The Michelin organisation, regarded as the final arbiter of quality in luxury restaurants, was forced into an emergency round of phone calls to Britain's top chefs yesterday after the much awaited list of new star ratings was leaked on the internet five days ahead of its planned release. It's a huge embarrassment for Michelin, which is famous for how fiercely it guards each new set of ratings.
While there are no new three-star restaurants, a number have been elevated to the much coveted two-star status, including Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, which opened to almost universally poor reviews.
"Based on the meal I had there, I am surprised by that," said one highly regarded London chef who asked to remain anonymous. "I ate there early on with a lot of other chefs and we were all disappointed by the experience we had."
The award to Ducasse, which comes with a marker indicating Michelin thinks it is on course for three stars, will play to suspicions in the British restaurant world that the famed restaurant guides are biased towards French chefs and French cuisine.
Hibiscus, which lost its second star when it moved from Ludlow to London, has had it returned. "I'm delighted," Hibiscus chef Claude Bosi said last night. "I have put so much on the table for this restaurant and to get the second star back in London means an enormous amount both for me and for my staff ."
Fergus Henderson's London restaurant St John, in Smithfield, famed for its offal-oriented menu, was one of26 restaurants to win a single star for the first time. There were also stars for Angel Hartnett's restaurant Murano and for the much admired Purnell's in Birmingham.
The full press release first appeared on a small closed discussion site for luxury restaurant obsessives called Niac, run by Pim Techamuanvivit, a well-known food blogger based in San Francisco. A member of Niac posted the full list on the site, and from there the results quickly spread to other food and restaurant discussion boards.
Late yesterday Michelin bowed to the inevitable and released the whole press release on its website ahead of time. "It's very disappointing that it happened like this," said Paul Cordle of Michelin. "But we can guarantee that we'll be looking at our security measures and nothing like this will ever happen again."
The Michelin Guide is the oldest and best-known hotel and restaurant guide in Europe, awarding one, two or three stars each year to restaurants of exceptional quality. The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, and the Waterside Inn, also in Bray, both have three Michelin stars, as does Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea.
