Fine dining restaurants Hjem, House of Tides and Raby Hunt have been named in a list of the very best in the UK.
The North East's Michelin star trailblazers have made the new edition of Harden’s Best UK Restaurants, the prestigious annual guide which is based upon thousands of diners' reviews.
And amongst the praise in the guide's top 100 list is the claim that a meal at Kenny Atkinson's Quayside establisment is worth a trip to Newcastle alone.
Read more: Kenny Atkinson's new Solstice restaurant is set for spring opening
Harden's is a famous restaurant guide, now in its 31st year which features ratings and reviews based on around 30,000 reports from its annual survey of 3,000 regular diners.
The 2022 edition - now out - declares that a meal at House of Tides “alone is worth the journey to Newcastle” and it adds: “The lunchtime and evening tasting menus are fabulous by all accounts, with equally lovely ambience and service."
The latest accolade comes as chef-restaurateur Atkinson prepares to open a second city restaurant, Solstice, and the guide also makes reference to this newcomer, describing it as "an intimate seven-table sister restaurant offering an even more intricate tasting menu" which will be on the former site of the bistro Violets where his wife Abbie was at the helm.
Peter Harden, co-founder of Harden’s, said: “Kenny and Abbie Atkinson are doing a fantastic job in providing a culinary link, as it were, between the traditional gastronomic powerhouses of North Yorkshire and Edinburgh – and Newcastle has proved it can support a restaurant of real calibre and high ambition.”
The Michelin star House of Tides is placed at number 57 in the 100-strong list, with Hjem in Northumberland making number 56.
The Scandinavian-style cuisine served up by Alex Nietosvuori and Ally Thompson at their restaurant at Wall won it a Michelin star - Northumberland's first - in early 2021.
With its menu merging local produce with the cooking techniques and values learned by Alex in his native Sweden, Hjem is similarly in huge demand and the guide references "adulatory" reviews which "suggest that visitors to Hadrian’s Wall at last have a foodie stop-off as a competing attraction".
Raby Hunt at Summerhouse near Darlington, which chef-owner James Close has steered towards more culinary glory following the first - of its two - Michelin stars gained in 2012, featured at number 70 in the guide which references its “global-quality cuisine” while also noting its 'eye-watering' prices.
The guide quotes the cost of a meal at Hjem; House of Tides and Raby Hunt as being £64; £128 and £214 respectively based on a three-course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.
The three tasting menu restaurants are regular award winners and also appeared together in another top 100 list, when they were featured in the National Restaurant Awards own round-up of the UK's best eateries last summer.
At first place in Harden’s new list is Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham, named after the renowned chef who has secured two Michelin stars and described here in the guide as "outstanding".
Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2022 guide, which is priced £16.99 and contains almost 3,000 entries, is available at the likes of Waterstone’s and Amazon.com and on its own website here. It is also available via app.
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