The best restaurants of 2010

I write this most self-indulgent of articles, about my best meals of 2010, surrounded by a rather wobbly pile of menus, cuttings and a small stack of Moleskine notebooks – my constant professional companions for many years now.

But in spite of these aide-mémoire, three things are missing: the aromas emanating from the kitchens; the noise and bustle of a busy dining room; and the pleasure of meeting the chef or restaurateur. These memories come back easily, however, when they are associated with wonderful food.

It’s the clatter of chopsticks, bowls and teapots that brings to mind the best Chinese meals, whether in London, Singapore, Hong Kong or Shanghai.

Four Seasons on Gerrard Street in London’s Chinatown fully justified the headline given to my review – “The best roast duck in the world” – though be prepared to sit very close to the next table (cheek by jowl would be an understatement). So popular is the duck here that the recipe for the marinade and the sauce is closely guarded by the roasting chef.

The heat of the peppery pork-rib soup at the outdoor corner café opposite the Tiong Bahru market in Singapore is particularly memorable on a cold London morning.

I also look forward to my next dim sum breakfast at the Luk Yu Tea House in Hong Kong; more street food in the markets of Seoul; and I do hope that A’Shan will continue to cook as well as he does at his eponymous restaurant in Shanghai, despite seemingly never being separated from a cigarette.

A far more sedate tasting at Kokoromai (“heart of rice”), in central Tokyo, opened my taste buds to the 12 varieties of rice restaurateur Tetsuhiro Yamaguchi had on his menu, each from a different province and producer.

The idea of devoting a restaurant to a single ingredient links Tokyo back to London. Richard Bigg has cleverly opened Bar Pepito in King’s Cross as the capital’s first sherry bar.

Meanwhile Chris Ammermann and Miles Kirby have set the wheels of Caravan in motion in Exmouth Market, roasting great coffee in the basement and serving great food on the ground floor. Xavier Rousset has made 28°­-50° near the Royal Courts of Justice a magnet for wine lovers by collating the gems lurking in private wine cellars to produce something very unusual – a list of mature wines at fair prices.

This year also saw the welcome return to the stoves of two mature chefs: Bruno Loubet at Bistrot Bruno Loubet in Clerkenwell and Pierre Koffmann at Koffmann’s in The Berkeley Hotel.

Just across the road, the London outpost of New York chef Daniel Boulud’s Bar Boulud has settled so successfully into the Mandarin Oriental that it served just under 1,000 customers in a single Sunday last month.

In Berlin, distinguished restaurateurs Roy Metzdorf and Rainer Schulz, if not behind the counters of Weinstein or Kurpfalz-Weinstuben respectively, are either pouring wine or fetching it from the cellar. Both bear witness to the seeming health-giving properties of this way of life.

Santino Busciglio and his fellow Sicilian and partner, Joe Martorana, have brought Mediterranean warmth to many Londoners since they opened Mennula in Charlotte Street, as have Will Smith and Anthony Demetre since the doors of Les Deux Salons in Covent Garden swung open.

Impressive hospitality also came from Dan Kluger, under the mentorship of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, at the ABC Kitchen in New York; the team at Els Pescadors, Port de Llançà, Spain; and Justin Greene, Robert Reeve and their Filipino chef, Eddie Baguio, at O’Brien Chop House in Lismore, Ireland.Whether any of these teams will reach the professional heights set by Paola Cavazzini and her husband, Maurizio Rossi, assisted by their son Enrico at La Greppia in Parma, Italy, is yet to be seen. On my visit Cavazzini, who has 37 years in the kitchen, accepted my compliments and chatted for a minute after the lunch service, before promptly asking to be excused so that she could get back to her kitchen.

Finally, to four Frenchmen cooking superbly in France. Frédéric Simonin’s new restaurant in Paris is a gem; Mathieu Viannay has lavished such care and attention on La Mère Brazier in Lyons that it must now rival the original restaurant that opened 80 years ago; and the combination of father and son, Régis and Jacques Marcon, in their location of St-Bonnet-le-Froid in the hills of the eastern Auvergne is stunning.

It was a dinner at Maison Troisgros in Roanne that, in spite of two unforgettable courses – pumpkin with white truffles and hare à la royale – engendered a pang of jealousy. Across from our table sat three Germans with at least 10 bottles of the world’s greatest wines. A discreet question to the waiter revealed their good fortune: they had preceded dinner with lunch at the same table.

..................................................

Four Seasons

12 Gerrard Street, London W1, 020 7494 0870

Tiong Bahru Market

Lim Liak Street, Seng Poh Road, Singapore

Luk Yu Tea House 

24-26 Stanley St, Hong Kong

A’Shan

2378 Hongqiao Road, Shanghai, 00 86 21 6268 6583 

Kokoromai

2 F 6-18-7, Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 00 81 3 108 0072

Bar Pepito

3 Varnishers Yard, London N1, 020 7841 7331

Caravan

11-13 Exmouth Market, London EC1, 020 7833 8115

28-50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen

140 Fetter Lane, London EC4, 020 7242 8877

Bistrot Bruno Loubet

86-88 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1, 020 7324 4455

Koffmann’s

The Berkeley, London SW1, 020 7235 1010

Bar Boulud

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London SW1, 020 7201 3899

Kurpfalz-Weinstuben 

Wilmersdorfer Strasse 93, 10629 Berlin, 0049 30 88 36 664

Weinstein

Lychener Strasse 33, 10437 Berlin, 0049 30 44 11 842

Mennula

10 Charlotte Street, London W1T, 020 7636 2833

Les Deux Salons

40–42 William IV Street, London WC2N, 020 7420 2050

ABC Kitchen

35 East 18th Street, New York, NY 10003, 00 1 212 475 5829

Els Pescadores

C/ Castellar 41, 17490 Llançà, Spain, 00 34 972 38 01 25

O’Brien Chop House

Main Street, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland , 00 353 58 53810

La Greppia

Str Garibaldi 39/A, Parma, Italy, 00 39 521 233686

Frédéric Simonin Restaurant  

25 rue Bayen, Paris, 00 33 1 4574 7474

La Mére Brazier

12 rue Royale, Lyon, 00 33 4 7823 1720

Restaurant Régis & Jacques Marcon

Larsiallas, St-Bonnet-le-Froid, 00 33 4 7159 9372

Maison Troisgros

Place de la Gare, Roanne, 00 33 4 7771 6697