It's nice when you find someone else blogging about you!
Posted by Tony Naylor Tuesday 23 March 2010 10.30 GMT guardian.co.uk
Local heroes
Somewhere nearby for a posh dinner or somewhere competent, comfortable and familiar - what do you look for in a local restaurant?
In theory, the annual poll to find the Good Food Guide readers' restaurant of the year is both a refreshing outbreak of democracy and a welcome counterweight to the metropolitan bias of Britain's food media.
The vote - open until April 21 - has, in recent years, produced winners in such unfashionable outposts as Ramsbottom, Ramsgill and Thornbury, and given much-needed exposure to several small, independent restaurants. "Winning the award changed everything for us," reckons Ronnie's chef-owner Ron Faulkner. "It boosted business by 35% on the previous year, despite the recession."
There are obvious flaws to the system. A restaurant with a motivated fanbase can dominate. Ramsons, for instance, was recently the north west nominee two years running. That the GFG's editorial staff choose the final winner from the readers' shortlist of 10 (presumably to prevent saboteurs block-voting for Walsall Pizza Hut) seems anachronistic in a web 2.0 world. But, even then, criticising a process that has brought attention to such unsung gems as, say, Entropy in Leicester, seems churlish.
However, I do have one issue with it, which is less about what the vote is than what it claims to be. Is this really a hunt for Britain's best, as editor Elizabeth Carter puts it, "local restaurant"? It certainly doesn't look that way from where I'm eating.
The GFG might appeal for favourite pubs and cafes, but the top 10 is invariably dominated by serious gastronomic restaurants. The average GFG score for the readers' top 10 restaurants last year, was 3.9. The guide defines 4/10 as indicating a: "Dedicated, focused approach to cooking; good classical skills and high-quality ingredients."
Now, sorry, that may sound like a nice place to eat, but it doesn't sound like any of the local restaurants I have known and loved. The GFG's appeal to a relatively wealthy readership for places that emphasise regional dishes and local ingredients, produces not a list of informal, affordable local favourites but a collection of venues which most people, living in the real world, would consider a posh night out.
It's no surprise, really. Asking the Good Food Guide for a local restaurant tip, is like asking John Terry for marital advice. It's just not what they do. The GFG is all about aspirational, ambitious cooking, with prices to match, while favourite local restaurants are all about relaxation, comfort and keeping the cost down. It's the difference between a well-cut suit and slobbing around on the sofa in your jogging bottoms. It's the difference between all the 'n' dishes: fish 'n' chips, sausage 'n' mash, steak 'n' chips, and a menu scattered with jus, foams and ingredients you haven't heard of. It's about dropping in, rather than booking ahead; midweek rather than Saturday night; house wine over a carefully chosen bottle; knowing what you're going to order before you even sit down, £8-10 main courses, and early-bird set menus. It's about friends, family, noise, banter and places that don't mind if you tether balloons to the chairs if you're having a party. It's about owners knowing your name, if you like that kind of thing (I don't), and staff happily sweeping up around you, because you're almost part of the furniture.
Whisper it, but a great 'local restaurant' doesn't even have to be that good, technically. They can be, but it is not a requirement. The Malthouse in Rishworth, for instance, wouldn't register on the GFG radar. Yet, when I lived nearby, it was a regular haunt.
How can I put this? It's a busy, family-friendly pub-restaurant, with a long, unpretentious menu, that doesn't change much and, in truth, the food can sometimes be a bit gauche. One dish in 10 will be a bit of a clanger. Yet, within the context of what it is, for the price, The Malthouse is brilliant. It's consistent, its core ingredients are of decent quality, vegetables are served al dente, everything tastes freshly cooked, the service is on the ball and what the food lacks in cheffy sophistication - I can sense GFG readers wrinkling their noses at this, but the Malthouse does a mean homemade chilli and nachos - it more than makes up for in taste and volume.
The Malthouse is honest about what it is, and what it wants to be. On that basis, it repeatedly exceeds expectation. You come away knowing that you could have travelled further and paid much more to have had a far less enjoyable night. Did I mention they keep an excellent pint of Golden Pippin?
That, to me, is a truly 'local restaurant'. A place of cosy familiarity, perhaps, rather than culinary fireworks - a place where you indulge the odd misfiring meal, even - but none the worse for that. Trouble is, no-one is giving out awards on that basis. Which leaves it to us, here on Word of Mouth.
What, for you, defines a great 'local restaurant'? Where are the real gems we won't find in any guide books?
