Four restaurants in the North East and North Yorkshire have been tipped among the best local eateries in the country.

The Good Food Guide has named its Best Local Restaurants for 2024, with three spots in Newcastle and one in Northallerton included on the list.

The annual awards are designed to recognise independent restaurants and are based on nominations.

Bosses say they received an unprecedented number of nominations this year at 60,000. Inspectors from the Guide then test out the main contenders, paying for their meals in full, to come up with the 100 winners.

The Small Canteen, Long Friday and Ophelia in Newcastle, and Origin Social in Northallerton are the region’s best, according to the Guide.

Restaurants with hands-on owners, content customers, personal service and a welcoming atmosphere are common hallmarks of those on the list, the Guide says.

Coming out top, Leeds restaurant Bavette was named Britain’s best local restaurant.

The Small Canteen

The Small Canteen based in Sandyford is just that – a small restaurant in a small building with a small menu and room for less than 20 diners. Infamous Guardian reviewer Jay Rayner who paid a visit last November said: “In a restaurant world that too often celebrates the big and the dramatic and the glossy, it was delightful to find somewhere so damn pleasurable and so at ease with itself. The obvious should generally be avoided but it has to be said: the Small Canteen is a restaurant with a huge heart.”

Long Friday

Long Friday is tucked away in West Jesmond and is a small, cosy restaurant with a menu of small plates. It is the second year running it has been named in the Good Food Guide's 100 Best Local Restaurants.

The Good Food Guide gives Long Friday a glowing review. It said: “People love the laid-back intimacy, the enthusiastic staff, and the carefully sourced ingredients – as well as the on-trend ethos of a place to drink good wine and enjoy a couple of flavourful bites too, which is so much more relaxed than a formal three-course menu with accompanying bottle.”

Ophelia

This restaurant in South Gosforth is only open four days a week, Thursday to Sunday, and describes itself as a neighbourhood bistro, “servicing thoughtful comfort food, with a cellar of low intervention wines inspired by our love for France.”

The Michelin Guide says: “There is a pleasing lack of over-complication to the food at this slick neighbourhood brasserie that wears its French heart on its sleeve. Great care is put into the cooking by an on-view kitchen team and the Gallic influence can be seen across the range of thoroughly enjoyable dishes, which are presented with a friendly smile. The French focus also extends to the low-intervention wine list.”

Recommended reading:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Get access for 4 months for just £4, or get 40% off an annual subscription with our latest offer. Click here.

Origin Social

Origin describes itself as an “exciting small plates restaurant”, based on Friarage Street in Northallerton. Awarded an AA Rosette this year, the Yorkshire Food Guide says: “At Origin their ethos is simple; to source the highest quality ingredients, as locally as possible and expertly cook them over coal.

“With a focus on live-fire cooking, Origin in Northallerton’s menu offers a unique dining experience to remember, because after all, cooking over open flames makes food taste better.”