The Secrets Of London’s Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurants
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2 days ago
Inside the capital's six starriest eateries
There are a multitude of awards in the culinary industry, but one is widely viewed as the pinnacle of success: securing three Michelin stars. It’s impressive enough to gain just one, let alone three. Currently, just 157 restaurants in the world hold the status, ten of those being in the UK, and six here on London soil. So what’s the magic ticket? What makes Michelin inspectors dish out the prestigious accolade? Here, we delve into the secrets behind the elusive system, and highlight the places where you can try three-Michelin-starred food in London.
What Does Having Three Michelin Stars Mean?
Three stars is the highest award restaurants can achieve in the Michelin guide. Stars are decided by an anonymous team of 80 highly trained inspectors, who visit hundreds of eateries every year to identify which ones are the very best. According to insiders, Michelin recommends MI5 levels of secrecy: inspectors are apparently advised to not even tell their parents about their job. Chefs won’t be notified if inspectors are coming in, they’ll book, dine and pay just like any other diner, ensuring they can survey the experience fairly.
Restaurants will be visited multiple times to ensure the quality is consistent – and when it comes to three-star level, the stakes are even higher. In an interview with Forbes, an anonymous inspector said: ‘Validating a restaurant at a two- or three-star level usually requires additional visits from other inspectors from other regions, who will bring special expertise to the discussion.’
Michelin has always been clear that restaurants are rated on the food on the plate, with five key criteria:
- The quality of the ingredients
- The harmony of flavours
- The mastery of techniques
- The personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine
- Consistency both across the entire menu and over time
When it comes to three stars, Michelin outlines that the accolade is ‘given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics’.
Which London Restaurants Have Three Michelin Stars?
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea
Gordon Ramsay’s Chelsea restaurant has held onto three Michelin stars since 2001 – the longest of any in London. Opened in 1998 on Royal Hospital Road, it was Ramsay’s first solo restaurant, and quickly rose to critical acclaim, serving high-end French cuisine. Seamless teamwork is a big part of its long-standing success, according to chef de cuisine Kim Ratcharoen, who has been working there for over 10 years. ‘It’s about everyone giving 110 percent to achieve the best we can be,’ she says. Each section of the kitchen is carefully arranged to ensure things run efficiently; the meat and fish areas are separate to allow for ‘greater specialisation and precision’, while the pastry chefs work away from the heat of the stoves to allow for focused, intricate work. Meanwhile, the lighting on the pass – the counter where finished dishes are presented to servers – is adjusted slightly during service, allowing thorough final checks.
Sourcing the finest ingredients is also paramount. The team works closely with suppliers to predict any changes in supply – each morning, for instance, fishermen provide updates on weather conditions that could impact that day’s catch. There are a few different menus to choose from, with a la carte signatures including the lobster ravioli and the Beef Wellington. Particularly special is the Carte Blanche offering, which allows Ratcharoen to create a bespoke menu for guests.
VISIT: 68 Royal Hospital Rd, London SW3 4HP, gordonramsayrestaurants.com
The Ledbury
The Ledbury, Notting Hill
Brett Graham’s Notting Hill stalwart The Ledbury secured its first Michelin star within the first year of opening back in 2005, with a second to follow five years later. And in the 2024 ceremony, the eatery was upgraded to three-star status following its grand reopening after a pandemic-induced hiatus (and subsequent makeover). Tom Spencerley, who hails from the (also) Michelin-starred Kitchen Table, was brought in to head up the kitchen, scrapping the a la carte and instead solely offering an eight-course tasting menu.
The Ledbury serves seasonal modern European cuisine designed to spotlight the best of British produce, including venison from Graham’s own farms, and mushrooms grown on-site in a moisture-controlled cabinet. It’s all exceptional, but Graham thinks part of the reason for the restaurant’s continued success is its approach to service. ‘I want people to come there and feel relaxed, and although it’s a fancy restaurant, I try and make sure the service makes people feel at ease,’ he told C&TH in a recent interview.
VISIT: 127 Ledbury Rd, London W11 2AQ, theledbury.com
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair
French chef Alain Ducasse is among the world’s culinary legends, with restaurants dotted all over the world, many of which hold Michelin stars. His restaurant at The Dorchester has held on its three since 2010, spearheaded by head chef Jean-Philippe Blondet, who has run the kitchen since 2016.
This is easily one of London’s smartest restaurants, centred around Table Lumière, a semi-private, shimmering dining space which is cocooned by a luminescent oval curtain, and surrounded by 4,500 fibre-optics dropping from the ceiling. Yet it’s not style over substance. Alain Ducasse is renowned for his refined French menus, which showcase the team’s highly skilled technique, while produce is top-end and often luxurious – signature dishes include hand-dived scallops with caviar, lobster medallion, and Cornish turbot.
VISIT: The Dorchester, 53 Park Ln, London W1K 1QA, alainducasse-dorchester.com
Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair
The Connaught is up there with the capital’s most dazzling hotels – and home to one of its most esteemed restaurants. Its eponymous chef Hélène Darroze is no stranger to Michelin stars: she has also secured them for both her other outposts around the world, Marsan par Hélène Darroze in Paris, and Hélène Darroze à Villa La Coste near Aix-en-Provence. But her London eatery is the only one with three stars, the first awarded just six months after opening in 2009, the second in 2011, and a third in 2021.
In its 17-year history, the venue has stayed pretty similar, bar some decor changes, and the addition of a chef’s table, which offers a front row seat into the kitchen. Traditional French technique remains at the forefront, and diners can pick a selection of dishes from the concise menu, which changes with the seasons and outlines where each key ingredient is sourced from. Naturally, it’s only the best of the best here: think crab from Davrik in Cornwall, lobster from the Isle of Mull in Scotland, and wagyu beef from Japan. There’s a huge wine list too, which includes over 100 pages of bottles, and guests can expect a decent amount of pomp and theatrics, including trolleys wheeling around fine Armagnacs from around the world.
VISIT: The Connaught, Carlos Pl, London W1K 2AL, the-connaught.co.uk
Core by Clare Smyth, Notting Hill
This Notting Hill institution is often referenced as the best restaurant in London on TOPJAW, the social media series which sees chefs providing quickfire answers on their favourite haunts. It regularly features on culinary lists too, like the Hardens guide, La Liste and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. And, of course, it has three Michelin stars. So what’s the big draw?
Well, Smyth (who trained under Ramsay) and her team are evangelical about ingredients, which are solely sourced from Britain. For instance, they chat to the divers daily to nail down the specifics of each scallop that’s served, from its age to whether it lived on a sandy or a rocky bed. The attention to detail is clear too –Smyth recently commissioned a silversmith to create a special mould for an asparagus tart.
The kitchen is run like a well oiled machine. Ramsay once called Smyth the ‘Margaret Thatcher of cooking’: a team of 22 have training sessions every day ahead of service, where different staff members will present PowerPoints honing in on specific ingredients. Meanwhile, diners’ orders and preferences are stored on a system (do they like still or sparkling water, for example), upping the experience even more for regulars.
When we asked Smyth what she thought made a great chef recently, she described it as someone ‘who has real passion and a respect for ingredients, but also someone who’s disciplined, resilient, and constantly striving to improve.’ She added, ‘it’s not just about technical skill, it’s about leadership, creativity, and having a clear vision. You’ve got to be able to inspire your team, stay humble, and never stop learning. At the end of the day, it’s about making people feel something through food.’
sketch Lecture Room & Library, Mayfair
Housed across three floors in an 18th century townhouse in Mayfair, sketch boasts some of the most Instagrammable interiors in town – from the egg-shaped pod loos to the rose-hued Gallery. But when it comes to haute cuisine, the Lecture Room & Library comes out tops. The dining room is undeniably extravagant, with guests led up a red-carpeted staircase and through grand double doors into a palatial, glass-ceilinged space with glittering chandeliers and striking decor.
Lengthy tasting menus are served theatrically, with each course arriving as multiple elements – this is experimental fine dining at its best. An inspector for Michelin said: ‘The first thing to understand about the multi-dish approach here is that the “secondary” dishes aren’t like your standard restaurant sides. They are fashioned around the same ingredient as the central component and are so exquisitely complementary in both flavour and texture that it’s hard to imagine that any of the elements could exist without the other – they were all destined to be used in this way.’
VISIT: 9 Conduit St, London W1S 2XG, sketch.london
