Food and drink

Mya Lacarte co-owner Matt Siadatan - Ranked 50th in the National Restaurant Awards
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Mya Lacarte has made top table

By Laura Herbert
October 14, 2010

A popular restaurant in the heart of Caversham has been named 50th best restaurant in the whole country.

Brother and sister team Matthew and Yasmina Siadatan opened Mya Lacarte in 2007 and have now achieved success at the National Restaurant Awards.

During a lavish ceremony in London on Monday night the restaurant was ranked 50th out of the top 100 restaurants.

Mr Siadatan said: “We are amazingly happy, just to be included in the top 100 is a massive achievement in itself.

“Going to the ceremony and meeting all the top chefs was just humbling.”

Top of the list is The Ledbury in London closely followed by Heston Blumenthal’s Bray eatery The Fat Duck. The Waterside Inn in Bray was ninth.

Mr Siadatan continued: “We were sitting there expecting to be 98th, 99th or 100th because of the calibre and knew that the judging panel had the final say and judged on what they thought.

“When they called out the list they did it in two stages from 100th to 51st then 50th to first.

“It got down to 51st and then we had dinner and we were sat in awe.”

Reading Post deputy editor and member of the National Restaurant Awards Academy Hilary Scott put the Prospect Street eatery forward and then it was voted for by a panel of more than 300 experts.

The restaurant beat Shinfield-based rivals l’ortolan in 78th place as well as Heston Blumenthal’s The Hinds Head in Bray, and Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Claridges, London, which ranked 69th and 70th respectively.

“For a little restaurant in Caversham to be mentioned is just great,” said Mr Siadatan.

“One of the reasons why we opened in Caversham is because we really enjoy where we live and wanted to put Caversham on the map, and it’s right by the river which is a lovely location.”

Mr Siadatan’s brother Tim was also successful at the awards as his London-based restaurant Trullo took 37th place.

“We are absolutely made up for him, he is an amazing chef,” he said.

Of Mya Lacarte’s future Mr Siadatan said: “We are still young and don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and we have still got a lot to achieve.”

lauraherbert@trinitysouth.co.uk

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This is fantastic news - it's a great restaurant. These lists are always more like fodder for arguments than a representative statement of good restaurants, but it's lovely to see a Reading restaurant doing so well.

It's especially nice to see Myalacarte - an unpretentious, unfussy, unstarred restaurant with great service - doing so much better in the list than the sterile, fiddly and joyless l'Ortolan.

Mr London Street
14/10/2010 at 11:46

Pity he couldn't find a jacket that actually fits for the photo shoot mind...

A Modern Office Icon
14/10/2010 at 10:54

I've heard much good praise for MyaLacarte but haven't had the opportunity to go yet. Well done to the team there, and I hope it helps them go from strength to strength.

Common Cents, Reading
14/10/2010 at 10:36

Nice to see a local restaurant doing well, although I have to say that when we visited a couple of months ago the food was ok, but not brilliant. I doubt that the food we had would make my top 100 meals to be honest. I guess we must have gone on an off day. Congratulations to them anyway.