It has been another great, gluttonous year for London’s vibrant dining scene, showcasing quality, diversity and innovation. An explosion of restaurant pop-ups and street food vendors means that food-lovers are able to choose from a range of global and innovative cuisines for every meal of the day. There has also been more focus than ever before on the provenance and quality of ingredients ensuring that the very best from local and national producers is sourced to go onto our plates.
Therefore, with all of this increased choice it’s been harder than ever to decide where to eat out in the capital. Luckily, All In London is back with the answer... we have the definitive index of London’s best restaurants, the All In One Ultimate Restaurant List for London 2013.
How it works
The All In One Ultimate Restaurant List is formulated using a closely-guarded algorithm to index the most respected restaurant awards, reviews and scores, producing a definitive, impartial list of London’s best restaurants.
The list collates ratings from established guidebooks such as Michelin, AA and The Good Food Guide, as well as expert industry and media awards including The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, The Sunday Times Top 100 and the Observer Food Monthly Awards, to name but three. Our formula cleverly normalises the various ratings and awards into an easily digestible score allowing you to directly and fairly contrast one London restaurant with another.
Another great year for The Ledbury
When presented with the award, head chef Brett Graham hinted at the keys to The Ledbury's success: “We are constantly working hard and trying to improve. We enjoy what we do and I hope that comes across to our customers. We want to make sure they have the best possible experience.”
Graham's success with The Ledbury belies his youthful 34 years, so from where has his knowledge in creating such a great dining experience come? The chef explains: “My Ledbury business partners Nigel Platts-Martin, and Phil Howard who I worked with at The Square when I first came to London have both taught me a huge amount. I am also constantly learning from the great young, energetic team I have around me at The Ledbury.”
So, in which direction does the award-winning chef see London's dining scene heading in the coming year? “I see more and more restaurants growing their own produce at the moment, and also home brewing – we are currently doing a bit of that here!"
Second place this year was taken by Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, who topped the list in 2011; and third place went to The Square: obviously Philip Howard and co-owner Nigel Platts-Martin's eatery is still a culinary force to be reckoned with after 21 years.
Movers and shakers
We’re pleased to report that the 2013 season has seen the Top100 collective stretching themselves to even greater culinary heights and improving the average Ultimate Restaurant List score by a further 3.4% to 6.282 (2012: 6.078). The runaway winner of the list, The Ledbury aside, is the modestly sized and priced Pitt Cue Co, whose fashionable menu of BBQ ribs, pulled pork, brisket and bourbon is straight in at number 10 this year. Alongside this our ‘ones to watch’ from last year (note to self - remove smug grin) have stormed onto the list with Corner Room, The Delaunay, Hawksmoor Guildhall, Dabbous and North Road (which has disappointingly closed down) all now among London’s Top 100 restaurants. Sketch (The Lecture Room & Library) received a second Michelin star and plenty of praise this year, such that it has been catapulted to number 11 on the list.
Ones to watch
The Ultimate Restaurant List is based solely on third party awards, accolades and results, and therefore until these have had the opportunity to be presented in sufficient numbers to a specific restaurant it will not appear on the All In One Ultimate Restaurant List. This means that results cannot be skewed by a very small number of inputs, but also that some new openings won’t be on the list despite some critical acclaim. However we predict that the following restaurants will have a significant impact on next season’s list:
Restaurant Story is a new opening this year. With ex-Noma’s Tom Sellers at the helm we’d be amazed if it didn’t pick up a whole host of awards.
Balthazar is the London outpost of the famous New York restaurant likely to make an impact on the big guide books.
Duck and Waffle at the top of the Heron Tower created quite a buzz because of its 24-hour opening time, as well as its menu.
Lima is a Peruvian eatery with the added bonus that Executive Chef Virgilio Martinez’s Central restaurant in Peru has earned a place among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Bubbledogs serve hotdogs and champagne, and we assume their very long queues are a precursor to critical acclaim.
HKK is the new restaurant from the hugely successful Hakkasan stable.
To find Q&As with individual chefs in this year's List and other additional info visit the individual restaurant pages on All In London.
The Ledbury tops London’s Ultimate Restaurant List for a second year
Brett Graham and his team at The Ledbury have scooped the gong for a second year running as they top our unified list of London's top 100 restaurants.
Published Jul 8, 2013