Michelin 2025 – How did North West restaurants rank?

Michelin 2025 launch in Glasgow.

Tonight (February 10th) marks the annual Michelin awards, the very pinnacle of culinary recognition for chefs. Many culinary competitions and award ceremonies will claim to be ‘The Oscars for Hospitality”; The Cateys, Bocuse d’Or, Chef of The Year etc.

However, the Michelin 2025 announcement is probably the only one which traverses the divide between the trade and the mainstream media. When the little red book’s results were leaked two years in a row (for different reasons) 2009 & 2010 and again in 2012 it generates widespread media interest.

Every year, there are the detractors of Michelin, yet every year they feel the need to write 3-500 words on justifying their existence, like Jay Rayner, who said in 2012:

“Michelin definitions of what is good and worthy of acknowledgement just seems increasingly antiquated.”

And

“Michelin no longer represents in any way a real portrait of what’s going on in Britain.”

Hmm Thinking GIF

There is always lots of misinformation about Michelin, their methodology, criteria etc, often written by people who have no insight, or even having met a Michelin inspector. When the French tyre company come to visit, and inspect a restaurant they are interested in one thing and one thing only – The Food.

Whether it’s for a Bib Gourmand, 1 star, 2 stars or, the holy grail, – 3 stars, Michelin are only interested in the food. My own personal experience of an inspector when asking them what it takes, went like this:

“We’re only interested in the food. You can serve your food on a cracked, chipped plate in a converted bus shelter, by a waiter wearing jeans. And if it’s good enough, we’ll give it a Star ⭐”

Senior Michelin personnel have repeated this line that only the food really matters, yet a large element of ‘non-trade foodies’ try to perpetuate this myth that it’s about everything else – it just isn’t.