Best New Restaurants 2025
Or should that be 'Stars of BBC Two's Great British Menu'?!
As the Series Editor of BBC Two’s Great British Menu now in its 20th year, it was a treat to see that the Good Food Guide’s ‘Best New Restaurant’ category was made up entirely of chefs that have starred on the show and included some of our most exceptional banquet winners. There are also a few thrilling Oxford tie-ins not least because Pompette in Summertown is in the Good Food Guide’s ‘Best Value Set Menu’ category.
GOOD FOOD GUIDE - 2025 Best New Restaurant
Skof, Manchester (Chef Tom Barnes)
Lyla, Edinburgh (Chef Stuart Ralston)
Briar, Somerset (Chef Sam Lomas)
Row on 5, London (Chef Spencer Metzger and Jason Atherton)
Albatross Death Cult, Birmingham (Chef Alex Claridge)
Native, Worcestershire (Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes)
Tom Barnes at Skof, his first sole venture after leaving the illustrious Simon Rogan group, is potentially tipped to win a Michelin star this year, cooked the magical Beatrix Potter Herdwick lamb main course at our Great British Menu (GBM) children’s literature banquet that we filmed at Exeter College, Oxford, five years ago. This is one to visit for its £50 set lunch deal before further awards hit this year and prices double. The confit sladesdown duck, boltardy beetroot, and preserved cherry looks very appealing along with a final festive mince pie rice pudding with apples, gingerbread and almond.
Great British Menu Series 15, Banquet at Exeter College, Oxford
Tom Barnes competing on Great British Menu
Spencer Metzger, double banquet course winner from our ‘100 years of broadcasting’ year, and former chef at The Ritz, is going great guns at Row on 5 with Jason Atherton, another double banquet course winner dating back 17 years ago. This new high end Savile Row London restaurant offers an extraordinary 15-course menu with the finest ingredients sourced from British land and waters: oyster and pearls, Cornish blue fin tuna, Scottish langoustine, sika deer, Colston Bassett stilton and a few low-key sounding courses like ‘brioche’ and ‘tea and cake’. Spencer is a genius in the kitchen, whether being filmed or not. The price is admittedly rather high and increasing to £250 a head in February but if you have a business colleague eager to wine and dine you, this is the one to suggest.
Rock ‘n roll diners should check out Albatross Death Cult just up the M40 in Birmingham. Alex Claridge is always innovative, exciting and his latest experimental 12 course menu offers flavour punches of ‘seafood and coastal ingredients that smack you in the face like ocean spray’. A more gentle warm neighbourhood farm-to-table approach is being created by Sam Lomas at Briar in Somerset if you’re needing to escape Oxfordshire for a weekend dash of tasty, highly seasonal fare from this sensitive chef who was one of our youngest finalists a few years ago. Up in Edinburgh talented Executive Chef Stuart Ralston, who was a strong competitor for Scotland just missing out on a place at Finals, has opened his fourth restaurant, Lyla, which offers the finest line-caught fish and sustainable shellfish in the Scottish Isles. Meanwhile Ivan Tisdall who competed for London and the South East brings his exceptional passion for 'wild food’, sustainability and ethical gastronomy at Native with menus inspired by the seasons, foraging and preserving through the year, and produce grown onsite by gardeners and farmers.
In the Good Food Guide’s ‘Most Beautiful Restaurant’ category, another GBM alumni is in contention. Adam Smith at his eponymous restaurant Woven by Adam Smith set in the beautiful Berkshire countryside cooks like a dream and wove his magic at our banquet last year in Paris for the fish course.
Great British Menu stars are making their mark on the food scene nationally which is testament to their talent. For the city of Oxford itself, there may be no GBM connection, but readers of these food diaries will be pleased to see one restaurant shortlisted: Pompette for the ‘Best Value Set Menu’. Head Chef Pascal Weidemann formerly of Racine and Terroir in London offers a deliciously classical French set menu and weekday formules of moules & picpoul, poulet frites, and onglet steak if you need a quick Gallic fix. Bring on the Good Food Awards in February and the 20th series of Great British Menu coming to BBC Two/Iplayer soon!
