Though celebrations erupted across much of the country as the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2023 awards were revealed, the chorus was certainly louder at the Silverstone Circuit, where, for the first time in three years, the news was being delivered in person. With last year’s awards having been announced via Twitter and a virtual ceremony held the year before, the in-room reunion was a reflection of our post-pandemic times. Over the course of a speedy ninety minutes, twenty-three restaurants were announced to have either won their first star or gained a second; that worked out at twenty new one-star restaurants and three two-stars (no new restaurants joined the hallowed three-star club this year, but no existing ones lost theirs either). Four restaurants were recognised for their pioneering action on sustainability with Michelin green stars, and there were nods to servers, sommeliers, mentors and, for the first time, cocktail mixologists.

It was a particularly good night for Cumbria, which celebrated a hat-trick of new stars, the most of any county, after Kevin and Nicola Tickle’s Heft, The Samling in Windermere and Penton’s Pentonbridge Inn all took home their first award. Elsewhere around the country, Gidleigh Park picked up a star in Devon, as did Aćléaf in Plymouth, while the East welcomed two new one-star restaurants at Store in Norfolk and Restaurant Twenty-Two in Cambridge. London, unsurprisingly, led the way for cities, with four new one-star restaurants (Clerkenwell Italian Luca, Mayfair omakase Taku, Blue Mountain School’s Cycene in Shoreditch and St. Barts), and a pair of two-stars (the reopened The Ledbury and Adam Dilling at the Hotel Café Royal). Ireland scooped the third, and final, two-star restaurant, dede in Baltimore, as well as one star for Terre, while Scotland celebrated awards for Edinburgh's Timberyard and Heron.

There was certainly a lot to take in – here’s a guide to all of the restaurants which were added to the 2023 guide.

After the shock closure of his two-star The Greenhouse in 2020, all eyes were on executive chef Alex Dilling’s next move. Two years later, he opened the thirty-four-cover, eponymous Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal in London’s West End, reuniting some of The Greenhouse team. Overlooking Regent Street, chef Alex serves contemporary French cuisine, and has made the impressive leap of entering the guide with two stars despite having been open less than a year.

Chef Ahmet Dede earned his first Michelin star in 2018 at the now-shuttered Mews in Ireland’s Baltimore, before founding his eponymous restaurant there two years later. In 2021, it picked up its first star, adding its second in this year’s guide, one of two new awards for Ireland this year and the only restaurant to add an extra star. Ahmet has immersed himself in west Cork, building his reputation for blending the area’s rich local produce with inspiration from his Turkish heritage.

Brett Graham’s The Ledbury and his distinctive, produce-led cooking has been considered among the UK’s finest since the restaurant first opened in 2005; it earned two Michelin stars and a spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. But it closed during the pandemic, with Brett citing concerns around social distancing, and lost its stars, its hiatus making it ineligible for inspection. It reopened to the public in February last year, with refreshed interiors and new head chef (former Kitchen Table head chef Tom Spenceley) and we’re not surprised to see that it has quickly regained both stars in this year’s guide.

Executive head chef Chris Eden joined Gidleigh Park in 2019, having arrived from the secluded Driftwood in Cornwall, where he bagged its first Michelin star, becoming the first Cornwall-born chef to do so in the region. He brought his produce-focused ethos to the Gidleigh Park, where local ingredients take centre stage. Perched on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, the stunning Gidleigh Park manor is an idyllic setting for equally memorable cooking. It's also home to a renowned wine cellar, with over 1,300 bins and 13,000 bottles from around the world, which are deftly paired with Chris' menus.

You might struggle to find a more remarkable vista for a meal than at The Samling – its panoramic lake views mean diners are able to look south along Windermere and west towards the Old Man of Coniston mountain range. Its chefs, including executive head chef Robby Jenks, who previously cooked at Gidleigh Park, make the most of the area's rich bounty, using produce from their greenhouse, gardens and woodland in their menus, and turning to local suppliers where that's not possible. The team serves a four-course lunch menu and two tasting menus, with diners able to soak up the kitchen atmosphere at the restaurant's chef's table. 

Having enjoyed an illustrious, accolade-packed career so far, it comes as little surprise that chef Tim Allen, who has cooked at the likes of Launceston Place in London, Wild Rabbit in Oxfordshire and The Flitch of Bacon in Essex, would quickly gain a Michelin star for his first truly solo venture, Sō–Lō. In the West Lancashire village of Aughton, Sō–Lō, which opened in late 2021, reflects both the chef’s classical training and influences from around the world. His contemporary, seasonal plates, served in a welcoming converted pub, let their ingredients shine, resulting in dishes which are modern, but accessible.

Chefs who take over a previously successful restaurant often face a challenge carving out their own path separate of that legacy. Executive head chef Alex Payne has done just that at the Tudor Pass, though, earning the restaurant its first Michelin star just six months after opening. The restaurant, at Great Fosters Hotel in Surrey, had previously been Tony Parkin's Tudor Room, until his departure last year. Today, Alex, who sharpened his skills under the likes of Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay, has crafted a signature tasting menu blending classical dishes with modern twists, including Berkshire wood pigeon, winter truffle and prunes d’Agen and duck with turnip, red cabbage and Timur pepper.

Grace & Savour used to sit alongside Peel's at Hampton Manor, but was given a new focus when Peel's closed late last year. Built into the site’s Victorian walled gardens, its fifteen-course, immersive tasting menu is served from an open kitchen, where the commitment to sustainability and soil health is obvious. Jars of carrot nectar, camomile and apple kombucha and pickled magnolia line the shelves, as the chefs build a library of ingredients made from its land; part of an ethos which chef David Taylor – who was part of the team that won Norway’s Maaemo three stars – believes unlocks flavour. 

Family-run restaurant Timberyard has marked its tenth year in the Scottish capital with its first Michelin star, one of two awarded to Scotland in the 2023 guide. A rustic warehouse provides the backdrop to a menu which is centred around all things local and seasonal; ingredients are given the space to speak for themselves (its current offering includes the likes of John dory, white asparagus, cherry blossom and smoked butter, and scallop, smoked roe, sprouting broccoli and sea buckthorn). That refinement is thanks to the talents of head chef James Murray, who spent three years at Le Manoir before working in the kitchens of Roussillon in Chelsea, Nur in Hong Kong and Lyle’s in Shoreditch. 

From one Edinburgh star to the next. Tomás Gormley and Sam Yorke worked their way around some of the city's best kitchens and started pandemic-inspired fine dining delivery service Bad Seeds before opening Heron, which has views of Edinburgh's picturesque Water of Leith, in the summer of 2021. They expertly prepare balanced, elegant farm-to-table dishes, including many which showcase the best of Scotland’s fantastic natural larder - the sauces in particular are a real highlight.

Restaurant Twenty-Two, a Victorian townhouse which backs onto the River Cam and Jesus Green park, has long been part of the Cambridge restaurant scene, but its current guardians, Sam Carter and Alex Olivier, took it on in 2018 as their debut restaurant. And what a premiere – Sam, who has built his Michelin experience in the likes of Hambleton Hall and Maze by Gordon Ramsay, serves poised, detailed dishes which celebrate modern British dining, with his menu drawing on the best produce from around the country, from Newlyn brill to Brixham mackerel and Nidderdale hogget.

After bringing The Cottage in the Wood in the Lake District its first Michelin star in 2019, it felt like only a matter of time before talented head chef Ben Wilkinson did the same at his Ben Wilkinson at the Pass restaurant, in West Sussex's South Lodge Hotel. And in this year's guide the award was confirmed, an impressive seven months after he and Monika Zurawska, who heads up its front of house, took over. It makes Ben, who perfected his culinary skills at the likes of Holbeck Ghyll in Windermere and Daniel Clifford's Midsummer House, the first chef to achieve the accolade there since Matt Gillan was at the helm in 2008.

When Peng Loh announced plans for a restaurant at the Castlemartyr resort in Ireland’s East Cork, it caught attention – after all, the hotelier also owns sites home to restaurants including London’s two-star Da Terra and three-star Zen in Singapore. And when he announced that talented French chef Vincent Crepel, who honed his skills at the likes of Arzak in San Sebastian, would be heading it up, we knew Michelin inspectors would soon be knocking. At Terre, chef patron Vincent takes diners on an unhurried journey, moving from one location to another during the course of the feast, with contemporary French cooking intertwined with Asian flavours, paired with curated wines or, for those not drinking, a tea pairing.

Patience is, as they say, a virtue, something Jon and Helen Howe know well. Their restaurant Lumière has long been loved in its home town of Cheltenham, having first opened in 2009 just a stone's throw from its promenade, but this year, after fourteen years of developing its cooking and style, Michelin inspectors have finally awarded the restaurant its first star. Home to just eight tables, the duo provide an intimate experience, with Jon’s elegant cooking underpinned by his classical training, which he learned from some of the country’s best chefs, including Heston Blumenthal. Jon and Helen are passionate about sustainability and have taken on a fifteen-acre smallholding where they grow many of their vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

From rustic trattorias to fine dining spots, London is home to brilliant Italian restaurants. As customers, being spoilt for choice is no bad thing, but for restaurateurs it makes standing out from the crowd much trickier. Thankfully, that’s not been an issue for Robert Chambers at Luca in Farringdon. There, Robert, who honed his skills at the likes of Brett Graham’s The Ledbury and Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, takes inspiration from his upbringing in the UK to craft a menu which champions the best of British produce and finds fresh takes on classic Italian dishes (its Parmesan fries have become something of a customer favourite).