Michelin Guide UK 2025: Reactions

The Staff Canteen

Editor 11th February 2025
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Last night Michelin Guide released its selection for 2025 at a spectacular ceremony held at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.

Here are some reactions to the announcements from the chefs awarded the top honours, with one new three-star restaurant, three new two stars and 22 new one stars.

>>> Full list of 2025 Michelin-starred restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland <<<

Mark Birchall, Moor Hall, three Michelin stars

“It almost epitomises the outrageous goal or ambition we set before we opened. It’s a dream come true, it’s as simple as that, nothing less.

“For me, the property, everything we do is up there, it’s the best. This just rubber stamps that and it puts the place on the global map.

“You kind of dream about these things and act it out in your mind, but the emotion is incredible.

“We got our first star in 2017. That feeling was incredible, one of the best feelings of anything in my life. But this has just destroyed it. It’s amazing.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by The Ritz London (@theritzlondon)

John Williams MBE, The Ritz, two Michelin stars

"It means so much to everything that we do. First and foremost, we cook for our guests. We serve our guests. We try to look after them in a style that is befitting of The Ritz restaurant.

“I can’t emphasise how important it is for me personally to get the acknowledgement of two stars from Michelin.

“I’ve waited 50 years for this. It’s special. I thought we were forgotten about.

“We carried on cooking to the best of our ability, looking after our guests and hopefully that works.

“I’ve got fantastic people working for me. We’ve got some great chefs and have produced some great chefs. But service-wise, we now have people who really enjoy serving. They look after the guests.

“The food is very, very important, but the experience is done by the service.”

Emily Roux and Diego Ferrari, Caractère, one Michelin star

Emily: “It means absolutely everything to us. We work on this every single day, every single month, every year that we’ve been open.

“So this is a real achievement, a real team effort, all of our staff and team were watching live from the restaurant, so we’re thinking of them as well.”

Stuart Ralston, LYLA, one Michelin star

“It’s just big validation of a lot of years cooking and not feeling like I’ve wasted my time. All the experiences I’ve had around the world come into that one particular building and have given us this award.

“It’s obviously our most refined offering, our most ambitious, it’s split over two levels, an open kitchen. A lot of the chefs are serving things and finishing things at the table, so it has a very personal experience and it’s just very intimate, it’s very small. It’s just a nice place of tranquility.”

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