The Ledbury crowned UK’s best restaurant, again...

Two Michelin-starred Notting Hill restaurant The Ledbury has been crowned the best restaurant in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards for the third year running. As reported on db.com, the restaurant, run by Australian chef Brett Graham, saw off competition from Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social and Marlow pub The Hand and Flowers, which came in second and third respectively.

Owned and run by Tom Kerridge, The Hand and Flowers, the world’s first pub to be awarded two Michelin stars, was also named Gastropub of the Year. Five of the top ten restaurants on this year’s list are in London, with Quo Vadis in Soho, run by Jeremy Lee, the highest new entry at number 9. Master sommelier Xavier Rousset’s Texture in Marylebone bagged the Wine List of the Year award, while Lima London in Fitzrovia was voted the One to Watch.

Phil Howard meanwhile, of two Michelin-starred The Square in Mayfair, was voted Chef’s Chef, while Dinner by Heston Blumenthal picked up the Hotel Restaurant of the Year award. Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, owners of celebrity favourites The Wolseley and The Delaunay, along with the newly opened Brasserie Zedel, scooped the Personality of the Year award.

Earlier this year, the Ledbury climbed 20 places to number 14 at The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards, making it the highest climber on the list. And if running the UK’s best restaurant wasn’t enough, Graham and his team heroically protected diners last August when the restaurant was attacked during the London riots, chasing away masked looters with rolling pins.

Now in their fifth year, the National Restaurant Awards aim to highlight the best restaurants in the UK and reward the nation’s top chefs and restaurateurs. The restaurants are voted for by a team of 150 chefs, restaurateurs, food critics and journalists across 12 UK regions. Chefs are not allowed to vote for their own restaurant. 

The Top 10 Restaurants in the UK

1: The Ledbury, London

2: Pollen Street Social, London

3: The Hand & Flowers, Marlow

4: Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham

5: The Fat Duck, Bray

6: The Sportsman, Seasalter

7: The Square, London

8: The Kitchen, Edinburgh

9: Quo Vadis, London

10: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London 

Ravenswood wine dinner at 28-50

Last week the King of Zin Joel Peterson of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, California, was in London to host a wine bloggers dinner at Xavier Rousset's wine workshop 28-50.

I remember quizzing Xavier about his next venture during lunch at the Fine Wine 2010 conference in Ribera del Duero in May. He mentioned he was about to open a sister restaurant to Texture, but this time he wanted to focus on wine, so had christened it 28-50 after the latitude at which vines are grown. Six months on and the place is heaving with both the wine trade and city slickers day and night - smart move.

Beginning with a glass of fizz, our group is soon ushered upstairs to a long wooden dining table overlooking the bistrot below. In the far corner I spot Tim Atkin and Victoria Moore, who were no doubt discussing the latest broadsheet wine writer transfers. It's like the end of the football signing season - everyone's on the move. Moore has just been snapped up by the Telegraph, and Fiona Beckett has filled the vacancy at the Guardian. So where does that leave Johnny Ray?

I digress. After an enjoyable interview that morning, I was keen to find out more about Peterson, so saddled up next to him. He'd brought seven Zins with him, from the wallet friendly 2007 Vintners Blend (£7.99), to the top end Barricia Zinfandel (£24.95). In keeping with his 'No Wimpy Wines' mantra, we were to drink Zinfandel from starter to pudding, so I chose the boldest dishes on the menu, to give them a chance of standing up against the big, bold, peppery beasts.

Peterson is a consummate raconteur, and spent most of the evening recalling tales from his winemaking past, from picking four tones of grapes during a thunderstorm under the watchful gaze of three ravens, and sleeping in fields in Spain, to being propositioned by a masseuse in the Middle East. During the starters (delicious duck rillettes for me) he tells me the winery is named after the leading man in Donizetti's opera Luica de Lammermoor - Sir Edgar, Master of Ravenswood.

'The raven is seen as a trickster god to the American Indians, so it wasn't a large leap to adopt it as my totem', admits Peterson, who promises free tastings for life to anyone who has the distinctive Ravenswood symbol permanently inked.

The winery has been making some of the world's best Zinfandels for over 30 years, and Peterson still seems fiercely passionate about California's native grape. Moving on to the main event, a suitably un-wimpy onglet of beef, the wines come into their own. Both the Tedelshi 2006 and Barricia 2006 stand out - full of sumptuous, brambly black fruit, pepper and spice, they are big, bold and grippy without being monsters, with a lovely licorice finish. I'm amazed at how smooth, soft and approachable the wines are, despite their high alcohol levels.

The final wine - Lodi 2005, is served in a mammoth bottle by a brave waitress. In our interview earlier that day, Joel had championed Zinfandel as a wine capable of ageing gracefully, describing how the best wines take on Northern Italian tar and roses qualities. Curious to experience the flavours first hand, I was disappointed not to see an old Zin in the line up. Perhaps I'll have to look into getting that tattoo...

During desert, our veins pumping with Zinfandel, Joel and I engage in a spiritual discussion. He concludes that the world is a magnificent accident and that we have to live as if there is nothing else afterwards, making each day count – an exhilarating and liberating philosophy. 'Did you always feel that way?', I ask. 'Hell no, I was a Christian fundamentalist at university, but a bit of Peyote put paid to that'.

Declaration of Ribera '09 vintage at Peñafiel

Told to dress up, on the final night of the conference we were whisked away to a convent in Peñafiel to celebrate the declaration of the 2009 vintage, which we hoped would be 'excelente'.

Stepping out of the coach in my hot pink dress, the paps soon circled our group and started snapping away, while flocks of sharp-suited men hovered around the entrance. It all felt very Fellini.

Up high in the hills stood the Peñafiel fortress; the symbol of Ribera del Duero, whose foundations date back to the 10th century. The name Peñafiel comes from 'peña' 'fiel', the Spanish for faithful rock, having been built to protect the province of Castile. It cuts a fine figure on the hilltop, and I was momentarily hypnotized by its beauty.

We were quickly ushered into the main hall, which was buzzing with animated chatter. Dotted around the room were men in imposing black cloaks and wide-rimmed hats with red scarves tied around their waists. I was informed they were members of a wine brotherhood, sworn in for their work in promoting Ribera wines around the world.

A hush fell upon the crowd as José Trillo, president of the Consejo Regulador, stepped up to the mic. Therein began the speeches. The interminable speeches. In Spanish! The Consejo clearly wanted to milk the moment and eke out the declaration for as long as possible. We had to endure not one, not two, but three speeches before, amid palpable anticipation, the Ribera del Duero 2009 vintage was declared 'excelente'. Cue clinking of glasses and general merriment.

The third 'excelente' vintage in a decade, along with 2001 and 2004, I felt privileged to have witnessed its inception. Trillo was full of good news - consumption of Ribera is up 1.6% on last year, and the region has pumped $1m into a huge marketing push in the US, having just concluded a tasting tour taking in Miami, LA and New York.

After the speeches it was time to party. Legs of jamón were carved to the bone, huge plates of croquetas and chorizo did the rounds and hundreds of bottles of wine emerged. I got chatting to the freshly-crowned World's Best Sommelier Gerard Basset and Texture's Xavier Rousset, both of whom had flown over the night before after judging at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Xavier told me about his latest venture, a wine 'workshop' and kitchen called 28º-50º, named after the latitude at which vines are grown. ‘All of the wines on the basic list will be under £50 and most will be one-offs, so the list will be constantly changing’. He's also devised a ‘collections’ list of high end wines sourced from private cellars, priced with the smallest mark up possible. 'I can’t afford to do that at Texture, so found a way round it by opening a new place’.