Cornish fish restaurant named best in UK

Nathan Outlaw is a chef well known for his fish recipes. Credit: ITV West Country

A Cornish fish restaurant has been named the best in the UK - knocking Cumbria's L'Enclume into second place after five years at the top.

Restaurant Nathan Outlaw - named after its founder - was praised by the Good Food Guide for its efforts to "educate and encourage the public appetite for fish".

Outlaw, 39, who has worked with TV chef Rick Stein, founded the two Michelin star eatery in 2007, and first made it on the list in 2009 at number 11.

Restaurant Nathan Outlaw is located at Port Isaac, which is also famous as the location of the fictional seaside village of Portwenn in the comedy drama, Doc Martin.

Despite losing its top ranking, Simon Rogan's L'Enclume in the village of Cartmel retained its perfect 10 score.

Pollen Street Social in London, Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottinghamshire and Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck in Berkshire came in at third, fourth and fifth respectively, each with a score of nine.

Four new entrants on the list have set up shop under railway arches: Umezushi in Manchester; Hart's Bakery in Bristol; and Bala Baya and El Pastor, both in London.

Some of the more unusual restaurant locations include Leeds' Vice and Virtue in a former strip club and The Marram Grass Cafe, founded on an Anglesey caravan site.

Peter Sanchez-Iglesias was named chef of the year for the seasonal cuisine at Casamia in Bristol, while Ben Crittenden was named "chef to watch" for his tiny 12-seater restaurant Stark in Broadstairs, Kent.

Stark only has a tiny galley kitchen and does not have a toilet - forcing diners to nip up the road to the local pub.

The Good Food Guide, published by Waitrose, was first published in 1951 with 600 restaurants "where you can rely on a good meal at a reasonable price".

The full list of top restaurants (and their ranking out of 10) are:

  • 1 Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (10)

  • 2 L'Enclume, Cumbria (10)

  • 3 Pollen Street Social, London (9)

  • 4 Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottinghamshire (9)

  • 5 The Fat Duck, Berkshire (9)

  • 6 Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London (9)

  • 7 Hedone, London (8)

  • 8 Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Tayside (8)

  • 9 Claude Bosi at Bibendum, London (8)

  • 10 Casamia, Bristol (8)

  • 11 Bohemia, Jersey (8)

  • 12 Ynyshir, Powys (8)

  • 13 Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London (8)

  • 14 Fraiche, Merseyside (8)

  • 15 Marcus, London (8)

  • 16 Le Champignon Sauvage, Gloucestershire (8)

  • 17 Adam Reid at The French, Manchester (8)

  • 18 The Ledbury, London (8)

  • 19 Andre Garrett at Cliveden, Berkshire (8)

  • 20 Midsummer House, Cambridgeshire (8)

  • 21 Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, London (8)

  • 22 The Peat Inn, Fife (8)

  • 23 The Kitchin, Edinburgh (7)

  • 24 Sketch, Lecture Room & Library, London (7)

  • 25 The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye (7)

  • 26 Moor Hall, Lancashire (7)

  • 27 The Greenhouse, London (7)

  • 28 The Ritz, London (7)

  • 29 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh (7)

  • 30 Forest Side, Cumbria (7)

  • 31 Orwells, Oxfordshire (7)

  • 32 Paul Ainsworth at No. 6, Cornwall (7)

  • 33 Restaurant Marianne, London (7)

  • 34 The Waterside Inn, Berkshire (7)

  • 35 Restaurant James Sommerin, Glamorgan (7)

  • 36 Artichoke, Buckinghamshire (7)

  • 37 The Raby Hunt, Durham (7)

  • 38 Whatley Manor, The Dining Room, Wiltshire (7)

  • 39 Restaurant Story, London (7)

  • 40 Simpsons, Birmingham (7)

  • 41 Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh (7)

  • 42 The Sportsman, Kent (7)

  • 43 Adam's, Birmingham (7)

  • 44 Freemasons at Wiswell, Lancashire (7)

  • 45 Gidleigh Park, Devon (7)

  • 46 Le Gavroche, London (7)

  • 47 Hambleton Hall, Rutland (7)

  • 48 Murano, London (7)

  • 49 The Whitebrook, Gwent (7)

  • 50 The Man Behind the Curtain, Leeds (7)