This Lake District Restaurant Has Been Voted Best In The UK

Fancy dinner at the country’s number one restaurant? You’ll have to head to Cumbria, where Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume has scooped up the gold prize in the 33rd edition of the Harden’s Top 100 Best UK Restaurants diners’ poll.

Harden’s Top 100 Restaurants Guide: Who Were The 2023 Winners?

The Harden’s Guide is familiar territory for L’Enclume, who has featured in the list every year since it first launched in 2011. However, this is the first time it has won the first spot. Opened in 2002 in the village of Cartmel, L’Enclume was a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement, cooking using produce from Rogan’s farm down the road. It has three Michelin stars to its name, and has won a string of awards over the years – including, most recently, the top spot in La Liste. Still, it’s always exciting to get one more.

Simon Rogan

L’Enclume was followed by Cornish favourite Outlaw’s New Road in Port Isaac, with Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles Hotel coming in third place.

Published this week, Harden’s is the only restaurant guide based on feedback from normal diners rather than professionals, with 2,500 diners polled to crown 100 UK restaurants winners. The list covers a broad range of eateries, too: not just highlighting the fine dining spots, but also the street food gems and the low-key but brilliant eateries.

Newcomers to this year’s list include Adam Handling’s Ugly Butterfly in St Ives, and Grace & Savour in Hampton Manor hotel, alongside London hotspots Bouchon Racine, Restaurant St Barts and Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal. 

Andrew Fairlie at The Gleneagles Hotel

Interestingly, London didn’t perform as well as usual this year, with just 36 restaurants making the list. Normally, the capital accounts for between 45 and 50 per cent of the rankings. It still had the most entries in the UK, though – the closest any other city came was Edinburgh and Cambridge, who had three each.

‘London’s grip on the Top 100 list is the weakest that we have ever recorded (the lowest previous figure was 41 in the 2020 guide),’ said co-editor Peter Harden. ‘Whilst 12 months is too little data for firm pronouncements, this swing to the shires may reflect the increasing excellence of dining out across the country.’ 

Speaking about his win, Rogan said: ‘My team and myself are honoured that L’Enclume has been rated the number 1 restaurant in the UK by diners on behalf of Harden’s. To have been featured in Harden’s Top 100 every year since its inception in 2011 is an amazing achievement and being awarded the top spot for the 2024 edition is a testament to the amazing year we’ve had.’

You can find the full list at hardens.com