Harden's new top 10 London Restaurant List
 

Harden's just published the list of top 10 London restaurants for its 16th annual guide (Harden's is arguably the most popular London restaurant guide).

In order (with neighborhood), they are:
1. J. Sheekey, WC2
2. Hakkasan, W1
3. Gordon Ramsay, SW17
4. Chez Bruce, SW17
5. The Wolseley, W1
6. Bleeding Heart, EC1
7. The Ivy, WC2
8. Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, W1
9. La Poule au Pot, SW1
10. Andrew Edmunds, W1

Nobu (both locations) fell off the list.

Also, Harden's survey found that the average cost of a meal *per person* in London is now £37.72 (rougly $75). This covers a 3 course meal accompanied by half a bottle of wine and coffee. Of course, you can eat for less. However, at least four London restaurants can be counted on to cost at least £100 per person, including Blake's, Le Gavroche, Sketch and Umu.

Oxo Tower was deemed the most over-priced restaurant, serving "rubbish" for about £47 pp.
Bon appetit!

Thanks for the info, BT.

GR is certainly a popular fellow.

((I))

Yes, he f***ing is! (that's a joke, GR is well known as a chef who swears a LOT).

I've been actually been to three on the list. That's nice. :-)

Andrew Edmunds was quite affordable when I tried it. I wonder if it still is.

I had dinner at Mildreds on Saturday. It's right across the street from AE. I liked it. Did Harden like it? It's cheap by London's standards.

I'm surprised that Moro is not on this list. I found it (much) better than Ivy, in my opinion, but my lunch at Ivy was about seven years ago.

is it possible to buy a gift certificate or prepaid dinner for someone in London to use at one of these restaurants? we are in the US.

Thanks

I'm sure it's possible. Or surely, you could provide a credit card number and have them charge your card when the dinner is finished.

This may not apply to all restaurants, but I'd imagine it'd apply to many of these restaurants.

La Poule au Pot! didn't know that was still around. Nice to see it's still popular.

I've been to 8 of these!

Bit miffed that Bleeding Heart is on this list - I thought it was my secret.

BTW BTIlke - is this the listing of most mentioned, most popular, top gastronic experience or other? Harden's does top 10s in half a dozen different categories.

Here's the other categories

Survey winners and losers

Rankings are in descending order of votes in the respective categories (last year's position in brackets).

Top gastronomic experience
1. Gordon Ramsay (1)
2. G Ramsay at Claridges's (3)
3. Chez Bruce (2)
4. Tom Aikens (4)
5. Le Gavroche (5)
6. Nobu (6)
7. La Trompette (9)
8. The Ivy (8)
9. Pétrus (-)
10. Locanda Locatelli (10)

Favourite restaurant
1. Chez Bruce (2)
2. The Ivy (1)
3. The Wolseley (8)
4. J Sheekey (3)
5. Le Caprice (4)
6. Gordon Ramsay (5)
7. La Trompette (6)
8. Hakkasan (7)
9. Nobu (-)
10. Zuma (10)

Best for Business
1. Bleeding Heart (3)
2. The Don (5)
3. The Wolseley (-)
4. The Square (2)
5. Coq d'Argent (1)
Best for Romance
1. La Poule au Pot (1)
2. Andrew Edmunds (2)
3. Bleeding Heart (3)
4. Chez Bruce (4)
5. The Ivy (6)

Most disappointing

1. Oxo Tower (1)
2. The Ivy (2)
3. The Wolseley (5)
4. Gordon Ramsay at Claridges (3)
5. Quaglino's (6)

Most overpriced

1. Oxo Tower (2)
2. Sketch (Gallery) (1)
3. Nobu (3)
4. The River Café (5)
5. The Ivy (7)

Le Coq d'Argent is a great place to go in the summer during a drought/heat wave. An aerial photographer shot a series above London last month and everything looked brown, brown, brown. The only truly lush green spot that he found in the entire city was the terrace gardens around Le Coq d'Argent.
http://www.conran-restaurants.co.uk/restaurants/coq/

Funny that the Wolseley is in the list for favorite, best business and most disappointing restaurant! I'm going later this month, so will decide where to list it after that.

Yes, I think if someone goes expecting truly haute cuisine, it will be disappointing. (It also depends to some extent, IMO, where you're seated. The best tables are in the inner horseshoe and the service seems best there, too.) But the food is certainly good--at least, my meals have always been--and I've always been happy with the service. We've only gone for lunch and afternoon tea, though, not dinner. I tend to go alone as my husband finds it too noisy.
Tulips, are you planning to lunch at Nicole's, in the basement of Nicole Farhi? It's another of my favorite lunch spots, although the menu is pretty limited, you have to hope there's something you like on it. Fun vibe, though. Nice, welcoming staff.

BTilke; I love Nicole's! It's one of my favorite places for lunch. Even when I'm on my own, I have a quick lunch at the bar. On my next trip we've also booked Zuma, where we haven't been yet.

Zuma's is a lot of fun. For lunch, we usually sit at the sushi bar. For dinner, we try to go after 8:30 pm, because they have a two hour maximum for diners arriving before 8 pm.
Zuma has some surprisingly inexpensive lunch specials, all under £10. They're not big portions, but still, considering how popular the place is and how expensive it can be, it's a great deal. For budget travelers, popping in for a lunch special beats sandwiches at pret a manger, IMO. After all, you get the same vibe and service as the diners spending £££.
P.S. My favorite cocktail is their raspberry passion fruit martini. Very tasty.

Kate:

What's the Bleeding Heart done to itself?

It used to be rather a place that was handy for our office in a bit of a gastronomic desert, but would have been missable anywhere with competition. I lived a five minute drive away at the time, but would never have dreamt of eating there on my own time or money.

It's not an area I frequent during the week these days - and with Club Gascon and St John round the corner, surely it hasn't come up in the world to overtake them? The Time Out guide dismisses it as "all suits and spreadsheets"

Is T.Out just being bigoted again against people who do proper jobs?

It's monstered here too:

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/155.htm

Which is the site that featured by far the best ever review....

>>>>>When my boyfriend told me he wanted to take me up the Oxo Tower for my birthday, I was a bit hesitant at first because I didn't really think it was my scene. How wrong I was! I mean, yeah, so it's a bit of a strain on the old back pocket, and I admit I did feel a bit uncomfortable initially. But a couple of cocktails helped me relax and soon I was really getting into it - we carried on well into the night. It was a great experience and I really loved it - so much so that I won't let my boyfriend take me anywhere else now! So if anyone ever wants to take you up the Oxo Tower, just throw caution to the wind and go for it!>>>>>>>

remember: honi soit qui mal y pense

ttt

Hmmmm...in vino veritas...amazing what folks will do once they get "relaxed."

I was looking up Club Gascon and found this thread--thought it might be of interest. I finally booked J. Sheekey, so am pleased to see it received a good rating, even if this was a few years ago..

Does anyone know Club Gascon or Comptoir Gascon or Fox and Anchor-- these appear to be close to where I am staying next week..

3. Gordon Ramsay, SW17>>>

Balham has a Gordon Ramsay's? Whatever next.

The Oxo Tower is indeed shite on stilts.