Best of London Food and Beverage 2014

Here is my list of best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2014.

Best Restaurant(s) in London : Hedone , Dinner , Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road , The Greenhouse and The Ledbury

Best Sourcing and Ingredients : Hedone

Best Restaurant Wine Lists : Pollen St Social , Chez Bruce , Tinello , L'Anima , The Greenhouse and Hedone

Best Argentinian : Zoilo

Best Italian Restaurant (Southern) : L'Anima , Quattro Passi

Best Italian Restaurant (Northern) :  Novikov , Locanda Locatelli

Best Pan Italian :  , River Café , Tinello  and  Zafferano

Best Trattoria : Mele e Pere and Antico

Best Casual Indian : Roti Chai

Best Indian (Modern) : Benares and Rasoi

Best Pakistani : Shezan , Saloos and New Tayabbs

Best Chinese : Hunan , Kai , HKK and A Wong

Best Dim Sum :  A Wong  and Royal China (Baker St)

Best Thai :  Heron

Best Fusion : Apero , Novikov ,  Zuma and Moro

Best Japanese : Umu and Sake No Hana

Best Vietnamese : head to Paris or Vietnam

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia , Knightsbridge and Meza , Tooting

Best Greek : The Greek Larder

Best "Politiki Kouzina " Peckham Bazaar 

Best Turkish : Mangal Ocakbasi (Stoke Newington)

Best Sushi : Sushi Tetsu , Yashin Sushi

Best French : Hibiscus , Gauthier Soho , Club Gascon and The Greenhouse

Best Modern British/European : The Ledbury , Kitchen Table and The Clove Club

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio , Fino , Pizarro and Iberica

Best Tapas : Tendido Cedro , Barrafina and José

Best English : St John's , Aqua Shard , Gillrays

Best Fish/Seafood : One - O - One , Knightsbridge 

Best Gastro Pub : Harwood Arms , Anchor and Hope , Great Queen St

Best Service : Galvin's Windows , Goodman Maddox St , Hedone  , Bar Boulud and Cambio de Tercio

Best Sandwich : Kappacaseins Cheese Toastie

Best Pub : The Ship (Wandsworth)  and Black Friar

Best Selection of Craft Beer :  The Rake

Best Wine Bar : 40 Maltby St , Antidote Wine Bar , Sager and Wilde

Best Brasserie : Bob Bob Ricard , Brasserie Chavot 

Best Mavericks : Apero , Brunswick House Café , Dock Kitchen , Five Fields , and 40 Maltby St

Best French Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking : Brasserie Chavot , Racine , Bistro Bruno, Casse Croûte

 and Koffmann's

Best Burger :  Little Social ,   Elliot's

Best "joint" Burger :  Tommi's , Meat Market , Meat Liquor and Patty Bun

Best Chain Burger : Byron and  Honest Burgers

Best Steak : Gillrays and Goodman

Best Steak Restaurants : Gillrays, Hawksmoor , Sophie's and Goodman

Best Grill : The Dorchester Grill

Best Pizza :  Santa Maria

Best Pizza Chain : Franco Manca

Best Street Food : Mr Falafel ( Shepherds Bush )

Best Value for money Wine List : Bob Bob Ricard and Andrew Edmunds

Best Value for Money Restaurants : Koya , Sophie's ,   and Mangal Ocakbasi

Best Newcomers in London 2014 : Rex and Mariano , Little Water , L'Amorosa , Lyle's

Best Bakery/Bread :  Hedone

Best  Chocolatier : William Curley

Best Patisserie : La Pâtisserie des Rêves

Best Coffee : Prufork Coffee

Best Coffee Roaster : Square Mile , Monmouth and Caravan

Best Croissants : Little Bread Pedlar

Best Gelato :  Oddono's 

Best Fishmonger : The Chelsea Fishmonger (Rex Goldsmith), Chelsea Green

Best Greengrocer : Andreas Veg , Chelsea

Best Cheese Shops : La Fromagerie , Rippon , Neal's Yard , Paxton Whitfield and Beillevaire

Best Purveyor of French Charcuterie  : The Ham and Cheese Company

Best Purveyors of Italian Salumi : The Ham and Cheese Company and L'Emporio Fine Foods

Best Purveyor of British Chacuterie : Cannon and Cannon

Best Wine Merchants Retail : Lea and Sandeman, Philglas and Swiggot , Market Row Wines , Bottle Apostle , Hansen Hayes & Clark and Handford

Best Wine Merchants Wholesale : Liberty , Fortyfive 10  and Bibendum

Semplice: Real Italian Food : Ingredients and Recipes by Dino Joannides

Those of you that are kind enough to visit my blog will have noticed that over the last couple of years I have not posted as much as I used to.

On the rare occasions that I did post the subject matter tended to be about Italian Food or ingredients.

The main reason for the above is that I have been working on a book about Italian Food and I am pleased to tell you that it will be published on October 2nd by Random House.

Semplice: Real Italian Food : Ingredients and Recipes  is now available for pre order from all the usual online ,  and bricks and mortar book shops.

For those in the UK you can pre order here , in North America here in other parts of the world it should also be available online and in good book shops.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it !

My top 100 Italian Wines

For me it is very difficult to contemplate Italian food without thinking of wine and specifically Italian wines. Naturally in a country where regional and local food is so important there are also in most cases wonderful wines being made that can suit most budgets and tastes.

Italy has been one of the top 2 wine producers by volume for many years but within that volume there is both exceptional quality and value to suit all budgets.

I would argue that with the possible exception of France, Italy provides the biggest choice in terms of winemaking styles made with indigenous and international grape varieties. These wines not only match regional and local cuisines but also can compliment cuisines raging from Chinese, Thai, and Persian to that of the Indian subcontinent.

I am often asked to recommend Italian wines and have even helped restaurateurs with their wine lists. In 2010 I put together a list of over 300 wines from around 100 winemakers for a food and wine shop that I co founded in London. We ran many wine events featuring the winemakers themselves who we either specifically invited or happened to be passing through London to visit distributors or participate in large wine events.

The general feedback was very positive, many customers were not aware of the variety of truly excellent wines available ranging in price from £8 to £900 plus per bottle. The reputation of Italian wines has improved to such an extent over the last forty years that they now produce some of the very best wines in the world.

I am often asked to recommend Italian wines and or winemakers producing wines in Italy. Below is a list of some of my personal favourite winemakers or estates covering most of Italy. The vast majority of these wines are available all over the world and most certainly in the UK, most of Europe and the USA

Abruzzo

Miascarelli

Gran Sasso

Cantina Frentana
Emidio Pepe

Apulia

Gianfranco Fino

Tormaresca

A Mano

Alberto Longo

Basilicata

Tenuta del Portale

Cantine de Notaio

Elena Fucci

Calabria

Odoardi

Terre di Blabia

Librandi

Statti

Campania

Cantine Lonardo

Fattoria Galardi

Mastroberardino

Benito Ferrara

Friuli Venezia Giulia

Livio Felluga

Miani

Le Vigne di Zamò

Princic Dario

Marco Felluga

Emilia-Romagna

Fattoria Zerbina

Podere La Berta

La Stoppa

Lazio

Coletti Conti

Falesco

Trappolini

Marco Carpineti

Liguria

Lunae

Terrebianche

Azineda Agricola Maria Donata Bianchi

Lombardy

Bellavista

Ca ‘ del Bosco

Nino Negri

Marche

Fulvia Tombolini

Umani Ronchi

Fattoria San Lorenzo

Andrea Felici

Il Pollenza

Molise

Di Majo Lorante

Piedmont

Castello di Nievi

Ceretto

Damilano

Angelo Gaja

Poderi Aldo Conterno

Bruno Giacosa

Braida

Bruno Rocca

G.D Vajra

La Spinetta

Vietti

Prunotto

Pecchenino

Paolo Scavino

Michele Chiarlo

Sicily

Donafugata

Cos

Fazio

Masseria del Feudo

Ariana Occhipinti

Sardinia

Argiolas

Agricola Punica

Cantina Mesa

Alberto Loi

AA Panevino

Tenuta Masone Manu

Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol

Elena Walch

Tenuta San Leonardo

Cantina Terlano

Tenuta J.  Hofstätter

Mezzacorona

Tuscany

Castello di Bolgheri

Casanova di Neri

Castello del Terriccio

Cabreo

Cecchi

Biondi Santi

Fontodi

Fèlsina

Fattoria di Magliano

Le Pupille

Le Macchiole

Tua Rita Suvereto

Tenuta Capezzana

Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta dell ‘ Ornellaia

Tenuta Guado al Tasso ( Antinori)

Tenuta Sette Ponti

Valdicava

Isole e Olena

Argentiera

Umbria

Arnaldo Caprai

Castello della Sala ( Antinori)

Falesco

Paolo Bea

Valle d'Aosta

Les Crêtes

La Cave de Morgex

Veneto

Pieropan

Romano dal Forno

Allegrini

Giuseppe Quintarelli

Inama

Tedeschi