What is new is the move from an annually printed guidebook to an online app. Why? The restaurant scene is not back to a pre-pandemic normal. Out of necessity it is a lot more fast-paced, more highly charged. A printed book would be out of date before publication; a constantly updated app is a more accessible format to deliver an accurate, up-to-date account of eating out across the country.
Over the summer months we will be adding country-wide blocks of reviews on a regular basis – new recommendations as well as old favourites – rapidly expanding our initial 300 entries. In September, you’ll then see our new rating system working right across the board when we reveal our ‘exceptional’ and ‘world-class’ restaurants.
The new ratings replace the old 1-10 scoring system. Restaurants are now rated ‘good’, ‘very good’, ‘exceptional’, and ‘world class’. In the current iteration of the app, we have concentrated on ‘good’ and ‘very good’ recommendations but, as a taster, you will already find four exciting newly rated ‘exceptional’ restaurants, which serve the kind of food that makes you sit up and really take notice.
With several hundred restaurants in the pipeline as the GFG team make the meticulous checks needed for publication, I can say with enormous pride that this new look version of The Good Food Guide is stuffed with more brilliant entries than I’ve seen in my 15 years as editor. And at £29.99 a year, it’s cheaper than a round of drinks in the pub.
Elizabeth Carter
Editor
