Good Food Guide 2007 Published
The new 2007 edition of The Good Food Guide, the bon viveur's Bible
Oct 3, 2006
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If you want to read a review of the 2009 Good Food Guide, click here.
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The Good Food Guide has been my own restaurant reference book for years. When it comes to choosing the UK's top tables, it's the food guide I turn to first. When I travel anywhere in Britain I always read the GFG's reviews, to pick out where I'd like to eat.
It's the food lover's barometer on what's happening in the restaurants of the UK, with 1200 eating places reviewed anonymously. Visitors from overseas are well served when it comes to tracking down the top tables in London and a few other cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast. Beyond these you have to hunt around a little, and along with the AA's Restaurant Guide, the Good Food Guide covers the countries well.
Manchester in the north of England is now in second place in the culinary league table, with 26 entries, four more than Edinburgh. They're both dwarfed by London's 333 entries, but that's to be expected. I thought I'd dig out my copy of the GFG from five years ago, to compare, and interestingly Manchester had 22 entries then, and Edinburgh 16. One of the biggest jumps is in Newcastle, which has become one of England's most exciting cities in the last few years. Five years ago the Good Food Guide recommended just two restaurants here. Now there are seven.
What I like about the Good Food Guide are the lengthy write-ups, with several examples of menu dishes, and how successful they are. The reviewers are also usually regular visitors to the restaurants, keeping their finger on improvements and occasional problems. While they can sometimes be a bit pedantic, and you just know you wouldn't like to sit across the table from them, this to me is part of the Good Food Guide's charm.
The Good Food Guide has been criticised for not reflecting the excellent ethnic cuisine we have in the UK. You don't have to go to a gourmet hotspot to get top food, as the numerous excellent Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurants (amongst others) confirm. That problem is being addressed now, especially with the upsurge in upmarket Thai restaurants, and you always have to have that proviso – just because a restaurant isn't in the Good Food Guide doesn't mean it isn't serving good food. That said, I'll still be turning to the pages of the Good Food Guide first, before setting off on my UK travels.
The Which? Good Food Guide 2007 costs £16.99
Read about touring London's best food market by clicking here.
