The Good Food Guide has today announced its annual 100 Best Local Restaurants list. Bavette has won the ‘Britain’s Best Local Restaurant’ award, celebrating the very best of British dining and beating off competition from across the country.
These hugely popular awards celebrate fabulous independent restaurants from Scotland to Cornwall, Norfolk to North Wales. This year, The Good Food Guide received an astonishing number of nominations from diners across the country, all keen to champion their favourite places to eat. An unprecedented 60,000 votes were cast, leaving the Guide’s team of expert inspectors the tasty task of anonymously eating in a vast number of restaurants across the country.
The result is a snapshot of extraordinary local creativity and talent, personal hospitality and genuine community spirit. Bavette, the model of a perfect local restaurant, is owned by experienced husband and husband team, Sandy Jarvis and Clément Cousin.
Bavette quickly won the hearts of Horsforth locals, as well as diners from all over the Leeds metropolitan area, when it opened in February 2024. Bavette’s customers and The Good Food Guide’s anonymous inspectors were impressed with the natural ease and warmth of hospitality at the lively French bistro, backed up by Jarvis’ menu of authentic, beautifully executed French classics. The consensus is that it has raised the game in this corner of Leeds and beyond, presenting the model of the perfect local restaurant. An impressive win and one that is richly deserved.
Chloë Hamilton, co-editor of The Good Food Guide, expands on what makes Bavette a worthy winner: “With Sandy and Clément’s backgrounds in some of London’s top establishments (Terroirs, where they met, is a strong influence), opening a restaurant together in an outer suburb of Leeds looked great on paper. But the way they’ve brought it to life – excellent bistro cooking, an adventurous, engaging wine list (including bottles from Clément’s family of organic winemakers in the Loire), and the energy and warmth of the team – make it irresistible. They’ve had 1st birthday parties and 90th birthday parties here. It has lit up the community.”
Reflecting on their win, Sandy and Clément said: “We are completely gobsmacked about winning the Best Local Restaurant Award. To be included in the top 100 in our first few months would have been a great achievement but to be the overall winners is such a huge honour and testament to all the hard work of the team since day one, so this is for them. Our sign above the door says “a neighbourhood bistro” and being a great local restaurant is everything we wanted Bavette to be. Thank you to everyone who has come through our doors over the past five months. You’ve made Bavette what it is.”
While a taste of France features heavily in the 100 Best Local Restaurant list, nominations also reflect Britain’s waning appetite for fine dining. A relaxed restaurant where diners can eat well but eat simply too is the order of the day according to feedback from The Good Food Guide readers, and many restaurants on the list feature chefs who have swapped fine dining kitchens for their own, more accessible restaurant with the same high standards of cooking. What makes a local restaurant really great? The Good Food Guide prides itself on seeking out exceptional cooking and loves to champion neighbourhood favourites that often bring the local community together.
Address: 4-6 Town St, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4RJ
Hours: Wednesday and Thursday 5.30 – 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday 12 – 3 and 5.30 – 11 p.m. Sunday 12 – 5.30 p.m.
Phone: 0113 258 2900
Menu: bavettebistro.com
Reservations: opentable.co.uk
