'Little genius' comes first with a third: Emily Green casts an eye over the latest edition of the gourmets' bible - Michelin's guide to the best restaurants in Britain and Ireland
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Your support makes all the difference.MARCO Pierre White, 31, today becomes the first British chef to own two Michelin-starred restaurants. 'I've got my third star,' he said. 'The wrong way round, but I've got my third star.'
By 'wrong way round', he means he has two stars for his new restaurant in the Hyde Park Hotel in Knightsbridge, and one star for his two-year-old Canteen in Chelsea Harbour, west London. The highest rank of three stars still eludes him.
No other British chef has had the impact of Mr White on the French-owned guide. His mentor, Albert Roux, refers to him as 'the little genius'. At 26, he became the youngest chef to win two stars for his restaurant, Harvey's in Wandsworth, south-west London. He accomplished this, he says, without ever having set foot in France. Last autumn, he brought those stars to The Restaurant in Knightsbridge, and has managed to retain them in the new guide.
The new star belongs as much to Stephen Terry, 27, as Mr White. He trained with Mr White on and off for six years before being promoted to head chef of the Canteen. Mr White's legendary temper is all too real. 'This star is exactly what all my bollockings are about, and Stephen has heard plenty of them. He earnt that star, and he deserves it,' he said.
The Canteen is the first of a string of medium-priced restaurants that Mr White hopes will soon epitomise a new class of British one-stars. 'Restaurateurs get a star and think they can start charging pounds 70 a head. It's outrageous,' he said. 'At the Canteen, all starters are pounds 6.50, all mains are pounds 10.50, desserts are pounds 4.50 and house wine is pounds 12. A customer should be able to eat Michelin-level food for pounds 30 a head.'
To this effect, last year Mr White also invested heavily in a new South Kensington restaurant, Aubergine, where another of his acolytes, Gordon Ramsay, is the chef, where the food is highly wrought, and where prices are about pounds 30-pounds 35 per person.
The price is double that at Mr White's flagship restaurant in Knightsbridge, but then so is the number of stars.
A national directory of award winners
THREE STARS***
BERKSHIRE: The Waterside Inn, Bray
LONDON: La Tante Claire, Chelsea
TWO STARS**
AVON: Lettonie, Bristol
BERKSHIRE: L'Ortolan, Shinfield
HIGHLAND: Altnaharrie Inn, Ullapool
LANCASHIRE: Paul Heathcote's, Longridge
LONDON: Chez Nico, Mayfair
Le Gavroche, Mayfair
The Restaurant Marco Pierre White, Knightsbridge
OXFORDSHIRE: Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Great Milton
ONE STAR*
AVON: Harvey's, Bristol
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE: Waldo's, Taplow
CHANNEL ISLANDS: Longueville Manor, Jersey
CHESHIRE: Arkle, Chester
CORNWALL: Pennypots, Truro
CO ANTRIM: Roscoff, Belfast
DERBYSHIRE: Fischer's at Baslow Hall, Baslow
DEVON: Chez Nous, Plymouth
Gidleigh Park, Chagford
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY: Knockinaam Lodge, Portpatrick
GLOUCESTERSHIRE: Lords of the Manor, Bourton-on-the-Water
Buckland Manor, Buckland
Calcot Manor, Tetbury
Epicurean, Cheltenham
Oakes, Stroud
GWYNEDD: Plas Bodegroes, Pwllheli
HEREFORD & WORCESTER: Croque-en-Bouche, Great Malvern
HIGHLAND: Inverlochy Castle, Fort William
HUMBERSIDE: Winteringham Fields, Winteringham
IRISH REPUBLIC: Byerley Turk, Straffan
The Commons, Dublin
Park, Kenmare
Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin
Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare
KENT: Read's, Faversham
LEICESTERSHIRE: Hambledon Hall, Oakham
LINCOLNSHIRE: Harry's Place, Grantham
LONDON: Canteen, Chelsea
Capital, Chelsea
Connaught, Mayfair
Four Seasons, Mayfair
Grill Room at Cafe Royal, West End
Leith's, Notting Hill
Oak Room, Piccadilly
Oriental, Mayfair
Pied a Terre, Bloomsbury
Les Saveurs, Mayfair
Suntory, St James's
The Square, St James's
LOTHIAN: La Potiniere, Gullane
SOMERSET: Castle, Taunton
STAFFORDSHIRE: Old Beams, Waterhouses
STIRLINGSHIRE: Braeval Old Mill, Aberfoyle
STRATHCLYDE: Airds, Port Appin
SUFFOLK: Mr Underhill's, Earl Stonham
SUSSEX: Manley's, Storrington
TAYSIDE: Kinnaird, Dunkeld
TYNE & WEAR: 21 Queen Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
WARWICKSHIRE: Mallory Court, Royal Leamington Spa
WILTSHIRE: Lucknam Park, Colerne
YORKSHIRE: Restaurant Nineteen, Bradford
Pool Court, Pool in Wharfedale
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