A total of 108 Scottish eateries are included in the Good Food Guide 2010 edition, the highest tally yet, with eight new entries.
Included for the first time are The Dogs, Edinburgh; The Unicorn, Kincardine; The Boat House, South Queensferry; The Doll’s House, and Vine Leaf, St Andrews; The Apron Stage, Stanley; and The Anglers Inn and Deans @ Let’s Eat, Perth.
The guide, published by Which?, named four Scottish restaurants among the UK’s top 50. Restaurant Martin Wishart, in Leith, owned by The Herald Magazine’s columnist chef, ranked highest at 14.
The Andrew Fairlie restaurant at the Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, ranked 27th in Britain. The two other Scottish ventures in the top 50 were The Creel, in St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney, at 38, and The Kitchin, in Edinburgh, at 44.
David Ramsden, manager of The Dogs, admitted he was surprised that the Edinburgh restaurant had been included in the guide.
“We expected to be well below the radar,” he said.
Mr Ramsden, 55, worked in the music industry before a flamboyant career as a restaurateur, founding the Michelin-starred Edinburgh restaurants Fitzhenry’s and Rogue, which folded in 2003. He revealed an ongoing battle with anorexia in May.
He added: “I think there’s a tendency to judge a country’s food at the higher end, which is a shame. I hope people are beginning to focus more on getting the basics right rather than trying to produce extravagant meals.”
The growing number of Scottish entries in the Good Food Guide reflects a transformation in the restaurant industry, according to Martin Wishart.
He said: “The competition has increased in the last five years. When I started the restaurant 10 years ago, I would never have expected the Scottish restaurant industry to improve so quickly. The best Scottish restaurants are now all using a lot of local ingredients, which makes the food taste fresher.”
The tendency for ambitious young Scottish chefs to leave the country has eased, Mr Wishart said.
“When I started my career I forced myself to go abroad. But now young chefs can get excellent training in Scotland. Chefs are happier to share ideas here: there’s much more co-operation.”
Andrew Fairlie’s restaurant at Gleneagles -- the only one in Scotland to hold two Michelin stars -- ranked second in Scotland in the Good Food Guide.
He said: “There were pretty damning reports from tourists in the past -- we didn’t have the best reputation where food was concerned. But we’ve made huge strides forward in the last five years. I think the smoking ban has had a positive impact.”
But Mr Fairlie warned that this has been a tough year financially for Scottish restaurants. “Everyone’s down on previous years; restaurants are having to watch their costs, and those that haven’t will be in trouble. It’s dangerous unless you absolutely know what you’re doing.”
A spokesman for the British Hospitality Association, a lobby group, echoed these concerns. “Business in UK restaurants is down by 10 to 15%,” he said. “People are still eating out but not quite so often, and they’re not spending so much when they do eat out.”
The spokesman said that 276 UK restaurants folded in the first quarter of this year -- up from 153 in the same period of 2008. He noted that only three of these were in Scotland, however.
“Restaurants will realise the only thing that will get them through the recession is value for money,” he added.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Scotland’s food and drink sector is one of our great success stories and these new entries in the Good Food Guide are another great example of our industry’s growing reputation.
Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, in Berkshire, was named the UK’s top restaurant, with second place going to Gordon Ramsay’s flagship establishment in Chelsea.
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