Alain Ducasse may reckon that ‘London is the most important city in the world for restaurants’, but it seems the people marketing us to tourists don’t agree. The English tourist board today announced their shortlist of finalists for the Taste of England category in the 2010 Tourism Awards and not a single restaurant from the capital has made it into the top three. Not only that, but London managed to get just one restaurant into the awards longlist – The Bingham in Richmond, which received its first Michelin star this year but has hardly set the critics alight.
So how did this shortlist come about? Who was responsible for deciding that a seafood restaurant in Whitby and a Suffolk hotel are more worthy of praise than any London eating establishment? According to the press release; ‘All 46 national finalists announced today were selected from over 100 regional winners submitted by regional tourist boards and were rigorously assessed by independent assessors and a team of judges, including Brian Richardson, executive secretary of The Caravan Club.
Suddenly the fact that excellent establishments such as The Ledbury or St John aren’t on this list makes a little more sense.
