 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(March 2014) |
SquareMeal is a restaurant and venues guide that offers professional restaurant critic reviews, along with a directory of restaurants and venues.
| This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(March 2014) |
SquareMeal is a restaurant and venues guide that offers professional restaurant critic reviews, along with a directory of restaurants and venues.
SquareMeal was co-founded by school friends Mark de Wesselow and Simon White in 1989 [1] as a print - and later online - guide to eating out in the Square Mile, London’s historic financial centre. The guide has since expanded into covering the whole of the UK, along with sister sites in UAE, Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In 2018 Dean Yardley - founder & former MD of wedding planning website and venues directory hitched.co.uk joined the company as CEO.
2020 saw the official closure of all of SquareMeal’s print titles to become a fully digital platform.
SquareMeal supports homeless charity StreetSmart. [2] The campaign is supported by Stephen Fry and chefs including Angela Hartnett, Marcus Wareing, Jason Atherton and Fergus Henderson. [3]
SquareMeal has three annual awards - UK Top 100 restaurants, [4] London Top 100 restaurants [5] and Female Chef of the Year. [6]
UK Top 100 Awards
The top 100 lists are a compilation of the best dining experiences of the year.
Past winners of SquareMeal's UK Top 100 restaurants:
| 2023 | Grace & Savour [7] |
| 2022 | Osip [8] |
| 2021 | Awards on hold due to Covid |
| 2020 | Awards on hold due to Covid |
| 2019 | Moor Hall |
| 2018 | Casamia |
| 2017 | The Sportsman |
| 2016 | The Fat Duck |
| 2015 | The Hand & Flowers |
| 2014 | Northcote |
| 2013 | Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons |
| 2012 | Purnell’s |
| 2011 | The Kitchin |
| 2010 | L’Enclume |
| 2009 | Whatley Manor |
London top 100 awards
Running alongside the UK Top 100 is the London Top 100 - highlighting the best restaurants in England’s capital city.
Past winners of SquareMeal's London Top 100 restaurants:
| 2023 | Da Terra [9] |
| 2022 | BiBi [10] |
| 2021 | Awards on hold due to Covid |
| 2020 | Awards on hold due to Covid |
| 2019 | Brat |
| 2018 | Core by Clare Smyth |
| 2017 | Pollen Street Social |
| 2016 | Frenchie |
| 2015 | The Clove Club |
| 2014 | Gymkhana |
| 2013 | The Five Fields |
| 2012 | Dabbous |
| 2011 | Pollen Street Social |
| 2010 | The Ledbury |
| 2009 | Arbutus |
SquareMeal Female Chef of the Year Award
SquareMeal also holds their annual Female Chef of the Year award. In 2018, Angela Hartnett won the award, followed by Skye Gyngell in 2019, [11] with Sally Abe winning in 2021, [12] Lisa Goodwin-Allen winning in 2022 [13] and Roberta Hall-McCarron in 2023. [14]
| 2023 | Roberta Hall-McCarron |
| 2022 | Lisa Goodwin-Allen |
| 2021 | Sally Abè |
| 2020 | Awards on hold due to Covid |
| 2019 | Skye Gyngell |
| 2018 | Angela Harnett |
Gordon James Ramsay is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall and currently holds eight. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. After rising to fame on the British television miniseries Boiling Point in 1999, Ramsay became one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the world.
The Michelin Guides are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants. The acquisition or loss of a star or stars can have dramatic effects on the success of a restaurant. Michelin also publishes the Green Guides, a series of general guides to cities, regions, and countries.
James Martin is a British chef and television presenter, best known for his television work with the BBC and ITV.
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The Ledbury is a restaurant located on Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London, England. It held two Michelin stars from 2010 until 2021, when it lost them as it shut due to Covid-19 restrictions being impractical for the restaurant, making it ineligible for assessment by Michelin inspectors. It has also been featured in S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants. The restaurant reopened in February 2022, after being closed for almost 2 years. It regained both Michelin stars in the 2023 Michelin Guide and was promoted to three Michelin stars in the 2024 Michelin guide.
Zafferano is a restaurant in London, originally run by Giorgio Locatelli on behalf of A–Z Restaurants until 2005. The restaurant was awarded one Michelin star in 1999, which it held until 2012.
Ravinder Bhogal is a food writer, restaurateur, British chef, journalist and stylist. She opened her first restaurant Jikoni in Marylebone, London in September 2016.
Ramsay's Best Restaurant is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay broadcast on Channel 4. During the series restaurants from all over Britain competed in order to win the "Ramsay's Best Restaurant" title. The initial 16 restaurants were selected by Ramsay from a pool of some 12,000 entries submitted by Channel 4 viewers.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, also known as Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, is the signature restaurant bearing the name of British celebrity chef and media personality Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, in Chelsea, London. It opened in 1998 and was Ramsay's first solo restaurant. In 2001 it was awarded three Michelin stars, and in 2022 Ramsay celebrated 21 years with all three. In March 2013, the restaurant reopened following an art deco redesign under Chef Patron Clare Smyth. More recently in 2020 Matt Abé took over as Chef Patron, owning and running the restaurant as part of Ramsay's restaurant group.
Clare Smyth is a Northern Irish chef. She is the Chef Patron of three Michelin starred Core by Clare Smyth which opened in 2017. Previously she was Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay from 2012 to 2016, won the Chef of the Year award in 2013, and achieved a perfect score in the 2015 edition of the Good Food Guide. Smyth has also appeared on television shows such as Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen. Smyth also notably catered at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding.
Skye Gyngell is an Australian chef who is best known for her work as food editor for Vogue, and for winning a Michelin star at the Petersham Nurseries Cafe. She first trained as a chef in France, and afterwards moved to Britain.
Harveys was a restaurant in Wandsworth, London, run by chef Marco Pierre White between 1987 and 1993. Its French cuisine was warmly received by food critics, and it was named Restaurant of the Year by The Times in 1987.
Pollen Street Social is a restaurant in London, England, run by chef Jason Atherton. It was Atherton's first UK solo restaurant, and in 2011 was named the best new UK restaurant by the Good Food Guide, and the best new fine-dining restaurant in London by Time Out. It currently holds one Michelin star, which it gained within a year of opening. Elements in the restaurant such as the dessert bar have been subsequently included in Atherton's other restaurants. On 22 March 2024, Atherton announced on Instagram that the restaurant would be closing permanently on 31 July 2024.
Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, also known as MENU, was a restaurant owned by Gordon Ramsay Holdings and run by chef Angela Hartnett. It was located within The Connaught in Mayfair, London. The restaurant was opened following Ramsay's successful opening of Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, within the Claridge's hotel, which is owned by the same equity group. Ramsay had originally been asked to move Restaurant Gordon Ramsay into the space, but suggested that Hartnett should run a new operation there instead. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in the 2004 guide and held it until it closed in 2007.
Murano is a restaurant situated in London, England. It was opened in August 2008 by chefs Angela Hartnett and Gordon Ramsay. Murano was purchased outright from Ramsay by head chef Hartnett with the handover taking place in October 2010. It was awarded one Michelin star in 2009, which has been retained ever since.
The Square was a London fine dining restaurant, opened on 13 December 1991 in St James's. Since its opening, it had been co-owned by chef Phil Howard and wine expert Nigel Platts-Martin. It also earned its first Michelin star in 1994 and retained it from then on. After relocating to Mayfair in February 1997, The Square won a second Michelin star in 1998, which it retained until 2016, the same year when Howard and Platts-Martin sold the restaurant to a company held by Marlon Abela. It regained its first Michelin star in 2017. It closed on 31 January 2020, causing the restaurant to lose its star the following year.