The Good Food Guide has today announced the top eateries from across the UK which feature in this year's edition.
The guide has, since 1951, reviewed the best restaurants, pubs and cafés around the British Isles, and each year, the guide is completely rewritten and compiled from scratch.
This year's Good Food Guide is published on Thursday, September 12, and features five Leicestershire restaurants.
Four of these are main entries, and one is a 'local gem'.
Four Rutland restaurants are featured as main entries - one of which is in the guide for the first time.
All reviews are based on the huge volume of feedback that is received from readers and this, together with anonymous expert inspections, ensures that every entry is assessed afresh.
There are no Leicestershire or Rutland restaurants featured in The Good Food Guide’s Top 50.
The highest ranking Midlands restaurant is Nottingham's Restaurant Sat Bains, at number 9.
Here are the main entries from Leicestershire and Rutland:
John's House, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire
The guide says: The creeper-covered frontage in a row of brick buildings echoes the foursquare concept of John Duffin's place. It is very much his house, situated next to the family farm that his brother runs. Inside, there is a bare-board floor, naked brick walls and tables got up in their best whites. Informed by his passage through the kitchens of Claude Bosi and Simon Rogan, Duffin works in the contemporary vein, bringing excitement and intensity to the humblest ingredients, and imagination to their combinations.
Start with oxtail in a risotto of toasted grains, the richness accentuated with Comté, artichoke and truffle, or perhaps with horseradish-fired chilled crab cream. Pedigree meats and impeccable fish line up together for mains such as old spot piglet with leeks, smoked eel and mint, or lightly salted cod fillet with brawn, aubergine and passion fruit, all scented with curry spices. Artisan cheeses are the alternative (or addition) to idiosyncratic desserts like parsnip sorbet with yoghurt, liquorice and mint, or Williams pears poached in muscovado and thyme with sweet cheese. Wines are articulately described on a list that spans the globe with glass selections from £7, extending to choice Coravin picks.
Score 6 - Exemplary cooking skills, innovative ideas, impeccable ingredients and an element of excitement.
Sapori, Anstey, Leicestershire
The guide says: It may be marooned in a north Leicester suburb, but this cute and charming trattoria and pizza place is 'a cut above your average high street Italian' – no wonder it's enduringly popular with local families.
The pizzas come with unusual toppings, while the kitchen shows its ambitions with a repertoire that spans everything from lasagne and aubergine Parmigiana to seven-hour sous-vide rock octopus with 'pancotto' of broccoli or 'utterly delicious' oxtail ravioli (a special served with Parmesan and lemon crumble, confit cherry tomatoes and black truffle). Antipasti plates are loaded with top artisan ingredients, while desserts move from tiramisu and torta della nonna to an elaborate confection entitled 'chocolate texture'. Wines from £18.50.
Score 1 - Capable cooking with simple food combinations and clear flavours, but some inconsistencies.
The Hammer and Pincers, Wymeswold, Leicestershire
The guide says: Over the years Daniel and Sandra Jimminson’s village pub has evolved into the well-bred hostelry it is today, with food top of the agenda. The menu is rooted in great British ingredients and the kitchen goes about its work with dexterity. A dish of Brixham crab layered with lime, chilli, coriander and mint mayo, salted cucumber and compressed watermelon, served with a watermelon and ginger sorbet and a toasted peanut and sesame tuile added up to ‘a great combination of flavours’. Seared scallops with a light celeriac ‘ risotto’, apple caramel, compressed Granny Smith, lovage purée and shaved summer truffle was another winning composition.
For mains, smoked pork fillet arrives with a crispy pig’s cheek croquette and morcilla, accompanied by cavolo nero, white bean and garlic purée, fennel poached in white Rioja and parsley butter beans. There's praise, too, for ‘really great bread’ and an apple tarte tatin with Calvados VSOP ice cream and hot toffee sauce. House vin de pays is £18.95.
Score 2 - Decent cooking, good technical skills, interesting combinations and flavours. Occasional inconsistencies.
The Lighthouse, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire
The guide says: The people of Kibworth Beauchamp are lucky to have this convivial neighbourhood restaurant right in their midst. It may be just about as far as it's possible to get from the coast, but that doesn't deter chef patron Lino Poli from turning out a confident seafood menu that champions familiar dishes with flair.
Start with a creamy chowder or a clattering pile of moules marinière, or perhaps the much-loved potted shrimps with sourdough toast, before pan-fried halibut with lobster bisque and wilted pak choi, or whole gilthead bream given an Asian spin with a stuffing of lemongrass, ginger and lime leaves. Meat eaters aren't left out – there's venison chilli, tender loin of lamb with celeriac purée and root vegetables, or a puff pastry turkey pie. If you simply can't decide, pull up a seat at the Captain's Table, explain your likes and dislikes, and let the kitchen suggest five delicious courses. Choose an Italian-leaning dessert – affogato, sgroppino or panna cotta – unless an utterly British fruit crumble and custard is more your thing. Wine from £18.75.
Score 2 - Decent cooking, good technical skills, interesting combinations and flavours. Occasional inconsistencies.
The Olive Branch, Clipsham, Rutland
The guide says: Gifted to Clipsham by a local squire in 1890 and rescued from extinction by three friends in 1999, this handsome stone pub is a fully fledged success story – a popular pit stop not far from the A1 and heaven-sent for locals who revel in its appealing menus and community-focused spirit. It was an early adopter of local sourcing and still trumpets its wares with a map of suppliers on the back of each menu – consult the cartography to discover where your dishes came from.
All preferences are accommodated here, whether your taste is for fillet steak with 'pub chips' or pan-fried turbot with cockle risotto, parsley oil and coriander. In between, there might be cider-cured trout, caramelised onion tarte tatin or roast chicken with tarragon gnocchi and Madeira sauce, while desserts embrace everything from glazed lemon tart to chocolate délice with toffee popcorn. Drinks also score highly, thanks to top-notch regional ales and an ever-changing list of good-value wines.
Score 2 - Decent cooking, good technical skills, interesting combinations and flavours. Occasional inconsistencies.
Hambleton Hall, Hambleton, Rutland
The guide says: ‘One hopes that the owners and chef can keep going for a few more years yet,’ was the fervent wish of one regular, noting that Tim and Stefa Hart have been custodians of this stunningly located aristocratic hotel for nearly four decades; chef Aaron Patterson is well into his third.
Indeed, for many the whole experience is ‘ perfect’. A couple who took advantage of a winter 'lunch for less' offer – foaming mushroom pasta, lamb shank and apple crumble soufflé – considered their meal ‘faultless and worth the money’.
For Patterson, seasonality is king (he's built up a network of trusted suppliers over the years) and fresh flavours are evident at every turn. His classic techniques allow him to pull off dishes that still manage to feel contemporary and relevant. Thus a meal in February could open with Cornish crab teamed with radish and ginger caviar, and go on to roast fillet of cod with mussels, cauliflower, cumin and coriander sauce, or presa Ibérico with caramelised fennel, apple and crackling, before finishing with a taste of Yorkshire rhubarb. The personable front of house approach is delightful, and the wine list a true masterpiece – expertly curated, trustworthy and allowing you to drink well without breaking the bank.
Score 7 - High level of ambition. Attention to the small detail. Accurate and vibrant dishes.
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Hitchen's Barn, Oakham, Rutland (in the guide for the first time)
The guide says: At the beginning of 2019, Neil and Louise Hitchen upped sticks from their old billet at The Berkeley Arms in Wymondham and headed for this old stone-built barn conversion in a market town 10 miles or so further south. Kitchen utensils are on display in the beamed and bare-boarded dining room, where mismatched side plates and fresh flowers give a homely impression, reinforced by Louise's friendly front of house approach.
Local produce is the mainstay of Neil's menus, which retain the Wymondham formula for robust dishes that exert strong popular appeal. Heirloom tomatoes bursting with sweet ripeness, served with goat's curd and pesto, or cured sea trout with blood orange in hazelnut dressing, are simple fresh intros to mains such as halibut on the bone with asparagus and brown shrimps, or perhaps a sturdy meat dish like salty-skinned duck breast on hispi cabbage with potato gratin in a thyme-scented red wine jus. Finish with passion fruit cheesecake, or a sundae glass of rhubarb and orange trifle garlanded with herb leaves and almonds. Wines from a European-focused list start at £4.85 for a small glass.
Score 3 - Good cooking, showing sound technical skills and using quality ingredients.
The Lake Isle, Uppingham, Rutland
The guide says: There's lots of love for this little high street restaurant and its menu that roams far and wide for inspiration. Parsnip and apple bhajias could precede classic moules-frites on a winter menu, or you could conjure up some Greek sunshine with a spring dish of baked feta and salsa of cucumber, olives and dried tomatoes, before braised pork belly, pak choi and Korean barbecue dip whisks you east. A Belgian chocolate and Cointreau truffle with satsuma ripple ice cream will finish the gastronomic tour off deliciously. Wine from £18.50.
Score 1 - Capable cooking with simple food combinations and clear flavours, but some inconsistencies.
There is also one 'Local Gem' in Leicestershire.
Local Gems are not scored. According to the guide, these simple cafes, bistros and pubs are among the best neighbourhood eateries in the country.
Boboli, Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire
The guide says: A handsome village cottage is filled with la dolce vita from morning (damn fine coffee and cake) until night (pasta, pizza and more). A family-friendly attitude pervades and those pizzas – buffalo mozzarella with anchovies, say – have broad appeal. Bring an appetite for rich pasta dishes including tagliatelle with veal ragù. Exuberant secondi run to roast rabbit with olives and pine nuts, and lamb shank with onion risotto. Desserts are of the Italy's-greatest-hits variety (tiramisu, affogato, gelati) and the same goes for the wine list, from £18.75.
The Good Food Guide is published by Waitrose & Partners on September 12, and is available in Waitrose & Partners shops and online. RRP £17.99.
