British food: bloody good in New York!

April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig and The John Dory

According to Adam Farmerie, a principal at design firm AvroKO, which owns Double Crown, the recent spate of trendy British dining concepts has less to do with a change of heart than an evolution of the cuisine itself.

“The past decade has seen a metamorphosis in British cuisine,” he says, as cooking in the U.K. has transformed from a mere trade to a full-blown profession, complete with culinary schools. Meanwhile, chefs have begun to travel more extensively to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, gathering ideas and influences as they go.

Now, those changes have trickled west along with the British-trained chefs migrating to New York. So we're not only seeing better-prepared pub grub, but also a wider variety of flavors, techniques and influences, whether it’s French-focused fine dining a la Gordon Ramsay at The London, Double Crown’s 19th-century-inspired fare, or Bloomfield's British-tinged seafood at The John Dory.

Herewith, five restaurants that are hoping to put the "great" back in Britain.