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Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, Ikea's hot dogs, a scotch egg from a Maidenhead pub, The Royal Oak and a prison chef are just some of the winners in olive magazine's 2009 Alternative Restaurant Awards.

olive's awards celebrate the best, the new and the original in Britain's dining scene – including who's serving the top credit-crunching deals, the best places to eat meat, where to go out with your parents (and where not to) and where to find the biggest portions. The magazine has also tracked down the hottest new chefs, the best places to grab a snack and the places that say they serve local, seasonal food – and mean it.

Getting the reader's vote is Rick Stein's Seafood restaurant, which beat Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to the title of top Celebrity Chef Restaurant. According to olive features editor Jessica Gunn, "olive's awards are a reflection of the magazine's informed but playful approach to eating out. We want to give people a new slant on the best places to eat across the UK." October's olive magazine, featuring olive's Alternative Restaurant Awards 2009, is on sale now priced £3.40.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Crunch bunch
Purnell's, Birmingham (),
Arbutus in Soho, London ()
The Hand & Flowers, Marlow ()
Trinity, London ()

Gang stars
Cinnamon Kitchen, London
Le Bouchon Breton, London
Committed carnivores
Red Pump Inn, Lancashire ()
The Cross Keys, Leeds ()

Veggies' paradise
Hansa's, Leeds ()
Kastoori, Tooting, London ()
Ridiculously optimistic
Bob Bob Ricard, Soho, London ()

The place that says 'local produce' and means it
Agaric, Devon ()

The world's best-ever scotch egg
Royal Oak in Maidenhead (; eggs £2.50).
Runner up
The Harwood Arms in Fulham, London, venison scotched egg, £2.50. ()

Best all day brunch
Heart Buchanan, Glasgow ()

Wish it was our local
Stravaigin café, Glasgow ().
Entropy, Leicester ()
500, London ()

You'd never find it unless…
Gabriel’s Kitchen, Manchester ()

What credit crunch?
21212, Edinburgh ()

'Well, hello, trolley'
Cartmel's L'Enclume, Lake District ()
Boundary, London ()

Meet the chef
Sat Bains in Nottingham ()
Claude Bosi – Hibiscus, London ()
Aggi Sverrisson and Xavier Rousset – Texture, London ()

Hero at the hob
Alberto Crisci, head chef at Her Majesty's Prison High Down in Surrey, The Clink ()

Pub that thinks it's a restaurant
The Sportsman in Kent ()

Most on-trend restaurant
Eastside Inn, London ()

Dining at the bar
Bocca Di Lupo, London ()

Like having dinner at you mate's
Hotel Terravina, in Southampton ()

Best snack
Pickles & Potter, Leeds
Urban Pie (Birmingham and Leicester; )
Salisbury pub, Fulham, London ()

Unsung chef
Stephen Crane, head chef at Ockenden Manor, West Sussex ()

Your parents will love it
Corrigan's Mayfair, London ()
Quo Vadis, London ()

Your parents will hate it
Gaucho's ()

Chefs in new homes
Robert Thompson, The Hambrough, Isle of Wight ()
Maria Elia, Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room, London ()

Cheaper than eating at home
Franco Manca, London ()

Gulity pleasure
Ikea's hotdogs

Acceptable face of fusion
Modern Pantry, London (themodernpantry.co.uk)

Where the location's the draw….
St. Pauls Cathedral, London ()

….and where it doesn't matter
Croque Gascon, Westfield in London ()

The biggest portion
Fox & Anchor, London ()

Don't believe the hype
Buddha bar, London ()

Forbidden planet
Planet Hollywood, London ()

Craziest concept
Bel Canto, London ()

OLIVE READER PICKS

Celebrity chef restaurants
Rick Stein's seafood restaurant, Cornwall

New restaurants you would most like to visit
Wild Garlic, Gloucestershire

NOTES TO EDITORS
About the awards
There are 50 winners in total (restaurants and chefs) in 34 categories. The categories were decided and judged by a panel made up of the olive team and industry experts. The reader picks were voted for my 869 people who responded to a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Magazines insiders reader panel questionnaire between 10 July – 17 July.

About olive Magazine
olive is the stylish, monthly magazine for food lovers with an emphasis on getting great value. It has an audited circulation figure of 86,117monthly readers according to the last Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures. olive magazine recently won the "Best Restaurant Guide" award at the prestigious Rosemount Taste Awards 2008, and was competing with specialist reviewers such as toptable, Eat london, the Luxe city guides, and Hardens.

Toby Hicks

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