A Cumbrian chef’s new restaurant has been named in the Good Food Guide’s shortlist for 2025.
On the list for the Best New Restaurant is Skof in Manchester, the brain child of chef Tom Barnes. Having only opened the restaurant in Spring 2024, it’s already received critical acclaim and has been a great success in the culinary life of Manchester.
Prior to this, Tom was executive head chef at L’Enclume and Rogan & Co, a restaurant that holds three Michelin stars. Luckily, the restaurant isn’t too far from where Tom was born, in Barrow-in-Furness and where he learnt his craft.
Having decided he wanted to became a chef at 14, Tom started as an apprentice at the Lakeside Hotel near Windermere and learnt the basics. After three years, he moved on to two Michelin star restaurant The Vineyard at Stockcross before returning to Cumbria.
With an impressive CV to hand, Tom won the prestigious Roux Scholarship in 2014 at the age of 25 after training at Restaurant Hof Van Cleve in Belgium. His first solo venture, Skof prides itself on a lack of pretentiousness, with no dress code or tablecloths.
The new restaurant, located in the NOMA district of Manchester
(Image: Cristian Barnett)
For the Best New Restaurant award, Tom will be battling against Edinburgh restaurant Lyla, Briar in Somerset, Row on 5 in London, Albatross Death Cult in Birmingham and Native in Worcestershire.
The Good Food Guide Awards 2025 will be celebrated at a glitzy ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in central London on Monday, February 3, in partnership with OpenTable. They will be hosted by TV presenter Richard Bacon, who will announce awards including Restaurant of the Year and Chef to Watch.
Chloë Hamilton, co-editor of The Good Food Guide, commented: “This year’s shortlist is a magnificent mix of starry names alongside some brilliant lesser-known talent that anyone interested in restaurants should be taking note of. If last year’s ceremony is anything to go by, our return to Theatre Royal Drury Lane is set to be a huge night of celebration with some revelations to remember.”
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