One Moor award as Hall tops table

MOOR Hall has been named as the top restaurant in the UK, according to SquareMeal’s top 100 restaurants.

The list is the only poll to exclude London restaurants, in a bid to allow the UK’s regional dining scene to shine.

The top 100 were voted for by thousands of readers, bloggers and local diners.

Moor Hall, in Aughton, near Ormskirk, was rated number one – rising 25 places since 2018.

Since being opened by head chef Mark Birchall, alongside business partners Andy and Tracey Bell, Moor Hall has racked up awards.

It has claimed two Michelin Stars, became one of just 19 in the country to be awarded a fifth rosette by the AA Restaurant Guide and was named as the best in the UK at National Restaurant Awards.

Upon being presented with the latest award from SquareMeal, chef patron Mark Birchall said: “Winning this award is a real boost for us.

“It’s a nice pat on the back. It shows that our guests really enjoy what we do and it’s great to have the focus on us up North.

“It means an awful lot to me.”

The award-winning restaurant is situated in five acres of gardens with views over a lake, said to be the remains of a medieval moat.Commenting on Moor Hall’s win, SquareMeal editor Ben McCormack said: “Moor Hall has had a meteoric rise since launching two years ago, winning its first Michelin star six months after opening, and its second in 2018.

“But when you know that the restaurant’s chef patron is Mark Birchall, its success is no surprise.

“Birchall was head chef at L’Enclume in Cumbria but is very much his own man since returning to his Lancashire roots.

“The setting, in a stunningly re-imagined 16thcentury manor house, is a welcome corrective to stereotypes of Lancashire being nothing but terraced houses.

“Many of the ingredients that make it on to the menu, meanwhile, are supplied by Moor Hall’s five-acre estate and the farmland that surrounds the restaurant.

“But, ultimately, it’s the end product that does the talking.

“Vegetables get a starring role while expertly sourced meat and fish are treated to imaginative pairings that make you reevaluate the potential for deliciousness of every ingredient you taste.”