SquareMeal is a restaurant and venues guide that offers professional restaurant critic reviews, along with a directory of restaurants and venues.

History

SquareMeal was co-founded by school friends Mark de Wesselow and Simon White in 1989 as a print - and later online - guide to eating out in the Square Mile, London’s historic financial centre. The guide has since expanded into covering the whole of the UK, along with sister sites in UAE, Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2018 Dean Yardley - founder & former MD of wedding planning website and venues directory hitched.co.uk joined the company as CEO. 2020 saw the official closure of all of SquareMeal’s print titles to become a fully digital platform. SquareMeal supports homeless charity StreetSmart. The campaign is supported by

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

and chefs including

Angela Hartnett Angela Maria Hartnett (born September 1968) is an English Michelin-starred chef. A protégée of Gordon Ramsay who became well known by her appearances on British television, she was Chef-Patron at Angela Hartnett at the Connaught in London. ...

Marcus Wareing Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who was Chef-Owner of the one- Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus until its permanent closure in December 2023. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on '' MasterChef: The Professiona ...

Jason Atherton Jason Atherton (born 6 September 1971) is an English chef and restaurateur. His flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social gained a Michelin Star in 2011, its opening year, and retained it until its closure in 2024. He was the Executive Chef at ...

and

Fergus Henderson Fergus Henderson (born 31 July 1963) is an English chef who founded the restaurant St. John on St John Street in London. He is often noted for his use of offal and other neglected cuts of meat as a consequence of his philosophy of nose to ta ...

Restaurant and Chef Awards

SquareMeal has three annual awards - UK Top 100 restaurants, London Top 100 restaurants and Female Chef of the Year. UK Top 100 Awards The top 100 lists are a compilation of the best dining experiences of the year. Past winners of SquareMeal's UK Top 100 restaurants: London top 100 awards Running alongside the UK Top 100 is the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Top 100 - highlighting the best restaurants in England’s capital city. Past winners of SquareMeal's London Top 100 restaurants: SquareMeal Female Chef of the Year Award SquareMeal also holds their annual Female Chef of the Year award. In 2018, Angela Hartnett won the award, followed by Skye Gyngell in 2019, with Sally Abe winning in 2021, Lisa Goodwin-Allen winning in 2022, Roberta Hall-McCarron in 2023 and Adejoké Bakare in 2024.  

References

{{Reflist 1989 establishments in the United Kingdom Hospitality industry in the United Kingdom Restaurant guides