Highland Wagyu beef braised in tamarind at Marianne restaurant. Image: Instagram/@marianne_w2 via AFP Relaxnews

For the “top gastronomic experience” in London, visitors and locals alike are advised to book a table at Marianne, a small, intimate restaurant helmed by a former “MasterChef” contestant, which took the top award at the Harden’s London Restaurant Awards 2017.

On Monday night, some of the city’s most influential chefs and tastemakers gathered at The Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square to hear which restaurant would be proclaimed top newcomer, top bar or pub, and most romantic dining destination in London.

Taking the biggest award of the evening was chef Marianne Lumb for her Notting Hill restaurant Marianne, where diners sit down to cooking of “peerless perfection.”

An alumni of the 2009 edition of “MasterChef the Professionals” in the United Kingdom, Lumb opened her eponymously named restaurant in 2013, under a culinary ethos that favors local, seasonal ingredients.

Though menus change frequently, a sample dish could feature Scottish langoustines, for example, served with white asparagus; hot vichyssoise soup with Cornish salted caviar; and loin of Rhug estate lamb with green asparagus, morels and mint oil.

Marianne beat out rivals The Ledbury, The Clove Club and Elystan Street for representing the “pinnacle of London cuisine,” said guide editor Peter Harden.

If you want to book a table, though, best be quick, as the restaurant is a small, intimate affair that seats just 14 diners.

For this year’s awards, 8,500 people contributed 50,000 nominations. The final selection from the shortlist was made by Harden’s editors.

London visitors looking to book the quintessentially British experience of afternoon tea may want to book a table at The Berkeley Hotel’s Collins Rooms, which took the title of London’s Best Afternoon Tea spot.

The tea room is particularly popular among fashionistas for its “Pret-à-Portea” service, where cookies and cakes are designed after the latest catwalk trends.

For diners with discerning taste buds and tighter budgets, Thai eatery Kiln in Soho was named best cheap eats, for its “palate-searing” fare, while Borough Market’s Kappacasein took the title of best street food for their cheesy raclette.

Here are the winners of Harden’s 2017 London Restaurant Awards 2017:

Top gastronomic experience: Marianne
Top newcomer: Jamavar
Top cheap eats: Kiln
Best steaks and grills: Zelman Meats W1
Best street food: Kappacasein Dairy
Wine list of the year: Enoteca Turi
Top bar or pub: The Lighterman
Best for romance: Luca
Best for breakfast or brunch: Sunday N1
Top coffee house: Ozone
Best afternoon tea: Collins Rooms, The Berkeley
Best for fish or seafood: Estiatorio Milos
Lifetime achievement award: Chris Corbin and Jeremy King
JB