Congratulations to Simon Rogan, whose Michelin star restaurant L'Enclume, in Cartmel, has just been awarded as the fourth best restaurant in the country in The Good Food Guide 2010! No doubt his relatively new alliance with Julia Sayburn at organic Howbarrow Farm has helped - she now grows herbs and veg exclusively for Simon. Read our feature article, including video interview, in the Aug-Sep issue of the Artisan-food e-magazine.

From The Good Food Guide PR:

"Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay remain the cream of the culinary crop - but there’s a change in the air as restaurants outside of London climb up the ladder, according to the 60th anniversary edition of The Good Food Guide.

For the third year in a row, Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, takes the top spot, receiving the highest accolade – a 10 out of 10 rating. 

As The Good Food Guide 2011 sums up: 'A razor-sharp culinary intelligence is at work here, summoning up a procession of "world-beating" dishes for the bedazzled throngs.'

It seems that London’s grip on the UK’s culinary crown might be slipping, as Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant was the only one in London to make it into the top five. 

In second place, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road was praised as 'the nearest thing to a world-class restaurant experience currently on offer in the capital'.

Rounding off the top five are Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, in third, with up-and-coming chefs at L’Enclume in Cumbria and Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall taking fourth and fifth place.

One of the qualities they share is the dedication to local, fresh produce. At L’Enclume, chef Simon Rogan has leased an organic farm where the produce dictates his menu, while 80 per cent of Nathan Outlaw’s menu is Cornish-landed fish, described as an 'education in seafood'."