National Restaurant Awards: Barrafina Adelaide Street takes 2015 title

By Emma Eversham

- Last updated on GMT

National Restaurant Awards: Barrafina Adelaide Street takes 2015 title

Related tags Best restaurant Rick stein Tapas

Barrafina Adelaide Street has been named the National Restaurant of the Year 2015.

Sam and Eddie Hart’s restaurant, which opened less than a year ago (7 July), topped the list of the 100 best restaurants in the UK as voted for by 150 industry experts from across the UK.

Restaurant editor Stefan Chomka said: "It’s a sign of the times that a restaurant that doesn’t take reservations can top the list of the best in the country, but that’s just part of Barrafina Adelaide Street’s charm. The second site of this buzzy modern Spanish tapas bar run by Sam and Eddie Hart is charming from top to toe, with everything from queuing diners’ names being scrawled on mirrors and the ice cold beer glasses to the well-stocked raw bar and the slick, friendly service making it a delight."

Kent gastropub The Sportsman jumped four places to number two while Brett Graham’s Notting Hill restaurant The Ledbury held onto number three.

Last year’s winner Gymkhana​ slipped down to fourth spot while The Hand & Flowers, last year’s Gastropub of the Year moved down just one place to five.

Lyle’s, James Lowe’s restaurant in Shoreditch, named last year’s One to Watch, entered the list for the first time at number six with the top 10 also encompassing L’Enclume, Restaurant Sat Bains, The Dairy and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. 

The awards, held by Restaurant magazine in association with Estrella Damm, took place at the Hurlingham Club in London on Monday 29 June.

Special awards

As well as revealing the coveted list, the event gave out a number of special awards to restaurants and individuals.

Nathan Outlaw, whose eponymous restaurant in Cornwall came in at number 20 on the list, was voted Chef’s Chef for 'gathering respect from his fellow professionals while never seeking the limelight' while chef Rick Stein, whose Padstow restaurant The Seafood Restaurant celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, was given a Lifetime Achievement award.

Nuno Mendes’s newly-opened Taberno do Mercado​ was named the One to Watch and Bruno Loubet’s Grainstore won Sustainable Restaurant of the Year following an audit by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. 

Other awards included Gastropub of the Year given to The Sportsman; the Service Award, given to Paul Ainsworth at No. 6; Wine List of the Year, awarded to The Square and Cocktail List of the Year, awarded to Chiltern Firehouse.

The list

Votes from 150 industry experts from across the UK, including chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and critics, determine which restaurants make the top 100 list. 

Each voter is given seven votes based on their best restaurant experiences from the last 12 months. Votes are listed in order of preference and must be for restaurants both in their ‘home’ region and outside it.

Once all votes are cast, they are added up by Restaurant magazine to create the list. In the event of a tied number of votes, the preference ‘weighting' comes into play. 

Special awards -  Best Wine List, Best Front of House, Best Cocktail List and Lifetime Achievement - are voted for separately by the same academy of experts while The One To Watch Award is granted at the discretion of Restaurant ​magazine.

The Top 100 Restaurants in the UK

  1. Barrafina Adelaide Street, London (National Restaurant and Best Spanish Restaurant)
  2. The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent (Gastropub of the Year)
  3. The Ledbury, London
  4. Gymkhana, London (Best Indian Restaurant)
  5. The Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
  6. Lyle’s, London
  7. L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria
  8. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
  9. The Dairy, London
  10. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London (Highest Climber)
  11. The Clove Club, London
  12. Hedone, London
  13. Restaurant Story, London
  14. The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (Best Restaurant in Wales)
  15. The Palomar, London
  16. Kitty Fisher’s, London
  17. Fera at Claridge’s, London
  18. Paul Ainsworth at No.6,  Padstow, Cornwall (The Service Award)
  19. Casamia, Bristol
  20. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac, Cornwall
  21. Dishoom King’s Cross, London
  22. The Seahorse, Dartmouth, Devon
  23. A Wong, London
  24. 64 Degrees Brighton, Brighton
  25. 40 Maltby Street, London
  26. Zucca, London (Best Italian Restaurant)
  27. Belmond Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire
  28. Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Auchterarder (Best Restaurant in Scotland)
  29. Midsummer House, Cambridge
  30. Sticky Walnut, Chester
  31. Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, London
  32. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London
  33. The Square, London (Wine List of the Year)
  34. The Quality Chop House, London
  35. Pizarro, London
  36. The River Café, London
  37. The Salt Room, Brighton
  38. Social Eating House, London
  39. Hibiscus, London
  40. Honey & Co, London
  41. Northcote, Blackburn, Lancashire
  42. The Chilli Pickle, Brighton
  43. Grainstore, London (Sustainable Restaurant of the Year)
  44. Le Gavroche, London
  45. Hawksmoor Air Street, London
  46. The Kitchin, Edinburgh
  47. The Ox, Bristol
  48. Wild Honey, London
  49. Scott’s, London
  50. Sushi Tetsu, London
  51. The Raby Hunt, Darlington, Co. Durham
  52. Castle Terrace, Edinburgh
  53. The Pass, Lower Beeding, West Sussex
  54. The Hardwick, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
  55. Ametsa by Arzak Instruction, London
  56. The Hinds Head, Bray, Berkshire
  57. Pollen Street Social, London
  58. Pitt Cue, London
  59. Quo Vadis, London
  60. Lardo, London
  61. Porthminster Beach Café, Saint Ives, Cornwall
  62. House of Tides, Newcastle
  63. The Waterside Inn, Bray, Berkshire
  64. Yauatcha, London
  65. Berners Tavern, London
  66. Chiltern Firehouse, London (Cocktail List of the Year)
  67. The Coach, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
  68. Monachyle Mhor, Lochearnhead, Perthshire
  69. The Old Stamphouse, Ambleside, Cumbria
  70. Duck & Waffle, London
  71. The Typing Room, London
  72. The Kingham Plough, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
  73. The Elephant, Torquay, Devon
  74. Brawn, London
  75. Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
  76. Koffmanns, London
  77. Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside, Cumbria
  78. Marcus, London
  79. Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Corwen
  80. Wright’s Food Emporium, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire
  81. Y Polyn, Capel Dewi, Carmarthen
  82. Murano, London
  83. Otto’s, London
  84. Ox and Finch, Glasgow
  85. Hakkasan Mayfair, London
  86. Harry’s Shack, Portstewart (Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland)
  87. Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
  88. Purnell’s, Birmingham
  89. MEATLiquor, London
  90. Shu, Belfast
  91. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
  92. Lido, Clifton, Bristol
  93. The French, Manchester
  94. The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
  95. Little Social, London
  96. The Scran & Scallie, Edinburgh
  97. Antidote, London
  98. Manchester House, Manchester
  99. The Wild Rabbit, Kingham, Oxfordshire
  100. St John, London

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