No top marks for UK restaurants

The Good Food Guide 2001, published on 3 October, will not give its top mark of 10 to any restaurant.

Last year, the only 10 went to Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane, London, but chef Nico Ladenis formally announced his departure from the kitchen last year and his top rating has not been replaced by any other restaurant.

Restaurants with nine marks include Gordon Ramsay, in London; Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire; Winteringham Fields, Winteringham, Lincolnshire; and the Altnaharrie Inn, Ullapool, Scotland.

Demotions include the Waterside Inn, Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire, which falls from nine marks to eight.

The Oak Room Marco Pierre White, where the chef also announced his departure from the kitchen last year, dropped from a rating of eight to six.

The Good Food Guide has introduced several changes this year, including a new chef of the year title. This goes to Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck, in Bray-on-Thames, whose restaurant kept its rating of eight.

John Burton-Race, who moved from L'Ortolan in Berkshire to cook at the Landmark Hotel, London, also retained his eight rating.

The guide has chosen to single out just four restaurants of the year, against some 40 such awards in previous editions. They are: Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire; the Yorke Arms at Ramsgill, North Yorkshire; Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh; and Carlton House at Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys.

Newcomers highlighted by the guide include Castle House, Hereford; Magenta, Carlisle; Michael Caines at the Royal Clarence, Exeter; and Le Gallois, Cardiff.