Same here, you never know how they managed to whittle their lists down to these ones.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
4
There are two UK ones on the list. I am gobsmacked that Lyle’s would make anyone’s top 50 list of anywhere, let alone the world. And I’d never even heard of the Clove Club previously. Co-incidence that they are both in the same neighbourhood of London? Or just someone couldnt be arsed to walk very far from their hotel?
I’m actually glad Lyle’s made it - fellow Hungry Onion @ds and I really enjoyed our lunch there during my last visit to London. In fact, the last couple of trips I made to London last year, Shoreditch had been one exciting new area which we started exploring. But, like you, the Clove Club escaped our notice, and we were gobsmacked that it made the list as UK’s highest entrant.
But then, stranger things have happened - look at Bangkok-based Gaggan, a modern-Indian outfit which ranked 4th on the list, which also made it the highest-ranked Asian restaurant on the list - 99% of Bangkokians would never have stepped into the restaurant as Thais seem to be very averse to Indian curry spices or Indian cooking of any kind.
A few years ago a friend and I tried to reserve at Babbo for the same evening. Nothing was available, but they told us to come by, since they always had a few tables for walk-ins. We went, and there was nothing, so they recommended the original Blue Hill around the block. We got a table there, and Mayor Koch was dining there that night. I was not very impressed with the food.
I have reservations at #24 - Quintonil in Mexico City next month! We are on the waiting list for #12 but I’m not feeling optimistic. Shout out to @mariacarmen for putting the idea in my head
Tbh I don’t know if I had heard of the list before the tv show. And that I enjoy for the cinematography and the treatment of the journey story. Pretty plating or clever dishes don’t always translate.
I went to Roister (Alinea chef) shortly after he was featured (and Roister was new), and it was a let-down. EMP ditto (which is now on a “super” list?) even though its sister restaurant (the NoMad) was one of the best meals I’d had at the time.
So, there are always lists. In nyc there was Zagat for a long time (and again soon, apparently) - idea was this was real people eating and rating (even though that must’ve been partially untrue - there was no way that many “normal” people had eaten at the most expensive places).
I’ve heard that Blue Hill at Stone Barns is a different experience; the city restaurant is just a decent high-end restaurant, no more. Like TFL vs. Per Se.
I’ve been to a few of the present/past 50 best. I found they all were worth the hype, fortunately!
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
17
Perhaps more interesting are the several other UK restaurants in the rest of the San Pelli list - those from 51 - 120. Every single one is in London which, if one was genuinely looking at our country’s best, you would quickly come to the conclusion that this was just bollocks. No mention of Nathan Outlaw; no mention of L’Enclume; no mention of Sat Bains, no mention of Moor Hall.
The fault (if one was sufficiently arsed to regard it as such), is the way the San Pelli voting takes place. It requires the various regional judges to have eaten outside their home area as well as inside it. In itself, that leads to votes being awarded to the latest “trendy” places that are in easy to travel to locations. Almost inherently, that means a foreign judge wanting to visit the UK is going to review an easy to get to London location, rather than have a five hour drive to Port Isaac to eat Nathan’s food or L’Enclume.
