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observer food monthly awards

Gary Marshall
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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

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last years OFM poll produced some very wierd results eg a veggie restaurant in brighton the second best restaurant in the UK, the living room the best restaurant in leeds for example.

you can vote at www.observer.co.uk/foodawards if you missed this weeks edition.

i'll post my thoughts well, when i've had them!

categories

best cheap eats (under £20)

best restaurant

best sunday lunch

best place to drink

best restaurant for kids

best breakfast

best independent food retailer

best organic product

best food or drink book

best food tv programme

gary

you don't win friends with salad

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thom

thom

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These are national awards aren't they?

To overcome the Observer's readership bias towards the South East I'll have to rally round the other 14 Northern readers...

Go on Jay, take the bait...

best cheap eats (under £20)

The Bridge, Manchester

Excellent well sourced, well cooked gastropubbery. Rib eye, duck fat chips, mushroom, tomato and hollandaise for £7:50 and desserts for £3.50 can't be bad.

best restaurant

Anthonys, Leeds

Nuff said on here already (cheers Gary). Nice room, lovely service and most importantly delicous, provocative and technically superb cooking.

best sunday lunch

If you saw the size of my Sunday breakfast you'll understand why I rarely do Sunday lunch...

best place to drink

Nowhere springs to mind

best restaurant for kids

Piccolino, Manchester

For the parents - Good modern Italian in timeless brasserie-style surroundings (think an Italian Balthazaar). For the kids - stuff they'll actully eat, high chairs on demand and wonderful patient, indulgent staff.

best breakfast

My house, Glossop

I won't eat breakfast anywhere else.

best independent food retailer

Barbakan deli, Chorlton/Mettricks, Glossop

Split decision. Barbakan for it's outstanding breads (Yah-Boo to Dr Atkins) and Mettricks for being the sort of skilled, passionate local butcher that everyone wants on their high street.

best organic product

Haven't a clue.

best food or drink book

Classic Conran

It's not completely current, but I recently got the this book, and found it to be one of the most enjoyable and deliciously cookable tomes I have read (and cooked from) for years. Suprising but true.

best food tv programme

None. Nothing. Nada. I will watch all of it indiscriminately but I can't remember anything new really registering with me.

It's all true... I admit to being the MD of Holden Media, organisers of the Northern Restaurant and Bar exhibition, the Northern Hospitality Awards and other Northern based events too numerous to mention.

I don't post here as frequently as I once did, but to hear me regularly rambling on about bollocks - much of it food and restaurant-related - in a bite-size fashion then add me on twitter as "thomhetheringto".

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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

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These are national awards aren't they?

To overcome the Observer's readership bias towards the South East I'll have to rally round the other 14 Northern readers...

Go on Jay, take the bait...

best cheap eats (under £20)

The Bridge, Manchester

Excellent well sourced, well cooked gastropubbery. Rib eye, duck fat chips, mushroom, tomato and hollandaise for £7:50 and desserts for £3.50 can't be bad.

best restaurant

Anthonys, Leeds

Nuff said on here already (cheers Gary). Nice room, lovely service and most importantly delicous, provocative and technically superb cooking.

best sunday lunch

If you saw the size of my Sunday breakfast you'll understand why I rarely do Sunday lunch...

best place to drink

Nowhere springs to mind

best restaurant for kids

Piccolino, Manchester

For the parents - Good modern Italian in timeless brasserie-style surroundings (think an Italian Balthazaar). For the kids - stuff they'll actully eat, high chairs on demand and wonderful patient, indulgent staff.

best breakfast

My house, Glossop

I won't eat breakfast anywhere else.

best independent food retailer

Barbakan deli, Chorlton/Mettricks, Glossop

Split decision. Barbakan for it's outstanding breads (Yah-Boo to Dr Atkins) and Mettricks for being the sort of skilled, passionate local butcher that everyone wants on their high street.

best organic product

Haven't a clue.

best food or drink book

Classic Conran

It's not completely current, but I recently got the this book, and found it to be one of the most enjoyable and deliciously cookable tomes I have read (and cooked from) for years. Suprising but true.

best food tv programme

None. Nothing. Nada. I will watch all of it indiscriminately but I can't remember anything new really registering with me.

coincidentally thom

my thoughts were similar to yours there were several categories where i couldn't really get excited. For best restaurant i'm still torn between no3 and anthony's

maybe i'll vote twice haha!

i also like the classic conran book, it has recipes for the sort of things i like to cook and eat at home rather than looking at whilstfuly on the sofa.

cheers

gary

ps in manchester on monday thom, was thinking about the bridge for a spot of lunch avec client perhaps.

you don't win friends with salad

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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

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best cheap eats (under £20 per head) Aagrah -tadcaster (well there's a few in the area) great indian food, lovely decor and staff and struggle to spend £25 for 2. with lager naturellement (the v nice lal toofan)

best restaurant : After much deliberation.No 3 York Place. Whilst the food at anthony's is genuinely groundbreaking and the staff great, wine is a weakish point but the food often defies conventional matching, therefore i'll vote for no3 as more a total restaurant experience with food, service and wine all scoring highly. i could send anyone there and they'd not be disappointed. Anthony's is becoming a temple to gastronomy and it is easy to forget it has only been open six, yes six months! 2005's best restaurant when they've got more chefs and it's tasting menu's a go-go.

best sunday lunch: has to be the star at harome, good value too, £8.95 i think for pork and black pud, £9-10 for roast beef and yorks puds. i always justify it by heading up for a roast dinner only but as soon as i cross the threshold resolve goes and it's 3 courses and wine down the hatch, mrs marshall driving!

best place to drink: my local the st vincent arms,sutton upon derwent, york, is there a better value wine list in the UK? 2000 nuits st georges £24, st veran £17, michelot meursault £23, sauzet P montrachet £40. Gardet champagne £17, Pol Roger £24. They've got cloudy bay too if you like that sort of thing, Oh, and Foster's £2.10 a pint!

best restaurant for kids: one far, far away from where i'm dining.

best breakfast: got to be the star at harome again, available if you stay overnight, too sick to eat it on my stag do, made up for it subsequently. have a proper chef making the brekkie for you. is v good.

best independent food retailer: the star again, i'm not in their employ i promise. Huge selection of cheeses (the full rounds) local sorced meats, home made caseroles etc and a lot of great deli product, all made in on the premises, or bought from france like poilane bread.

best organic product: no idea,

best food or drink book: hugh's meat book deserves a mention, but not read it all yet.

best food tv programme: hells kitchen! i really loved that programme. no honestly i did.

you don't win friends with salad

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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

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best restaurant : After much deliberation.No 3 York Place. Whilst the food at anthony's is genuinely groundbreaking and the staff great, wine is a weakish point but the food often defies conventional matching, therefore i'll vote for no3 as more a total restaurant experience with food, service and wine all scoring highly. i could send anyone there and they'd not be disappointed. Anthony's is becoming a temple to gastronomy and it is easy to forget it has only been open six, yes six months! 2005's best restaurant when they've got more chefs and it's tasting menu's a go-go.

bollocks, just remembered a great tasting menu at hibiscus, :angry:

can i have a top 3 best restaurants? :biggrin:

gary

you don't win friends with salad

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thom

thom

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Don't vote twice Gary, you'll get the Observer circulation department's hopes up if they think they've have added another Northern reader.

Full marks to Conran. Over the last fortnight I have made the roast leg of lamb, the lentil/Toulouse sausage thing and the scallops on roast tomatoes. Every one of them was easy to do with a recipe that was robust enough to stand some tweaking/laziness, and more importantly they were all downright delicious (especially the scallops).

The Bridge for lunch is always a good call. Like I said don't expect culinary gymnastics, just expect convivial surroundings, efficient relaxed service and well sourced, well cooked tasty food (in huge portions). Basically you walk out wondering why 90% of pubs/British restaurants can't do the simple things right.

I would come and join you for a pint after work (I know how long your lunches can go on...) but I'm down at the Restaurant Show. Have a good trip though.

Cheers

Thom

It's all true... I admit to being the MD of Holden Media, organisers of the Northern Restaurant and Bar exhibition, the Northern Hospitality Awards and other Northern based events too numerous to mention.

I don't post here as frequently as I once did, but to hear me regularly rambling on about bollocks - much of it food and restaurant-related - in a bite-size fashion then add me on twitter as "thomhetheringto".

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thom

thom

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Afternoon Mr B,

It's at Olympia (see http://www.therestaurantshow.co.uk for details) and should be a pretty good do by all accounts.

I'll be down there for the full three days, so if anyone is about at a loose end they should let me know and we'll meet up to uhmm... network. Ok, I mean have a beer.

I was at Taste the other day too. I actually thought it was a decent first crack at the concept and the standard of the food was excellent.

Such a busy, busy life I have...

Cheers

Thom

It's all true... I admit to being the MD of Holden Media, organisers of the Northern Restaurant and Bar exhibition, the Northern Hospitality Awards and other Northern based events too numerous to mention.

I don't post here as frequently as I once did, but to hear me regularly rambling on about bollocks - much of it food and restaurant-related - in a bite-size fashion then add me on twitter as "thomhetheringto".

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Bapi

Bapi

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Afternoon Mr B,

It's at Olympia (see http://www.therestaurantshow.co.uk for details) and should be a pretty good do by all accounts.

I'll be down there for the full three days, so if anyone is about at a loose end they should let me know and we'll meet up to uhmm... network. Ok, I mean have a beer.

I was at Taste the other day too. I actually thought it was a decent first crack at the concept and the standard of the food was excellent.

Such a busy, busy life I have...

Cheers

Thom

Excellent - will PM you about a beer then. :raz:

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