The Best of 2011 by The Chef's Directory Team

Its been a wonderful year. There have been some great highlights. These are our picks of some of the people and events that have shaped the year. Such as this outstanding food film from Australia. Best food film of the year.

 

There is no doubt that the restaurant world is at its most exciting for at least 20 years. The reason for this is a new class of confident, young, British chefs and restaurateurs who are no longer shackled to out-dated European models.

Gone are the days of French menus and British chefs trained under French chefs. Today we have British chefs trained by British chefs. These are the grandchildren of the founding fathers of British cuisine who are now free to pursue any type of cooking they want.

The restaurant industry has seen nothing like this since the days when Marco Pierre White burst onto the scene and showed that anyone could make it as a top chef. All you needed was guts, determination, wild hair and a butchers apron.

But though the apron has stayed as some form of nod to the past the days of MPW and the bad boy chef are over. Today’s chefs are leaner, fitter and, more often than not, part of the management team.

The year started in fine style by the man credited as being the best chef in the country: Heston Blumenthal. His new offering, Dinner, at the visionary Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which scored a huge hit last year with Bar Boulud, was arguably the opening of the year.

The year is finishing with other news. Mark Askew is leaving Gordon Ramsay to run a new pub company that he is launching with two friends: Cirrus Inns. This is a big deal and in its way just as big a story as Dinner by Heston. Askew is a fine dining chef from the top drawer and if someone like him has seen a future in the less formal pub environment then other chefs should take notice. The marketplace is shifting.

In between these two poles we’ve seen other huge developments. Russell Norman has been setting up a restaurant about once a month, Duck Soup (Clare Lattin, Rory McCoy and Julian Biggs) has taken Soho by storm and Pollen Street Social, Jason Atherton’s new restaurant, won loads of awards - or at least it seemed that way on twitter.

In other news there have been two Michelin stars for Sat Bains and Tom Kerridge, The Gilbert Scott opened to fanfare for Marcus Wareing at St Pancras and The Young Turks arrived squarely on the scene to grab late year headlines at The 10 Bells near Spitalfields Market.

Oh, and then there was Thomas Keller and the hilarious English Launderette and the continuing rise of the foodie scene in Bristol which saw the opening of the really cool 40 Alfred Place and the best looking butchers shop in the UK, Ruby and White.

We’ve had a glut of pop-ups, each one more original and daring than the last and twitter has finally become mainstream enough to become the number one place for communication.

Twitter is a strange beast. The naming conventions mean that you don’t have to be yourself. You can be anything you feel like and say anything as a result. The jury is out, we feel, on the importance of the so-called twitterati. 

They are gathering large numbers of followers and a bunch of chasing PR’s who see them, and their words and blogs, as legitimate PR targets. Chefs too are cottoning on to the fact that a blog review is as important as a piece by a more seasoned food journalist. However, there are others who find them every bit as annoying as a bad review on trip advisor (which is another of the years unlikely talking points).

The most influential of the twitterati, if you can decipher who they are, number such pseudonyms as @wyahaw, @eatlikeagirl, @elizabethonfood, @rosiefoodie, @guidegirl, @hotdinners and others. 

Some of these are good journalists, others are part-timers. Collectively they are redefining food journalism and chefs need to take note. This new breed of intrepid, unedited food hacks are very important indeed. Why? Because, largely, they spend their own money and that makes them real customers who are expressing their views. But just how many freebies they are taking from the wily PR’s is open to question.

So, here they are, our first list of the best of the best this year:

Restaurateur of the Year 2011 - Russell Norman

He’s been prolific this year with Polpetto, Da Polpo and Mishkin’s and his vision of delicious, casual lite bites with good wine has captured the imagination of London diners.

Opening of the Year - Dinner

Heston’s new restaurant may have opened in January and other places may be more trendy at the moment but Dinner was a big deal. It was not another fine dining restaurant. It is about the marriage of fun, history and technical skill in a light and bright room.

Special mentions: Duck Soup, Mishkin’s, Gilbert Scott, Roganic, Pollen Street Social

Off the Radar Opening - 40 Alfred Place

A restaurant that rents itself out as a restaurant but is also a breakfast joint and a cool venue for Bristol’s pop-up scene has been this year’s opening worthy of special mention.

40 Alfred Place has had Indian nights, pizza nights, returns of forgotten restaurants opening for one more night (Rocinantes) and many more. Will more places like this emerge in the future? We think so.

Special mentions: The English Launderette, Meat Liquor, Soif, 10 Cases, Young Turks

Chefs of the Year

We don’t like singling out one chef who is better than the rest. There are so many great British chefs around these days all doing different food in different settings. However, a handful stand out and we think they are:

Brett Graham, The Ledbury - he’s just a great chef, simple.

Sat Bains, Restaurant Sat Bains - a force of nature, he does things his way.

Tom Kerridge, The Hand and Flowers - all round nice guy, two stars in a pub.

Simon Rogan, L’Enclume and Roganic - he doesn’t just cook, he grows too

The Galvin Brothers - It’s Chris and Jeff, enough said.

Watch out for:

The Young Turks  - this young group of chefs and front of house friends (4) are cooking up a storm. They’re young but not from Turkey.

James Knappett - left Marcus Wareing, did the pop up with Thomas Keller and then joined the gang at The Ledbury. This chef is going places.

James Ramsden - Not a professional but a passionate amateur whose supper club is strangely seductive. 

Legend of the Year - Shaun Hill

Year after year Shaun Hill refuses to give up or compromise. The Walnut Tree is successful and busy but the food continues to get better and better. And yet you’ll still find Shaun Hill in the kitchen doing the cooking long after most chefs have retired to the office or the pass.

Tweeter of the Year - Xanthe Clay

Twitter has taken off and a moment of sheer brilliance brought it to life as the number one medium for instant internet communication. Xanthe Clay’s hilarious sequence of tweets whilst she prepared Jean Christophe Novelli’s ridiculous Low-cal fizzy drink (Orangina) and Smoked Salmon Terrine was the highpoint of the twitter year. Marvellous. And she uses her real name! But then again she's a grown up journalist who writes in The Telegraph so no surprises there.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/xantheclay/100056568/low-calorie-fizzy-drink-and-smoked-salmon-terrine-what-were-you-thinking-jean-christophe-novelli/

Hotel of the Year - Mandarin Oriental, London

What they started with Bar Boulud they finished with Dinner and with it changed the face of hotel dining. Two brilliant restaurants that dominate Knightsbridge.

International Chef of the Year - Thomas Keller

Keller chose London to open his first pop-up. It was bold, brilliantly conceived, totally implausible but took London by storm. An unqualified success for him and for Harrod’s which finally got some good food PR. The pop-up was expensive but for the money you got the real thing and Keller ran the kitchen himself. It was a collector’s item and all future international pop-ups will have to look at the Harrod’s experiment as a template.

Internet food film of the year - Johnny Abegg

We’d love to mention our own films some of which we are very pleased with this year but we were put in our place by a little known Australian film maker whose film with chef Ben Shewry about educating his son about the dangers of over-harvesting Abalone was simply outstanding and a masterclass in simple internet film production.

http://vimeo.com/30412588

Critic of the Year - Richard Vines, Bloomberg

This year has seen more erosion of the credibility of national newspapers as, slowly but surely, the internet takes over. Richard Vines of Bloomberg has an uncanny knack of being in the right place all the time and his tweets and articles are dependable and honestly written. He manages to break news quickly but also writes lengthier pieces when he feels the need. He is not verbose or pleased with himself and is a joy to follow on twitter as a genuine source of reliable information.

Special mentions: Regional food expert Mark Taylor, Bristol Evening Post, S.Irene Virbila (LA Times) and up and coming name, Oliver Thring (The Guardian) who gets better and better.

FOH - Fred Sirieix

For services to service we congratulate Fred Sirieix for his outstanding work with Michel Roux Jnr by shining some TV lights on the art of service in restaurants.

TV Chef - Michel Roux Jnr

There’s not much to say about Michel. He’s a Roux. He’s very, very good and he wears his heart on his sleeve. Oh, and he can walk the walk.