Chefs celebrate Michelin stars
The much-awaited new Michelin guide brought good news and bad news for chefs and restaurants as stars were won and lost last week.
Having been demoted from two stars to one in the 2000 Michelin Guide, London's Charlotte Street mainstay, Pied à Terre, has regained its two-star status, this time with Shane Osborn at the helm in the kitchen.
The London restaurant first gained two stars in 1996 when founding chef Richard Neat was in the kitchen but was downgraded to one in 1999.
David Moore, owner of the restaurant - the only British one to be upgraded to two Michelin stars in this year's guide - was delighted. "I think we have been cooking two-star food for about two years," he said. "We feel comfortable at two-star level."
Bookings increased almost as soon as the second star was announced.
Moore said: "I'd say the phone has been 25% busier, both with new customers and old customers who have been prompted into coming back. It's definitely good for business."
Moore said he believed diners spent more at two-star restaurants. "They come out with an expectation that it's going to cost more," he said. "Even though our prices are not going up, I think they spend more on wine."
Much to the industry's surprise, Petrus, which was controversially promoted to five AA rosettes by the AA Restaurant Guide in September, did not increase its standing to two Michelin stars. Many suggested that Michelin might be waiting for Petrus to relocate to its new site at the Berkeley, London, before being crowned.
But sister restaurant Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, where Mark Sargeant is head chef, has won one star after just 15 months of trading.
A further 15 restaurants were promoted to one Michelin star. Among them were two former Roux Scholarship winners, Sat Bains of Restaurant Sat Bains at Hotel des Clos, Nottingham, and Steven Drake of Drakes on the Pond in Abinger Hammer, Surrey.
Bains, long tipped to join the elite, commented: "It was a pure shock. It's put us into the top echelons of British restaurants. Now we've got to keep focused. We never set out to cook for anybody other than our customers."
At the Greenhouse in London's Mayfair, head chef Paul Merrett was equally delighted about gaining a star. Merrett was awarded a star when he worked at Interlude in London in 1999, but the restaurant closed before the guide book was published.
"No single chef has ever won a Michelin star - it's always a team," said Merrett. "A lot of people have worked at the Greenhouse who don't work here any longer but they should still take credit from this."
The news came hot on the heels of the announcement that the Greenhouse had been sold by Capital group managing director Joseph Levin to Lebanese businessman Marlon Abela. The deal took place just six days before Merrett learned of his star.
"Joseph was the first to offer his congratulations," said Merrett. "He gave me the framework here, and he deserves credit for this as well."
There are 24 new Bib Gourmand restaurants serving "good food at moderate prices" - three courses for less than £25.
Restaurants gaining Additional stars
TWO STARS
London
\* Pied à Terre
ONE STAR
England
* Drakes on the Pond, Abinger Hammer, Surrey
* The Devonshire Arms Country hotel, Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
* Edmunds, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire
\ Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
* Ripleys, Padstow, Cornwall
* Yorke Arms, Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire
* The Abbey, Penzance, Cornwall
* L'Ortolan, Reading, Berkshire
* Mallory Court, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
\ Thackeray's, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Scotland
* Number One (at the Balmoral hotel), Edinburgh
Republic of Ireland
* L'Ecrivain, Dublin
London
* Hakkasan
* Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's
* Greenhouse
* Locanda Locatelli
