Coeur de Cognac Award 2011

Best Dessert – London


Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley
(Warm chocolate moelleux,
salted caramel)

As a native Lancastrian – and having won recognition as London’s top chef – it’s particularly appropriate that Marcus Wareing should once gain also carry off the prize for that most essential course in British cuisine: pudding. Marcus’s skill for creating food that’s both flawlessly presented and big on taste are showcased perfectly in his desserts. Indeed, with his fabled custard tart, he won last year.

Runners Up
The Ivy (Baked Alaska with griotte cherries)
Chez Bruce (Cheeseboard)
Murano (Pistachio souffle with warm chocolate sauce)
Le Caprice (Iced berries with hot white chocolate sauce)
maze (Peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich)

Best Dessert – Rest of UK


Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saison, Great Milton
(Raviole de fruits exotiques)

Raymond Blanc is one of the great established names of British gastronomy, and his Oxfordshire restaurant-with-rooms is knows to his admirers everywhere simply as 'Le Manoir'. It’s the establishment’s all-round appeal which has made it such a big name, and this year it was his puddings which particularly fired the reporters’ imagination. But then, after 15 years at Le Manoir, it's perhaps no great surprise that Executive Pastry Chef Benoit Blin is at the top of his game.

Runner Up
The Fat Duck, Bray