Yahoo News The Araki: £300-a-head Mayfair sushi restaurant declared UK's best dining spot by Harden's guide
A Mayfair sushi restaurant which seats nine people at a cost of £300-a-head has been hailed the UK’s best dining spot by a respected food guide.
The Araki, which recently gained three Michelin stars, beat Bristol’s Casamia and The Ledbury in Notting Hill to top spot in the Harden’s Best UK Restaurants guide.
Owner and chef Mitsuhiro Araki serves only sushi, with rice sourced from a farm run by his wife’s father in the Japanese city of Saitama.
The £300 set menu price does not include alcohol. The cheapest bottle of wine costs £50 and the most expensive is £190.
London dominated the guide, although it named Manchester the fastest improving city, with 66 restaurants achieving a listing.
Top ten UK restraurants
1. The Araki, London
2. Casamia, Bristol
3. The Ledbury, London
4. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac
5. The Fat Duck, Bray
6. Marianne, London
7. Waterside Inn, Bray
8. Black Swan, Oldstead
9. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
10. The Clove Club, London
The guide's editor and co-founder Peter Harden said the Araki's success was down to its "fabulous level of attention and ingredient quality".
"We often find that smaller restaurants do better because the chef can really focus on your meal and your experience," he said.
Marianne in Notting Hill, The Clove club in Shoreditch, Ormer Mayfair in the West End, Sushi Tetsu in Clerkenwell, Story near Tower Bridge and The Greenhouse in Mayfair make up the rest of the capital’s top 20 restaurants.
Elsewhere, the guide described Edinburgh as "still unrivalled outside London" with 55 listings and 13 restaurants among the top scorers, including Restaurant Martin Wishart in ninth place, The Kitchin (47) and Norn (66).
Bath and Bristol climbed to joint seventh place from joint 11th position for their number of top scoring restaurants, while Wales achieved five rankings in the top 100.
The 27th annual list was based on a survey of 8,500 diners who contributed 50,000 reviews of their restaurant experiences.
Mr Harden said: "Manchester is one of the fastest-growing cities and on the back of that is coming the services you expect to see in a thriving city.
"On the other hand it doesn't have the champions to make the top 100.
"Famously, Manchester has not had a Michelin star since 1977 at The French restaurant at the Midland Hotel.
"It still lacks the type of restaurant you really have to tick off your list."
