Good Food Guide 2018: Cornish fish restaurant, Nathan Outlaw, named best UK restaurant

The eatery knocked L’Enclume in Cumbria off the top spot

The winning restaurant achieved a perfect score of 10 for the second year in a row

A Cornish fish restaurant has been crowned the best in the UK, bumping Cumbria’s L’Enclume into second place after five years at the top.

The restaurant Nathan Outlaw, named after its founder, was awarded the No 1 spot in The Good Food Guide 2018 for its efforts to “educate and encourage the public appetite for fish,” and achieving a perfect score of 10 for the second year in a row.

Outlaw, 39, who has worked with TV chef Rick Stein, founded the two Michelin starred restaurant in Port Isaac in 2007, and first made the list back in 2009 at No 11.

Now, the flagship is finally being recognised for its carefully crafted menu that offers the fresh local seafood in a relaxed dining room.

“Nathan Outlaw’s food is characterised by the absolute freshness of ingredients and a clear sense of purpose,” said the guide’s editor, Elizabeth Carter.

“He has done an enormous amount to educate and encourage the public appetite for fish, driven by his supply of impeccably fine ingredients and a special talent for creating unique and thrilling fish dishes.”

Outlaw says that the award has come as a result of the hard work and dedication of the restaurants entire team who have been working together for a decade.

“It just goes to show that if you stay true to yourself, get your head down, look after your customers and use the very best ingredients available to you, you’ll make it to the top,” he added.

The Good Food Guide, published by the supermarket chain Waitroise, lists 1,235 entries based on anonymous inspections and feedback from readers which it says helps it to champion lesser known eateries.

One such restaurant is a 12-seater dining room with a galley kitchen and no customer toilets in Broadstairs, Kent.

Stark, named by husband-and-wife owners Ben and Sophie Chittenden after the Game of Thrones character Ned Stark, is housed in a former sandwich bar near the beach. What’s more, co-founder has also Ben named as the guide’s ‘chef to watch.’

“We are delighted if surprised to get such recognition so early on and our reputation seems to have spread via word of mouth and on social media,” he said.

Aside from the praise, the guide also highlights that an increasing number of readers have complained that UK restaurants are getting noisier with music being played “at Glastonbury force” blamed for ruining diners’ experiences.

Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, of Casamia in Bristol, whose restaurant has climbed from 27th last year to 10th this year has been named as chef of the year.

The top 20 restaurants in the UK:

1 Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (10)

2 L’Enclume, Cumbria (10)

3 Pollen Street Social, London (9)

4 Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottinghamshire (9)

5 The Fat Duck, Berkshire (9)

6 Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London (9)

7 Hedone, London (8)

8 Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Tayside (8)

9 Claude Bosi at Bibendum, London (8)

10 Casamia, Bristol (8)

11 Bohemia, Jersey (8)

12 Ynyshir, Powys (8)

13 Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London (8)

14 Fraiche, Merseyside (8)

15 Marcus, London (8)

16 Le Champignon Sauvage, Gloucestershire (8)