Recently in Michelin-starred restaurants Category

St Patrick's Day clearly doesn't just signify the luck of the Irish and it's been a blessed day for one of our favourite French friends too - Raymond Blanc.

After breaking his leg and ankle in six places following a fall down the stairs at his Oxfordshire home earlier this month, Blanc was forced to have two operations to set the broken bones.

But after more than two weeks, he is finally leaving the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford today.

The chef patron of the two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons said while he had been looked after exceptionally well at the hospital, he was thrilled to see the back of it.

 "I'm thrilled to announce that I will be leaving the John Radcliffe today which coincides with the 26th Anniversary of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons," he said.

"I shall recuperate at Le Manoir as I have to stay off my feet for another 12 weeks. However, this means that I can work with my team - lead by Philip Newman-Hall director general manager and my two brilliant generals - executive chef Gary Jones and chef pattisier Benoit Blin."

Michelin has awarded two stars to Frantzen/Lindeberg, a fine dining restaurant in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, in the 2010 edition of its guide to the Main Cities of Europe.

Frantzen/Lindeberg has become only the second establishment in Sweden to hold two stars (the other one is Mathias Dahlgren), bringing the total of Michelin-starred restaurants in the Scandinavian country to 11.

The 2010 Main Cities of Europe guide, which concludes Michelin's European coverage for this year, covers 44 cities in 20 countries, including one newly added city, Salzburg, Austria, where the guide awarded one star to Carpe Diem.

It also awarded new stars to Novelli in Vienna, Austria; Costes in Budapest, Hungary; Luomo in Helsinki, Finland; and Hytra in Athens, Greece.

In total the 2010 Main Cities of Europe guide includes 231 Bib Gourmand restaurants and 341 starred establishments, of which 271 hold one star (41 new), 55 are two-starred (5 new) and 15 restaurants hold the top accolade of three stars (one new). View the full list here. 

It's not often that you go to bed saying good night to the perfect day. But my day at the French Laundry was just that, perfect in every way.

As journalists we all have our icons - the one person who tops the list of people we want to interview. Thomas Keller has been on the top of my list for years and not only did I get to interview the legendary US chef at his flagship restaurant, I was invited into his kitchen and dining room alongside an equal culinary great, Michel Roux.

The reason for our visit to Napa Valley, California, was to catch up with Hrishikesh Desai, the 2009 Roux Scholar who chose to spend the three-month stage he won as part of his scholarship at the French Laundry. He is the first scholar, in the 27-year history of the competition, to work at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant outside Europe.

Desai chose to work with a chef whose culinary ethos is one of product and execution. It's all about a celebration of the highest quality produce and a drive towards perfection. His style is deeply influenced by the great chefs of France.

Keller epitomises respect - respect for the ingredients, respect for the people who prepare them. Each and every day he wants to be better than the day before. He inspires the people he works with by leading them in a way that makes them want to succeed, never disappoint. There is a sense of calm, a peacefulness in his kitchen that is unique. Every chef in his brigade forms part of a puzzle, there's no room for egos here.

Above the pass in the French Laundry kitchen is a sign featuring the definition of finesse: "Refinement and delicacy of performance, execution or artisanship." What goes beyond the pass is as close to perfection as you can get: a menu so refined it moves you on more than just a culinary level, it's an emotional experience to eat his food.  

Thomas Keller is a gentle giant. A true professional, a leader in his industry and a chef who practises the art of gastronomy at its very best.

Middle-class supermarket Waitrose has followed in the footsteps of its less glamorous competitors Sainsbury's and Aldi by enlisting the help of celebrity chefs to boost sales.

But where Sainsbury's long-running partnership with Jamie Oliver and Aldi's ad campaign featuring Phil Vickery rely on just one famous face, Waitrose has outdone them both by appointing two celebrities.

And an unlikely pair they are: domestic goddess Delia Smith and culinary wizard and three-Michelin-starred super chef Heston Blumenthal.

The pair has been appointed as "food ambassadors for the Waitrose brand, sharing their expertise and showcasing recipes". Which basically means that, over the next three years, they will appear in TV and print ads enthusing about Waitrose's range of products.

In a first for British TV, Waitrose will broadcast a new advert every week for the rest of the year demonstrating a new recipe, which will run for the entire length of the ad break. The campaign will kick off on 15 March. 

The partnership, a first for Waitrose which has never before used celebrity chefs, may come as a surprise to hardcore Delia fans who will no doubt remember her rant against celebrities endorsing products. 

The deal also comes just months after a leaked BBC report alleged Delia had "limited appeal" relegating her to the "occasional sparkle" category.

Two-Michelin-starred chef Phil Howard's latest restaurant, Kitchen W8 in London, is a must-consider for anyone in Kensington with something to celebrate, says restaurant critic John Walsh.

Writing in The Independent, Walsh is impressed by both the food and the service at Kitchen W8, which is a joint venture between Howard and restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas.

However, he is less keen on the prices. "With most starters costing £8.50 and main courses mostly north of £15 (rib-eye steak is £19.50) it's hardly snack territory," he says.

Meanwhile, The Guardian's Matthew Norman is effusive in his review of the Dean Street Townhouse, which is the first new joint offering from Nick Jones' Soho House Group and Richard Caring, owner of Caprice Holdings.  

"It mingles the bustle and slickness of the grand, all-day Parisian brasserie with a determinedly anti-Michelin English menu and a room cunningly designed (distressed mirrors, grand bar, wood panelling) for that ultra-voguish, modern media Soho clubland feel," Norman says. 

Meanwhile the new head chef at Gilpin Lodge in Windemere, Cumbria, received the seal of approval from Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph. Despite fearing the place might be all cream teas and doilies, he is delighted to find that, as well as being friendly, informal and full, the food prepared by Russell Plowman is top notch.

In The Times, Giles Coren says his visit to new Japanese restaurant Aqua Kyoto atop the former Dickins & Jones building on London's Regent Street, was a fun experience. As well as consuming great cocktails and good sushi, he also enjoys the stunning night views.

Jay Rayner of The Observer finds a far better-than-average local restaurant in Maison Bleue in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk. Efficient, friendly service and perfectly judged fish cookery makes the town "a very nice place to be".

Rose Gray, the founder of the acclaimed River Café in London, with partner Ruthie Rogers, died yesterday aged 71 after a prolonged battle with cancer.

The restaurant, which has held a Michelin star since 1998 and has been the launch pad for the careers of Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Theo Randall among other chefs, is closed today as a mark of respect.

Gray and Rogers were recently awarded MBEs in the 2010 New year's Honours List and Gray was bowled over by the news. "It's really fantastic. We love the fact that we head the women's honour's list," she told Caterer in January.

Gray was a keen home cook and a designer before launching the River Café with Rogers in Hammersmith in 1987. It immediately hit the headlines as being the place to find beautifully prepared simple, seasonal and carefully sourced Italian food - a total antidote to the nouvelle cuisine that was still prevalent throughout London at the time.

The River Café has spawned a host of imitators, but Gray and Rogers were never tempted to expand elsewhere. They became known as always being personally devoted to the restaurant.

In her last interview with Caterer, she said that it was always her intention to make the restaurant more special and even more interesting

"It's a restaurant run by two women and we're always there. That gives us the chance to make sure our personal vision is integrated into all we do. I think that's what makes the River Café so special."

Spanish celebrity chef Ferran Adrià has denied weekend reports that he is to permanently close his three-Michelin-starred restaurant El Bulli.

Adrià announced plans to temporarily close the iconic restaurant for two years in 2012 and 2013 at Spanish chef conference Madrid Fusion last month.

But an article in the New York Times over the weekend quoted the famous chef saying that he would close El Bulli for good replacing it with an academy for advanced culinary studies.

The report claimed that Adrià had made the decision to shut El Bulli permanently because he and his partner, Juli Soler, had been losing €500,000 (£435,000) a year on the restaurant and their cooking workshop in Barcelona.

However, Adrià has now denied the report in a Spanish newspaper saying the New York Times had misquoted him. 

"Nothing has changed with respect to the announcement I made in Madrid in January," he said.

"El Bulli will close its doors in 2012 and 2013, and will reopen in 2014."

Luxury hotel group Von Essen is considering a restructure of the restaurant offering at Cliveden in Berkshire. 

The company confirmed that it was looking to potentially reshuffle the operation at the hotel following industry rumours that Chris Horridge, head chef at the property's Waldo's restaurant, was leaving. 

"We are considering a possible restructure at Cliveden and have no further details," a spokeswoman for Von Essen said. 

A restructure of the operation at Cliveden could see the closure of Waldo's restaurant, where Horridge, who declined to comment, has been head chef for just under a year. 

He joined the property last spring from the Bath Priory, where he held a Michelin star, replacing Robert Thompson, who had left after just eight months to set up his own restaurant on the Isle of Wight. 

A Great British Menu contestant Horridge has garnered critical acclaim for his health-conscious approach to fine dining. At Waldo's he offers a nutritionally-balanced tasting menu which contains no sugar, dairy or wheat. 

Daniel Clifford was amongst a trio of Michelin-starred-chefs who came under the microscope of the restaurant critics this weekend.

Matthew Norman of The Guardian was surprised to find that his much lauded restaurant Midsummer House in Cambridge is being run for the benefit of its customers rather than inspectors. "So it bloody well should be, you might say on noting the price, but it has been a long time since I paid a bill nudging £80 a head (we had just two glasses of house wine between us) without a rush of psychotic resentment," he said.

However, at the Bingham restaurant in Richmond, John Walsh of The Independent experienced the results of a Michelin-starred chef - Shay Cooper - who is has allowed his creativity to run away with itself. "By the end, we were a tad irritated by that common phenomenon: the chef who disregards what you want and gives you what he thinks may impress you," he complained.

Meanwhile Brett Graham, who has just been awarded a second star at the Ledbury, impressed Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph who said the Australian chef was producing some brilliant food.

The Times' Giles Coren and The Observer's Jay Rayner have different views on the Dean Street Townhouse, the latest venture from Soho House Group. While Coren goes overboard in his enthusiasm for the venue, Rayner is disappointed with its traditional British menu. "There is absolutely no excuse for taking peasant food and gussying it up to such a degree that it loses all sense of purpose," Rayner laments.

Spanish celebrity chef Ferran Adrià has announced he will close his three-Michelin-starred restaurant El Bulli for two years.

Adrià made the unexpected announcement today at a press conference at international culinary congress Madrid Fusion, where he had earlier performed a cookery demonstration.

Sat beside business partner and El Bulli's general manager Juli Soler, the chef said he will temporarily close the iconic restaurant on the north Catalan coast near Barcelona during 2012 and 2013.

Adrià claimed the decision was for a combination of personal and creative reasons. "I'm not retiring," he said.

"It's just that we're not feeding anyone at the restaurant for two years. We will still be working. I don't want to go and sit on a beach in the Bahamas but I think we deserve to lead more normal lives because for 25 years we have been focusing on the restaurant. Now we need more time with our families."

El Bulli, which currently only opens for only six months a year and last year shifted its opening season which previously ran April to October, forward to June to December, will open this year and in 2011 before closing.

According to Adrià the time will be used "to work and transform things at El Bulli" although he said he couldn't yet say exactly what that would mean when the restaurant re-opens in 2014.

Article published with thanks to Joe Warwick