The New Egon Ronay Guide

[culinary bear]

I wonder if anyone has read a copy? Any surprises lurking within?

[Andy Lynes]

Couldn't make the launch today due to work committments so haven't heard what's in there yet. Hopefully someone will send me a copy (he hinted).

[erica graham]

I had a quick flick through, but there wasn't any major shocks- lots and lots of gastropubs -but before I could settle down to a good nose the bookshop started to give me dirty looks, so I had to put it back on the shelf and carry on browsing!!!

Edited November 22, 2005 by erica graham (log)

[Gary Marshall]

i heard the star at harome got voted pub of the year, no suprise there!

[John Whiting]

What's made the news is of course Ronay's comparison of UK gastropubs with French bistros. The BBC reports:

Gastropubs serve better food than many traditional bistros in France, with customers also receiving a "warmer" welcome, Egon Ronay's 2006 Guide says.

Do a Google News search on Egon Ronay and you'll find half-a-dozen columns of gloating coverage. But strip away the rhetoric, and you're left with the not particularly controversial observation that some UK gastropubs are now better than some French bistros. Indeed--but unguided, in the UK your chances are excellent of paying restaurant prices for something that's arrived in a Brake Bros van. I'd still prefer to go treasure hunting for a decent meal in rural France, Italy or Spain; sound cuisine grows from the bottom up, not from the top down.

Food quality aside, I'm still looking for all those rude French waiters. Treated as equals rather than servants, I've found them rather more helpful and pleasant than most of the human race.

[Basildog]

Anybody actually purchased a copy?

[John Whiting]

According to yesterdays Independent, these are the top gastropubs:

The top 10 gastropubs

The Alma, Wandsworth, London

Black Boys Inn, Hurley, Berkshire

Bull's Head, Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire

Guinea Grill, Mayfair, London

The House, Islington, London

The Salisbury, Kilburn, London

The Star, Harome, North Yorkshire

Three Fishes, Mitton, Lancashire

The Waterdine, Llanfair Waterdine, Shropshire

Yorke Arms, Ramsgille, North Yorkshire

[Gary Marshall]

interesting list

star at harome - michelin star

yorke arms - michelin star

and isn't the 3 fishes owned by nigel howarth of northcote manor/michelin fame?

much as i like the yorke arms it is a country house hotel/restaurant that happens to be in a pub. the star remains a pubby atmosphere though.

so not quite 'rural bistros' certainly the star & the yorke arms are very serious restaurants in their own right.

[Andy Lynes]

and isn't the 3 fishes owned by nigel howarth of northcote manor/michelin fame?

←

That's right and I believe he's on the look out for another pub to convert as well.

[camp_dick]

The surprise is that Egon Ronay still manages to trade on his name (which, I presume, he bought back off Roy Ackerman?) or that anyone takes seriously a guide produced under the auspices of the venerable emigre, who has done so much to improve the catering standards of British motorway service stations and provincial airports, when - hello! - it's the 21st Century, don't you know, and we have this amazing electronic bush telegraph thingy to elicit a range of up to date opinions. Innit?

[Matthew Grant]

The name was given back to him by the high court when the previous owners went bankrupt.