Michelin Guide 2019: a look at every new Michelin-starred restaurant

Michelin Guide 2019: the new Michelin-starred restaurants

Michelin Guide 2019: a look at every new Michelin-starred restaurant

by Great British Chefs2 October 2018

The 2019 Michelin Guide results are in, with a record-breaking twenty-one new restaurants entering the hallowed pages of the guide (along with three new two-stars). Read on for a detailed look at this year’s winners.


Michelin Guide 2019: a look at every new Michelin-starred restaurant

The 2019 Michelin Guide results are in, with a record-breaking twenty-one new restaurants entering the hallowed pages of the guide (along with three new two-stars). Read on for a detailed look at this year’s winners.


Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews as well as access to some of Britain’s greatest chefs. Our posts cover everything we are excited about from the latest openings and hottest food trends to brilliant new producers and exclusive chef interviews.

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews as well as access to some of Britain’s greatest chefs. Our posts cover everything we are excited about from the latest openings and hottest food trends to brilliant new producers and exclusive chef interviews.

We finally have our hands on the 2019 Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland and it has been a historic year, with an impressive twenty-one restaurants joining the guide for the first time and three new two-starred restaurants.

The new two Michelin stars gave birth to a new generation of world-class chefs. Core by Clare Smyth lived up to our predictions by jumping straight into the guide with two stars, whilst Mark Birchall gained a second star in as many years at Moor Hall. There was a second star too for Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, where chef James Knappett and his partner Sandia Chang added to the Welcome Service Award they received from the guide last year.

Kitchen Table and Core were at the top of a successful London class that included some young, innovative new entries to the guide. The West African-inspired Ikoyi in St James Market was a welcome recipient of a star, as was Leroy in Shoreditch, Ollie Dabbous’ Hide in Mayfair, Tomas Parry’s Brat and the phenomenally successful Sabor, run by ex-Barrafina head chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho.

Simon Rogan received stars both in and out of London for Roganic and Rogan & Co respectively, and there were new stars all over the country too, from Gidleigh Park in Devon – where new chef Chris Simpson has made his mark after taking over from Michael Wignall – to Tim Allen’s Flitch of Bacon in Essex, Paul Foster’s Salt in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a number of new stars in Ireland, where Mews, Ichigo Ichie and Chestnut all successfully entered the guide.

Want to know more about this year’s new Michelin star winners? Read on below, and check out the full guide by clicking here.

New two-star restaurants

Core by Clare Smyth, London

Core by Clare Smyth was as close to a shoe-in this year as any restaurant in the country, but the inner workings of Michelin are never truly predictable, and it’s a testament to Clare’s talent that she jumped straight in at a two-star level. The former Royal Hospital Road head chef has been on a roll this year, winning the controversial ‘Best Female Chef’ award at The World’s 50 Best, and then catering for this year’s royal wedding. As for Core, the menu speaks to her past as chef-patron of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay – precise, classical cooking, executed with peerless technique. Given her pedigree, a third star is surely not out of the question.

Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, London

When Bubbledogs launched some years ago, Instagram lit up with gourmet hot dogs and Champagne flutes, but tucked away around the back is Kitchen Table – a twenty-cover restaurant that has steadily emerged as one of the very best in the UK and Ireland. Head chef James Knappett curates a daily-changing menu – with an emphasis on foraged ingredients – and cooks from his station in front of his twenty guests, drawing on his experience from world-renowned restaurants like Noma and Per Se to deliver extremely accomplished, modern British food.

Moor Hall, Lancashire

One of the rising stars of the industry, Mark Birchall won a second star a year after winning his first at Moor Hall in Aughton, Lancashire. Mark places huge importance on sourcing with the produce being the star of the show, but the kitchen uses plenty of modern techniques to elevate dishes to the very highest level. The surrounding landscape is also nothing short of spectacular.

New one-star restaurants

Blackbird, Berkshire

This charming old inn in the hamlet of Bagnor outside Newbury is another sign of changing times at Michelin – there’s no doubt that this is the sort of relaxed, unfussy neighbourhood restaurant that might not have qualified for the guide some years ago. The menu is top-notch, with quality local ingredients turned into stunning dishes with plenty of French influences.

Brat, London

Tucked away above Smoking Goat in Shoreditch, Tomos Parry’s first solo venture has turned into a huge success in an incredibly short space of time. Talk was of whether Brat had been open long enough to find its way into the guide this year, but such is the excellence of Tomos’ Welsh and Patagonian cooking, the restaurant has received a star after just six months. The whole roast turbot – cooked over lumpwood charcoal in hand-made baskets – may just be one of the hottest dishes of the year.

Bulrush, Bristol

A neighbourhood restaurant with global aspirations, Bulrush is another feather in Bristol’s ever-growing culinary cap, joining the likes of Casamia, Paco Tapas, Wilks and The Pony & Trap (in nearby Chew Magna). There’s a large emphasis on pickling and preserving and the food is technical and innovative, with a menu that boasts dishes like heritage tomato, sheep’s milk ice cream and nettle sauce, and truffle ice cream with croissant mousse and caramel apples.

Chestnut, County Cork

This old neighbourhood pub in beautiful Ballydehob, County Cork has been transformed by chef Rob Krawczyk and his partner Elaine into a seriously elegant restaurant. The menu is packed with intelligent twists on classic flavour combinations like scallops with cauliflower, ink and nasturtium, brill with mussels and lovage and strawberries with lemon verbena.

Fordwich Arms, Kent

Officially the smallest town in England, Fordwich now boasts a Michelin star restaurant to its name. Not only that; this is another neighbourhood-style pub that acts as both a local community hub and a destination restaurant. A small kitchen team here keeps everything in-house – from baking bread and butchery to meat curing and butter churning – and turns out seriously impressive dishes at the same time, like the superb pheasant dumplings with roasted onion and herb broth.

Gidleigh Park, Devon

Gidleigh Park has a long and storied history at a two Michelin star level, with Michael Caines and Michael Wignall both establishing the magnificent country house as one of the UK’s best dining destinations. Big shoes to fill for sure for Chris Simpson – the old head chef at Restaurant Nathan Outlaw – but he has done admirably in earning a Michelin star so quickly with his classic, elegant dishes, including Anjou squab pigeon with parsnip, bacon and onion dressing, and Monkfish with Jerusalem artichoke, chicken dressing and seaweed.

Hide, London

This grand restaurant overlooking Green Park had more hype and buzz surrounding it than any other restaurant opening this year for several reasons. It marked a return to the dining scene for Ollie Dabbous, an incredibly talented chef; it was backed by the owner of Hedonism Wines Yevgeny Chichvarkin and boasts one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the city (which must have cost an eye-watering amount of money). The food itself is just as stunning as the surroundings, with a focus on natural organic plating, incredible ingredients and Ollie’s most ambitious, refined and complex dishes to date. Money well spent.

Ichigo Ichie, County Cork

Head chef Takashi Miyazaki has adapted his Japanese technique and flavour around the local fish and produce of Ireland, creating an intelligent, unique monthly omakase menu in Cork. The restaurant is only small, and you might need to book well in advance to get a seat, but it’s worth the effort to see the chef up close and personal, preparing dishes like ox tongue with egg white, wild garlic and onion sauce, and soy milk with chocolate, rice cake, mocha and whiskey.

Ikoyi, London

We were blown away by Ikoyi when we visited the restaurant this time last year – the West African-inspired food taps into myriad influences and inspirations, to create an experience that for most of us, is a real journey into the unknown. Clearly, we weren’t the only ones, as Michelin’s inspectors saw fit to award the restaurant a star just a year after it opened. In Jeremy Chan, Ikoyi has a meticulous, diligent chef with genuinely innovative ideas – this is a real experience for adventurous foodies.

Leroy, London

Leroy epitomises the relaxed feel of the rising food scene in east London – after all, the first thing you see as you walk in is two shelves of vinyl. Leroy is the reincarnation of Ellory, which also held a star until the owners decided to move from Hackney to Shoreditch, taking advantage of bizarrely cheaper rents further into central London. Still, Michelin are just as taken with Leroy as they were with Ellory – the dishes are pared-back and unpretentious, with produce being allowed to shine through in every plate. Don’t miss the brill with beurre blanc, borage and sorrel, or the Sauternes crème caramel.

Mews, County Cork

County Cork has been a clear winner in the Michelin Guide this year, boasting three brand new entries. Mews makes the most of Cork’s fantastic produce, buying fish daily from the nearby harbour and bringing in meat and fish from the surrounding area, creating dishes that promote the best of Irish flavours like cod with shore greens, seaweeds and mussel sauce, and wild sorrel with elderflower, elderberry and Alexanders (also known as horse parsley).

Olive Tree, Bath

An airy, intimate restaurant with a lovely bar and a beautiful summer terrace attached – Olive Tree caters for all sorts of visitors, and is leading the way for Bath’s rapidly evolving food scene. The dishes may seem simple, but they’re executed with aplomb by a skilful kitchen team that values the exceptional quality of local ingredients. Check out the asparagus with smoked eel, spring onion and Exmoor caviar, and the stunning Gariguette strawberry with meringue, mascarpone, orange blossom and basil.

Oxford Kitchen, Oxford

Oxford Kitchen is tucked away in nearby Summertown, but Paul Welburn’s cooking is more than worth the trip if you’re in the area. Having worked with luminaries like Gary Rhodes and Richard Corrigan, Paul is an extremely experienced and well-travelled chef, and that shines through in his food at Oxford Kitchen, where he takes classic flavour combinations and gives them innovative modern touches.

Roganic, London

While Simon Rogan gets tipped for a third star year after year for his flagship Cumbrian restaurant L’Enclume (which, for unknown reasons, he still hasn’t received), the 2019 results still proved pretty fruitful. His London outpost Roganic won a Michelin star after being open for less than a year, which makes perfect sense as the restaurant’s aim is to bring a taste of L’Enclume to the capital. The food on offer from head chef Oliver Marlow is natural and effortless, with twice-weekly deliveries from Simon’s own farm in Cumbria.

Rogan & Co, Cumbria

Another win for Simon Rogan with his more relaxed neighbourhood restaurant Rogan & Co, which sits round the corner from L’Enclume in Cartmel. This now makes Simon the owner of four Michelin stars in total – more than any other chef in the UK and Ireland (apart from Gordon Ramsay, who has three stars at his eponymous restaurant and one at Pétrus). Don’t be tempted to write off Rogan & Co as ‘L’enclume lite’, however – it is most definitely its own entity, with warm relaxed service and the same stunning ingredients turned into more familiar dishes than you’d find at his flagship.

Sabor, London

Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s exemplary cooking at Barrafina was much-loved by Londoners, and her follow-up at Sabor has been just as well-received. The tapas bar downstairs takes walk-ins only – with a menu packed with authentic Spanish classics – but you can book to sit at the asador upstairs, where the Segovian suckling pig has become one of London’s must-eat dishes this year.

Salt, Stratford-upon-Avon

With the help of a crowdfunding campaign, Paul Foster opened Salt in March 2017, in the picturesque town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Just a year and a half later, the decision is already starting to pay off, with Salt receiving six out of ten in the Good Food Guide, three AA rosettes, and now a Michelin star, confirming its place as one of the UK’s best restaurants. Housed in a beautiful sixteenth-century building, Salt has a relaxed and casual atmosphere, and whilst the food is unfussy – Paul loves to highlight humble, under-appreciated ingredients – the execution is incredibly precise.

Sorrel, Surrey

Steve Drake’s cooking at Drake’s (now The Clock House) in Tonbridge was a Michelin-starred stalwart until he left, so it was perhaps only a matter of time until Sorrel – his second – also won a star from the Michelin inspectors. The restaurant has a distinctly modern feel, with a glass-walled kitchen giving guests a fantastic view of the chefs at work. Dishes are equally contemporary and feature innovative flavour combinations like scallop, smoked cauliflower, curried granola and cucumber ketchup, and ginger, blueberry, oregano and lavender.

Tim Allen's Flitch of Bacon, Essex

Daniel Clifford bought this run-down Essex pub back in 2015 when he lived nearby, but only recently has it become the restaurant he wanted it to be. After a huge effort refurbishing and bringing the building back to life, it started off as a relaxed gastropub. When Daniel’s friend Tim Allen became head chef and partner there in 2017 it became Tim Allen’s Flitch of Bacon and seemed to find its feet, serving some of the most refined food in the county. The Michelin star secures its status as one of the great gastropubs of the UK, with modern British dishes elevating classic ingredients into the realm of fine dining.

The White Swan at Fence, Lancashire

The White Swan retains the vibe of a local pub – it is in fact still leased from the famous Timothy Taylor’s brewery – but the food is astonishingly good, offering equally homely, traditional dishes which are executed at the very highest level. Chef Tom Parker and team have made this neighbourhood hub into a genuine destination restaurant, reinventing classics like sticky lamb cottage pie with potato, curd cheese and crackling, and wild turbot with white asparagus, smoked haddock and wild garlic.

Winteringham Fields, Lincolnshire

The delight was plain to see on Colin McGurran’s face as he collected his star, and there were more than a few cheers from the crowd too – there’s no doubt that this award was a long time coming. This gorgeous sixteenth-century farmhouse in north Lincolnshire is a real rural haven, particularly for food lovers – fish is sourced from Grimsby every day, and meat and vegetables are often sourced from Winteringham’s own small farmlands. The beautiful local produce is matched by Colin’s superb classic technique in the kitchen, making Winteringham Fields a real gem in the North East.

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