'Glasgow doesn’t judge its success against whether it has any Michelin star restaurants' says chef Peter McKenna

Two of Glasgow’s most renowned chefs, The Gannet's Peter McKenna and Ivan Stein, urge local foodies to stop obsessing over the lack of Michelin stars in the city and  say that local diners already have a wealth of top restaurants to choose from.

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Peter McKenna and Ivan Stein, the duo behind the popular Gannet restaurant in Glasgow believe that thanks to the city’s diverse range of high-quality restaurants, that it does not matter that there is not a Michelin-starred restaurant in the area.

Speaking to The Times, Peter he said 'that whenever he talks to chefs or food writers from outside of Glasgow they inevitably raise the subject of the Michelin Guide and its failure to recognise the quality of Glasgow cuisine since Ramsay closed his fine-dining restaurant at One Devonshire Gardens in 2003'.

He said: “I feel they’re missing the point because Glasgow doesn’t judge its success against whether it has any Michelin star restaurants or not; that’s not the way the city thinks.

 “There are some terrific restaurants with consistently high quality here, but Glaswegians are not prepared to pay £150-a-head for dinner just so that they can say they’ve eaten in a Michelin star restaurant. They want quality, but they also live in the real world.”

He added: “Glasgow restaurants in the past had a reputation, perhaps unfairly, for piling it high and selling it cheap but that’s no longer the case. Glaswegians are no longer satisfied with a big plate of pasta or a bowl of curry; they’ve experienced lots of different types of cuisine and have become much more adventurous.”

Glasgow may not have had a Michelin-starred restaurant since Gordon Ramsay closed Amaryllis 15 years ago but there are 12 Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Scotland, including four in Edinburgh which has been aided massively by tourism.

Arguing that Glasgow is one of the best cities in the UK for eating out, Peter continued: “If you look at what’s on offer now compared with 10 or 15 years ago, the eating-out scene has changed immeasurably for the better, both in terms of choice and quality."

He told the Times the he believes that a myriad of factors has all influenced Glasgow’s dining tastes which include: the internet, the expansion of budget airline travel and even the popularity of TV cookery shows. 

Those changes have coincided with a revival of interest in using and eating local Scottish produce as well as restaurants choosing to use small, independent producers for the likes of fresh meat, poultry, fish, fruit and vegetables and dairy produce.
It seems that there has never been a better time to be a chef in Glasgow thanks to an ‘enviable larder comprising some of the finest quality produce in the world’ says Peter.