The 2024 National Restaurant Award winners have been announced, and five restaurants in Scotland have taken home accolades.
This year’s list shows the return of London’s dominance in the restaurant scene, with a total of 53 restaurants from London in the top 100 list and only three in the top 10 located outside of the city.
Scottish restaurant of the year went to The Glenturret Lalique in Crieff. The restaurant, which is headed up by Mark Donald, was awarded Two Michelin Stars earlier this year.
The Glenturret Lalique restaurant opened in July 2021 and has won a range of awards.
Glasgow-born head chef Mark Donald built his culinary credentials through holding positions at some of the World’s best restaurants including the iconic Noma in Copenhagen, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles (two-star Michelin), Hibiscus (two-star Michelin) and Bentley, Sydney.
Stuart Ralston’s new Edinburgh restaurant Lyla received The Service Award for 2024. Lyla opened earlier this year on the site of 21212 and has been receiving rave reviews since.
Lyla is an ode to produce from the Scottish Isles, focusing on ingredients from the coastline and earth. It serves a 10-course tasting menu in the Georgian dining room with a lunch menu also available.
Inver in Cairndow, The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh and The Palmerston in Edinburgh were also named in top 100 restaurants in the UK.
Other winners of the 2024 National Restaurant Awards include Brett Graham’s Notting Hill restaurant The Ledbury, which has been named the Best Restaurant in the UK 2024, 12 years after it last held the title (The Ledbury was named Number One restaurant in the UK for three years, 2010-2012).
The second place and the Highest New Entry goes to Tomos Parry’s critically acclaimed Soho restaurant Mountain. Following his success with Brat (ranked 47th), Parry brings together his Welsh heritage and love for Basque cuisine with a focus on open-fire cooking and small-scale Spanish winemakers.
Founder and head chef of Chishuru (no.31 in the list) Adejoké Bakare takes home the Chef of the Year title. Serving modern West African cuisine, Bakare’s journey began hosting pop-ups in 2020 before opening a restaurant in Brixton Village. At the end of 2023 she relocated Chishuru to a larger site in Fitzrovia, and earlier this year became the first black woman in the UK to be awarded a Michelin star, and only the second black female chef in the world to have achieved this.
For the first time ever, a pub has been crowned Opening of the Year with the recent launch of The Devonshire in Soho. Run by Oisín Rogers, Charlie Caroll and Ashley Palmer-Watts,
The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to former chef-patron at Le Gavroche Michel Roux.
As a member of the Roux family, a dynasty that has profoundly influenced the UK’s culinary landscape, Michel Roux has continued the legacy of his father Albert Roux and his late great-uncle Michel and upheld Le Gavroche’s status as a cornerstone of classical French cuisine in London until its closure at the start of this year.
The winner of the Estrella Damm Sustainability Award goes to The Bull Inn in Totes.
The winners were announced on Monday 10 June at a ceremony held at The Magazine London. The full list of the UK’s Top 100 Restaurants can be found on the National Restaurant Awards website.
The National Restaurant Awards is Restaurant’s annual countdown of the top 100 restaurants in the UK as voted for by the UK’s leading chefs, restaurateurs and food writers.
Full list of National Restaurant Awards 2024 winners:
