Fish out of water as only one restaurant from region makes Top 50

Only one Yorkshire restaurant is among the nation's top 50, according to the new edition of the Good Food Guide, published today by Waitrose.
Nathan Outlaw, whose Cornish fish restaurant has been named the best in the UKNathan Outlaw, whose Cornish fish restaurant has been named the best in the UK
Nathan Outlaw, whose Cornish fish restaurant has been named the best in the UK

The annual tome lists 1,200 of the best places to eat, including 68 in Yorkshire, but does not rank those from 51 downwards.

Last year’s book did not include any restaurants from the region in its top selection. But Michael O’Hare’s The Man Behind The Curtain on Vicar Lane in Leeds city centre has made it to number 50 this time. The menu there includes sea urchin and hand massaged octopus.

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A fish restaurant in Cornwall, named after its owner, is said to be the best in the country. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw knocked Cumbria’s L’Enclume into second place after five years at the top.

Mr Outlaw, 39, who has worked with the TV chef Rick Stein and has two Michelin stars, was praised for his efforts to “educate and encourage the public appetite for fish”.

He said: “It just goes to show that if you stay true to yourself, get your head down, look after your customers and use the very best ingredients available to you, you’ll make it to the top.”

Some of the more unusual restaurants outside the top 50 include another Leeds establishment, Vice and Virtue, housed in a former strip club on New Briggate, and the Marram Grass Cafe, on a caravan site in Anglesey.

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Peter Sanchez-Iglesias was named chef of the year for the seasonal cuisine at Casamia in Bristol, while Ben Crittenden was named “chef to watch” for Stark in Broadstairs, Kent, a restaurant that seats only 12 and has no room for even a toilet.

Pollen Street Social in London, and Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham were rated third and fourth respectively,