Thursday 20 January 2011

Michelin stars released by the new Michelin guide

Michelin has released its 2011 guide for Great Britain and Ireland and has awarded two stars to Cornwall-based chef Nathan Outlaw and French female chef Hélène Darroze.

The guide, which this year celebrates 100 years since its first publication in 1911, also awarded 12 restaurants in London and England with their first stars. There were no new additions in Scotland, Wales or Ireland and 10 establishments lost theirs stars. However, the results bring the total of Michelin-starred restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland to 143, the highest number in the guide's 37-year history of awarding stars.

A total of 26 restaurants were named Bib Gourmands for offering good food at moderate prices.

Commenting on the results, new editor in chief Rebecca Burr, who has replaced outgoing editor Derek Bulmer, said: "There is no doubt that 2010 was a difficult year but those hotels and restaurants that represented value for money, at whatever price, were the ones best placed to weather the storm. We found 12 new one-star restaurants but also awarded 26 new Bib Gourmands, which our readers particularly appreciate for their moderate prices."

Nathan Outlaw has debuted in the guide with two stars, having previously been tipped by Michelin as a rising two-star chef for two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009. He relocated his restaurant from the Marina Villa hotel in Fowey to the St Enodoc hotel in Rock last year, where he also runs a more casual Seafood and Grill restaurant.

Meanwhile, French chef Hélène Darroze has been awarded her second star having held one star since 2009 following the opening of her eponymous restaurant at London's Connaught hotel in 2008. Last year, Darroze lost one of her two Michelin stars at her restaurant in Paris in the 2010 edition of the Michelin guide for France.

Among those operators celebrating their first star are newcomers including Nuno Mendes's Viajante, Philip Howard and Rebecca Mascarenhas's Kitchen W8 and Alexis Gauthier's eponymous restaurant in London; as well as the 10 in 8 restaurant group's Paris House in Woburn, Bedforshire.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings has gained a star at the relaunched Pétrus, which reopened last March a stone's throw from the original, now occupied by Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley.

More established restaurants being awarded their first Michelin star include Petersham Nurseries in Richmond; the Curlew in Bodiam, East Sussex; and the Pony & Trap in Chew Magna, Somerset.

The Michelin guide for Great Britain and Ireland this year celebrates its centenary as it has been 100 years since the very first edition was published in 1911 (it was published from 1911-1930 and then returned in 1974).

NEW TWO STAR RESTAURANTS

LONDON
Hélène Darroze at the Connaught, Mayfair

ENGLAND
Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Rock, Cornwall

NEW ONE STAR RESTAURANTS

LONDON
Kitchen W8, Kensington
Petersham Nurseries, Richmond
Viajante, Bethnal Green
Galvin La Chapelle, Spitalfields
Pétrus, Belgravia
Seven Park Place, St James
Gauthier Soho, Soho

ENGLAND
The Curlew, Bodiam, East Sussex
Pony & Trap, Chew Magna, Somerset
Adam Simmonds at Danesfield House, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
The Black Rat, Winchester, Hampshire
Paris House, Woburn, Bedfordshire

RISING ONE STARS

The Marquis, Alkham, Kent
Artichoke, Amersham, Buckinghamshire
The Black Swan, Oldstead, Yorkshire
Castle Terrace, Edinburgh

DELETIONS

LONDON
Nahm (at The Halkin Hotel), Belgravia
Roussillon, Victoria

ENGLAND
Drakes on the Pond, Abinger Hammer, Surrey
The Goose (closed), Britwell Salome, Oxon
West Stoke House (closed), Chichester/West Stoke, West Sussex
The New Angel (closed), Dartmouth, Devon
Harry's Place, Grantham/Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire
The Star Inn, Helmsley/Harome, North Yorkshire

SCOTLAND
Summer Isles, Achitibuie, Highland

NORTHERN IRELAND
Deanes, Belfast, Antrim

NEW BIB GOURMANDS

LONDON
Goldfish City, City of London
28°-50°, City of London
Charlotte's Bistro, Chiswick
Trullo, Canonbury
Morito, Finsbury
Canton Arms, Stockwell
Simply Thai, Teddington
Zucca, Southwark
Galvin Café a Vin, Spitalfields
Iberica, Regent's Park & Marylebone
Polpo, Soho

ENGLAND
The New Inn, Bristol, Backwell
The Jolly Cricketers, Beaconsfield / Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
Chilli Pickle, Brighton and Hove, West Sussex
Carpenters Arms, Burford, Oxon
Pea Porridge, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Freemasons Country Inn, Clitheroe/Wiswell, Lancashire
La Locanda, Gisburn, Lancashire
Crown, Maidenhead/ Burchett's Green, Windsor & Maidenhead
The Magdalen Arms, Oxford, Oxforshire
Purefoy Arms, Preston Candover, Hampshire
Black Rock, St Ives, Cornwall
The Cat Inn, West Hoathly, West Sussex
The Bull Inn, Wimborne St Giles, Dorset

SCOTLAND
Osso, Peebles, Borders

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
O'Dowd's, Roundstone, Galway

For more information please visit: http://www.catersearch.com/

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Cameron says fund to create 50,000 tourism jobs is on target to reach £100m

A new four-year campaign which aims to market Britain as "the greatest show on earth" would create 50,000 tourism jobs and bring in an extra one million overseas visitors to the UK, the prime minister announced this morning.


Cash and payment in kind has been pledged by the likes of Radisson Edwardian, British Airways, Lastminute.com and P&O to help match the £50m of public money already committed by VisitBritain, to create a total fund of £100m.

David Cameron told a reception at Downing Street, attended by representatives of some of the companies which have already showed their support, that the eyes of the world will be focused on Britain as never before over the next two years.

"A Royal Wedding, Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee and of course the London Olympic and Paralympic Games offer us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not just for national pride and celebration, but also to promote this country as the perfect tourist destination, helping to create 50,000 new jobs and bring £2b more visitor spending to the UK," Cameron said.

"Last year we challenged British businesses to help us put together the best tourism marketing campaign ever for Britain - something that will make us the must-see destination for visitors from new growth markets in Asia and Latin America, as well as core ones such as Europe and the USA.

"The response has been magnificent, with pledges of cash and kind from companies that mean we are well on the way to our target."

Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, said that British companies had already dug deep to back the Government in promoting the campaign.

"And I hope that others will pitch in, too - to become part of the global launch to market Britain as quite literally the greatest show on earth," he added.

The companies that have been announced so far are just the first raft of the founding partners of the campaign. Other companies involved in the tourism industry are being urged to sign up, too.

Jasminder Singh, chairman and chief executive of the Radisson Edwardian Group, said that his company was proud to be playing a part in promoting the country as a tourism destination, working in partnership with both trade and Government.

"We have 13 individual hotels in fantastic locations across London and Manchester which we hope will benefit from this partnership and provide both sides with some key opportunities for growth," he said.

For more information please visit:
http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2011/01/05/336499/Cameron-says-fund-to-create-50000-tourism-jobs-is-on-target-to-reach.htm