Cumbrian restaurant L'Enclume has been rated the best in the UK by the Good Food Guide – affirmation of a proud gastronomic revival in the region
Simon Rogan says the reaction to his second Michelin star was staggering, but the hullaballoo that greeted last week's accolade "topped the lot". His Cumbrian restaurant, L'Enclume, has been crowned the best in the UK by the Good Food Guide, beating Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck, 250 miles to the south in Berkshire. The distance is significant. Rogan's most recent honour is a triumph forged in – and for – the north.
"The connection to our surroundings has been the absolute reason for our success. It's dependent on our location," Rogan said. L'Enclume lies on the wet western slopes of Cumbria, close to Morecambe Bay, across which lies Lancashire and, beyond, the vast conurbations of Manchester and Merseyside.
Throughout the north-west of England, Rogan's achievement has been celebrated as the latest affirmation of a proud gastronomic revival. The oft-prevailing view from the south, of philistine palates and chips and gravy, is dismissed as bigotry.
Yet even Rogan, from Southampton, admits that when he started L'Enclume in the village of Cartmel 11 years ago, he was not impervious to such prejudice. "When we opened, our location was largely a negative, being so far away from the media, so far away from civilisation. With the after-effects of foot-and-mouth disease it was quite a depressing area.
"But as the reputation has grown, its location has become a key feature. I was probably a naive southerner when I arrived, I didn't think much was going on up there. That quickly changed. I found out pretty quick that it was not all doom and gloom. If you are at the top of your game, you can flourish here as much as you can in Mayfair."
On Thursday Rogan's northern love-in continues apace with the opening of his Mr Cooper's House & Garden in Manchester, building on the spectacular success of his other Mancunian establishment, The French, itself number 12 in the Good Food Guide's top 50 and judged its best new entry, one of 14 debutants from the north-west.
Three other restaurants from the region feature in the top 50, including Fraiche in Prenton, Merseyside, while, across the river Mersey, Liverpool restaurant Delifonseca is judged readers' restaurant of the year in the guide, published on Monday.
Three years after BBC2's The Trip, featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, introduced the concept that culinary refinement might actually exist in the north of England, many are advocating the north-west as a foodie destination in its own right.
Thom Hetherington, managing director of Northern Restaurant and Bar Show, the region's hospitality event designed to showcase an evolving gastronomic elegance, said: "A serious foodie could come to the north-west, eat in Michelin-starred restaurants, visit the most incredible Japanese and Chinese restaurants, every cuisine. You could put those people in the north-west for two weeks and they would leave with an phenomenal experience of what dining is available in the UK."
Mark Garner, founder of Manchester Confidential, an online magazine that scrutinises the city's best restaurants, says that during the 1980s the north-west had three restaurants of note. That figure is now 136. The influx of professionals due to Salford's MediaCity, a growing regional self-confidence and a greater appreciation of the potential of the local produce and suppliers were helping drive standards, said Garner.
"Farmers are not just thinking of supplying the milk board, but are getting a bit of kit and making artisan cheese," he said, speaking after interviewing celebrity chef James Martin, who is opening a restaurant in central Manchester this month and who, according to Garner, was "marvelling at the ingredients and quality of local produce".
Ten miles from L'Enclume, across the southern flanks of the Lake District, is Crosthwaite's Punchbowl Inn and Restaurant. Head chef Scott Fairweather, 22, says the burgeoning culinary standards of the area alongside the quality of the produce had stopped young chefs from heading "down south".
Fairweather, Cumbria's young chef of the year, who talks to local suppliers daily to ensure consistency and quality, believes an intense competition is pushing up diners' expectations, citing the recent arrival of Ian Swainson, finalist in ITV show Britain's Best Dish, who has just joined the Samling, which overlooks nearby Lake Windermere.
"Everybody is pushing each other, bouncing off each other's ideas," he said. This week Fairweather will present a cookery demonstration with television chef Phil Vickery at the Westmorland County Show, whose food tent is the largest in its 214-year history.
Three miles from the county show is The Plough at Lupton – one of this year's Good Food Guide new entries, and where manager Abi Lloyd regularly caters to customers who have driven hours to sample Cumbrian produce. "We've noticed our clientele starting to ask a lot of questions. What's good? What's local? There is much more awareness about local food," she said. She mentions one of their most popular dishes, the £11.95 fisherman's platter; the source of its components constitute a geographical guide to the area – Morecambe Bay, Lune Valley, the port of Fleetwood, the Lake District village of Hawkshead and railway hamlet of Oxenholme.
Garner said the region's natural diversity and history should make it obvious that it was capable of sustaining a complex gastronomic culture.
"London forgets that the region has a bigger gross domestic product than Denmark, which is currently boxing well above its weight with very poor ingredients. We've got the ingredients, not moss scraped off a beach with hot water poured through it or molecular-style cooking, which will not last.
"London and the south still have a certain view of the north – cloth caps and whippets, and Coronation Street does us no favours – but when people come here and have a look they are gobsmacked at the quality of life."
Another reason for the soaring culinary standards, says Hetherington, is Manchester's food blogging culture. "The number of food bloggers and food nerds based in Manchester is off the scale. Once, these people were flying to Spain, Biarritz, The Fat Duck, they were Manchester-based and travelling constantly. Now they're delighted that they can do it on their own doorstep."