They were once the bosom buddies of haute cuisine; one the mentor, the other the talented student. But now the dining tables have been turned.

They were once the bosom buddies of haute cuisine; one the mentor, the other the talented student. But now the dining tables have been turned.

Just a month after being savaged by Marcus Wareing in a magazine interview, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay now finds he has lost his culinary crown to his former friend and protege.

According to the latest edition of the influential Harden's London Restaurants guide, Wareing's Petrus has toppled Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the TV chef's flagship eaterie, in the top price category.

Last year Ramsay's restaurant held on to the best food and service titles in the £80-plus category despite losing its best overall rating to Petrus.

This year Petrus held on to the overall title as well as triumphing in the food and service categories.

Three of Ramsay's newest establishments also received a mauling by Harden's, which describes them as "uninspired in concept and erratic in performance".

Next month Ramsay and Wareing go their separate ways, 15 years after the one-time Rangers player and Hell's Kitchen star recruited his then friend as a sous chef at his Aubergine restaurant.

The pair were once so close that Ramsay was best man at Wareing's wedding.

But last month Wareing dismissed Ramsay's celebrity status and said that it wouldn't bother him if the pair did not meet again.

He told Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine: "Whatever happens between me and Gordon, if he wants me never to get the status I want then my advice to him is: Put a gun to my head, shoot me, put me in a box and bury me because if you don't I'll come back and come back'."

A source of the friction was the future of Petrus, which while run by Wareing, is owned by Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH).

Next month the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, where Petrus is housed, will terminate the contract with GRH and Wareing will open a new restaurant under a different name at the site.

The annual Harden's Guide is now in its 18th edition. The guide's co-editor Peter Harden said: "Marcus Wareing is emerging from Ramsay's shadow as the proprietor of what is now clearly the best restaurant in London, and he and his team should be congratulated.