As Olive marks 20 years, we celebrate the UK’s world-class restaurants we confidently predict will stand the test of time
Words TONY NAYLOR
Hospitality is a turbulent business and never more so than in 2023. Yet select restaurants manage to thrive, not for a year or five but many, many decades. Think of institutions including The Ritz, the seemingly immortal Bentley’s or Le Gavroche, but also once-scrappy upstarts, such as Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant (established in 1975), Northcote (1984) or Le Champignon Sauvage (1987).
Which of our current faves will endure in that way? It’s an intriguing question. To celebrate Olive’s 20th anniversary, we gazed into our crystal ball and, with a panel of industry experts, predict 20 restaurants we think could rock it for another 20 years – to 2043 and beyond.
MÝSE, HOVINGHAM, NORTH YORKSHIRE
Having proven their chops at York’s Le Cochon Aveugle, the Overingtons – Joshua and Victoria – recently opened their potential forever restaurant, Mýse. At this 19th-century inn, Josh, will celebrate exceptional British produce in dishes of, say, coal-roasted Herdwick lamb, Tetragonia spinach, lamb tongue, pearl barley and garum. Dinner £110; restaurantmyse.co.uk
KOYA, LONDON
In 2010, the homemade udon noodles at chef Shuko Oda’s Soho restaurant were revelatory. Try them in the lamb mince and cumin miso broth. For Olive online editor Alex Crossley, Koya is still compelling: “True noodle craftsmanship and eclectic collabs that keep the menu fresh.” Mains from £9.20; koya.co.uk
HERON, EDINBURGH
In two years, 20-something chefs Tomás Gormley and Sam Yorke have bagged a Michelin star for Leith’s Heron (must-eats: venison pithivier or hasselback potato with caviar, dill, crème fraîche and Cumbrae oyster sauce) and opened the small plates joint, Skua. What will come next? From £55; heron.scot
BIBI, LONDON
“The most progressive Indian restaurant the UK has seen,” says Restaurant Magazine deputy editor Joe Lutrario. Chef Chet Sharma will be creating dishes as dazzling as his Belted Galloway beef pepper fry or strawberry meadowsweet shrikhand for many years. Dinner £125; bibirestaurants.com
MANGAL II, LONDON
Legendary Turkish ocakbasi grill where the Dirik family’s next generation (brothers Ferhat and Copenhagen-inspired chef, Sertaç) bring crisp modernity to dishes of homemade suçuk sausages with fermented green tomatoes or grilled apple and kofte – made not with lamb, but Cornwall Project’s specialist ewe mutton. Dishes around £9-26; mangal2.com
RUDIE’S JERK, LONDON
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