Harpers & Moet Restaurant Awards 2004

[Andy Lynes]

The winners of the Harpers and Moet restaurant awards were announced last night at a glamerous do at Claridges Ballroom. The shortlists and winners included several egullet favourites and were as follows:

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR (IN LONDON) The Wolseley, Piccadilly

shortlisted: Daphne's; The Greenhouse; Petrus; Tom Aikens

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR (OUTSIDE LONDON) The Fat Duck, Bray

shortlisted: Anthony's, Leeds;The Black Pig, Rock; Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire;Thackery's, Tunbridge Wells.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR Yauatcha

shortlisted: Le Cercle; Inn The Park;Rasoi Vineet Bhatia, Le Vacherin

CHEF OF THE YEAR Rainer Becker (for both Zuma and Roka)

shortlisted: Bjorn an der Horst; Jeremy Lee; Christine Manfield; Morgan Meunier.

SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR Philippe Messy at L'Etranger, Kensington

shortlisted: Christopher Delalonde (The Square); Nuria Frau-Trullen (Langham Hotel); Frederic Grappe (Orrery); Steve Kirkham (The Connaught).

PREMIER CREW AWARD FOR BEST FRONT-OFHOUSE TEAM Thierry Tomasin and team at Aubergine, Chelsea

shortlisted: Giacomo Puntel (The Conaught); Brendon Murdock (Cru); Bertrand Pierson (Plateau); Rajesh Suri (Tamarind)

BEST SCENE Cipriani, Mayfair

shortlisted: The Gallery at Sketch; Nobu; San Lorenzo; Sumosan.

VINTAGE YEAR Tom Aikens, Chelsea

No shortlist for this catagory

Belfast comedian Partick Kielty hosted the show in some style. He did however drop a clanger early on in the evening. In a reference to Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" TV show, he said that only Ramsay could have turned Abby Titmus into Fanny Craddock in just two weeks, although he added that she was more Fanny than Craddock. He also said that Ramsay wasn't able to attend the ceremony as he was "having his arse sued off in America" to which someone in the crowd shouted out "he's here!" which indeed he was. Kielty looked genuinely taken aback for a moment then replied that Ramsay could "fuck off". A brave man indeed.

For myself, I was very restrained and only had one glass of free Moet all night. True, it was continually topped up by the waiters, but I only had to break into a jog once or twice to catch up with them.

A decent turn out included "our own" Jay Rayner (who refused to pass comment on the results and wandered off as quickly as he could saying that he had to "go and see someone" ), Sir Terence Conran, Mark Hix, Fergus Henderson, a happy looking Trevor Gulliver, Angela Hartnett, Fay Maschler and many others.

[Gary Marshall]

anthony's and the black pig was robbed!

was it a public vote or a panel of judges that decided the awards?

gary

[circeplum]

surprised - but very pleased - to see le vacherin in there.

x

[Andy Lynes]

anthony's and the black pig was robbed!

was it a public vote or a panel of judges that decided the awards?

gary

←

Its a panel of judges headed up by Jennifer Sharpe who edits the Harpers Restaurant guide. I don't know who served on the panel however.

[Gary Marshall]

anthony's and the black pig was robbed!

was it a public vote or a panel of judges that decided the awards?

gary

←

Its a panel of judges headed up by Jennifer Sharpe who edits the Harpers Restaurant guide. I don't know who served on the panel however.

←

ahhh, met her, explains a lot

Although predictably i will support Anthony's i just think it was a wasted opportunity to recognise either Tony or Nathan and give them some free publicity/bit of a boost.

Instead they give it to heston who with 3 stars, really doesn't need it (big splash unrelated to harpers in telegraph also today), and (must resist urge to be repetitive but....) hasn't changed his tasting menu in aeons!

cheers

gary

[slacker]

Although predictably i will support Anthony's i just think it was a wasted opportunity to recognise either Tony or Nathan and give them some free publicity/bit of a boost.

Instead they give it to heston who with 3 stars, really doesn't need it (big splash unrelated to harpers in telegraph also today), and (must resist urge to be repetitive but....) hasn't changed his tasting menu in aeons!

cheers

gary

←

Hear hear. And there will be others who could have done with a win too, but true restos will surely look at the nominations. It is a real, serious, big time success for Nathan, Colin, Nicki and crew, as it is for Anthony and his family.

Why was the Fanny joke so bad? :ph34r:

[Scottf]

ahhh, met her, explains a lot 

←

I wonder how many times Sharpe or the judges visited each establishment to come to their decision

Nothing wrong with giving FD the verdict of course, she just didn't appear to have much of a clue

[Andy Lynes]

I know that Jennifer Sharpe writes the whole of the Harpers guide apart from restaurants in Scotland and that she eats out a lot. My guess is that each establishment would be visited just the once, especially those out of London. I'm not sure why you would say that she hasn't got a clue, my impression of her is quite the opposite.

[YKL]

Am clearly half asleep because I initially thought this thread was the Hardens and Remy awards ... and was expecting to see Anthony's mentioned as a regional winner (as per comments in the Anthony's thread) ...

also not sure if these next comments are considered off topic - but it's clearly a good year for Tom Aikens since he won the overall award in the Remys as well.

think the details are here ...

Cheers

Yin

[Paula Jonvik]

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Monsieur Thierry Tomasin and the team at AUBERGINE for their BEST FRONT OF HOUSE TEAM award!!! They so deserve it!!!