Wilson’s has eclipsed Casamia as Bristol’s top restaurant in an influential national diners’ poll released today. The latest 2022 edition of Harden’s Best UK Restaurants lists 10 establishments in Bristol and Bath among its top 500, making it one of the best dining areas outside London – behind only Edinburgh (14 in the top 500) and Brighton (11).
In its 31st year, Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2022 (price £16.99), derives its ratings and reviews from Harden's annual survey of 3,000 regular diners, who contribute 30,000 reports. The guide is the most comprehensive print guide to UK restaurants with approaching 3,000 entries.
The Sanchez-Iglesias family’s Casamia was No 1 in the guide four years ago, but drops out of the top-ranking ‘Harden’s 100’ this year following a reboot under head chef Zak Hitchman.
Wilson’s is the area’s highest entry at No 80 – and, with a meal costing £50 a head, it offers possibly the best value on the ‘Harden’s 100’. At Casamia you can expect to pay four times as much – £203, according to the guide.
“Unbelievable value for the most sensational food produced in a minuscule kitchen, agree fans of Jan Ostle & Mary Wilson’s hyper-local Redland bistro. Three cheers for this welcoming local, with very friendly, efficient, knowledgable service in simple surroundings. The kitchen relies on home-grown veg and local suppliers to produce the most brilliant mixture of innovative dishes, textures and tastes.”
The guide acknowledges Casamia’s status as “Bristol’s brightest foodie star”, but says its latest incarnation has received a “mixed reception” from Harden’s reporters. Its ratings are also overtaken this year by another small venue producing “brilliantly original cooking”, chef George Livesey’s Bulrush in Kingsdown.
Bath has half a dozen high-performing restaurants but the only one to gain Harden’s top mark for food is Noya’s Kitchen in the city centre. Proprietor Noya Pawlyn, who learnt to cook as a child refugee in Hong Kong, is hailed for producing “Vietnamese food on a different level”.
Peter Harden, co-founder of Harden’s, commented: “Bristol & Bath continue to provide a wide range of outstanding dining options at all price points. This year’s achievement of Wilson’s – and the success of places like Bulrush and Noya’s Kitchen – show that high culinary achievement does not need to be hugely expensive: what is more important is the opportunity for talent to thrive in small, independent venues.”
Heading the ‘Harden’s 100’ this year as the UK’s top dining destination is Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham. Opened by Sat Bains and his wife Amanda 20 years ago in the unlikely setting of a converted red-brick motel tucked away under a flyover off the A52, it attracts food-lovers from near and far to sample his adventurous 10-course tasting menus – and young chefs from around the world seeking work in his kitchens.
The Harden’s guide says: “Just outstanding in every way. Once you find it, you will keep going back for more – superb cuisine and correspondingly varied wine list, full of surprises.”
For all the refinement of his cuisine, Bains – who grew up in Derby in a Punjabi Sikh family – describes his venture as a “working-class restaurant”. During lockdown he launched a home-delivery curry-kit service with his 72-year-old mother, Tarsem, called Momma Bains. He said: “The curries have been flying out – the response has been staggering. They’re what she cooks at home and what I grew up eating – nothing like what you get in your local curry house.”
The Harden's 100 ranking of the UK's best restaurants in full
The top 100 restaurants derived from the 30,000 reports with ratings submitted by 3,000 diners who contributed to the Harden's annual survey.
1 Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
2 Purnells, Birmingham
3 Da Terra, Town Hall Hotel, London
4 Endo at Rotunda, London
5 Core by Clare Smyth, London
6 Lympstone Manor, Exmouth
7 Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Eglwys Fach
8 La Dame de Pic London, London
9 Mana, Manchester
10 The Five Fields, London
11 Winteringham Fields, Winteringham
12 Kitchen Table, London
13 Sorrel, Dorking
14 Alchemilla, Nottingham
15 Little Fish Market, Brighton
16 Moor Hall, Aughton
17 The Clove Club, London
18 The Art School, Liverpool
19 L’Enclume, Cartmel
20 The Peat Inn, Cupar
21 Anglo, London
22 Ormer Mayfair by Sofian, Flemings Mayfair Hotel, London
23 The Kitchin, Edinburgh
24 Muse, London
25 The Small Holding, Goudhurst
26 Hunan, London
27 Nobu, Metropolitan Hotel, London
28 Fraiche, Oxton
29 Adam's, Birmingham
30 The Clock House, Ripley
31 So LA, London
32 Hambleton Hall, Hambleton
33 Aulis London, London
34 Northcote, Langho
35 Le Cochon Aveugle, York
36 The Forest Side, Grasmere
37 Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Great Milton
38 Morston Hall, Morston
39 Waterside Inn, Bray
40 Adam Reid at The French, Manchester
41 The Sportsman, Seasalter
42 Chez Bruce, London
43 Scully, London
44 Pied à Terre, London
45 LPM (fka La Petite Maison), London
46 Lumière, Cheltenham
47 Trinity, London
48 St John Smithfield, London
49 Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen, Port Isaac
50 Cornerstone, London
51 Behind, London
52 Le Gavroche, London
53 The Whitebrook, Restaurant with Rooms, Whitebrook
54 The Fordwich Arms, Fordwich
55 Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham
56 Hjem, Wall
57 House of Tides, Newcastle upon Tyne
58 The Angel, Hetton
59 Cail Bruich, Glasgow
60 Allium at Askham Hall, Penrith
61 Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
62 Osip, Bruton
63 The Ninth London, London
64 A Wong, London
65 Benares, London
66 Lyle's, London
67 Pollen Street Social, London
68 Trivet, London
69 Amaya, London
70 Raby Hunt, Summerhouse
71 Skosh, York
72 Jamavar, London
73 Portland, London
74 Outlaw's New Road, Port Isaac
75 John's House, Mountsorrel
76 Mere, London
77 Murano, London
78 Midsummer House, Cambridge
79 Gravetye Manor, East Grinstead
80 Wilson's, Bristol
81 The Grill at The Dorchester, London
82 Frog by Adam Handling, London
83 Kota, Porthleven
84 Story, London
85 Paul Ainsworth at No. 6, Padstow
86 Clarke’s, London
87 Brat, London
88 Sollip, London
89 The Dining Room, The Goring Hotel , London
90 Myrtle, London
91 Brat at Climpson's Arch, London
92 Grand Trunk Road, London
93 Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside
94 The Dining Room, Whatley Manor, Easton Grey
95 Club Gascon, London
96 Sabor, London
97 Roots, York
98 Meadowsweet, Holt
99 Bibendum, London
100 Opheem, Birmingham
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