Cooking up a storm in the North West

As The Good Food Guide 2011 celebrates its 60th anniversary, standards in the North West show no sign of slipping with 13 new entries and two Editors’ Awards revealed today.

New entries from the North West in The Good Food Guide 2011 include* the Alderley Edge Hotel which has quickly become something of a local ‘institution’ and the Wheatsheaf in Brigsteer, praised for its ‘up-to-date food’ served with high standards of ‘ambition and execution’. This brings the total number of restaurants from the North West in the Guide to 84.

Other top performers were L’Enclume in Cartmel which scored an impressive eight out of ten** and took fourth spot in the Guide’s prestigious Top 60 restaurant list. Northcote in Langho, ramsons in Ramsbottom, Fraiche in Oxton and Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor in Chester, also secured coveted spots in the Guide’s list of Top 60 restaurants in the UK.

Mary-Ellen McTague, from Aumbry in Greater Manchester, received the award for Best Up-and-Coming Chef from The Good Food Guide team. Her small, tentative first project has been created with care on a modest budget and she has been rewarded for her skill at putting good cooking at the heart of her restaurant.

delifonseca in Merseyside has also been recognised with the award for Best Value for Money. Perched above a well-stocked deli, this global bistro offers a popular refuge for shoppers seeking beefed-up sandwiches by day, while by night it serves up local goodies transformed into interesting international dishes.

The Good Food Guide was created in 1951 to raise the standards of dining out in Britain, and two North West restaurants have been impressing diners for decades. Sharrow Bay in Ullswater and White Moss House in Grasmere have been in the Guide for 50 and 38 years respectively.

Elizabeth Carter, Consultant Editor, The Good Food Guide 2011, says:

“The experience of dining out in the North West has been transformed over the last 60 years, and the restaurant scene is thriving. With 13 new entries in The Good Food Guide 2011, plus two Editors’ Awards for Best Up-and-Coming Chef Mary-Ellen McTague and Best Value for Money restaurant delifonseca, dining in the North West is on the up and up.

“We look forward to helping diners find local culinary gems for many years to come.”

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The Good Food Guide ethos - empowering diners to find the very best places to eat and encouraging restaurants to offer the best possible food and service – has remained the same since 1951. Highlights of the past 60 years include:

1950s - First issue of The Good Food Guide produced in 1951
- Pubs and inns dominated the Guides
- Guides included ‘any place where food could be eaten without nausea’
1960s - A taste for foreign food developed as Brits started to go on their first package holidays
- Chinese and Indian food became popular
1970s - Britain started to become known for its restaurants and chefs
- Some of Britain’s greatest chefs appeared in the Guide for the first time, notably Raymond Blanc and Nico Ladenis
1980s - Campaigns for ‘real food’
- The phrase ‘modern British cooking’ was coined by The Good Food Guide
- Marco Pierre White burst onto the scene
1990s - Gordon Ramsay entered the Guide as head chef at Aubergine, London
- Shaun Hill's Merchant House spearheaded the Ludlow phenomenon - a tiny Shropshire town that accumulated a nest egg of top-rated restaurants
2000s - Rise of the ‘gastropub’
- British cooking now has an enviable culinary reputation
- The Fat Duck is considered one of the best restaurants in the world and receives a score of 10 from the Guide, taking the top spot.

Notes to editors

For more information, images of the latest and early editions of The Good Food Guide or an interview with Elizabeth Carter, please contact Nicole Gross on [email protected] or 020 7770 7564.

* The 13 new entries are:
> The Wheatsheaf, Brigsteer
> Blacksmiths Arms, Broughton Mills
> David's Restaurant, Carlisle
> The Pheasant, Cockermouth
> The Duke of York Inn, Grindleton
> Hastings Eating and Drinking House, Lytham
> Dilli, Altringham
> Damson, Heaton Moor
> Aumbry, Prestwich
> The Mark Addy, Salford
> delifonseca, Liverpool
> Peninsula Dining Room, Wallasey
> Alderley Edge Hotel, Alderley Edge

**8/10 A kitchen cooking close to or at the top of its game – highly individual, showing faultless technique and impressive artistry in dishes that are perfectly balanced for flavour, combination and texture. There is little room for disappointment here.

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Posted: Monday 13th September 2010
ID: 2078 - 532