Top marks to Blumenthal's Fat Duck

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It beat Gordon Ramsay's eponymous Chelsea establishment, which was the only place in the country to score nine out of 10.

The high marks for both chefs were described by the guide authors as "good news at last" after Blumenthal's place in Bray, Berkshire was closed due to norovirus and Ramsay's international empire was battered by the recession.

Ramsay said: "This is great news for both restaurants. We would like to offer Heston our congratulations but we can promise him we will be trying even harder next year to pip him to the top spot."

The Fat Duck, which famously includes snail porridge on its tasting menus, scored a "perfect" rating for the second year running.

Blumenthal is known for his use of chemistry to create ever more outlandish dishes, but there was much more to the dining experience than wacky food.

Good Food Guide editor Elizabeth Carter said: "It is the most extraordinary restaurant in Britain. It is food as theatre, the way the waiters interact with the table, it is like a performance.

"You are there for four hours while the meal is almost flown, course-by-course, to you."

The Fat Duck's website lists a tasting menu at £130 which includes a course called Sound of the Sea, during which the diner eats smoked fish, edible "sand" and "seaweed" while listening to seagulls' calls on an iPod.

Ramsay's score of nine out of 10 for his Chelsea restaurant represents "cooking that has reached the pinnacle of achievement", according to the guide's scores. Ms Carter said the head chef Clare Smyth was "very good" and the front-of-house staff were second to none.