National Restaurant Awards: The Sportsman wins Gastropub of the Year 2015

The pub was also voted to the top spot in the PMA's Top 50 Gastropub Awards 2015 in January.

The National Restuarant Awards are organised by PMA sister title Restaurant magazine in association with Estrella Damm.

Barrafina Adelaide Street in London was named the National Restaurant of the Year 2015.

Sam and Eddie Hart’s restaurant, which opened less than a year ago (7 July), topped the list of the 100 best restaurants in the UK as voted for by 150 industry experts from across the UK.

The Sportsman also jumped four places up the top 100 list to number two while Brett Graham’s Notting Hill restaurant The Ledbury held onto number three.

Nine pubs featured in the top 100 list including Tom Kerridge's  second site the Coach in Marlow, which opened in December, Great British Menu 2014 winner Emily Watkin's Kingham Plough in Kingham, Oxfordshire and Tom Kitchin's Scran & Scallie in Edinburgh.

Last year’s winner Gymkhana slipped down to fourth spot while Tom Kerridge's Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, last year’s Gastropub of the Year moved down just one place to five.

Lyle’s, James Lowe’s restaurant in Shoreditch, named last year’s One to Watch, entered the list for the first time at number six with the top 10 also encompassing L’Enclume, Restaurant Sat Bains, The Dairy and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. 

Special awards​

As well as revealing the coveted list, the event gave out a number of special awards to restaurants and individuals.

Nathan Outlaw, whose eponymous restaurant in Cornwall came in at number 20 on the list and who also has pub the Mariners in Rock, also in Cornwall,  was voted Chef’s Chef while chef Rick Stein, whose restaurant group includes pub the Cornish Arms in St Merryn, Padstow, was given a Lifetime Achievement award.

Nuno Mendes’s newly-opened Taberno do Mercado in Spitalfields Market in London was named the One to Watch and Bruno Loubet’s Grainstore in Kings Cross, London, won Sustainable Restaurant of the Year.

Other awards included ; the Service Award, given to Paul Ainsworth at No. 6; Wine List of the Year, awarded to The Square and Cocktail List of the Year, awarded to Chiltern Firehouse.

The list​

Votes from 150 industry experts from across the UK, including chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and critics, determine which restaurants make the top 100 list. 

Each voter is given seven votes based on their best restaurant experiences from the last 12 months.  Votes are listed in order of preference and must be for restaurants both in their ‘home’ region and outside it.

Once all votes are cast, they are added up by Restaurant magazine to create the list. In the event of a tied number of votes, the preference ‘weighting' comes into play.

Special awards -  Best Wine List, Best Front of House, Best Cocktail List and Lifetime Achievement - are voted for separately by the same academy of experts while The One To Watch Award is granted at the discretion of Restaurant ​magazine.

The Top 100 Restaurants in the UK​

• Barrafina Adelaide Street, London (National Restaurant and Best Spanish Restaurant)
• The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent (Gastropub of the Year)
• The Ledbury, London
• Gymkhana, London
• The Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
• Lyle’s, London
• L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria
• Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
• The Dairy, London
• Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London (Highest Climber)
• The Clove Club, London
• Hedone, London
• Restaurant Story, London
• The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (Best Restaurant in Wales)
• The Palomar, London
• Kitty Fisher’s, London
• Fera at Claridge’s, London
• Paul Ainsworth at No.6,  Padstow, Cornwall (The Service Award)
• Casamia, Bristol
• Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac, Cornwall
• Dishoom King’s Cross, London
• The Seahorse, Dartmouth, Devon
• A Wong, London
• 64 Degrees Brighton, Brighton
• 40 Maltby Street, London
• Zucca, London
• Belmond Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire
• Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Auchterarder (Best Restaurant in Scotland)
• Midsummer House, Cambridge
• Sticky Walnut, Chester
• Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, London
• Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London
• The Square, London (Wine List of the Year)
• The Quality Chop House, London
• Pizarro, London
• The River Café, London
• The Salt Room, Brighton
• Social Eating House, London
• Hibiscus, London
• Honey & Co, London
• Northcote, Blackburn, Lancashire
• The Chilli Pickle, Brighton
• Grainstore, London (Sustainable Restaurant of the Year)
• Le Gavroche, London
• Hawksmoor Air Street, London
• The Kitchin, Edinburgh
• The Ox, Bristol
• Wild Honey, London
• Scott’s, London
• Sushi Tetsu, London
• The Raby Hunt, Darlington, Co. Durham
• Castle Terrace, Edinburgh
• The Pass, Lower Beeding, West Sussex
• The Hardwick, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
• Ametsa by Arzak Instruction, London
• The Hinds Head, Bray, Berkshire
• Pollen Street Social, London
• Pitt Cue, London
• Quo Vadis, London
• Lardo, London
• Porthminster Beach Café, Saint Ives, Cornwall
• House of Tides, Newcastle
• The Waterside Inn, Bray, Berkshire
• Yauatcha, London
• Berners Tavern, London
• Chiltern Firehouse, London (Cocktail List of the Year)
• The Coach, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
• Monachyle Mhor, Lochearnhead, Perthshire
• The Old Stamphouse, Ambleside, Cumbria
• Duck & Waffle, London
• The Typing Room, London
• The Kingham Plough, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
• The Elephant, Torquay, Devon
• Brawn, London
• Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• Koffmanns, London
• Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside, Cumbria
• Marcus, London
• Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Corwen
• Wright’s Food Emporium, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire
• Y Polyn, Capel Dewi, Carmarthen
• Murano, London
• Otto’s, London
• Ox and Finch, Glasgow
• Hakkasan Mayfair, London
• Harry’s Shack, Portstewart (Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland)
• Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
• Purnell’s, Birmingham
• MEATLiquor, London
• Shu, Belfast
• Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
• Lido, Clifton, Bristol
• The French, Manchester
• The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
• Little Social, London
• The Scran & Scallie, Edinburgh
• Antidote, London
• Manchester House, Manchester
• The Wild Rabbit, Kingham, Oxfordshire
• St John, London