James Knappett named Chef of the Year at 2018 London Restaurant Festival Awards

Seeing gold: Chef James Knappett and wife Sandia Chang
David Ellis
Lizzie Thomson6 November 2018

Last night, on the evening of November 5, the London Restaurant Festival announced its 2018 winners at a ceremony in Marylebone, following a month-long event that welcomed more than 50,000 people and saw 400 restaurants take part.

The awards, hosted by festival founder Simon Davis, crowned James Knappett Chef of the Year — just weeks after his restaurant Kitchen Table was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2019 guide.

Meanwhile, fellow Michelin haunt, Ollie Dabbous’ three-storey Mayfair restaurant Hide — which won its first star just five months after opening — scooped up the prestigious accolade of Restaurant of the Year.

Despite opening five months before Hide, Mayfair restaurant Indian Accent was named Newcomer of the Year for its contemporary take on Indian cooking, while long-standing celebrity haunt The Ivy received the award for Most Welcoming Front of House.

Michelin star restaurants London 2019: New winners revealed

1/8

Named as 'Maverick of the Year' was London's first fully-vegan pub, Club Mexicana at The Spread Eagle, famous for its cruelty-free food and furniture.

Dish of the Year was given to head chef Sam Ashton-Booth's beef tartare at Stem. Following the announcement, the Mayfair restaurant tweeted their delight.

A full list of winners and categories can be seen below.

Most Popular Festival Menu: STK

Best Festival Menu Under £30: Salt Yard

Best Festival Menu Over £30: The Square

Most Welcoming Front of House: The Ivy

Restaurant Bar of the Year: The Blue Posts

Maverick of the Year: Club Mexicana at The Spread Eagle

Most Inspiring Interior Design: Brigadiers

Event of The Festival: Eat Art at the Saatchi Gallery

Influencer of the Year: Dominic Rowntree

Newcomer of the Year: Indian Accent

Dish of the Year: Beef Tartare, Stem

Chef of the Year: James Knappett

Outstanding Contribution to the Restaurant Industry: Monika Linton, Brindisa

Restaurant of the Year: Hide

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in