TripAdvisor unveils UK’s best fine dining restaurants

Travel site TripAdvisor has unveiled its 2018 Travellers’ Choice Restaurant Award winners based on customer ratings recorded on its site, with no restaurants from London making the UK top 10.

TripAdvisor compiles the list for the Travellers’ Choice Restaurant Awards by using an algorithm that studies the quality and quantity of reviews left on the site over a 12-month period.

For the first time this year, the awards included an everyday dining category, which saw Scottish comfort food hotspot Gourmet Mash Bar in Edinburgh take the crown.

The travel site has released the results for different countries, as well as the overall world result. One UK restaurant made it into the top 10 in the world, and three made it in the top 25. The top spot went to Michelin-starred Au Crocodile in Strasbourg which is head up by chef Franck Pelux.

Hayley Coleman, a TripAdvisor spokesperson, said: “Rather than judging panel, these awards are determined by the millions of reviews posted over 12 months from diners who have visited the restaurants. The UK continues to cement itself as one of the biggest players in the global gastronomy scene.

See below for the top 10 restaurants for fine dining across the world and also the UK winners for ‘everyday dining.’ Click through to view the UK fine dining winners.

10. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh

Edinburgh-born chef Martin Wishart opened his eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant in the Scottish capital in 1999. Training under the likes of Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr, Marco Pierre White and John Burton-Race, Wishart’s food is inspired by French classics with a Scottish twist. The restaurant won a Michelin star in 2001 and has retained it ever since.

Dishes include cepe velouté, warm chicken liver parfait and roasted cobnuts; roast fillet of Scrabster turbot, artichoke and potato galette, bone marrow and truffle jus and lime crémeux, basil curd and yogurt sorbet.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 (excellent). Address: 54 Shore, Edinburgh EH6 6RA

9. Number One at The Balmoral, Edinburgh

Situated within The Balmoral hotel, Number One is a Michelin-starred restaurant overseen by executive chef Jeff Bland. The restaurant opened in 1997 and won its first Michelin star 16 years ago.

Putting Scottish produce centre stage, dishes include hand-dived Dingwall scallop, bacon, Scottish chanterelle and Jerusalem artichoke; Borders partridge, pancetta, braised lentils, celeriac and redcurrant, and steamed meringue, caramelised pear, Brambles, marzipan ice cream.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 5 (excellent). Address: The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2EQ.

8. Aizle, Edinburgh

The third Edinburgh-based eatery to make the list, aizle is named after the noun in Scots gaelic meaning ‘a burning coal; a glowing hot ember; a spark’. Priding itself on making everything in-house, it offers a 6-course tasting menu for £55 which “changes constantly” according to the seasons and availability.

Dishes include Scottish shelfish, katsuobushi and bisque, Koji short rib, parsnip and cherry, and sea buckthorn, walnut and yoghurt.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 5 (excellent). Address: 107 -109 St. Leonard’s Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9QY.

7. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac

Nathan Outlaw’s two Michelin-starred restaurant in the picturesque Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac in Cornwall has been amassing the accolades this year. For the second year running it topped Waitrose’s Good Food Guide, achieving a perfect score of 10. Often deemed a master of fish cookery, Outlaw serves sustainably sourced produce from the Cornish shores.

Dishes include: cured monkfish, fennel and ginger; turbot, squid, cep and hazelnut butter and spiced pear and apple tart.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 5 (excellent). Address: 6 New Road, Port Isaac, Cornwall, PL29 3SB.

6. Waterside Inn, Bray

Open in 1972, the Waterside Inn has long been the jewel in the Roux restaurant empire crown. Now under the leadership of chef-patron Alain Roux, cousin of Michel Roux Jr, the three-Michelin starred restaurant has won its fair share of admirers over the years. It won its first Michelin star in 1974 when the guide originally came out, a second in 1977, before the third in 1985.

Unashamedly French, dishes include seasonal game pâté wrapped in pastry with truffles and foie gras; pan-fried lobster medallions with a white port sauce and ginger flavoured vegetable julienne and pineapple confit in rum with coconut parfait, pandan infused curd.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 (excellent.) Address: Ferry Road, Bray, Berkshire, SL6 2AT 

5. The Black Swan at Oldstead, Oldstead

Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms, The Black Swan describes itself as “traditional Yorkshire with a swirling mix of creativity and eccentricity”. Overseen by chef Tommy Banks who became the youngest Michelin-starred chef in 2013, last year the restaurant picked up ‘Best Fine Dining Restaurant in the World’ by TripAdvisor.

Dishes include mussel and wood sorrel; Crapaudine beetroot cooked in beef fat, and damson and kernel.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 (excellent). Address: The Black Swan, Oldstead, York, North Yorkshire, YO61 4BL 

4. L’Enclume, Cartmel

Simon Rogan’s two Michelin-starred restaurant in Cumbria came in fourth in TripAdvisor’s round-up, climbing up two places from sixth in 2017. Praised for its “expertly crafted dishes” by the Michelin Guide, Rogan makes the vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers grown at the restaurant’s farm the stars of his dishes.

Plates include beetroot leaf, fermented cabbage and ragstone; brill, winter leaves and pike perch roe, and pear cooked in whey with dandelion seeds.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 (excellent). Address: Cavendish Street, Cartmel Nr Grange over Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6PZ.

3. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton

Established in 1984 by Raymond Blanc, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is one of three UK restaurants that made TripAdvisor’s top 25 fine dining restaurants in the world. Awarded two Michelin stars in 1985, it has held them ever since. The French-inspired menu pays homage to Oxfordshire and British produce with the restaurant itself boasting a large vegetable and herb garden, often seen on Blanc’s BBC series How To Cook Well.

Dishes include: ravioli of pumpkin, barkham blue and toasted hazelnut; roasted loin of Rhug Estate venison, autumn roots and juniper, and seasonal pear Almondine, caramel croustillant and ginger sauce.

Average TripAdvisor rating: 5 (excellent). Address: Church Road, Great Milton, Oxford, OX44 7PD, UK.

2. Adam’s, Birmingham

Michelin-starred Adam’s in Birmingham is another restaurant to have improved on its rating last year, moving up five places to reach second. Run by Adam Stokes and his wife Natasha, Adam’s was initially launched as a pop-up restaurant. Winning a star within six months of opening, it later moved to new premises in the city in January 2016. The 36-cover restaurant serves contemporary British cuisine and offers a three-course, tasting and weekend lunch menus as well as a chef’s table experience.

Dishes include Orkney scallop salsa verde and bacon dashi; Norfolk quail, hen of the woods, hazelnut and turnip, and pear william, speculoos and creme fraiche.

1. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham

Named top in the UK, Sat Bains’ eponymous Nottingham-based restaurant has also been branded the fourth best restaurant in the world, according to TripAdvisor. The two-Michelin starred restaurant has topped the list for the first time having scored highly in previous years.

Commenting on the news, joint owners Sat and Amanda Bains, said: “We have always believed in our team and our location, and we feel both the kitchen brigade and front of house team we have currently are the strongest we have ever had. It’s very flattering to receive such high praise from our guests, and we are immensely proud to fly the flag, not just for our home city of Nottingham and the Midlands, but the UK too.

“To be among restaurants of such high calibre in the world ranking is extremely humbling. It’s an honour to be recognised and it will inspire us to keep pushing to deliver the ultimate in gastronomy. There will certainly be extra celebrations at our Christmas party this month!”

After winning the Roux Scholarship in 1999, Bains fulfilled his dream of becoming a head chef at a restaurant “not in Mayfair or Oxford” but in Nottingham. He quickly became a partner in the business, and within five years of joining, he and his wife Amanda bought the business out. Awarded his first star in 2003 with a second coming in 2012, Bains famously does not offer an a la carte menu, but rather a 10-course tasting menu (with a seven-course option) which is constantly evolving.

Dishes include: smoked eel, apple, turnip, seaweed and Manjimup truffle; ‘From the embers’: potato, kombu and caviar; chicken muesli; The crossover’: tomato and thyme ‘jammy dodger’ and ‘Lenton lane’ inspired by the rocky road.

Average TripAdvisor: 4.5 (excellent). Address: Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Lenton Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2SA.