London Restaurant Festival names best menus
Dishoom, Juniper Dining, L’Anima and Bistro Bruno Loubet offered the Best Festival Menus during the London Restaurant Festival (LRF), which has drawn to a close this week.
Culminating in an awards ceremony held at Old Spitalfields Market last night, the LRF sought to recognise and reward those restaurants taking part in the fortnight-long event.
While over 20,000 menus were eaten over the festival, just four restaurants were recognised for being best in their category, which included Under £10, £10-£15, £15-£25, Over £25.
"Impressive menus"
Simon Davis, festival director, said: “The awards for Best Festival Menus are particularly important as they recognise the enormous effort and creativity of those London restaurants that have thrown themselves into the festival and served astonishingly impressive menus - also, they are voted for by the public, London's fiercest critics. To win one is a real achievement.”
Seven special judges’ awards, for categories such as Bravery, One Person’s Passion, Warmth & Welcome and Understanding of Ceremony, were also given by a panel of restaurant critics, chaired by LRF organiser Fay Maschler.
“Fay and I find the bog standard Best Italian, Best French and so on rather dull so created these slightly more inspiring ones,” added Davis.
The winners of the Judges Awards are:
Bravery
Winner: Viajante
Runners up: Bistrotheque, Bob Bob Ricard, L’Art du Fromage, Mestizo
One Person’s Passion
Winner: Jeremy Lee (Blueprint Cafe)
Runners up: Jonathan Jones (Anchor & Hope), Ms Marmite Lover (The Underground Restaurant), Pierre Koffmann (Koffmann’s at The Berkeley), Thomas Blythe (St John)
Warmth & Welcome
Winner: Caravan
Runners up: Boundary, Bull & Last, Texture, Tinello
Understanding of Ceremony
Winner: Rules
Runners up: 28-50, Galvin La Chapelle, The Goring, Min Jiang
Discovery
Winner: Koya
Runners up: Ganapati, Madsen, Mestizo, The Tapa Room
Fun
Winner: Ciao Bella
Runners up: Bob Bob Ricard, Byron, Dean St Townhouse, Dishoom
The American Express Award for Innovation
Winner: Pablo Flack and David Waddington (Bistrotheque, Reindeer, Flash, Studio East, The Supersonic Masonique Supper club)
The winners of the Best Festival Menus, are:
Best Festival Menu Under £10
Dishoom (lunch menu for £7)
Best Festival Menu £10-15
Juniper Dining (dinner – 2 courses for £15)
Best Festival Menu £15-25
L’Anima (3 courses for £25)
Best Festival Menu Over £25
Bistro Bruno Loubet (3 courses for £30)
