Michelin launches 2010 guide
The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2010 will be available in bookshops from Wednesday 20 January priced at £15.99 (€18.99 in Ireland).
This year’s guide includes one new three-star restaurant (Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester) and one new two-star (The Ledbury); both in London. Included in the list of 18 new one-stars is Sienna, a small, family run restaurant in Dorset and The Harwood Arms, the first pub in London to achieve this accolade. Also, Bray-on-Thames has yet another star to add to its repertoire – The Royal Oak, a traditional village pub in nearby Paley Street. Away from England there are also three new stars in Scotland and three in Wales.
Commenting on the 2010 guide, Editor Derek Bulmer said: “Last year was clearly a difficult year for hotels and restaurants but those establishments who reacted by being more flexible and creative appear to be riding the storm. Value for money has also been an important factor and we have awarded 28 new Bib Gourmand awards – ‘good food at moderate prices’ – which reflects this.
“Chefs have had to be more resourceful and restaurants have had to adapt to changing eating habits. Some have even introduced ‘credit crunch’ menus to help fight the recession. Long-established restaurants have proved to be resilient but we have also seen plenty of new openings.
“There is now a greater geographical spread of starred restaurants and the inspectors will continue to seek out establishments serving particularly good food, wherever they are situated.
“As we head into this new decade, the hotel and restaurant industry appears to be leaner and fitter. Greater emphasis is being placed on satisfying customers’ needs; diversity continues to be one of the UK’s greater strengths and the public’s interest in chefs, food and cooking shows no sign of abating.”
The format of the Michelin guide means it offers its readers an unrivalled selection of hotels and restaurants to suit all pockets. The 2010 guide recommends more than 1,900 hotels and guesthouses and around 1,900 restaurants and pubs. All are regularly and anonymously inspected by Michelin’s own team of professional, full-time inspectors and inclusion in the guide is free of charge.
At the same time, the Michelin Guide London 2010 is also launched priced at £9.99 (€11.99 in Ireland). This guide forms part of Michelin’s collection of city guides. It features additional descriptive text, and two entries per page for non-starred restaurants and one entry per page with photographs for starred restaurants.