Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

UK Michelin Ratings for 2008


Recommended Posts

Since Jay and Marina's early support of the Sportsman, it has grown into simply a terrific restaurant. People may not know the sheer scope of what Stephen does, despite goons like me going on about it. A recent dish of turbot characterises how amazing it can be - the fish landed within a couple of miles of the front door. Then braised in butter churned by Stephen from local aged raw cream. Seasoned by fleur de sel made by Stephen. A veloute (also with local cream) mounted with some avruga caviar. And the taste was more profound than any dish of turbot I've had in this country, and better than most in France. It was simply wonderful. I would take it in preference over the turbot at Les Ambassadeurs, at Michel Bras, at Arpege and the one at Jean Georges in a heart beat. Possibly the only comparison would be the turbot with shellfish juices and black truffles at Manresa, and even then, the quality of turbot was better at Stephen's, for my money.

In the end, Stephen having a star is as meaningless to the quality of what he does as his not having one. It is only if it helps the restaurant economically that I hope he wins it.

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

Flickr Food

"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have to say Van de Groot must have the best PR in London. How the Greyhound and Rosendale have curried so much favour escapes me. there's nothing wrong with either, but not so much truly exemplary either. and the wine list is, erm, highly overrated. and overpriced :laugh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have to say Van de Groot must have the best PR in London. How the Greyhound and Rosendale have curried so much favour escapes me. there's nothing wrong with either, but not so much truly exemplary either. and the wine list is, erm, highly overrated. and overpriced :laugh:

Hear hear! The Greyhound is so mediocre it beggars belief it gets into the Michelin year after year, where just down the road the Fox and Hounds is doing lovely fresh Mediterranean food and gets nowhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Deductions:

One Lombard Street (Has Michelin eaten there in the last 5 years? Ugh.)

L’Escargot

Mirabelle

La Noisette (I think Bjorn has left...)

Connaught to lost both of its stars? Obviously Hartnett but the Grill Room there also somehow has a star...

Promotions:

One O One *

Rhodes W2 *

Texture *

Skylon *

Wild Honey * (I don't think its worth it but if Arbutus has one...)

Theo Randall *

Magdalen *

Dorchester Grill *

Mint *

Hibiscus ** (well deserved)

The Greenhouse ** (Not sure it quite deserves it, but compared to many of the other 1* in town then probably)

Thorntons ** (I heard they've sorted out their front of house)

Ducasse (not rated)

Quite a few new stars in London there, mostly deserved. Haven't eaten at The Sportsman but it sounds well deserving. Would love to see Ramsay @ RHR lose one but I don't see it happening. Crying shame that St John has never been recognised but probably too late now. Calls for promotions for Tom's Kitchen and La Gavroche seem rather ill-merited to me.

Edited by IanT (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Crying shame that St John has never been recognised...

...to the point of undermining the entire ridiculous farrago. :angry:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thorntons ** (I heard they've sorted out their front of house)

A definite possibility from where I'm sitting. FOH was *much* improved on my last visit just before Christmas. I asked about Michelin and they said that one inspector in particular seemed to have an excellent time when he visited, and told them he had been extremely well-treated. For me, the cooking remains somewhere between 1 and 2 stars (not that I'm basing that on very much experience elsewhere) but a part of me thinks it will happen for them this year.

I'd still prefer to eat at Mint though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Crying shame that St John has never been recognised...

...to the point of undermining the entire ridiculous farrago. :angry:

Pray, why no recognition for St John? Can anyone explain it to those of us across the pond?

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i ate at lescargot last year and i was solid 1 star , the head chef warren some1 has left now, he had worked at nico and sous at pied a terre , well executed 1 star food, dont know wot its like now has a guy called simon jones at the helm, has it gone down hill so much?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One Lombard Street (Has Michelin eaten there in the last 5 years? Ugh.)

To reprise my Sketch question above: do you mean the brasserie or the inner sanctum? While the former is undeniably a miserable experience, I always considered the latter okay by City standards. I accept, however, that the smell of roasted money and granita souls can be quite distracting in both venues.

Can't see Skylon getting anything; the view can only distract you so much from the cooking. Meanwhile, would anticipate Texture (and, if there's any justice, Magdalen) getting rising star statusm but it's probably too early for more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Crying shame that St John has never been recognised...

...to the point of undermining the entire ridiculous farrago. :angry:

Pray, why no recognition for St John? Can anyone explain it to those of us across the pond?

Occasionally Michelin come across something entirely outside of their frame of reference that food lovers are inconveniently making a fuss about.

They have two responses. They can either do what they did with Heston and throw stars without really thinking where it's all going or they can do what they've done with Fergus.... ignore it and hope it goes away.

There isn't a person who knows anything about food in the UK that wouldn't put St John right at the top of any list of influences.

The fact that Michelin can't deal with this tells you all you need to know about their relevance. The fact that Fergus Henderson clearly couldn't give a fuck tells you all you need to know about his.

"Cry 'God for Harry, England and Saint John!'"

Huzzah!

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i ate at lescargot last year and i was solid 1 star , the head chef warren some1 has left now, he had worked at nico and sous at pied a terre , well executed 1 star food, dont know wot its like now has a guy called simon jones at the helm, has it gone down hill so much?

To be fair, I am basing this on one meal. Just really, really, boring food ad execution was only so so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One Lombard Street (Has Michelin eaten there in the last 5 years? Ugh.)

To reprise my Sketch question above: do you mean the brasserie or the inner sanctum? While the former is undeniably a miserable experience, I always considered the latter okay by City standards. I accept, however, that the smell of roasted money and granita souls can be quite distracting in both venues.

Can't see Skylon getting anything; the view can only distract you so much from the cooking. Meanwhile, would anticipate Texture (and, if there's any justice, Magdalen) getting rising star statusm but it's probably too early for more.

Inner Sanctum. I though it was really dreadful and seemed like they didn't care any more. The room was a bit unkempt, bad service, ludicrously overpriced food (£30+ for mains). Stuck in a time-warp, if you're going to serve this type of food for these prices then exeuction better be spot on - it wasn't.

To be fair, I haven't eaten at Skylon but I've heard some decent things. Probably the biggest reach of my predictions however.

I really hope Magdalen gets one, it is certainly deserving and it'd be nice to see the most important trend in London dining over the past couple of years (the development of Modern British cuisine) recognised with a star. Of course St John deserves some form of "Lifetime Achievement Award" for starting the whole thing but I think Magdalen has taken some of St John's ideas to a different, more Michelin friendly, level and will be recognised.

Edited by IanT (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thorntons ** (I heard they've sorted out their front of house)

A definite possibility from where I'm sitting. FOH was *much* improved on my last visit just before Christmas. I asked about Michelin and they said that one inspector in particular seemed to have an excellent time when he visited, and told them he had been extremely well-treated. For me, the cooking remains somewhere between 1 and 2 stars (not that I'm basing that on very much experience elsewhere) but a part of me thinks it will happen for them this year.

I'd still prefer to eat at Mint though...

That inspector must have been there on a good day!

I agree that the food is worth between 1 & 2 stars, but I found the front of house a bit awkward and lacking in personality (on 2 visits in 2007). It's hard to put your finger on it, but I don't feel the sense of special occassion that you should get with a 2 star meal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i ate at lescargot last year and i was solid 1 star , the head chef warren some1 has left now, he had worked at nico and sous at pied a terre , well executed 1 star food

Warren Geraghty. He was our head chef at Neat in Cannes from 1999 to 2001, then went to Aurora at the Great Eastern Hotel. Talented chef. Don't know what he's doing now.

How about Pearl? Should it have a star?

Texture should be a contender, I think, but maybe it opened too late to be fully inspected?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

in re that particular item...

Can anyone tell me what an "Executive Sous Chef" is? :huh:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, well ,well this is what we've all been waiting for..... Fingers crossed my workplace/restaurant scoops 2* ,Head chef was saying today if we get it ,we'll get a phone call from michelin monday/tuesday.Its been a hard year!

Never trust a skinny Chef

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warren Geraghty...Don't know what he's doing now.

He's following a very tough act out "West" click.

We ate there about two nights before Hawksworth left. Absolutely stunning place. Very hard act to follow. Everywhere we went in BC was full of British chefs; maybe they're cheaper than the 'merkin equivalents?

Presumably Executive SOus means 'he thought he'd get the top job, but we wanted to get in another Brit...so we've given him a new title as a sop.'

Edited by BertieWooster (log)

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...