After years of comically bad ceremonies, this year Michelin decided to go for an ultra pared back route to revealing its new stars for 2022. With literally no fanfare, they began announcing the new stars one by one on their Twitter feed. Things started nice and easy with a star every few minutes. Then suddenly, with a panicked rush there was a new star every few seconds when someone clearly realised their self-imposed 10am deadline was approaching. Ah, Michelin - don't ever change.
The first London restaurant to get out the Champagne was Trivet in Southwark which Michelin praised for its "fuss-free, assured cooking". Co-owner Isa Bal will have known exactly what to go for, having been given Best Sommelier in Michelin's special awards yesterday.
Next up was Evelyn's Table - a tiny all counter dining spot in Soho. That too wasn't so much of a surprise as all three Selby brothers who run the kitchen there were awarded Young Chef in the special awards. "Evelyn’s Table is the first restaurant where my brothers and I have been free to cook and create food in our own style," was chef Luke Selby's reaction to the news. "For this reason, it’s an honour to be recognised by Michelin."
Chef Anthony Demetre and his team will be celebrating as Wild Honey St James got its first Michelin star. As the restaurant held a star at its original site in Mayfair they'll be pleased to get it back again.
Praised for its "accomplished and authentic Indian dishes", Dinesh Nair's North Indian restaurant Jamavar in Mayfair regained its star which meant a great deal to the team. "We are so thrilled to regain this prestigious accolade," said the restaurant's co-founder Samyukta Nair. "It’s a huge credit to Surender and the team and testament to our relentless fight to win this back during such a challenging time.” as did Covent Garden spot, The Frog by Adam Handling. "This Michelin star is for the team," said Adam. "I love them for all their hard work, passion and belief in me and I'm so proud of what we have achieved. It's incredible and they are incredible."
The final two restaurants to be announced in the one-star category were Santiago Lastra's extraordinary Kol in Marylebone and - one of our personal favourites, the lovely Sollip in Southwark picked up a star. "Mexico deserves to be more recognised," said Lastra on his win, "and I hope this can help to shine a light on the indigenous people, traditional cooks, and family that are my constant inspiration."
Now, things ramped up a bit with the start of the two Michelin star reveals. This year there are two London restaurants celebrating with Ikoyi and The Clove Club. That was it for London with the big news being out of town as L'enclume was raised to three stars.
"To be recognised by Michelin in this way, is testament to the collective belief and effort of everyone in the restaurant," said Ikoyi's chef and co founder Jeremy Chan, "especially the farmers, fishermen, producers and loyal guests who have all been part of our journey.” The Clove Club were equally effusive tweeting, "Thrilled, excited, a little nervous and immensely thankful to be awarded our second Michelin Star."
As you might imagine, L'enclume's chef patron Simon Rogan was pretty pleased with the news too: ""Words cannot express the joy that I’m feeling!" he tweeted out. "Thank you to the Michelin Guide, to everyone at L'enclume, thank you a thousand times." Given that this is the first time that Michelin has given three stars to a restaurant outside of London, or Bray, it's a particularly big deal.
As ever, while there are winners, there's often a loser or two and this year the bad news came for Celeste at The Lanesbrough which lost its Michelin star.
So while we matched last year's tally for new one stars, London didn't do quite as well as last year for the higher spots with no new three stars and only two new two stars.
Still, there's going to be a lot of celebrating around town in restaurants. And if you're a sucker for reaction videos - here's Michelin's one of chefs finding out they'd been given stars..
More about London's Michelin stars for 2022
See all the new Michelin-starred restaurants on our full guide here.
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