The River Cottage Canteen in Winchester has been named in the top 100 restaurants compiled from more than 340,000 OpenTable diner reviews from across the UK in the last 12 months. The Canteen in Winchester opened its doors in September 2014, so to have made the top 100 in such a short amount of time is a huge achievement for the restaurant.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said, “I’m absolutely delighted that the River Cottage Canteen, Winchester has been named as one of Top Table’s 100 Best Restaurants of the year. It’s a fantastic accolade – all the more so because the awards are based on reviews from diners ‘on the ground’. The wonderful produce of the surrounding area gives us a great head start in creating delicious food for our guests. And it’s incredibly rewarding to know that the service and atmosphere – the entire Canteen experience, in fact – have won such approval.”
The Canteen is located in the stunningly converted grade two listed Abbey Mill building in Abbey Mill Gardens just off the Broadway in Winchester City Centre and offers a combination of freshly prepared seasonal, local, organic and wild food, on a regularly changing menu. It has a separate bar area offering a selection of local ciders, beers, River Cottage seasonal cocktails, coffees, cakes and snacks.
Mike Xenakis, Managing Director, OpenTable, told The Sussex Newspaper: “The Top 100 list represents the best of UK dining. At OpenTable our aim is to enable diners to discover the perfect restaurant for every type of occasion and provide great dining experiences. The reviews left by diners on our site are an invaluable resource for those seeking culinary inspiration, and it is this expert feedback that we mine to compile the Top 100 list. We’re proud to celebrate with these restaurants, and give them and their head chefs the recognition they deserve.”
The Top 100 Best Restaurants 2014 list is generated from more than 340,000 reviews collected from verified OpenTable diners between 19th November 2013 and 18th November 2014. All restaurants with a minimum number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration. Qualifying restaurants were then sorted according to a score calculated from each restaurant’s average rating in the “overall” category along with that restaurant’s rating relative to others in the same metropolitan area and the average number of restaurants reviewed by diners who reviewed that restaurant.
