A British pub has been elevated to unprecedented heights by becoming the first to be awarded two coveted Michelin stars for its food.
The Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, joins Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham in having their single star ratings raised to two in the latest edition of the world-famous bible of gastronomy.
A total of 13 pubs were awarded Michelin stars, with three – the Sir Charles Napier in Chinnor, Oxfordshire; the Butchers Arms in Eldersfield, Gloucestershire; and the Black Swan in Oldstead, North Yorkshire – winning them for the first time.
Tom Kerridge, who opened the Hand & Flowers with his wife Beth in 2005, earned the highest plaudits in what Michelin Guide editor Rebecca Burr hailed "a good news story for the British pub industry".
He seduced Michelin's famously anonymous inspectors with a menu boasting "unpretentious modern British flavours as well as rustic French dishes" and featuring "the best available seasonal ingredients".
A far cry from the usual pub staples, his dishes – including his roast veal sweetbreads, truffled pork terrine and slow cooked duck breast - were "sophisticated yet familiar and are a perfect match for the relaxed surroundings of his charming pub," said Burr.
Kerridge described winning the second star as fantastic. "You never expect things like this, especially in a pub. We try very hard to be good at what we do, but when this comes along it's phenomenal." His secret? "We try very hard to use good products. There's no trickery involved. There's no different, odd flavour combinations," he said.
Unusual combinations have proved winners for Heston Blumenthal, whose unique brand of molecular gastronomy has already won him three stars at the Fat Duck in Bray. His new venture, Dinner, at London's Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, gains a single star in the new guide.
Elsewhere in the capital, Hakkasan in Mayfair, North Road in Clerkenwell, and Pollen Street Social in Mayfair are also awarded single stars for the first time.
Champagne corks were popping in Nottingham as Restaurant Sat Bains received its second star. "There will be quite a party at the restaurant today," said Bains, who opened the restaurant with his wife Amanda in 2002, winning Nottinghamshire's only Michelin star the next year.
Restaurant critic Jay Rayner said Michelin's recognition of Bains was welcome, but overdue.
"Those who eat there over the past few years will know he's been cooking at the same level as those with two stars for many years, and it's mystifying as to why they haven't done this before," he said. "It's things like that which undermine Michelin."
In recent years some food journalists have questioned the relevance of the Michelin Guide, which was first published in 1900.
Defecting inspectors have also shone a critical light on the organisation's workings. Some US food critics have claimed the rating system is biased in favour of French cuisine or French dining standards.
Perusing the list, Rayner said: "One doesn't want to rain on anybody's parade because we know this means a lot to chefs. But there is nothing here which really changes my opinion from last year, which was to wonder what the point of Michelin was." He described awards to Blumenthal and Jason Atherton at Pollen Street Social (having moved from Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred Maze) as "great but predictable".
Restaurant PR Jo Barnes said there was division between critics and bloggers on one hand, and chefs on the other over Michelin's importance. "But the fact remains, for the vast majority of the industry, and to chefs, it is still the highlight of the year. It's still their absolute Oscars, so it's massively exciting."
She added that the general consensus was that in London it was a lot tougher to move up from two to three stars, or from one to two. "It feels like [Michelin] sprinkle the stars out much more generously in, say New York. They are on a real PR drive in the US to win the hearts and minds of New Yorkers."
Critic's view: a well deserved star
Hand & Flowers's second Michelin star may upset some in the restaurant establishment. After all, it puts it on a par with Le Gavroche in London, Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham, Inverlochy Castle in Scotland, Midsummer House in Cambridge and the other latest stellar elevation, Sat Bains in Nottingham, among others. These are all bona fide restaurants, and the Hand & Flowers, is, well, a gastropub.
Except, of course, people don't usually go there for a pint and a packet of pork scratchings. They go for the cheery, comfortable atmosphere, for the service that is professional without having airs and graces. And they go for Tom Kerridge's food. In style and spirit, the Hand & Flowers is closer to a neighbourhood restaurant than a pub.
Students of the Great British Menu will be familiar with Kerridge's culinary personality. Indeed, the two winning dishes – roast hog with salt baked potatoes and apple sauce (for two) and the slow-cooked duck breast with peas, duck fat chips and gravy – are both on the Hand & Flowers menu. These, like his other dishes have a very distinctive style to them, combining a generosity in flavour and substance with an almost feminine delicacy of presentation.
Take a recent dish of parsley soup with smoked eel, bacon and parmesan tortellini, for example. The soup plate was filled with the distilled, brilliant green, bright essence of parsley with the startlingly white tortellini sitting in the middle. The natural acridity of the herb in the raw was tempered by the depth of the stock underneath. That grassy freshness of parsley acted like a framing device for the smokiness of eel and the redolent richness of the bacon. The firm delicacy of the tortellini gave weight to each mouthful, with the salty parmesan filling acting like a seasoning.
Not all the food is this fancy. During the week, Kerridge offers a set price menu of £12.59 for two courses and £16.50 for three, to make sure his dining room ticks over on the days when a good many regional restaurants struggle. Even here a first course of, say, deep fried ham hock with piccalilli is treated with the same craftsmanship and care, and delivers the same pleasure.
No doubt a second Michelin star may help develop the business still further, but it's unlikely to change the essential nature of the Hand & Flowers or of the modest Tom Kerridge. There may be plenty of chefs who will envy him, but few will begrudge him his success.
Matthew Fort