The UK’s leading independent restaurant guide - SquareMeal - has announced the best restaurants that the UK has to offer. SquareMeal’s UK Top 100 is the only list of its kind to exclude London’s restaurants - allowing the wider UK’s dining scene to truly shine.

Using a combination of thousands of reader votes and SquareMeal’s own expert critics, the UK Top 100 Restaurants list is a true reflection of Britain’s beautifully varied dining scene.

Every year we're thrilled to see thriving restaurant scenes in UK cities that rival anywhere else in the country. Birmingham leads the way with five restaurants in the list, including two in the top 10 in 2022 champion Grace & Savour, and two Michelin-starred Opheem. This year's highest new entry in the UK Top 100 is Tom Barnes' magnificent Manchester restaurant Skof, which heads up a big year for Manchester, with Higher Ground, Another Hand, and The Sparrows all representing the city in the list.

As ever, Scotland has also established itself as a world-class food destination, and we saw three new Edinburgh entries all break into the upper echelons of the UK Top 100 list this year - Stuart Ralston's superb new restaurant Lyla at number 11, and Montrose and Fhior at 33 and 34 respectively - joining another seven Scottish restaurants in the list. Other powerhouse culinary counties like North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Berkshire are also well represented, but fifteen counties are represented across the whole list, showing that there are great restaurants spread all over the UK.

A special mention must also go to this year's highest riser, Kevin Tickle's Heft in Cumbria, which blew us away this year and jumped 54 spots from 72 last year to 18 in 2025. Nottinghamshire restaurant named the best in the UK.

In the UK, the number one spot for 2025 goes to Restaurant Sat Bains, where chef Sat Bains and his team deliver an exceptional dining experience.

Chef Sat Bains tells us: “We are honoured to place top in this brilliant list of restaurants."

"We strive for both consistency and relevance, continuously innovating what we do and how we do it to be the best we can, spotlighting some of the country’s best produce in all its glory."

"After 25 years of dedication to our concept and little pocket of Nottingham we are of course humbled to place No. 1 in the UK.”

Originally the Hotel de Clos, Bains relaunched the hotel as Restaurant Sat Bains in 2002 and won his first Michelin star a year later with intricate modern British tasting menus.

Two decades later the set up is rather different - the restaurant boasts its own urban kitchen garden now, as well as an al fresco courtyard, lounge bar and a number of rooms for overnight stays - but the philosophy is the same - to make guests feel as though they have had a completely unique experience.

Not only has Restaurant Sat Bains set the standard for fine dining in the UK for well over a decade, it has also proven to be a breeding ground for superb chefs - the likes of Gareth Ward at Ynyshir, Alex Bond at nearby Alchemilla, Niall Keating at Luna and more have passed through this kitchen over the years, going on to hold Michelin stars of their own.

SquareMeal’s Managing Editor, Ellie Donnell explains: “It feels extraordinarily telling that Sat Bains' eponymous two Michelin-starred restaurant has been trading for 25 years."

"The UK's dining scene becomes more competitive by the year, so for the team to be celebrating a quarter of a century pays testament to its enduring relevance."

“Sat's creative tasting menus are brave and unique - taking risks that pay off and interweaving clever surprises - but more importantly they celebrate the joy of eating thanks to a deep-rooted understanding of flavour developed over decades. A huge congratulations to the team!”