With the taste of Flavour Bastard still lingering in my mouth from last night and the promise of Olivomare, Neo Bistro and Trishna to come next week, welcome to a round-up of 2017's dining highlights. From the 50 places reviewed on the website this year, I have decided to break my favourite experiences into four categories - Fine dining: The Five Fields (opens in a new tab) in Chelsea was the year's stand-out meal. Per my review, "food, wine and service were all superlative." Other venues which also impressed highly were Mere (opens in a new tab) in Fitzrovia (French food with a twist) and Mayfair's Kai (opens in a new tab) (top-end Chinese food). Informal, on-trend and fun: Probably the hardest category to pick three winners from, but my favourites would be: Smoking Goat (opens in a new tab) (Thai), Xu (opens in a new tab) (Chinese) and based on last night's second visit, Flavour Bastard (opens in a new tab) (international), all located in Soho. Serendipitous discoveries: (1) A. Wong (opens in a new tab) - a nondescript-looking Chinese opposite Sainsbury's in Victoria, which has now - deservedly - gained a Michelin star (2) Flour & Ash (opens in a new tab) - the best pizza I have had all year; a small venue in the Cotham area of Bristol (3) Laksha Bay (opens in a new tab) - curry in Wapping; a great and impromptu way to end a pub crawl. Old favourites: Still on-form and never disappointing, despite many repeat visits, are Cecconi (opens in a new tab) and Olivomare (opens in a new tab) (Italians in Mayfair and Belgravia respectively) and The Sheesh (opens in a new tab), probably Leeds' best curry house.
Restaurants of the Year