Good Food Guide Awards 2024: Birmingham restaurant gets ‘exceptional’ rating

A Birmingham restaurant is one of 36 across the country to receive a new ‘exceptional’ rating from the Good Food Guide.

Harborne Kitchen, which has frequently been tipped to win a Michelin Star, is among the ‘New Exceptional-rated restaurants for 2024’ announced with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It’s a huge achievement for the renowned neighbourhood in a former butchers shop on the high street which prides itself on its playful, contemporary cuisine. The Good Food Guide explained: “Exceptional’ equals cooking that has reached the pinnacle of achievement, making it a highly memorable experience for the diner. 

“The whole restaurant will be operating at the highest level: not only perfect dishes, showing faultless technique at every service, but also superb service, a high level of comfort, and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. These are the best places to eat in the country.”

On winning the award Harborne Kitchen announced: “We are proud of everything Harborne Kitchen has achieved over the past seven years. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us on this journey so far.Our love for great food, drink and providing superb service will continue to drive us on.”

Last year another Harborne restaurant topped the tables in The Good Food Guide when La Tropea on Lordswood Road was named the regional winner and best local restaurant in Central and East of England. Previously, in 2022, the prestigious awards named Birmingham as ‘the UK’s most exciting food destination’. 

The Good Food Guide Awards 2024 were announced in partnership with hospitality technology platform Resy. The Restaurant of the Year award went to The Sportsman in Kent - it is only the fourth restaurant in Britain to be rated World Class by the Guide. 

Mountain in London won Best New Restaurant, and Helmsley and The Howardian Hills in North Yorkshire was named Most Exciting Food Destination. Three restaurants maintained the Guide’s elusive ‘World Class’ rating: L’Enclume in Cumbria, Ynyshir in Mid-Wales, and Moor Hall in Lancashire with a further six new restaurants added to the ranks of ‘Exceptional’, including Mýse in North Yorkshire, The Cedar Tree in North Cumbria, and CORE by Clare Smyth in London’s Notting Hill.

Did any other restaurants in and around Birmingham make the Good Food Guide 2024?

Joining Harborne Kitchen on the ‘New Exceptional-rated restaurants for 2024’ list is Grace & Savour in Hampton Manor in Solihull. The restaurant also has a Michelin star. It is situated in the Victorian Walled Garden and offers immersive dining experiences. Tropea also got a mention in the latest guide with its chef Kasia Piatkowska making it onto the Chef to Watch listing.

New beginnings for The Good Food Guide in 2024 explained

In place of the usual ranked list, The Good Food Guide has moved to recognising Britain’s top restaurants by their rating as Exceptional and World Class, with individual awards (including Best Front Row Seat and Best New Restaurant) marking out the leaders in their field. 

Every restaurant is comprehensively inspected by co-editors Elizabeth Carter and Chloë Hamilton and their team of 30 anonymous inspectors, with Good Food Guide readers sending tip offs when promising cooking and hospitality emerges from the most remote or unlikely places.

Editor Elizabeth Carter said of awards: “It's a new era for The Good Food Guide with a new look and a revamped rating system, but the Guide’s deep-rooted values remain exactly the same. 

“There’s always been a lot of excitement surrounding our awards, and this year we've overhauled them to better reflect the fast-paced changes in Britain’s dining out scene. I’m incredibly proud of the entire awards list as every restaurant on it, not just the winners, sets the standard by which all others should be measured.”