WHEN it comes to culinary excellence, Ramsbottom has always been a talking point, with Chris Johnson’s Ramsons scooping prestigious awards every year.

And now the town is proving an “attractive dish” for food connoisseurs after two more restaurants were named amongst the best in the country in the 2010 Which? magazine Good Food Guide (GFG).

This year, Ramsons is the only restaurant out of 12,000 listed in the guide to be named in all three categories of excellence, including the top 50; the most notable wine lists, and the longest-serving, having appeared in the guide for 23 years.

Sanmini’s Indian restaurant, in Ramsbottom Lane, has catapulted into the GFG as a new entry, ranking a cooking score of three — on a par with the famous Nutters in Norden — despite having only been open for a year.

And there’s more lipsmacking good news as Hideaway, a side project of Ramsons located in Market Square, has been recommended in the guide for the first time.

Sanmini’s, the first South Indian cuisine only restaurant in the north of England, is run by the Sankar family from Ramsbottom, notably Dr Padmini Sankar, known as Mini, and her husband Dr Dev Sankar.

Son Sav, who helps run Sanmini’s, said: “We are all elated to have been recognised in the GFG because it normally takes about three of four years. We would never have imagined it a year ago. Cooking has always been my mum’s passion and dream.”

Equally, Ramsons’ chef Abdulla Naseem, known as ‘Naz’, and Lu Varley at Hideaway, are passionate about their products.

Naz said: “We source our ingredients from the best farms in Italy and have fish delivered daily from the Liverpool docks, it’s completely fresh and that’s why our menu changes daily.”

Last year, Naz was named best chef at Manchester’s Food and Drink Festival, while Ramsons was named restaurant of the year by Lancashire Life and the 2009 GFG.

Since then business has extended into the Hideaway, which has been transformed from a wine bar in the basement into a traditional restaurant, serving rustic Italian cuisine.

And despite the recession, business is booming, with Ramsons 25 per cent up on takings and the Hideaway 67 per cent up.

Owner Chris Johnson said: “This is just fantastic news for Ramsbottom, we are really on the up, especially with The Chocolate Café doing so well too. To have three restaurants in this tiny town in the GFG, all within 100 yards of each other, is just fantastic.”