Evening Standard London Restaurant Awards: Local restaurant near Essex takes top prize as winners announced

The award winners have been announced at a packed ceremony within Taste of London
Winner: Ben Murphy is head chef of The Woodford
Lucy Young
Ben Norum16 June 2016

A restaurant close to the Essex border that is housed in a former nightclub shut due to a shooting has been named London’s best at the Evening Standard London Restaurant Awards.

The Woodford, led by 25 year-old chef Ben Murphy, was shortlisted by the award panel — including Evening Standard critics Fay Maschler and Grace Dent — and received the most votes from Evening Standard readers. It beat contenders including Lyle’s, The Ledbury and The Quality Chop House.

The surprise win capped an evening of awards that showcased London’s diverse culinary talent, with gongs handed out in front of an audience comprising the great and the good of the food world at the ceremony within the Taste of London food festival in Regent’s Park.

The award for best restaurateur was another one of the most hotly anticipated. It was won by husband and wife team Robin and Sarah Gill, who run The Dairy and The Manor in Clapham and Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green. The couple were chosen from a shortlist including Hawksmoor’s Will Beckett and Hugh Gott, Stevie Parle, and Chris Corbin and Jeremy King.

Paradise Garage was also shortlisted in the Best New Restaurant category, as was The Woodford, but it was won by the Sethi siblings’ Soho Sri Lankan Hoppers.

London Bridge pasta restaurant Padella was crowned in the Worth the Queue category, in which it pipped hotspots including Bao and Kricket.

The Good Drinking award went to Soho institution Andrew Edmunds, known for its affordable wine. It beat bars including Noble Rot and Sager + Wilde.

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Finally, the award for Best Breakfast went to Parlour in Kensal Rise, where mornings include a toast-your-own bread station. It beat contenders including Dishoom and Chiltern Firehouse.

Fay Maschler said ahead of the awards: “Reasoned debate — or actually spirited argy-bargy — about... various categories brings home vividly how fertile, fruitful and fun is the London restaurant scene right now.”

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