November 2011 Archives

Japan has confirmed its title as the world's leader of gastronomy as Michelin has awarded a total of 32 restaurants in the country with its top accolade of three stars.

Michelin today released its 2012 guide to Tokyo, promoting three new restaurants to three-stars including Sushi Yoshitake and Ryugin in Tokyo and Koan in Shonan. The Japanese capital now has 17 three-star restaurants.

After the release of its guide to western Japan last month, the country now boasts more three-Michelin-starred restaurants than France, which currently has 25.

However, the size and scale of the restaurant industry in Japan helps to partly explain its success when it comes to Michelin stars. There are around 160,000 restaurants Tokyo, compared with about 40,000 in Paris.

Michelin's 2012 Tokyo guide this year expanded its coverage to include the areas of Yokosuka, Hayama, Zushi, Fujisawa, Chigasaki, Hiratsuka, Oiso, Odawara and Yugawara.

A total of 57 restaurants gained two stars, with 13 new additions, including Korean restaurant Moranbong, which is the first in the world to achieve the award. Meanwhile 54 establishments celebrated their first star, bringing the total to 219.

Bernard Delmas, president of Nihon Michelin Tire, commented: "Thanks to our readers, we have reached the 5th anniversary of the Michelin guide in Japan. Since the first publication of the guide in 2007, we have enriched the selection by expanding the area."

He added: "We hope that readers from all over Japan and also from overseas will visit the shining stars in Tokyo Yokohama and Shonan and have a wonderful time. And we sincerely hope that we can contribute to Japan's restaurant and tourism industry by publishing this guide."

After years of disappointment, Jay Rayner finally discovers a gastronomic place of safety among Manchester's restaurants: San Carlo Cicchetti.

The Observer's food critic says that his failures to eat well in the city have even started to bore him but arriving at the Italian restaurant, he finally knows that everything will be fine.

Time Out's Guy Dimond says Jamie Oliver's latest venture, Union Jacks, is so good, you have to like it. "If it wasn't all done so very well - cheeky chappie service with a smile, good food, fun atmosphere - you'd have to hate it," he says.

Giles Coren experiences service from hell at Chinese restaurant the Grand Imperial London, housed within the Thistle Grosvenor Hotel.

The Times' restaurant critic says although the food is good, the restaurant doesn't give a "flying lee ho fook about their customers" after sitting "in their giant golden room being treated like crap for the better part of 40 minutes".

Meanwhile devastatingly pretty waitresses and wonderful food mean the Independent's John Walsh has a lovely time at the Pig Hotel in the New Forest, Hampshire.

The Devonshire Arms in Chiswick, west London, doesn't set the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams' heart on fire but with delightful service and décor, it's a lovely neighbourhood pub.

In London, the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin says there's nothing on the menu at the Balcon that she wouldn't want to eat, while the Evening Standard's Fay Maschler discovers delicious burgers at MEATliquor, a more permanent site from the team behind Meatwagon and MEATEASY located in a car park site behind Debenham's in Oxford Street.

The Artichoke Restaurant in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, impressed John Lanchester this weekend, who says chef-proprietor Laurie Gear's cooking is on fire.

The Guardian's food critic says the restaurant, which reopened after a devastating blaze two years ago, "is a neighbourhood restaurant that's on top of contemporary trends and executing them with command, precision and a degree of relaxedness".

"The place is still on fire, but now it's in the happy, metaphorical way," Lanchester says.

Meanwhile Italian restaurant Casa Batavia in west London fails to hit the spot with AA Gill, who complains about both the food and service.

"Most of the dishes, which came in silly plates, had temperature issues. They were either worryingly chilly or tepid in parts. Which might have been trendy, or it might just have been forgetfulness and boredom" he moans.

The Daily Telegraph's Matthew Norman enjoys the excellent food served at the Greek in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, while the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin says she'd cheerfully go back to the 10 Cases, in London's West End, every week.

Both the London Evening Standard's Fay Maschler and Time Out's Guy Dimond review Aurelia, the latest venture by high-end London restaurateur Arjun Waney and Giuliano Lotto, where a menu of small markedly expensive Mediterranean dishes is served.

US chef Grant Achatz's Alinea has become the only three-starred restaurant in Chicago after L20 lost two stars in Michelin's second guide to the US city.

L20, whose famous chef, Laurent Gras, left the day after the restaurant gained its third star last year, has been demoted to one-star-status.

Charlie Trotter's and Ria have retained their two stars, while 18 establishments celebrated their first Michelin star.

Achatz's new restaurant Next, which has gained wide critical acclaim since opening in the spring, has failed to be recognised by Michelin. The restaurant is described as a "permanent pop-up", changing its menus entirely four times a year.

The Michelin guide Chicago 2012, which goes on sale on 16 November, features a total of 432 restaurants 45 types of cuisine, including 21 holding stars. It also lists 56 restaurants with Bib Gourmands serving two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less.

The Chicago guide is Michelin's third US guide after New York and San Francisco and the Bay Area. Guides to Los Angeles and Las Vegas were discontinued.

Andrew Fairlie has become the latest addition in the UK to the ranks of Grand Chefs recognised by luxury hotel consortium Relais & Chateaux.

The prestigious accolade is held by only a select number of 160 chefs around the world, including 70 independent operators, in recognition for leading the way through innovation and excellence.

Fairlie, who runs his eponymous restaurant at Gleneagles hotel in Perthshire and is the only chef in Scotland to hold two Michelin stars, joins an elite group of just seven chefs to have been awarded the title in the UK.

The others are: Alain Roux at the Waterside Inn; Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck; Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche; Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park; Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons; and Martin Burge at Whatley Manor. Fairlie is only the third independent UK operator to have been named a Relais & Chateaux Grand Chef.

Fairlie said he felt extremely honoured and proud. "Receiving my award in front of 500 Relais & Chateaux proprietors including Michel Guérard, Michel Troisgros and Olivier Roellinger was a very special moment," he said.

"Being accepted into Relais & Chateaux has been an ambition of mine for many years. I first heard of Relais & Chateaux in 1985 when I was working at the Waterside Inn just before I was due to start my scholarship with Michel Guérard. The guide was full of the greatest chefs in the world and as a young 20-year-old I dreamt that one day I would be included."

Fairlie won the first Roux Scholarship in 1984, offering him the opportunity to train with Guérard at Les Prés d'Eugénie in Gascony, during a period when the UK's food reputation on the world stage was poor and a foreigner working in a French kitchen almost unheard of.

He opened his restaurant within Gleneagles hotel in 2001 and achieved a Michelin star in 2002 as well as the Newcomer of the Year Catey. His second star followed in 2006 and he remains the only chef in Scotland with two stars. He was named Scottish Chef of the Year in 2008.

The 2012 Relais & Chateaux guide features 31 properties in the UK, including newcomers Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Greywalls Hotel and Isle of Eriska, all in Scotland.

Simon Rogan's two-year pop-up restaurant in London's Marylebone impressed the critics this weekend, with both the Sunday Telegraph and the Times food critics giving Roganic top marks.

The tasting menu at Roganic, which last week won Square Meal's best new restaurant award, is fascinating, awe-inspiring, confusing, dazzling and delicious, according to the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams.

Meanwhile the Times' Giles Coren says that although Roganic's level of atmospheric austerity rather demands more surprising dishes, fireworks on the plate, some of the cooking is perfect.

Writing in the Independent, John Walsh finds uninspired cooking and absurd prices at the Hansom Cab, the west London pub acquired by Piers Morgan last year, while the Sunday Times' AA Gill says the Brunswick House Café in Vauxhall is like the canteen for Harry Potter and the Ghostly Open Sandwich

The Guardian's John Lanchester says London Vietnamese restaurant group Mien Tay's Northamptonshire outpost is even better than his local one in the capital, while the Daily Telegraph's Matthew Norman is impressed with the authentic tapas menu served at Tapas Revolution set within the Westfield Shopping Centre in White City.

Finally Fay Maschler enjoys the modern British menu served up at the three-month pop up restaurant by the Young Turks at the Ten Bells, giving it three stars in her review for the London Evening Standard.

Michelin has released its 2012 guide to Germany and has awarded La Vie in Osnabrück three stars and promoted a record number of 10 establishments to two-star-status.

Thomas Bühner's restaurant in the North West of Germany has won Michelin's top accolade after being tipped a rising three-star for two consecutive years.

With Nils Henkel's Gourmetrestaurant Lerbach losing its third star, Michelin's 2012 guide to Germany continues to list a total of nine three-star restaurants, more than any other European guide bar France.

Meanwhile 10 restaurants celebrated their second Michelin star. These include Lorenz Adlon and Reinstoff in the capital of Berlin; Schwingshackl Esskultur in Bernried and Kastell in Wernberg-Köblitz in Bavaria; and Rosin in Dorsten and La Vision in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The North continues to dominate the ranks of Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany, with the new guide awarding a second star to four establishments in the region: Haerlin and Jacobs Restaurant in Hamburg; Buddenbrooks in Lübeck; and La Mer in List on the island of Sylt.

A total of 23 restaurants were awarded their first stars bringing the number of one-star establishments to 208. Overall Germany now has 249 restaurants holding one or more Michelin stars.

The number of Bib Gourmands, restaurants offering good food at moderate prices, rose by 45 and now totals 431.

The 2012 Michelin guide to Germany goes on sale on 11 November.

Chinese restaurant Manchurian Legends, the first in London to specialise in the Dongbei cuisine of the North-east of the country, divided the critics this weekend.

While Matthew Norman of the Daily Telegraph claims the restaurant is a hot candidate for the Chinatown crown scoring it four out of five stars, the Sunday Times' AA Gill has a "spectacularly, triumphantly awful" meal there, giving it just one star.

Meanwhile the incredible price tags of the two restaurants at the Corinthia Hotel in London shock both the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin and the Independent's Tracey MacLeod, who dine at the Northall and at Massimo's respectively.

The Observer's Jay Rayner reviews his first restaurant in the capital of Northern Ireland and finds there's lots to like at Made in Belfast until the food arrives.

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, Lisa Markwell finds an inviting interior, imaginative but comforting food and delightful staff at the Balcon, the new restaurant at the Sofitel St James, while the Guardian's John Lanchester hates the noise but loves the food at Bread Street Kitchen, the latest restaurant from Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Zoe Williams of the Sunday Telegraph has an embarrassing tussle over the bill at Ducksoup, the first venture from a former Hix Restaurants team, but says that aside the Soho restaurant is really rather good.

Finally, Time Out's food and drink editor Guy Dimond can recommend everything on the menu at the new Hawksmoor Guildhall, the third outlet by the successful steak restaurant group.

Simon Rogan's two-year pop-up restaurant Roganic has been named the best new eatery in London by Square Meal.

The first venture in the capital by Rogan, who also runs the Michelin-starred L'Enclume in Cartmel in the Lake District, Roganic beat stiff competition to win the award, including Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social and Wolfgang Puck's Cut.

Square Meal editor Ben McCormack praised the restaurant for its 'endless innovation and impeccable ingredients', served in a friendly environment. "This is a fine-dining restaurant without the formal trappings of fine dining," he said.

Roganic head chef Ben Spalding added: "It will have nothing but a positive effect on business, and I'm really humbled."

Roganic serves a choice of a six- and a ten-course tasting menu, with a fierce loyalty to the best seasonal, British produce at its heart.