Readers set menu for food award

THE PLATES have been cleared away, the crumbs swept off the table and the bills paid. Now we have five finalists vying for the title of readers' favourite restaurant.

The winner will receive the Londoners' Award - the only one of the 14 Evening Standard Restaurant Awards chosen with the aid of readers. For the past few weeks hundreds have been sending in their verdicts on 60 restaurants across the capital, awarding marks for food, atmosphere and service.

Qualifying restaurants had to offer a meal for two including house wine for under 60, and pass the scrutiny of our restaurant critics Fay Maschler and A favourite with Londoners: Celia Harvey, head chef at the shortlisted Golborne House Charles Campion. The shortlist shows the wide variety of food available in London, with two Greeks, an Indian, a Modern British and a gastro-pub spread fairly equally across the capital.

The list is: Golborne House, 36 Golborne Road, W10; Lemonia, 89 Regents Park Rd, NW1; Mesclun, 24 Stoke Newington Church St, N16; Sarkhel's, 199 Replingham Rd, SW18; Vrisaki, 73 Myddleton Rd, N22. The judges - Fay Maschler and Charles Campion, plus AA Gill of The Sunday Times, Matthew Fort of The Guardian, Caroline Stacey of The Independent, Robert Joseph of The Sunday Telegraph and Wine Magazine and Bill Knott of Class - will pay anonymous visits to the shortlisted five.

Mary Nightingale will announce the winner at the Mo't & Chandon London Restaurant Awards dinner on 2 April at Le Meridien Grosvenor House, Park Lane.

The ceremony will be broadcast by Carlton on 5 April at 11.30pm. This year there will for the first time be an overall prize for London Restaurant of the Year, picked from award winners.

Readers who voted for the winning restaurant will be entered in a draw to win dinner for four at the London Restaurant of the Year.

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.