Last night, the 2026 Michelin awards for the UK and Ireland were held in Dublin, where 20 new one stars were awarded to restaurants across the region, alongside two new two-star awards given to restaurants in London.

Following the controversy surrounding the awards ceremony in 2025 (namely a patronising video directed at female chefs, before the awarding of only one Michelin star to a female-led kitchen), Michelin have steadied the ship in 2026 with an awards ceremony free of any contention.

To swerve contention, Michelin appeared to return to stabler, older traditions. Across the UK and Ireland, no harbour is safer than that of the world’s most famous chef: Gordon Ramsay.

And what a night he had. Jesse Burgess of TopJaw fame was filming season two of the Ramsay-produced Knife Edge show for Apple TV, and across the board, his protégées had successful nights.

Kim Ratcharoen retained three Michelin stars at his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, which has now held the accolade for a remarkable 25 years, while over in the city, his new venture Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High – helmed by chef James Goodyear – won its first Michelin star.

It was a good night too for the two most recent head chefs of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, as Clare Smyth won a star for her new Chelsea restaurant Corenucopia (whilst retaining her three stars for Core), and Matt Abè (also former mentor to both Kim and James) went straight into the guide with two Michelin stars for Bonheur. Elsewhere, Jason Atherton — yet another chef to come up through Gordon’s ranks — won two stars for his restaurant Row on 5, headed by former Ritz chef Spencer Metzger.

Broadly, the awards lacked any real shock factor, with restaurants that offer traditional tropes of Michelin fine dining – namely classic European or British tasting menus in plush settings – winning the lion's share of stars.

Michael Caines won a star for his recent opening at The Stafford Hotel in London, while the Pullman in Galway won a star for their train carriage-based luxury dining experience. All aboard Linda!

It was encouraging to see a handful of more contemporary restaurants recognised: among these was Vraic, by Nathan Davies in Guernsey, recognised with a star just a few months after opening, while Tom Tsappis’ remote Scottish restaurant Killiecrankie House joined them with a star. 

Elsewhere, The Wilderness by Alex Claridge and Jöro by Luke French showed signs that Michelin are paying at least some attention to more contemporary dining – and perhaps reconciling past injustices where these restaurants missed out on a star year after year.

Michelin also recognised the UK’s love of pubs, which – particularly in London – have become synonymous with restaurants. The Kerfield Arms in Camberwell became the second pub in London (after The Harwood Arms) to receive a star.

London came out on top as a dining destination, with 11 of the 22 newly awarded restaurants based in the city, while Brighton won a star for Maré by Rafael Cagali. Michelin broke its own two-year streak of ignoring the host city by bestowing a new star to Dublin's Forest Avenue.

Broadly, this was an awards night that aimed to steady the Michelin ship. But in an evening which attempted not to ruffle any feathers, the awards body may have gone too far the other way. With so few truly curious or surprising entries, alongside notable omissions in the three-star category (London's Ikoyi and Wales' Ynyshir failed to attain three stars, making you question what else they need to do), questions of Michelin's relevance in a diverse, vibrant and open food scene will be sure to resurface.

Of course, this is not to detract from the winners on the night – every one of them fully deserving the stars they were awarded. It's more about who didn't win a star. But as is proved each year, Michelin's decision-making and criteria are opaque and difficult to decipher, making predicting what they'll do (and tracking any sort of consistency) tricky from the outside.

Amid much speculation about the fate of Michelin Green Stars, it was encouraging to see the category reaffirmed by Michelin at the awards. Perhaps surprisingly so, as there had been much conjecture in the build up to the ceremony that Green Stars would transform into a kind of B-Corp-style accreditation, as opposed to its own star category. Instead, a total of seven new restaurants were awarded a star, including the stunning Knepp Wilding Kitchen, the Free Company, Devon’s Glebe House and Bart Stratfold’s Michelin-starred Edinburgh restaurant, Timberyard.

As ever, stars aren’t the only awards Michelin bestows, with a host of additional awards given out to a range of restaurants that play an important role in the dining experience. Michelin recognised the next generation of talent with Tom Earnshaw at Bohemia winning the ‘Michelin Young Chef’ category and Maria Bradford at Shwen Shwen taking home ‘Opening of the Year’. Other special awards included the ‘Exceptional Cocktail Award’ which went to Alasdair Shaw at Sebb's in Glasgow, the ‘Sommelier Award’ which went to Roxane Dupuy at Row on 5 and the ‘Michelin Service Award’ won by Barbara Nealon at Saint Francis Provisions.