Love it, loathe it, the annual revision to the Michelin guide is still relevant. Widely scrutinised, lambasted and worshipped by restauranteurs and restaurant lovers alike, it is perhaps the most recognisable of all restaurant guides. But, it has probably lost some respect with stakeholders in this edition, which coincidentally, marks the bib’s 100 year ‘presence’ (actually 38th published edition) in GB.

As ever, the red guide’s annual selection process polarise opinion. People seem to feel that chosen restaurants are skewered toward larger operations, French food, good capital investment (..the grade of cotton used for hand towels..), popularity of chef. So much so, it appears that savvy restaurateurs have seemingly nailed down a formula for consistently winning the coveted macaroons.

This year, the national tally increases to 140, surpassing the (previously record) 2010 haul. In part, it has helped propel the status of British restaurants to yet another new high…at least if you believe the bib’s estimations. There are no *** inductees this year (how long before AD wins another eh) , but two reputed chefs, Helene Darrozze and Nathan Outlaw have made the leap to the ** club, bringing the London total of 2 star restaurants to 8.

I had expected the Galvin brothers to cap their year of expansion with Michelin success. After the (surprise) Windows award last year; they make on the list yet again, this time with their big budget opening: La Chapelle. Gaining a star after only about a year or so in operation. Commercial (and critical) success probably belonged to the Galvin restaurants in 2010. The other master chef behind the rise of London stars is of course Phil Howard. And with W8 gaining a star, his influence on the London guide, spans his own double starred, The Square, and his former protege’s The Ledbury and also Harwood Arms.

Of course, as you well know, 2010 was a great year for London restaurants. There were lots of exciting openings, thankfully not all were geared toward the stuffy conventions which the bib apparently gives out its stars on. Nevertheless, it’s good to see Alexis Gauthier and Nuno Mendes making the cut, after only being opened for such a short while. Both men already have a good reputation, and I do think their recipes are ace, and they deserved to be recognised.

Gordon Ramsay gained one this year, and didn’t lose any. I went to Petrus early last year when it opened and already thought it had nailed a secret formula to winning stars (Gordon does have a closet full of ‘em afterall), what with Mark Askew at the helm, it was always in with a shout. But I think therein was the problem I suppose – the quintessential definition of a Michelin restaurant, no longer seems to command allure like it used to anymore.

Just look at the success of places like Polpo, Trullo, Bar Boulud (to a certain extent Bob Bob Ricard and Bruno Loubet) and Koya. Egalitarian, modern, down to earth, completely down with the tweepers. Although to be fair, half the London gastroheads were eating burgers through 2010.

Not to say that old guard, red guide approved institutions are bad; far from it of course. The likes of Zafferano and Le Gav for example – both of which represent the idea of Old World fine dining – are in my opinion, still the best at what they deliver, but I feel that we are now more sensitive to value for money. We also prefer hearty and wholesome. On the other hand, I think some Michelin restaurants are just not worth the attention. It does baffle how the bib favours glamour over quality of cooking…sometimes.

Perhaps, that’s why the Bib Gourmand might actually step out of the shadow of the Michelin Guide. In its current state, it is no where near as practical as it could be, but the guideline – “good food at moderate prices” – sounds much more sensible. They list 28-50, Trullo, Zucca and Polpo, which I do agree fit the guideline.

As with any list, it means very little, especially with food being the subjective topic in itself. But that’s why so many blogs and critics continue to plow the ‘net with their opinion. Something which I still believe that as restaurant goers, we only stand to benefit from the range of opinion out there to help you decide on what to eat and what to avoid.

Commiserations to Francesco Mazzei for missing out yet again, though I do think L’Anima is almost there, if he is still interested in getting there. And to be fair, my favourite restaurant in London, Cambio de Tercio – which in my opinion serves the best Spanish food in the city – has been doing it since the late 90’s , and how the bib continues to ignore its brilliance is utterly beyond me.

Who else should I mention ? How about Terroirs/Brawn? the husband & wife outfit that is Sushi of Shiori ? Yashin ? Bryn Williams at Odette’s? Or the juicy work Goodman/Hawksmoor are doing? Let’s not forget some old school heroes like Andrew Edmunds, innovative openings like Parle’s Dock Kitchen, and the always dependable GQS (which is in the Gourmand list). And how can I not mention Uncle Lim’s awesome Hainanese chicken rice…pho at Café East…. And for a limited time throughout the month of February, 2011: The Bryon Big D. We know they’ll never make the red guide, but we love them, and in my mind, they have become London institutions in their own right. No guide is ever definitive, especially something like the Michelin guide.

And the clock resets itself.

Three Stars

• Alain Ducasse at The Dorcester, Mayfair
• The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
• Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London
• The Waterside Inn, Bray, Berkshire

Two Stars

• Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair – 2011 Addition
• Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall – 2011 Addition
• The Ledbury, Westbourne Grove
• Le Gavroche, Mayfair
• Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, Berkeley hotel, Knightsbridge
• Pied á Terre, Bloomsbury
• The Square, Mayfair
• Hibiscus, Mayfair
• L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Covent Garden

One Star

• Kitchen W8 , Kensington 2011 Addition
• Petersham Nurseries Café , Richmond 2011 Addition
• Viajante, Bethnal Green 2011 Addition
• Galvin La Chapelle, Spitafields 2011 Addition
• Pétrus, Belgravia 2011 Addition
• Seven Park Place, at St James’s Hotel and Club 2011 Addition

Gauthier, Soho 2011 Addition

• The Harwood Arms, Fulham
• Bingham Restaurant
• Apsleys (at the Lanesborough Hotel), Belgravia
• Galvin at Windows (at London Hilton Hotel), Mayfair
• Tamarind, Mayfair
• Texture, Regents Park
• Chapter One, Kent
• Hakkasan, Soho
• Rhodes TwentyFour, City of London
• Club Gascon, City of London
• River Cafe, Hammersmith
• La Trompette, Chiswick
• St John, Clerkenwell
• Tom Aikens, Chelsea – On my eat list
• Rasoi, Chelsea
• The Glasshouse, Kew Village
• Chez Bruce, Wandsworth List
• Amaya, Belgravia
• Zafferano, Belgravia
• The Greenhouse, Mayfair
• Murano, Mayfair
• Maze, Mayfair
• Benares, Mayfair
• Umu, Mayfair
• Kai, Mayfair
• Semplice, Mayfair
• Wild Honey, Mayfair
• Nobu (at the Metropolitan), Mayfair
• Nobu Berkeley, Mayfair
• Sketch The Lecture Room and Library, Oxford Circus
• L’Autre Pied, Marylebone
• Rhodes W1, Marylebone
• Locanda Locatelli, Marylebone
• Yauatcha, Soho
• Arbutus, Soho
• Quilion, Victoria
• Deleted- Nahm, Belgravia
• Deleted – Roussillon, Victoria

Source : GB Michelin Star List 2011 ; GB Michelin Bib List 2011.

As many of you have heard, the big news for restaurant obsessives this week is the (leaked) release of the 2010 update to the Michelin Guide. As usual, there are some winners, some losers and some shock decisions where potentials didn’t make the big time. Whether you love it or hate it, backpatting exercise or true culinary standard, winning a michelin star (or two) is still seen by many as the ultimate accolade in the restaurant world. The iconic Red Guide has been kicking around Britain since 1974 and in it’s latest iteration has decided to award another three jewel to the British gastronomical crown. As of 2010, Britain now boasts four three-star restaurants. The lucky fella is of course the international brand name Alain Ducasse, and the winning restaurant is based in the Dorchester… which coincidentally is owned by the Sultan of Brunei.

The other big winners are of course the rising star himself Mr Brett Graham and by extension his mentor Phil Howard of The Square. The Ledbury finally lives up to their ‘rising stars’ status bestowed upon them last year, and in my view they have scored a surprise whopper with the addition of Harwood Arms to the list. So now both master and apprentice share the limelight in London, both on equal footing with two stars. I think 2009 was definitely the year of Howard and Graham, I had already alluded to this in my Ledbury/Square reviews in 2009 and while they weren’t quite the hottest tables in town, they certainly ran the best kitchens.

So who were the biggest losers then? Without a doubt, it’s got to be Gordon Ramsay. Whilst his pride and joy at Royal Hospital Road remains untouched; Claridges has been stripped of it’s solitary star. To add insult to injury, reports of his GR Holding’s financial losses certainly does not help. So this looks like a personal kitchen nightmare for Ramsay, it would be interesting to see how he digs himself out of this. Less TV work, less books and more time in the kitchen perhaps? For more on this, you can read Jay Rayner’s extended commentary. Though probably more damaging is The Capital being stripped of both stars! I was planning a visit (I still am) since it was the most affordable of the London two stars, but I had thought it was more underrated rather than dipping standards. Oh well, now that they have lost their stars, I have somehow become more fascinated with it… will they suck it up and cook their pants off this year to recapture the glory days? Has anyone been and what were your thoughts?

One announcement I was expecting never came and I am still reeling from the shock of Eastside Inn’s exclusion from this list. For me, this was 2009′s breakthrough restaurant, and I think Bjorn thoroughly deserves his sparkles. Coincidentally, I actually dine at the Bistro last night, and had a chance to speak with Bjorn himself about this year’s revision. I could tell he was gutted, well I am gutted for him as well. Though I fully expect them to gain a star when I do this write-up again in a year’s time.

Which brings me to speak about the significance of this list – how accurate is it, and what are their benchmarks? Does it guarantee good food? In my view, I feel that the Michelin guide doesn’t simply seek out great cooking, it’s judging a much smaller pool of restaurants which are backed with moneybags, or chefs with star power… sometimes, I just feel that it is abit of a back patting exercise, and stars being granted on the basis of reputation than on the back of bloody great recipes, executed by well-oiled kitchens. Then again, I don’t want to say that there is a definite pattern to things, because I don’t think there is any conspiracy here, nothing more than a madman’s babble. I think if one enjoys old fashioned wining and dining, the validity of the michelin guide still hold true. Not to say that the restaurants in the current guide serves bad food, but that good restaurants do exists outside this guide. Heck two of my personal favourites are not even in this list, Cambio de Tercio and Eastside Inn. I think it is down to different people having different perceptions of food, afterall, it is such a subjective topic that sometimes pinning down great cooking to a set of rigid standards is paradoxical to the spirit of food. One aspect of the guide that gets overlooked is value for money. As much as I love throwing money away to fund my ever increasing trouser sizes; the prices at multiple starred restaurants are simply out of reach for me. One thing is for sure: this list is not definitive. Somehow I feel that in the new mellenium, this sort of worship of the glamarous is horribly outdated, but still, I respect it.

Finally, looking into my personal crystal ball, I predict 2010 to be the year of the Galvins brothers. As I alluded to in my Bistrot de luxe write up, I think they are blazing a trail of glory this year; Windows has already won a star this year, and I am now ever anxious to see what the kitchen at La Chapelle is really capable of. They are highest on my list, and I expect to visit very soon.

Ok so what are your thoughts on this year’s guide? Feel free to share. I have put together the London List below and the information has been sourced from the official Michelin Guide website. For the restaurants which I had been to, I have linked it to my write-up where applicable, for the ones where I didn’t write it up, I have included a short remark of what I thought of the place. Deletions are marked with a strike through.

I’m hardly a Michelin Star worshipper, having only been to 19 from this list of 50 in the last two years. If you would like to follow a foodblog dedicated to the glamourous try Gen.u.ine.ness and FoodSnob.

Three Stars: 4 Restaurants

Two Stars: 7 restaurants

One Star: 39 restaurants

Source : The Michelin Guide for Great Britain & Ireland 2010 )

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Did you manage to put your new tasting skills to good use? Cool, we are about the half-way point in this series and I hope that you’re finding this helpful. If there’s anything you’d like to have included, or have any questions, please do leave a comment at the end of this post, I’ll happily incorporate your needs!

In part three, lets turn our attention to buying those special bottles and a few simple tips to turn your home into the pefect short term wine cellar.

Here’s an index of what is included in this post:

1. Where to buy wine
2. The alcoholic criteria
3. Storing the precious ones

Where to buy wine

There are broadly two ways to access wine, the easiest is t. pop into a wine merchants; the other is to subscribe to a wine club. A wine club is basically a subscription service which will then send you about a dozen hand picked bottles every month. Personally, I prefer going to a shop and picking out a bottle, but if you want to avoid the hassle of having too much choice (trust me, there really is too much out there) , you can leave it to a wine club to make the choices for you.

The five essential london wine shops

You’ve probably already seen my full write-ups on a couple of wine shops in and around London. Apologies to my international readers, although these are some places you might want to visit when you are next in London:

• For the budget concious beginner, Oddbins Chances are you will have seen one of the many Oddbins dotted around London. It is an excellent place for those just starting their adventure into the world of wine and for anyone who is drinking on a budget. Shops are independently run, so expect varying degrees of biasness, but they will all share a passion and knowledge of their selection. Affordable Chilean and South African bottles are good starts, however pay a visit to their fine wine stores in Notting Hill for full effect.

• For the serious wino and deep pockets, Berry Bros & Rudd Primarily purveyors of the very best french varietals, they also carry an excellent selection of other old-world wines, such as German rieslings and some interesting Italian barolos from 2000. Selections fit all kinds of budgets and their shop has largely remained unchanged since it first started selling wine to Londoners some 300 years ago! Staff are passionate and very knowledgeble, you can tell they love their vino. Shopping here is an experience in itself. Definitely a gem in the city.

• For the serious wino in west london, Robersons Their selection of fine Bordeauxs and Burgundies are eye-candy to potential buyers, while they also carry a large cross-section of international wines from Spain, America and Australia. Interesting features include a Lebanese bottle from Chateau Musar which is a must try just based on novelty factor. Fiercely independent, passionate about wine and one of the few places where the bold staff will recommend some exciting bottles to dare you to venture into the unknown. Viva la vino!

• For the wino who wants to try stuff in the shop, the Sampler Here’s how it works. Go to the store, get a pre-paid card and slot it into one of the wine ‘vending machines’ which have between 6 to 8 bottles showcasing a style such as Pinot Noir/Burgundy or Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay. Take a glass and simply press the button for the selection you wish to try. You can spit or swallow and then move to the next machine and repeat the steps all over again. This wine shop has a great concept and is a perfect way for beginners and aficionados alike to enjoy wine.

• For the new world aficionado, Cavas de Gaucho The wine supplying arm of the Gaucho grill franchise has opened it’s wine boutique to the public offering the same selection of over 150 bottles of the best Argentinian it supplies to its restaurant chain. The reds are particularly interesting being characteristically big wines which are fruit driven. Stunning examples of Tempranillos and Malbec are recommended. The wines are fresh, very smooth and goes down well with red meats. The boutique is small, but really it is all about quality.

Some better known wine clubs

There are a few wine clubs which not only offer a subscription service of sorts, but is also a member-based society which sends regular updates too. Here are a few which might interest you:

• The Wine Society Perhaps the world’s largest and oldest wine society, membership allows you to literally join the world’s largest wine fan base, lots of events and all kinds of wine plans catering to differing styles and pocket deepness.

• Stone, Vine and Sun They do a delivery dozen which comes straight to your doorstep starting at £72.50 for the stone case and £100 for the sun case. Mixed and varied, if you don’t know what you want, try this one.

• Berry Bros & Rudd In addition to an excellent wine shop, they also do a cracking wine club as well. Prices are high starting at £120 for their essential reds range and £180 for the Reserve ranges. Well worth it though as they carry all kinds of rarities. If you can afford it, then you definitely need to try this.

The alcoholic criteria

Im not going to attempt to cover all the bases, but when deciding what to buy, there should be a few criteria you need to adhere to while narrowing down the choices:

• Budget Probably the most important ( and obvious ) one. For beginners, always go for the something under a tenner. If you want to push it a little then upgrade to £20, but not much more than that. Of course, you will generally notice increasing quality as you scale up the price range, it’s not across the board, because wine’s abit strange in a sense that sometimes you can get a £5 bottle tasting alot better than one that’s ten times it’s value. So to be on the safe side, trying ten bottles each a fiver ( of all sorts of styles ) is probably a better way to start drinking than taking the plunge with a £50 Latour.

• Style This one is another rather obvious one, I’m going to cover matching food & wine in more detail in part four, but for a quick and fast rule of thumb, if you are going to drink with red meats then go for fleshy reds like a shiraz or a cab sav. If you are going for fish, then any of the whites will do just fine, particularly a nice chablis. If you are going to drink it on its own, then go for something of a lighter & sweeter variety. For a red, try a silky pinot noir, for a white, try a late harvest riesling or even a dessert wine such as a Sauternes.

• Lay or Now This may not be too obvious but wines either drink well now or they need abit of time to mature in a cellar. If you want to buy a bottle for immediate drinking ( ie: within the month ) , then just pop into a shop and get one that’s drinking well. Simple really. Unless there is a particular bottle which I love, I won’t buy bottles to lay down. Purely because of the fact that I don’t have a proper cellar to store the wine such that it can mature properly in a couple years’ time. Which is why I favour shops with good cellars. Though having said that, if its a really good bottle which has been cellared for years in the shop, by the time it’s ready to drink, it could also be several times what it was worth when it first came out. So if you are thinking long-term, then investing in a cellaring system maybe a good idea.

Storing your precious ones

Which leads perfectly into this section.

Now that you’ve bought your bottles, you really want to store it in decent conditions and not risk altering the content of the wine. I appreciate that not everyone has cellaring capabilities ready in their home, so I’m presenting a few easy work around tips which will work just as well in the short term.

The main enemies of wine are light, heat and vibration. When three of these elements combine and change dynamically and rapidly in the environment that your bottles are in, it can lead to pretty disastrous results, so you’d want to be able to understand their effects so that you can control them.

The golden triangle of storing wine

• Light is kept to a minimum, zero light is best, but otherwise, ‘dark’ is fine. UV rays, or just light of any kind will destroy your wine over time.
• Heat or more precisely temperature. This is contentious, though I think it’s widely agreed that 13C is the best temperature to store wine. Too high it’ll go off, too low and you are limiting its chances of maturing properly and if you approach 3C or 4C, then you run the risk of the alcohol freezing and separating out of  the wine. Fluctuations can kill wine as it expands and contracts with the ups and downs in temperature, so a constant temperature landscape is very, very important.
• Vibration. The less the better. In fact, no vibration is the best. Believe it or not, if your bottle is constantly in shock & awe, it will do something really funky to the chemicals in the wine and severely disrupt the balance leading to all kinds of weird flavours. Always ensure that your storage space is free from vibrations.
• Your location in the world. Depending on where you live, the temperature, humidity and all kinds of other factors will come into play as well. Of course, I can’t really cover everything, so do keep in mind your average room temperatures.

Impromptu home wine storage

So you dont have underground space and you can’t be bothered to renovate your basement into a professional class cellar. You just want to make sure the few bottles you bought won’t go off. Here’s a few quick and easy tips for storing your bottles, depending on the length of time it will spend after being bought and then being opened.

• Within the month, which is considered short term, your wine is not really going to change that much, as long as the golden triangle of heat/light/vibration is observed. For wine storage anywhere from a few days up to a month, the fridge is fine ( both for whites & reds ). Temperatures are relatively constant in a fridge and the light ( which is a low lamp ) only comes on when you open it. Provided you don’t open and shut your fridge too often in a day, vibrations will be minimal.

• Up to six months For something stored in the medium term, you’d want somewhere that is more dependable and less accessible so you give the wine ample peace and quiet to ‘sleep’. If you have a storage room which is dusty and murky, look for the lowest spot and lay your wine down horizontally. Ensure that once it’s layed down (sleeping), you don’t wake it until you are absolutely sure you want to drink it. Wine that is layed doesn’t like to wake up unless if it’s for drinking. If you don’t have a storage room, then you can tuck your wine away comfortably in a cupboard which you’re not going to access to often. Temperatures are usually around 15C in a cupboard I reckon, but then again, this depends on your room temperature, so do make sure your house isn’t too warm. Otherwise, a cupboard is dark, vibration will be low and temperatures are constant. It’s perfect for the medium term.

• Six months to infinity If you want to store wine in the long term, ie: years, then cupboards and fridges aren’t going to cut it. You need a storage area that meets the criteria for storing wine and be sure that the environment stays consistent over the entire period. Thankfully these days, there are a multitude of specialised wine storage fridges on sale which feature tinted glass doors which cut out harmful UV lights and are able to consistently maintain a constant and at the correct temperature. I’m not going to recommend any brands but shop around for these wine coolers, for example. OK, these ones are actually quite expensive, but think about it, if you have hundreds of pounds worth of wine which you expect to become ethereal over the years, it would be a lot of wasted time if the wine cooler doesn’t do it’s job correctly. Get a really good wine cooler or don’t get one at all.

In the next post

Phew, so hopefully you found that useful. Buying & storing are two essential steps in the preserving the overall experience. In the following post, we’re going to talk about matching food and wine. A big topic in itself, I’ll try my best to keep things interesting of course!

See you in seven.

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