Two restaurants in Suffolk have made it into the top 100 places to eat in the UK outside of London.

East Anglian Daily Times: Staff at the Leaping Hare share their delight after being listed as one of the top 100 restaurants in the UK. Pictured left to right are Max Boulter, Evelyn Wordsworth-Sewell, Josh Carr, Silas Teixeira, Jess Forbes and Carla Harknett.Staff at the Leaping Hare share their delight after being listed as one of the top 100 restaurants in the UK. Pictured left to right are Max Boulter, Evelyn Wordsworth-Sewell, Josh Carr, Silas Teixeira, Jess Forbes and Carla Harknett. (Image: Archant)

They are the Leaping Hare Vineyard Restaurant, in Stanton, and Maison Bleue, in Bury St Edmunds.

It comes after website and restaurant guide SquareMeal carried out a survey of the favourite places to eat following votes from thousands of its readers, as well as bloggers and local foodies.

It is the only poll to exclude London restaurants in a bid to raise the profile of the regional dining scene.

Coming in at number 70 was the Leaping Hare with Maison Bleue at 91.

Silas Teixeira from the Stanton diner said: “It’s very good news for us and it’s an amazing success to come in the top 100.

“We like to stick to our ethos of sourcing local food using our own food from our estate as it’s a niche area for us.

“Where we are located we get regular customers coming back time and time again and it shows that we are doing something right as we go with the local flavours that people like.

“We have now been operating for 26 years and it’s steadily grown in a good way during that time.

“Our sales and customers are up and this is great news for us.”

The restaurant, which is able to sit 50 people, operates from noon to 2.30pm every day, and from 7pm to a final sitting at 9.30pm Fridays and Saturdays.

In Norfolk, three places made the cut.

In Norwich, Benedicts, based in St Benedicts Street, reached number 20 on the list, while Roger Hickman’s Restaurant, in Upper St Giles Street, was placed 89th.

Morston Hall, based on the North Norfolk coast near Blakeney, was the only restaurant in the county outside of the city to make it on the list, reaching 48th.

Taking the top spot, South West England was home to this year’s number one restaurant, Casamia, in Bristol, which has risen 11 places since 2017.

Edinburgh is the second most popular city with SquareMeal readers, with six restaurants in the top 100, followed by Birmingham with three restaurants.

SquareMeal’s editor, Ben McCormack, said: “Once again, SquareMeal’s UK Top 100 proves that we have a national dining scene that offers creativity and quality across every price point in every corner of the country.

“City centres are bristling with the sort of foodie thrills you would find in Soho or Sydney, while chefs who have made their name at some of the most famous country-house hotels are going it alone with their own solo projects – often at a lower price point and with far less formality. There has never been a better time to eat out in the UK.”

Thirteen eateries made the cut in East Anglia and the Midlands.

To find out more and to see the full list of restaurants, visit www.squaremeal.co.uk/news/uk-top-100-restaurants-2018