Attended by the country's top chefs, the event is hosted in conjunction with Harden's and Rémy Martin. The Sunday Times Food List is based on food quality alone and is chosen by 8,000 diners-out from across the UK. The Ledbury, headed by young Australian Chef Brett Graham, garnered an average score of 9.81 out of ten. Customers hailed the cuisine as "genius". The restaurant's staff famously fought off looters and protected customers during this summer's riots and Brett Graham said he is delighted with the result: "It's a huge honour to top the List, especially as it comes from such a broad base of customers. This is a testament to everyone in the extremely talented and energetic young team here at The Ledbury. It's my privilege to come in each day and orchestrate the proceedings, but the accolade belongs to them all. I feel so lucky to be part of such a dedicated and hard working group." Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire came second in the Food List while last year's winner, Gidleigh Park, was third. Gidleigh Park also walked off with the Rémy Martin X.O. Excellence Award for Best All Round Restaurant (considering not just food, but also service and ambience). Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley won the Coeur de Cognac Award for Best Dessert, and Heston Blumenthal's Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental received the Rémy Martin V.S.O.P Best Newcomer Award. The Sunday Times Food List Top 5 (last year's rank in brackets) 1 (4) The Ledbury, Notting Hill, London 2 (6) Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Great Milton, Oxon 3 (1) Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon 4 (7) Le Gavroche, Mayfair, London 5 (5) Waterside Inn, Bray, Berks Karen Robinson, Editor of The Sunday Times Food List, said: "We're delighted for Brett and everyone at The Ledbury. The Food List is the ultimate taste test. And although the restaurants on it are not cheap, the point is that it's not about a clique of food critics or anonymous restaurant inspectors telling us to go and spend this money. "The List represents the views of the food-loving public, who know the value of good food and, even in these austere times, are still prepared to recognise exceptional quality and pay for the very best." Other interesting statistics from this year's Sunday Times Food List include: • Half of the top 100 restaurants are outside London (last year it was only 40%) • The number of Asian eateries in the List has fallen by half • There are 31 new entries on the list The List is compiled for The Sunday Times by Harden's. This year more than 8,000 people, including many Sunday Times readers, submitted more than 80,000 restaurant reports. You can read exclusive coverage of the event in the November issue of Eat Out.