And which Merseyside restaurants made the cut this year?
THE 2019 edition of The Waitrose Good Food Guide is out, revealing this year’s top UK restaurants, award winners and guide entries.
The North West boasts seven restaurants in the guide's Top 50, including two new entries and two in the Top 20.
Chef Simon Rogan's L'Enclume restaurant in Cumbria came in at second place, scoring a perfect 10/10 for cooking for the seventh year running. Like last year, L'Enclume was once again pipped to the top spot by Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall, which ended Rogan's five year reign at the top of the list in 2018’s guide.
Clare Smyth’s Core restaurant in Notting Hill, London, which only opened in August 2017, placed third with a perfect ten score for cooking, making it the guide’s highest ever new entry.
Simon Rogan's former L'Enclume head chef, Mark Birchall of Moor Hall in Aughton, was placed at number eleven this year, fifteen places up from last year’s position of 26.
Only just behind, in thirteenth place is Manchester’s only entry, headed by another Rogan protégé, chef Adam Reid of The French at the Midland, an improvement on last year’s position of seventeen.
Fraiche in Birkenhead moves down five places from position fourteen last year to a respectable nineteenth for 2019, while Forest Side in Cumbria moves up to no. 27 from last year’s 30.
The North West boasts two new entries in the 2019 guide; Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor, which holds one Michelin star, has been placed at no 36, while Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside is in at number 45.
Röski on Rodney Street, a solo venture from MasterChef: The Professionals winner Anton Piotrowski, which caters for both meat-eaters and vegetarians, was named ‘Best for Veggies’.
The Moorcock Inn, a stone pub above Sowerby Bridge, was singled out for ‘Best Use of Ingredients’ and also picked up a special editor’s award as Best New Entry, UK. Judges commented: “food in the must-book restaurant marries localism, foraging and fermentation with an enthusiasm for cooking over fire.”
From a list of regional winners, Joseph Benjamin in Chester came out top in the North West. The bistro’s owners Ben and Joe Wright also own Porta tapas bars in Chester, Altrincham and the soon to open Salford restaurant.
Seventeen Merseyside restaurants made it into The Good Food Guide 2019
60 Hope Street, Liverpool
Bistro 21, Southport
Bistrot Verite, Southport
Fraiche, Oxton
Burnt Truffle, Heswall
Claremont Farm Cafe, Bebington
Delifonseca Dockside, Liverpool
Etsu, Liverpool
Belzan, Liverpool
Lunya, Liverpool
Maray, Liverpool
Salt House Tapas, Liverpool
Roski, Liverpool
Spire, Liverpool
The Art School, Liverpool
The London Carriage Works, Liverpool
Wreckfish, Liverpool
UK Top 50 Restaurants 2019:
1. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall
2. L'Enclume, Cumbria
3. Core by Clare Smyth, West London
4. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottinghamshire
5. Ynyshir, Powys
6. Claude Bosi at Bibendum, West London
7. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, West London
8. Casamia, Bristol
9. Pollen Street Social, Central London
10. The Fat Duck, Berkshire
11. Moor Hall, Lancashire
12. Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Perthshire & Kinross
13. Adam Reid at The French, Greater Manchester
14. Bohemia, Jersey
15. Le Champignon Sauvage, Gloucestershire
16. Restaurant Story, South London
17. André Garrett at Cliveden, Berkshire
18. The Ledbury, West London
19. Fraiche, Merseyside
20. Roganic, Central London
21. Midsummer House, Cambridgeshire
22. Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, Central London
23. The Peat Inn, Fife
24. Marcus, West London
25. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, North London
26. The Kitchin, East Lothian
27. Forest Side, Cumbria
28. A. Wong, Central London
29. Orwells, Oxfordshire
30. Sketch, Lecture Room & Library, Central London
31. Hedone, West London
32. The Ritz, Central London
33. Castle Terrace, Lothians
34. The Three Chimneys, Highlands & Islands
35. The Waterside Inn, Berkshire
36. Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor, Cheshire
37. Restaurant James Sommerin, Glamorgan
38. Whatley Manor, The Dining Room, Wiltshire
39. Matt Worswick at the Latymer, Surrey
40. The Raby Hunt, Co Durham
41. The Greenhouse, Central London
42. The Sportsman, Kent
43. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Lothians
44. Artichoke, Buckinghamshire
45. Lake Road Kitchen, Cumbria
46. Adam's, West Midlands
47. Morston Hall, Norfolk
48. Le Gavroche, Central London
49. The Whitebrook, Monmouthshire
50. Hambleton Hall, Rutland
