Angela Hartnett named Chef of the Year

The Food and Travel Reader Awards has been a highlight of the hospitality and travel calendars since its inception in 2012 and this year’s edition lived up to its billing, held once again at the prestigious Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall. Celebrating the very best from the worlds of food, drink and travel, across 23 categories, restaurants, chefs, hotels, destinations, tour operators, cruise companies and airlines were among those honoured.

Attended by the great and the good of the sectors, Angela Hartnett OBE picked up Chef of the Year, with John Williams MBE and his team at The Ritz Restaurant taking London Restaurant of the Year and also winning the Overall Restaurant of the Year category. Dean Banks at the Pompadour won the award for Restaurant of the Year Outside London and Akwasi Brenya-Mensa took home Breakthrough Chef for his work with Tatale.

Hartnett said of her win: “It’s an absolute honour to receive this award, especially as it was voted for by readers of Food and Travel. A huge thank you to them all and a thank you to the teams at all the restaurants as it’s for all of them as well. It’s a fabulous industry which we all work in. Nothing better.”

Yorkshire’s Grantley Hall won the Rural Hotel of the Year as well as Overall Hotel of the Year, and in the world of travel there were wins for Italy (Short-Haul Destination of the Year), Maldives (Long-Haul Destination of the Year), Emirates (Airline of the Year) and Trailfinders (Tour Operator of the Year).

'The readers voted in their thousands, which makes it very special for every winner and everybody who made the shortlist,' said Alex Mead, Editor-at-Large, Food and Travelmagazine. 'These awards are completely unique because both the shortlist and the winners are voted for by readers and not a panel of judges.'

The Food and Travel Reader Awards were sponsored by ENIT, Investment NSW, Champagne Pommery, AA, Denmaur, Just a Drop and Sailing Club Signature Resort Phu Quoc, with a menu created by three previous award-winning chefs.

Roberta Hall-McCarron served cured halibut, Arbroath smokie, pickled vegetables and chive oil for the starter; José Pizarro delivered ox cheeks, cabbage, potato and mushrooms for the main; and dessert was treacle tart with clotted cream ice cream by Shaun Rankin. All the dishes were expertly matched with wines from New South Wales. The evening raised funds towards charity Just a Drop.

Every shortlisted contender also features in the current issue of Food and Travel magazine, which is the 25^th anniversary edition. The winners’ edition of the magazine is on sale on 27 January, so ensure you get your copy by subscribing at foodandtravel.com/subscribe

The winners

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

London - WINNER: The Ritz Restaurant
THE SHORTLIST: A. Wong; BiBi; Brat; Brawn; Core by Clare Smyth; Fallow; Frog by Adam Handling; The Game Bird; KOL; Mangal II; The Pem; The Ritz Restaurant; Sessions Art Club

Outside London - WINNER: Dean Banks at the Pompadour (Edinburgh)
THE SHORTLIST: Dean Banks at the Pompadour (Edinburgh); Forge at Middleton Lodge (Richmond, Yorks); The Glenturret Lalique (Crieff); Hartnett Holder & Co (Lyndhurst); L’Enclume (Cartmel); Moor Hall (Aughton); Outlaw’s New Road (Port Isaac); Raby Hunt (Darlington); Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall (Ripon); Ynyshir (Eglwys Fach)

Newcomer - WINNER: Home by James Sommerin (Penarth)
THE SHORTLIST: Holm (South Petherton); Home by James Sommerin (Penarth); Acme Fire Cult; Apricity; Brutto; Caravel; Lisboeta; Manteca; Plaza Khao Gaeng; The Princess Royal; Roketsu (all London)

Timeless classic - WINNER: The Walnut Tree Inn (Llanddewi Skirrid)
THE SHORTLIST: Le Gavroche; Pied à Terre; Restaurant Gordon Ramsay; Rochelle Canteen; St John (all London); Northcote (Langho); Restaurant Sat Bains (Nottingham); The Seahorse (Dartmouth); The Sportsman (Whitstable); The Walnut Tree Inn (Llanddewi Skirrid)

OVERALL RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR: The Ritz Restaurant

HOTEL OF THE YEAR

City - WINNER: Claridge’s (London)
THE SHORTLIST: Claridge’s; Mondrian Shoreditch; Sea Containers London; The Prince Akatoki (all London); Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel (Edinburgh); Leven (Manchester)

Rural - WINNER: Grantley Hall (Ripon)
THE SHORTLIST: Angel Hotel (Abergavenny); Bovey Castle (Dartmoor); Carbis Bay Estate (St Ives); The Double Red Duke; Thyme (both Cotswolds); Eckington Manor (Eckington); Grantley Hall (Ripon); Hipping Hall (Carnforth); Lympstone Manor (Exmouth); The Machrie (Islay); The Newt in Somerset (Bruton)

Gourmet bolthole - WINNER: The Loch & The Tyne (Windsor)
THE SHORTLIST: The Black Swan (Oldstead); The Bull Inn (Totnes); The Fox at Oddington (Lower Oddington); House of Jöro (Sheffield); The Loch & The Tyne (Windsor); Moor Hall (Aughton); The Queen’s Arms (Corton Denham); Raby Hunt (Darlington); The Whitebrook (Monmouth)

Bed and breakfast - WINNER: Hooppells Torr (Kingston, Devon)
THE SHORTLIST: The Control Tower (Walsingham); Five Acre Barn (Leiston); Hooppells Torr (Kingston, Devon); Raise View (Grasmere); Rocksalt Rooms (Folkestone); Stow House (Leyburn)

International - WINNER: Sani Resort (Greece)
THE SHORTLIST: Chablé Yucatán (Mexico); Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti (Italy); Post Ranch Inn Big Sur (USA); Saffire Freycinet (Australia); Sani Resort (Greece); Six Senses Douro Valley (Portugal); The Stay Bosphorus (Türkiye); Villa Nai 3.3 (Croatia); Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort (St Lucia)

OVERALL HOTEL OF THE YEAR: Grantley Hall

CRUISE LINE OF THE YEAR

River - WINNER: Viking River Cruises
THE SHORTLIST: AmaWaterways; Avalon Waterways; Belmond; Scenic River; Uniworld River Cruises; Viking River Cruises

Ocean - WINNER: Oceania Cruises
THE SHORTLIST: Celebrity Cruises; Cunard; Oceania Cruises; P&O Cruises; Regent Seven Seas; Seabourn

Boutique/adventure - WINNER: Silversea Expeditions
THE SHORTLIST: Aqua Expeditions; Hapag-Lloyd; Hebridean Island Cruises; Scenic Expeditions; Seabourn; Silversea Expeditions; Variety Cruises

OVERALL CRUISE LINE OF THE YEAR: Viking River Cruises

TOUR OPERATOR OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Trailfinders
THE SHORTLIST: Caribtours; CV Villas; G Adventures; Inntravel; Inside Asia; Olympic Holidays; Sandals; Sunvil; Trailfinders; Tuscany Now & More; VIP Ski

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Emirates
THE SHORTLIST: easyJet; Emirates; EVA Air; Japan Airlines; Jet2; Pegasus; Qatar Airways; Singapore Airlines; Turkish Airlines

COOKERY SCHOOL OF THE YEAR - WINNER: The Orchards School of Cookery (Evesham)
THE SHORTLIST: Ballymaloe Cookery School (Shanagarry, Ireland); Eckington Manor (Eckington); Kent Cookery School (Ashford); The Orchards School of Cookery (Evesham); Petra Kouzina (Greece); Sauce by The Langham (London); Thyme Cookery Classes (Southrop); Vale House Kitchen (Bath); Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School (Driffield)

BREAKTHROUGH CHEF OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Akwasi Brenya-Mensa, Tatale restaurant

Breakthrough Chef is an industry-voted award

SPECIALIST RETAILER OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Bettys (Yorkshire)

THE SHORTLIST: Berry Bros & Rudd; Bettys (Yorkshire); Cheeses of Muswell Hill; HG Walter; (all London); Cockburns of Leith (Edinburgh); The Umbrella Project

BOOK OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Marcus’ Kitchen (Marcus Wareing)

THE SHORTLIST: A Cook’s Book (Nigel Slater); The Dusty Knuckle (Max Tobias); Home Food (Olia Hercules); Live Fire (Helen Graves); Marcus’ Kitchen (Marcus Wareing); On the Himalayan Trail (Romy Gill); Persiana Everyday (Sabrina Ghayour); The Spanish Home Kitchen (José Pizarro); The Weekend Cook (Angela Hartnett)

BAR OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Connaught Bar (London)
THE SHORTLIST: A Bar with Shapes for a Name; Artesian; Connaught Bar (all London); Couch (Birmingham); Lab 22 (Cardiff); Nauticus (Edinburgh); Public (Sheffield); Speak in Code (Manchester); Ugly Butterfly Bar (St Ives)

LONG-HAUL DESTINATION OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Maldives
THE SHORTLIST: Canada; The Caribbean; Ecuador; Fiji; Japan; Maldives; Namibia; Seychelles; South Africa; South Korea

SHORT-HAUL DESTINATION OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Italy
THE SHORTLIST: Austria; Croatia; Denmark; France; Greece; Italy; Malta; Spain; Türkiye

CITY OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Porto
THE SHORTLIST: Barcelona; Edinburgh; London; Melbourne; New York; Paris; Porto; Vancouver; Vienna

CHEF OF THE YEAR - WINNER: Angela Hartnett
THE SHORTLIST: Robin Gill; Angela Hartnett; Florence Knight; Santiago Lastra; José Pizarro; Simon Rogan; Clare Smyth; Ben Tish; Mitch Tonks