No top tens in Good Food Guide

For the second year running, the Good Food Guide has failed to find a restaurant to award its top mark of 10.

The last 10-rated restaurant was Chez Nico at 90 Park Lane, London W1, back in 2000. Since then, it has slipped down to eight marks, and retains this listing in the 2002 guide, which is published on 5 October.

The new guide has added two names to its list of top-rated restaurants (those given between eight to ten points), promoted one restaurant, and dropped three others.

As in last year's guide, four restaurants carry a nine rating. The only change is the loss of the Altnaharrie Inn in Ullapool, which has been shut since Easter because of chef Gunn Eriksen's back problems.

It has been replaced by Michel Roux's Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire, which has been promoted from eight marks to reverse its movement in the 2001 guide.

Twelve restaurants have eight marks in the 2002 guide, one less than the year before. The newcomers to this section are The Capital in Knightsbridge, London, and Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire.

However, both John Burton Race at the Landmark hotel and The Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire have lost their eight rating.

Winteringham Fields in Winteringham, Lincolnshire, which retained its nine rating, was voted the Good Food Guide 2002 restaurant of the year.