Acclaimed restaurant Sangster’s in Elie, Fife, was removed from the Michelin Guide 2017 after closing its doors earlier this year following the retirement of chef Bruce Sangster and his wife Jackie after thirteen years in business.
There are now twelve single star restaurants in Scotland, while Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles retained its prestigious two star rating, one of only 21 restaurants in the UK and Ireland to do so.
The new stars were revealed at a live event in London this morning compared by Sian Jones and attended by top chefs including Andrew Fairlie, Heston Blumenthal, whose The Fat Duck was reissued with its three star rating after losing it last year during a brief relocation to Australia.
At the ceremony, Paul Leonard, head chef at the Isle of Eriska in Argyll and Bute, was given a special mention for retaining the restaurant’s Michelin star despite a change of head chef over the past year. Meanwhile, Scots chef Douglas Bailish from Ayrshire, who runs the Great Fosters hotel restaurant in Egham, Surrey, was one of eighteen new starred chefs for his “natural talent and accomplished style”.
Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin Guide, said: “It’s really remarkable what has happened in Great Britain and Ireland over the past twenty years. The emergence of young local chefs using local products who have worldwide visibility was hard for someone of my age to imagine 30 or 30 years ago.”
He added: “The best days of British cooking are still ahead of us.”
Nine restaurants in Scotland were awarded the “Bib Gourmand” for good value, good quality cooking, including The Dogs, Passorn, Galvin Brasserie de Luxe and the Scran and Scallie in Edinburgh; The Gannet, Ox and Finch and Stravaigin in Glasgow; the Kilbury Inn in Argyll & Bute and Osso in Peebles.
All had previously held the accolade, apart from the Scran and Scallie, which was granted the Bib Gourmand for the first time.
Northern Irish chef Clare Smyth, who was the first female chef in England to hold three Michelin stars and is about to open her own restaurant after leaving Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, was given a special “Female Chef” award, while Raby Hunt in Darlington in the north east of England was the only restaurant to be awarded a new two star rating - four years after getting its first Michelin star.
Scotland’s remaining twelve one-star restaurants are Martin Wishart at both Loch Lomond and Edinburgh; Number One at the Balmoral, 21212, and Tom Kitchin in Edinburgh. Outside the city star-holders are the Isle of Eriska in Argyll, Braidwoods at Dalry in North Ayrshire, Albannach at Lochinver, Boath House in Nairn, The Peat Inn in St Andrews and Kinloch Lodge on the Isle of Skye.
Michelin inspectors make anonymous visits and pay their own bills.
