UK Good Food Guide 2008

[erica graham]

Very surprised to get hold of my copy today!!

No real surprises I don't think, but I've only had a quick flick through. Everyone here seemed to get good write ups!!

[Kropotkin]

It seems to have appeared earlier than the scheduled publication date; I bought a copy from Amazon last week. Wouldn't they normally send copies to the media and industry insiders before Jo Public gets her grubby mits on them?

The guide is organised around regions this time - which may help those with a hazy sense of geography. The layout remains largely the same as the 2007 version, although the copy-editing is a little lax in places. I've no evidence for this, but it feels like some of the smaller, 'also-recommended' places have been stripped out of the listings (or, at least, their write-ups are much-diminished). There are more pages though, so perhaps this is an illusion?

Also new are the small, column-length articles dotted throughout the book. Some are useful (child-friendly places, seasonal produce etc.), but most are quick interviews with chefs: favourite dish, biggest challenge etc. (quite reminiscent of football programmes' 'pen-pics' of yore).

They also rank the best restaurants into a 'Top 40' to distinguish between places with the same score (cue another argument about lists...). The Fat Duck edges out Ramsay at no.1; Winteringham Fields has slipped from 9/10 to 8/10; and Nathan Outlaw jumps into the higher echelons. Further down, Gidleigh Park seems mis-placed given it's score... But I'll stop now, pop-pickers, lest I start to sound too much like the late Alan 'Fluff' Freeman!

Edited September 10, 2007 by Kropotkin (log)

[Basildog]

Very surprised to get hold of my copy today!!

No real surprises I don't think, but I've only had a quick flick through. Everyone here seemed to get good write ups!!

←

I'll take a wild stab in the dark and guess we are not in it? Forgot to post my form back 2 years ago, so i'm out

PS do tell about Nathan!

Edited September 10, 2007 by Basildog (log)

[erica graham]

Very surprised to get hold of my copy today!!

No real surprises I don't think, but I've only had a quick flick through. Everyone here seemed to get good write ups!!

←

I'll take a wild stab in the dark and guess we are not in it? Forgot to post my form back 2 years ago, so i'm out

PS do tell about Nathan!

←

OK big fat 8!!!! But i should say here that buying it is the best way to find out (in case anyonefrom GFG is reading !!)

And yes, couldn't believe it when I looked for you and you weren't there.

[Basildog]

No matter erica, i'm not gutted.Life goes on with or without the GFG.Must get back to the kitchen, we're fully booked tonight

[erica graham]

No matter erica, i'm not gutted.Life goes on with or without the GFG.Must get back to the kitchen, we're fully booked tonight  

←

Wish I was there

[JudyB]

No matter erica, i'm not gutted.Life goes on with or without the GFG.Must get back to the kitchen, we're fully booked tonight  

←

From the sound of it I'm not sure that you need a GFG entry, but have they said anything about how you get back in?

The last time my father was visiting Padstow we persuaded him to eat at Margot's and I know that he had a very enjoyable meal. Being in the GFG (at the time) meant that it was fairly easy to suggest Margot's and it would probably have been harder work (for us) to persuade him to visit if you had not been in there.

[Basildog]

Hi Judy.

The GFG have not been in contact so i have no idea how to get back in, and to be honest, i don't think i want to.We get the very occassional GFG reader who calls to see that we are still here, and not closed down.Guides have never been a big feature of our lives(yes i do like to read to hear nice things about myself in print), but maybe as i'm getting older i don't need the worry.I do what i do, people will comment either online or in print, or for that matter in the Post Office queue.It's not the reason i get up in the morning.

Glad you Father had a good time

[Gary Marshall]

No matter erica, i'm not gutted.Life goes on with or without the GFG.Must get back to the kitchen, we're fully booked tonight  

←

From the sound of it I'm not sure that you need a GFG entry, but have they said anything about how you get back in?

The last time my father was visiting Padstow we persuaded him to eat at Margot's and I know that he had a very enjoyable meal. Being in the GFG (at the time) meant that it was fairly easy to suggest Margot's and it would probably have been harder work (for us) to persuade him to visit if you had not been in there.

←

As a resataurateur if you want to be in any guide, first step is to write to them and send them menus, wine lists, and details about what you are doing. They will usually send back a standard form and ask for the same information again

It is actually a very time consuming affair to do it properly, of course what the guides really like are genuine customer responses. If you like anywhere that's not in the guides then drop them a line and let them know.

Then basildog can complain about all the forms he has to fill in!

[Duncan]

It is actually a very time consuming affair to do it properly, of course what the guides really like are genuine customer responses. If you like anywhere that's not in the guides then drop them a line and let them know.

Then basildog can complain about all the forms he has to fill in!

←

The good food guide asks for feedback from readers either by post or by the form on their website.

The catch is that you have to agree to a disclaimer:

When you submit your feedback, we shall ask you to confirm that you have no connection with the restaurant management or proprietors, and that you have not been asked by them to contact us.

I don't know at what point interacting with someone through eGullet would prevent me from agreeing to that disclaimer, but Basildog is my friend on facebook, so even if he explicitly asks me not to contact the Good Food Guide I'd feel uncomfortable about filling in the form.

[Gary Marshall]

I don't think bas needs my help in filling his place

I was talking generally, responding to how you get into the guides

However, despite the disclaimers, i'm sure that GFG can spot when a restaurant is being shilled by friends and family and when a restaurant that deserves a mention has been overlooked.

[JudyB]

We just got our copy at the weekend and one surprise is that Ripley's (St Merryn) is no longer in there. We had an excellent meal there in June so I hope that this just means that they have failed to return the forms for one reason or another and NOT that the restaurant has gone out of business.

Does anyone in the Padstow area know anything about this? (Basildog, Slacker?)

On a completely different topic, what do other people think about the new layout by county etc? It may work better if you know which county you are in, but you can no longer look at the maps and then look up restaurants by place. So if you are near a county boundary, you have to know which counties to look in. Since the maps with placenames do not show the boundaries clearly you may be stuck.

Also, for those of us living out in the sticks (Oxfordshire in our case) it is well nigh impossible to work out where to look for London restaurants. Although I have a vague idea of where places such as Kensington are, I find it very difficult now to browse through the London entries. At least for London the maps do allow you to look up the restaurants by name...

[Basildog]

He's been open all year and has a deli opposite now.

[ginger chef]

there has been a few places left out that i have noticed, cotswold house, st martins on the isle, ripleys. i was told its because they never got visited by the inspectors who now work full time for them and not so much reliance on letters from joe public. this is what i was told anyway.

[bakerestates]

i was told its because they never got visited by the inspectors who now work full time for them and not so much reliance on letters from joe public. this is what i was told anyway. 

←

I agree, there doesn't seem to me too much reliance on Joe Public other than maybe to highlight a place. We were inspected and although I knew we were being inspected at them time the inspector declined to tell me who he was inspecting for, the only one not to reveal his paymaster. Since our menu changes daily and the report said 'a meal back in May' and then listed exactly what he had, I knew who it was. (he also listed the dishes inaccuratley)

As time goes on, I am more inclined to agree with what Basildog says about guidebooks in general.

[Basildog]

What? "Fuck em"

[Basildog]

How strange, i got a call this afternoon from the M guide people chasing up my form

[Gary Marshall]

that bib gourmand has your name on it!

[Basildog]

I bet you £3.58 it doesn't!

[Bapi]

We just got our copy at the weekend and one surprise is that Ripley's (St Merryn) is no longer in there. We had an excellent meal there in June so I hope that this just means that they have failed to return the forms for one reason or another ......

←

Mmmmmm, I have in the past rather liked the Guide and it is certainly better written this year- for sure. I even like the new layout.

But a couple things concern me. First. the fact that they are alleged to have taken virtually no notice of what we mere punters have to say anymore. Eh? Their orignal ethos was to do just that and not just to rely on how many visits their own inspectors had made. I fear that the fact that they do rely on their own inspectors has meant that they have made some clanging errors this year.

Second, as Judy writes, the disparity in how some previously included restaurants have been overlooked is very odd. Ripley's should certainly been in the guide and as another example. One of my local haunts, in its previous guise as a differently named GFG entrant and now named El Gato Negro Tapas has, this year been lauded with numerous plaudits. Various restaurant/newcomer of the year awards and reviews. A review from some bloke from the Observer, a review in the Guardian and a recent Times mention two weeks ago would suggest that whilst others are listening, The Good Food Guide may well not be..... A poor show.

Edited September 28, 2007 by Bapi (log)

[Zoticus]

But a couple things concern me. First. the fact that they are alleged to have taken virtually no notice of what we mere punters have to say anymore. Eh? Their orignal ethos was to do just that and not just to rely on how many visits their own inspectors had made. I fear that the fact that they do rely on their own inspectors has meant that they have made some clanging errors this year.

←

If the GFG were listening to punters, I suspect their Top 40 would look radically different. For Example, the Fat Duck at No. 1. Acknowledging HB's genius is now a food-writers' trope, but as far as the punters go, the FD seems to provoke delight and disgust in approximately equal measure.

If WHICH Guides have knocked public opinion on the head; or even if they have significantly downgraded its relative importance, it would be nice to know. After all, do we really need yet another inspector-driven guide?

Edited September 28, 2007 by Zoticus (log)

[Duncan]

If the GFG were listening to punters, I suspect their Top 40 would look radically different. For Example, the Fat Duck at No. 1. Acknowledging HB's genius is now a food-writers' trope, but as far as the punters go, the FD seems to provoke delight and disgust in approximately equal measure.

←

Well of course it would: most of the readers won't have visited many (if any) of the 'top' restaurants. I can claim to have eaten at 8 of their top 20, but I expect that is comparatively unusual. Their 'readers restaurant of the year' is the much more down to earth Yorke Arms, Ramsgill (I haven't eaten there either).

To have any meaning at all, the ratings have to depend largely on a system of inspectors with some attempt to make the ratings comparable, not on a popularity poll on a website.

[Zoticus]

To have any meaning at all, the ratings have to depend largely on a system of inspectors with some attempt to make the ratings comparable, not on a popularity poll on a website.

←

I see. So it's the inspectors' task to ensure that the ratings are similar to other guides.

[Gary Marshall]

Their 'readers restaurant of the year' is the much more down to earth Yorke Arms, Ramsgill (I haven't eaten there either).

←

I can assure you the yorke arms can more than hold its own in the company of that list of 20 restautants, the name suggests country pub but it 'aint (and that's not a criticism - it's a bloody good place!)

[algy]

Their 'readers restaurant of the year' is the much more down to earth Yorke Arms, Ramsgill (I haven't eaten there either).

←

I can assure you the yorke arms can more than hold its own in the company of that list of 20 restautants, the name suggests country pub but it 'aint (and that's not a criticism - it's a bloody good place!)

←

agreed - she's an excellent cook and deserves the rating.