As The MICHELIN Guide Ceremony for Great Britain & Ireland fast-approaches, it seems a good time to take stock of both countries’ dining scenes. With yet more exciting news looming, their restaurants appear to be going from strength to strength, reasserting their place as a global gastronomic hub.
In fact, it might be as good a time as ever for food-loving travellers to visit the UK and Ireland. Both in big cities and out in the country, there are great restaurants on a par with anywhere in the world. But, beyond their obvious quality, what makes the restaurants of the UK and Ireland so special? What makes them stand-out and why should a hungry tourist make them a first port of call? Fortunately, we have not one answer but five.
1. They Have a Global Outlook
What some people see as a weakness, others see as a strength, and so it is with a country’s sense of culinary national identity. Where French gastronomy and Japanese cuisine have distinct, world-renowned personalities, ‘British food’ in modern times is a more ethereal concept. Ask even a Brit to define it and they may get stuck after fish & chips and a Sunday roast. But this perceived lack of national cuisine is not a fault, it is an opportunity.Both the UK and Ireland in recent decades have adopted an ‘open-door’ policy where cooking styles from around the world can find a home. This is driven by our diners, who have an insatiable culinary curiosity and wish to eat their way around the world without skimping on authenticity. Although there are actually a great many traditional British and Irish dishes to enjoy and rightly be proud of, both chefs and diners often avoid having an over-inflated sense of gastronomic patriotism.
The result of this is an utterly thrilling array of cuisines for locals and visitors to enjoy. London in particular is a city for whom the phrase ‘melting pot’ could have been invented. In Soho alone, going for dinner means choosing between Indian or Italian, French or Filipino, even Taiwanese, Thai or Turkish. This international array often comes at a budget-friendly price too, with Syrian, Creole and South African among the Bib Gourmand cuisines available.
It's not just about being able to travel the world on your doorstep, though, but about the basic principle that ‘variety is the spice of life’. In style as well as cuisine, the UK and Ireland’s best restaurants are wonderfully diverse. Our MICHELIN Stars range from intimate chef’s tables to top-drawer pubs. It is unlikely that any diner would like every single one of our Stars – and that is a good thing, because they’re all exciting, innovative experiences with their own distinct personalities. They’re all great restaurants; all you have to do is choose the one that’s right for you.
What’s more, this global outlook and willingness to try new things has attracted the very best of the world’s chefs to the UK and Ireland. The crème de la crème know that there is an audience for their cooking if they come here; it’s why Alain Ducasse, Hélène Darroze, Pierre Gagnaire and Anne-Sophie Pic came over from France to set up restaurants, and why people like Endo Kazutoshi and Ahmet Dede left their home countries to share their sublime food with us all.
2. They Have Their Own Game-Changers
We’ve spent a lot of time so far discussing the global draw of the UK and Ireland, of all the brilliant chefs who come here and bring a taste of their countries with them. But we mustn’t forget that the British and Irish dining scenes have managed to generate a fair few superstars of their own.
After all, Gordon Ramsay – almost certainly the most famous chef in the world – was born in Scotland and forged his reputation in London. Without his flagship restaurant, our Guide would be Three Stars lighter and diners from around the world would have missed out on a brilliant culinary experience.
Heston Blumenthal is another gastronomic game-changer forged in the UK. His innovative multi-sensory cooking has been hugely influential around the globe, making him a household name and ensuring his restaurant, The Fat Duck, has continuously been awarded Three Stars. Clare Smyth, too, is a member of the Three-Star family and a huge draw for foodie travellers. Her restaurant, CORE, has held onto our ultimate award since Smyth became the first British woman to achieve the feat – and it still provides one of the finest meals you’ll find anywhere in the world.
It would be impossible to name every British and Irish chef who has helped make their countries’ restaurants so special over the years. But in today’s landscape a special mention must be given to Simon Rogan, for his unerring commitment to sustainability and pioneering of farm-to-plate cuisine at the very highest level; to JP McMahon, a steadfast champion of Irish produce and Galway in particular; to Tom Kerridge, for taking often overlooked pub cooking to the Two-Star level; and to Jason Atherton, one of the British chefs with the most skill as a restaurateur, having rapidly expanded his empire around the world in the last couple of years.
3. There’s a New Generation of Talent
It’s not just the present, but the future, that’s bright for British and Irish gastronomy, with an exciting new vanguard of chefs who are leading the way forward. Among our Two-Star restaurants, you’ll find chefs who have barely hit 40 and have so much of their careers still to come: in West Cork, Turkish-born Ahmet Dede is cooking fusion food that Ireland has rarely seen before, cementing his place as one of the country’s most exciting chefs; in London, Jeremy Chan has proven himself to be a real culinary leader with Ikoyi, which explores the boundless possibilities of West African cooking; and Tom Sellers at Story nods to traditional British dishes as he comes up with modern classics of his own.
Elsewhere, Lorna McNee from Glasgow’s MICHELIN-Starred Cail Bruich looks poised to become a household name; Angelo Sato continues to be relentlessly driven and thrillingly inventive at Humble Chicken; Santiago Lastra is cooking Mexican food at a level the UK and Ireland has never experienced at KOL; Tomos Parry dictates London’s culinary tempo with the wildly successful Brat and Mountain; and in North Yorkshire Tommy Banks is mastering field-to-fork cooking at the One-Star Black Swan, which also holds a Green Star.
Then there are the chefs who have learned from the very best and are now making their own mark. Sarah Hayward, a former MICHELIN Young Chef Award winner, continues to cook up a storm at The Coach, interpreting the Tom Kerridge philosophy with ease; at the iconic Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Luke Selby has returned to work with his legendary mentor Raymond Blanc; and finally there’s The Ledbury’s Head Chef Tom Spenceley, who is maintaining the Three-Star level having learned from Brett Graham, one of the very best in the business.
4. It’s the Home of the Pub
If there is one unique selling point for the British and Irish restaurant scenes, it is their pubs. With the warmth of their atmosphere and simplicity of their décor, they are a style of eatery that visitors from all over the world are keen to experience and locals are keen to hold on to. This love for pubs is a historic one, passed down from the days when weary travellers would seek refuge and refreshment at the nearest coaching inn.
The best dining pubs replicate that feeling of friendliness and security, while serving traditional food with a modern outlook, bringing 21st-century precision to 19th-century recipes. Steak & kidney pie, sausage & mash and the obligatory Sunday roast are simple dishes, but when done well there’s little more enjoyable.
Pubs are often where you’ll find some of the best value cooking, too. Just look at the variety of Bib Gourmand pubs in our Guide: there are rural village locals like The Duncombe Arms, The Three Horseshoes and The Reindeer; there are coastal treasures such as The Gunton Arms and The Royal; and then there are city spots like The Clifton in Bristol, The Broad Chare in Newcastle and Spitalfields in Dublin, the latter being a shining example of why Irish hospitality is so globally revered.
And if you’re thinking that the quality of pub cooking has something of a ceiling, then you need to head to The Hand and Flowers. To this day, Tom Kerridge’s flagship pub is still the only one in the world to hold Two MICHELIN Stars. In the last two decades, Kerridge has helped to redefine what pub cooking can be, introducing outstanding ingredients and precision-tooled execution while doing his best to retain an informal atmosphere. Kerridge isn’t the only one proving that the words ‘MICHELIN Star’ and ‘pub’ belong in the same sentence, however. For proof, tourists and locals alike should head for One-Star pubs like The Cross, The Harwood Arms, The Fordwich Arms, The Bridge Arms, The White Swan and The Dog and Gun Inn.
5. They Use the Best Produce
The final, perhaps most important, reason why the UK and Ireland have such incredible restaurants? The food itself. Any top chef will tell you that without ingredients of quality, you’re going to struggle to cook something truly special. Fortunately for everyone cooking here, they are blessed with one of the most bountiful larders in all the world.
Every corner of these countries is known for its superb produce, from seafood on our coasts to meats reared in our countryside. There’s a reason you see Orkney scallops on so many menus – because they are simply right up there with the best in the world. The same could be said for Herdwick hogget from the Lake District or brilliant lamb from the Welsh valleys. Across the Irish Sea, look out for the likes of Carlingford oysters and Wicklow venison. Our seasonal fruit and vegetables are pretty special too, as anyone who’s had a Scottish strawberry will tell you.
If you want an unadulterated taste of these ingredients, you can’t go wrong with a visit to St. JOHN. A pathbreaking British restaurant, it takes traditional, no-nonsense dishes like mince on toast and elevates them to MICHELIN-Star standards. There’s nowhere to hide with cooking like this, but nor should there be.
Special mention should go, too, to those restaurants lighting the way towards the future of gastronomy. Crocadon, for instance, is a MICHELIN-Starred spot in the Cornish countryside which demonstrates everything that is good about home-grown cooking. It is a farm first and foremost, with Chef-Owner Dan Cox prioritising responsible agriculture, then reaping the rewards in the kitchen as he cooks with the finest British ingredients. It is a miraculous, incredibly impressive place, where the work that goes into the cooking is eclipsed only by its simple deliciousness.
In short, that is why the UK and Ireland’s restaurants are so special. It’s because of restaurants like Crocadon, Story and Ikoyi, because of chefs like Heston Blumenthal, Clare Smyth and Ahmet Dede – and because few people can say no to a proper pub lunch.
Hero Image: The Black Swan, Oldstead. © Andrew Hayes Watkins
