London restaurants have dominated a list of Britain’s favourite culinary destinations, with five out of the top 10 based in the capital.
The Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, with three Michelin stars, clinched number one spot in a poll of diners who use the booking website Toptable. The celebrity chef also took third spot with French restaurant Pétrus, in Knightsbridge.
King of experimental cooking Heston Blumenthal secured two top 10 positions with The Fat Duck in Bray in second place — the only restaurant outside London in the top five — and Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel near Hyde Park ranking fifth.
The two Michelin-starred Ledbury in Notting Hill and Clos Maggiore in Covent Garden also made the top 10.
In total, London restaurants made up just over half the country’s 100 best-loved dining rooms, compared with just four in England’s second city Birmingham , six in Manchester and nine in the whole of Scotland.
The rankings were generated from 340,000 reviews submitted in the last year for around 4,000 restaurants across the country.
British was the most popular cuisine on the list, accounting for nearly 30 per cent, followed by French 24 per cent and modern European 16 per cent.
Toptable’s Lucy Taylor said: “The restaurants on the top 100 list take every opportunity to deliver a superb dining experience and represent a collection of wonderfully diverse restaurants across the UK. These restaurants are consistently getting it right on every level, from first-rate ambience and service to wine lists and dishes that rarely fail to impress.”
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay’s chef-patron Clare Smyth said: “This is just fantastic news, especially as it’s been awarded on our own guests’ reviews. We always strive to make each guest’s experience of eating with us as relaxed and enjoyable as we possibly can. I’m extremely proud of the entire team.”
Ramsay, 47, is building on his success with the announcement of details of his 24th restaurant opening in the capital.
London House in Battersea Square will focus on modern European food and seasonal produce and will have Irish chef Anna Kelly at the helm.
The new restaurant is described as “relaxed” and “contemporary.”
