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The status of British cuisine on the international stage is to be given a huge boost today when seven UK establishments are included on an influential list of the world's best restaurants.
Britain is the third best country in the world when it comes to fine dining, according to the S Pellegrino awards, whose 651 judges put France first and America second.
The judges have compiled a list of the world's top 50 restaurants after surveying more than 70 countries.
Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant is expected to go head to head with Spain's small but much lauded El Bulli for the top prize at tonight's ceremony. Blumenthal has already once won the award, which was established five years ago but has quickly picked up kudos among experts.
Blumenthal credited the awards for helping to bring his restaurant in Bray, Berkshire - renowned for its innovative menus and quirky options such as bacon and egg ice cream and snail porridge - to an international audience. He admitting that he, together with rival chefs, had been desperately trying to find out who had won.
The list sees Britain retaining its third place position for the third year running. Last year, it held third place with Spain, which has this year slipped back to fourth.
According to Blumenthal, British restaurants are benefiting from an increased interest in food. "What's happened in Britain is that we used to consider going to a restaurant a special occasion, and when we went, it was all candelabras and fancy waiters in dickie-bow ties.
The other restaurants listed in the top 50 include Nobu, Hakkasan and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. All of these are in London, with the exception of Blumenthal's Fat Duck. The dominance of the capital could well attract criticism from those keen to see culinary achievements of restaurants elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
But Joe Warwick, the editor of Restaurant magazine, which organises the awards, said: "There are some lovely restaurants outside London, but to make it work on this level you need to be able to fill it Monday through to Friday, and that doesn't happen outside London."
He adds: "A decade ago, if you had presented a list of the UK having seven restaurants in the top 50 people would have laughed. But we have become very good at being multicultural. It is interesting to consider that on this list, St John's is the only restaurant serving British food. The rest are all in the modern style of cookery".
The style of cookery being developed by both Blumenthal and the head chef at El Bulli, Ferran Adria Acosta, was helping to elevate the profession into a science, he said. "They are looking at food in a different way, its taste, texture. Outside of El Bulli and the Fat Duck, there are only a handful of chefs doing that."
With celebrated chefs famous for their egos swelling alongside their Michelin star count, one may reasonably expect that tonight's event, at the Science Museum in London, would have more than a slice of tension in the air.
Mr Warwick concedes: "Of course it is competitive. These are chefs and they are blokes. But it is considered a chance for the chefs to meet up, it's a networking thing." Blumenthal agrees.
- INDEPENDENT
