Blog posts in Industry news

Only three restaurants from the UK made it into The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year, with a further five making it into the ‘51-100′ list.

The number one spot remained with Rene Redzepi’s Copenhagen restaurant, Noma. Also unchanged were the number two and three spots, going to Spanish restaurants El  Celler de Can Roca and Mugaritz respectively.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was the UK’s highest entry on the list at number 9. Head Chef Ashley Palmer-Watts collected the award on behalf of the restaurant at which he holds a Michelin star, awarded at the beginning of this year. Heston Blumenthal’s three Michelin starred Bray restaurant, The Fat Duck moved down from number 5 last year to number 13 this year.

The UK’s only other entry in the top 50 was Brett Graham’s restaurant The Ledbury at number 14 which was this year’s highest climber moving up from number 34 on last year’s list.

Of last years top 50 entries, Hibiscus dropped from the top 50 but remained in the list at number 94;  with Fergus Henderson’s St John disappearing from the list all together.

Other UK restaurants in the 51-100 list include Viajante (#80), La Gavroche (#88), Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham (#97) and Hakkasan in Mayfair (#100).

For the full worldwide list, please see The World’s 50 Best website.

The Michelin Guide 2012 has been released today, listing all the star-holding restaurants in the UK which have increased from 143 in 2011 to 153 for 2012. The Michelin Guide reserves its three stars for those restaurants deemed “exceptional and worth making a special journey for.” As in 2011, no restaurants were given this accolade in the 2012 guide. However there have been a number of movers and shakers elsewhere.

Two restaurants were promoted from one to two stars, highlighting them as “worth a detour”. Restaurant Sat Bains gained their second star after celebrating the twelfth anniversary of the restaurant’s opening the day before. The Nottingham restaurant offers a choice of tasting menus. These include a unique opportunity for diners to have a personalised ten course tasting menu prepared for them by restaurant chefs based on ingredients selected from a list provided by the restaurant. Tom Kerridge’s Marlow pub The Hand & Flowers has become the first pub to receive two Michelin stars, seven years after opening and six after the pub received its first star. The chef, who now boasts the world’s only two Michelin starred fish & chips, enjoyed a surge in interest at the start of the year when his dish of roast hog with salt baked potatoes and apple sauce received praise from the judges on BBC2 show The Great British Menu. The dish now features on the menu at The Hand and Flowers.

In London, new openings Dinner By Heston and Pollen Street Social were awarded their first star along with North Road and Hakkasan, Mayfair. This joins the company of the group’s Hakkasan, Hanway Place restaurant which already holds a single star.

However, it was outside London where Michelin awarded most of their new stars. Seven establishments in the rest of England received a star, including The Curlew Restaurant in Bodiam, East Sussex, meaning that the county now boasts two Michelin starred restaurants. Three Scotland-based restaurants received their first star, including Edinburgh’s Castle Terrace and Martin Wishart at Loch Lomand. One restaurant in Wales also joined the Michelin elite, bringing the number of single star holding restaurants in the country to four.

The number of pubs holding a single star now totals thirteen following a further three awards this year. These include the York-based Black Swan at Oldstead which has been run by its current Yorkshire born and bred team for five years. Critically acclaimed The Sir Charles Napier in Chinnor, Oxon is another winner, and the small, two room public house and restaurant The Butchers Arms in Eldersfield, Gloucester is the third victor.

The 2012 Michelin Guide also lists restaurants which have dropped stars. These include London based Pied a Terre and Tom Aikens which both reverted back to one star from their former two. The guide also dropped their “rising star” category, which has previously recognised restaurants with the potential of going onto win stars in future years.

The 100th Guide Michelin Great Britain and Ireland 2012 can be bought here

Today saw the release of the 2011 edition of the Michelin guide to restaurants in Great Britain & Northern Ireland. This year sees a record number of stars awarded to UK restaurants, 143 restaurants in total have received stars – the highest in the 37 years the guide has issued awards in the UK.

Continue reading “Michelin reveals 2011 stars” …