London Restaurant Awards Categories

Categories

Academy Award for Outstanding Contribution to London Restaurants

aAIM Restaurant of the Year 2008 - The Winner of the Winners

Thirteen of the eighteen categories in this year’s Awards are judged by our panel of renowned and highly influential experts. The Panel of Judges is as follows:

Fay Maschler M.B.E. (Chairman) - Evening Standard

Charles Campion - Evening Standard/ Charles Campion’s London Restaurant Guide 2008

Giles Coren - The Times

Terry Durack - Independent on Sunday

Tracey MacLeod - Saturday Independent

Matthew Norman - The Guardian

Jay Rayner - The Observer

The categories for which they draw up a shortlist and ultimately choose the winner are British Restaurant of the Year, French Restaurant of the Year, Italian Restaurant of the Year, Iberian Restaurant of the Year, Oriental Restaurant of the Year, Indian Restaurant of the Year, Local Restaurant of the Year, Award of Excellence, New Restaurant of the Year, Outstanding London Chef, Restaurateur of the Year, Outstanding Restaurant Service and Restaurant of the Year:

The remaining categories in the 2008 London Restaurant Awards are:

Toptable.com Best Business Lunch

Toptable.com, the largest online restaurant booker in Europe has asked its users to recommend restaurants for business lunches. The shortlist comprises the top six nominated restaurants.

Best Restaurant Chain

For the first time this year, the London Restaurant Awards is acknowledging the influence & quality of restaurant chains. For the purposes of this year’s Award, restaurant chains must have five or more branches and be approved for inclusion by the London Restaurant Awards Panel of Judges. The public will be invited to vote for their favourites on this list at Toptable.com and londonrestaurantsawards.co.uk. A shortlist of six will be published over the coming months and the Panel of Judges will then choose a winner.

The Evening Standard Award '60 under £60'

The Panel of Judges (see page1) has compiled a list of local, independently owned restaurants where two people can comfortably eat two courses each and share a bottle of house wine for £60 or under. This shortlist shows a real commitment to value for money without compromising quality.

This list will be published in the Evening Standard and readers of the Evening Standard and users of www.standard.co.uk will be encouraged to vote for a period of five weeks, starting on Monday 23rd June.

Following the five week voting period, a shortlist will be announced. The Panel of Judges will then select a winner, which will be announced on September 1.

Top 10 Restaurants Outside London

Independent restaurateurs and foodies across the UK, including our Panel of Judges and the London Restaurant Awards Academy have been invited to form The National Panel and vote on this new and exciting category. The list of 40 restaurants published today received more votes than any others. This list will now return to our National Panel for their final vote. The top 10 will be announced on September at the Awards Dinner.

The London Restaurant Awards Academy Award

There is no shortlist for this category. All former winners of a London Restaurant Award have been invited to join the London Restaurant Awards Academy.

Each year the Academy are given a new category. This year the Academy have been asked to comment on people or companies who have made an outstanding contribution to London Restaurants. A small panel of senior members of the Academy will be invited select the winner.