AA Restaurants of the Year
Three relative newcomers to the UK restaurant scene have been honoured with Restaurant of the Year awards in the 2002 AA Restaurant Guide.
The winners - for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Wales - are London's Pétrus, Edinburgh's Restaurant Martin Wishart, and Cardiff's Da Venditto. All have been open for fewer than three years, and Da Venditto is appearing in the Restaurant Guide for the first time.
Commenting on the winners, Simon Wright, editor of the Restaurant Guide, said that although they varied in terms of rosette rating, the trio all had one essential thing in common: they were all putting out consistently good food in smoothly run operations.
Speaking about P‚trus, which opened its doors two-and-a-half years ago, Wright remarked: "It's a very single-minded operation. It sets out to do certain things and achieves them consistently. Our inspectors came back and talked about the same quality of remarkable balance and precision running through every meal, and that's what impressed them. That's what makes it stand out."
The restaurant has also been promoted from three to four rosettes in the Restaurant Guide. Chef-proprietor Marcus Wareing commented: "It's great to be recognised in any shape or form and, as the AA is widely read and gives a broad spectrum of information in a lot detail about restaurants, it makes us be viewed as a quality restaurant in London - which is what I want. We still want to be here in 10 or 15 years' time and I hope the guide can see that."
Fellow chef-proprietor Martin Wishart, who opened his restaurant in March 1999, also talked of his delight on hearing that it was named the 2002 Restaurant of the Year for Scotland and Northern Ireland. "It's a great morale-booster for the staff," he said. "Business-wise, although we're not advertising, word-of-mouth recommendations mean we're a lot busier than we were a year ago."
Wright said of the two-rosette restaurant: "Martin Wishart's got a great package in Edinburgh - big flavours and no little skill, an easy-going atmosphere and democratic prices. It's the kind of place you could eat at regularly."
To the wider restaurant-going public, Cardiff's Da Venditto (also winner of two rosettes) is an unknown quantity, but Wright pinpointed its contemporary take on Italian cuisine as a major factor in its Restaurant of the Year for Wales accolade only 18 months after opening its doors.
"There is real ambition here, and it's a breath of fresh air for the capital," he said. "The Welsh-Italian connection is well known, but this kind of contemporary Italian cooking hasn't previously been seen in Cardiff. In a sense, it's overdue. In our experience, they start with the premise that only the best materials will do - and you can't argue with that."
Da Venditto's executive head chef, Mark Freeman, spoke of his surprise at pulling off an award win at so early a stage in the restaurant's life. "In the space of 12 months, we've gone from nothing to having the guides all over us," he says. "It's great, because I can now say to the boys, ‘Let's not be afraid of trend-setting. Let's open our minds a bit and go the next stage further and not be frightened of doing things like they do in London'."
The 2002 guide also includes a number of new restaurants which were not open in time for inclusion in the current guide. A number of these - such as London's Hakkasan and Drones, 947AD at Stow-on-the-Wold's Royalist hotel, and Oxford's La Gousse d'Ail - have gone straight in at three-rosette level. Restaurants moving up from two to three rosettes include Oxfordshire's Studley Priory and Winchester's Old Chesil Rectory.
Restaurant of the Year past and present winners
England
2002: Pétrus, St James's London
2001: The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
2000: Club Gascon, Smithfield, London
Scotland and Northern Ireland 2002: Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
2001: Deanes, Belfast
2000: Braidwoods, Dalry, Ayrshire
Wales 2002: Da Venditto, Cardiff
2001: The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
2000: Le Gallois, Cardiff
