowbridge, Glamorgan; The Fig Tree, Penarth, Glamorgan; The Foxhunter, Nant-y-derry, Monmouthshire
Northern Ireland: Balloo House, Killinchy, Co Down; Uluru Bistro, Armagh, Co Armagh; The Ginger Bistro, Belfast; Cayenne, Belfast
With over 44,500 nominations received last year there is no doubt how popular the awards are with the public. Last year, Van Zeller in Harrogate clinched the coveted top-spot to win the overall award of The Good Food Guide Readers’ Restaurant of the Year 2013.
To take part in the awards restaurants can encourage their diners to nominate them online at The Good Food Guide, or by making official postcards available in their restaurants until the end of the nomination period on 14 April.
The ten regional winners will be announced at the end of May and the overall winner of The Good Food Guide Readers’ Restaurant of the Year 2014 will be announced at an award ceremony in London in late June.
Restaurants wishing to participate still have time to download and print nomination postcards to give to their diners at The Good Food Guide. Please note: all entries are carefully checked and any unusual or block nominations will be discounted.
Regional winners of The Good Food Guide Readers’ Restaurant of the Year awards will go on to feature in the 2014 edition of The Good Food Guide, published in September 2013.