Do you know the Muffin Michelin Man? He’s that guy who’s made of tyres and selects the best restaurants all around the world…
Okay, as funny as that’d be, it’s obviously a lot more complicated than that (though a big Michelin Man does attend the ceremony), and so the revelation of any calls for a huge ceremony, which took place tonight (February 5) at the lovely Midland Hotel in Manchester. Here, we found out the changes to the list of over 70 London restaurants that boast Michelin stars, as well as in the rest of the UK & Ireland. It’s a special year for the MICHELIN Guide in the UK & Ireland too, as it has now passed the milestone marking 50 years of naming the best restaurants in both nations.
Oh, and for any died-in-the-wool foodies and true restaurant boffins, you can watch the entire ceremony via the MICHELIN Guide’s YouTube channel (unless, of course, you caught it on their livestream already!). On the same channel, you check out the ceremonies for previous MICHELIN guide namings this year, including Spain.
Michel Roux Jr took to the stage tonight after the ceremony paid tribute to La Gavroche, a London institution with two Michelin stars which cooked its last service on January 13 and will be sorely missed. After receiving the Mentor’s Chef award, he later revealed the UK’s brand new one Michelin star restaurant.
Which London restaurants have newly received Michelin stars?
This year, the MICHELIN guide has stressed that each restaurant added to the selections champions resistance in the face of tough times for the food industry.
11 of the 18 chefs on hand to collect their new one Michelin stars hailed from London restaurants, and they are as follows: Josean Balotin at Soho’s Mountain, famed for its lamb chops; James Sharp at 1890 by Gordon Ramsay inside the Savoy Hotel; Benjamin Ferra Y Castell at Pavyllon;Max Coen at Dorian; Miller Hugo at Humo; Ayo Adeyemi at Akoko; Hirosaka Wada at Sushi Kanesaka; Angelo Sato at Humble Chicken; Sofian Msetfi at Ormer Mayfair; Charlie Tayler at Aulis and Adejoké Bakare at Chishuru, which was born from a pop-up!
These chefs were on hand to collect awards for three London restaurants received that received two stars at the MICHELIN Guide ceremony: Siddharth Aduja at Gymkhana, which becomes the first Indian restaurant in London to receive two Michelin stars; Francesco Di Bernadetto for Brooklands; and Jonny Lake for Trivet.
Three Michelin stars means a restaurant truly is one of the best in the world, and the Michelin guide that all London restaurants (and indeed, all eight of the three Michelin-starred restaurants) retained their stars. These are: Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester by Hyde Park, The Lecture Room & Library at Sketch in Mayfair, Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill, and Hélène Darroze at The Connaught in Mayfair.
A new London restaurant also received three stars: The Ledbury (which received its two stars just last year!) now has the honour of boasting the highest acclaim in the MICHELIN Guide, and Brett Graham was on hand to collect the award on the night.