The UK’s top 100 restaurants are revealed in Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2018 published today – the country’s most comprehensive restaurant guide available in bookshops, with approximately twice the number of entries as The Good Food Guide. The guide hails London’s The Araki as the country’s best restaurant. The experience is “world class” and, at £385-a-head, the price is work class too – but diners say it’s “worth every penny” for Mitsuhiro Araki’s incredible sushi… “can heaven be far away?”.
After sushi specialist The Araki, second place – and the highest ranking restaurant outside the capital – goes to the Sanchez-Inglesias family’s Casamia in Bristol: “a magical experience with clever cuisine, impeccable service, and yet somehow still with a cosy and friendly feel about it”. And rounding out the top three is Notting Hill landmark The Ledbury where chef Brett Graham’s “stunningly well-crafted” cuisine and the dining room’s “unpretentious, customer-first attitude” mean it more than lives up to the hype.
Of the Harden’s 100 Best UK Restaurants, the split in representation between London and non-London restaurants was exactly 50/50 (so long as you include Kew in the capital). This is the first year the Harden’s 100 list of top restaurants has been published independently from The Sunday Times, who made the ranking the basis of their annual Food List supplement for 6 years from 2010 to 2015.
Harden’s 27th annual poll of diners, surveyed 8,500 participants who contributed 50,000 reviews, which, as curated by the editors, form the basis for the inclusions and ratings in the guide.
1 The Araki, London
2 Casamia, The General, Bristol
3 The Ledbury, London
4 Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac
5 The Fat Duck, Bray
6 Marianne, London
7 Waterside Inn, Bray
8 Black Swan, Oldstead
9 Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
10 The Clove Club, London
11 Gidleigh Park, Chagford
12 Fraiche, Oxton
13 Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
14 Ormer Mayfair, London
15 Gareth Ward at Ynyshir, Eglwys Fach
16 Sushi Tetsu, London
17 Story, London
18 L’Enclume, Cartmel
19 Yorke Arms, Ramsgill-in-Nidderdale
20 The Greenhouse, London
21 Midsummer House, Cambridge
22 Le Gavroche, London
23 Pied à Terre, London
24 Sketch, Lecture Room, London
25 Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Great Milton
26 Umu, London
27 Bubbledogs, Kitchen Table, London
28 The Five Fields, London
29 Raby Hunt, Summerhouse
30 Moor Hall, Aughton
31 Bohemia, The Club Hotel & Spa, Jersey
32 Adam’s, Birmingham
33 Texture, London
34 Estiatorio Milos, London
35 Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder
36 Morston Hall, Morston
37 Hélène Darroze, The Connaught Hotel, London
38 Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo
39 The Box Tree, Ilkley
40 Le Cochon Aveugle, York
41 Pétrus, London
42 Hedone, London
43 Hambleton Hall, Hambleton
44 The Neptune, Old Hunstanton
45 The Ritz, London
46 Roux at Parliament Square, RICS, London
47 The Kitchin, Edinburgh
48 Murano, London
49 Llangoed Hall, Llyswen
50 Paul Ainsworth at No. 6, Padstow
51 108 Garage, London
52 Hakkasan Mayfair, London
53 Chez Bruce, London
54 Lympstone Manor, Exmouth
55 Jamavar, London
56 Hunan, London
57 The Forest Side, Grasmere
58 The Art School, Liverpool
59 André Garrett At Cliveden, Taplow
60 House of Tides, Newcastle upon Tyne
61 Artichoke, Amersham
62 5 North Street, Winchcombe
63 Goodman City, London
64 Trishna, London
65 Wilks, Bristol
66 Norn, Edinburgh
67 One-O-One, Park Tower Knightsbridge, London
68 The Three Chimneys, Dunvegan
69 Elystan Street, London
70 Typing Room, Town Hall Hotel, London
71 La Trompette, London
72 Where The Light Gets In, Stockport
73 The Man Behind The Curtain, Leeds
74 Restaurant James Sommerin, Penarth
75 Marcus, The Berkeley, London
76 The Whitebrook, Restaurant with Rooms, Whitebrook
77 Pollen Street Social, London
78 Gauthier Soho, London
79 Zuma, London
80 La Petite Maison, London
81 Locanda Locatelli, Hyatt Regency, London
82 Northcote, Langho
83 The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, Marlborough
84 The Woodspeen, Newbury
85 The Sportsman, Seasalter
86 The Glasshouse, Kew
87 Wiltons, London
88 Purnells, Birmingham
89 Coya, London
90 La Dame de Pic London, London
91 Roka, London
92 Seafood Restaurant, Padstow
93 The Seahorse, Dartmouth
94 The Peat Inn, Cupar
95 Scott’s, London
96 Stovell’s, Chobham
97 Trinity, London
98 Portland, London
99 Min Jiang, The Royal Garden Hotel, The Royal Garden Hotel, London
100 Medlar, London
