The 25th January saw some great news when the Michelin Guide for 2021 awarded two new Yorkshire Restaurants with a coveted Michelin Star. With none of the existing 5 Yorkshire Michelin starred restaurants losing their stars, it now brings the total number of Michelin Starred Restaurants in Yorkshire to seven.
Yorkshire continues to have the most Michelin starred restaurants outside of Yorkshire!
Adding to Yorkshire’s reputation as being the UK’s unofficial “Food and Drink capital
The two new recipients of the Michelin star were Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall and Roots in York – a new project by celebrity Chef Tommy Banks who also holds a Michelin star for his other restaurant The Black Swan at Oldstead.
Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall
Shaun Rankin is a Yorkshireman, who trained at The Mayfair Hotel in London. He won his first Michelin Star as Head Chef of the Bohemia Restaurant before opening up his own highly acclaimed restaurant Ormer in Jersey which won a Michelin Star 4 months later.
Shaun returned to Yorkshire to run a new fine dining restaurant at the new luxury five star hotel Grantley Hall near Ripon. The hotel has only been open since 2019, but it has quickly established itself on the Yorkshire food circuit with a number of superb restaurants.
But, the fine dining restaurant named after the Chef, is the jewel in Grantley’s crown and a Michelin star is a wonderful reward for the innovative menu showcasing locally grown and sourced ingredients as well as all the hard work.
Roots, York
The other new restaurant Roots is based at a former Arts and Crafts pub just off Museum Gardens in York. It’s run by Tommy Banks a regular on The Great British Menu and a judge on Masterchef UK.
Tommy uses only local ingredients sourced from his parents farm at Oldstead. Whilst already having a Michelin star for his other restaurant, he was delighted to receive a star for Roots which offers an innovative small plate menu – think Yorkshire tapas!
The 5 restaurants who retained their Michelin stars this year are:
The Man Behind the Curtain – Leeds – Michael O’Hare
The Pipe and Glass – South Dalton – James Mackenzie
The Starr Inn at Harome – Andrew Pern
The Angel Inn at Hetton – Michael Wignall
Black Swan – Oldstead – Tommy Banks
Yorkshire’s reputation for its warm hospitality is well known, but more and more is developing a reputation as the UK’s Food and Drink Capital. As well as world class restaurants, we have a wealth of local producers supplying quality products and ingredients from microbreweries, cheesemakers, gin distillers, butchers, artisan producers, farm shops and so much more.
The news of the two new Michelin stars will hopefully help Yorkshire’s post Covid-19 recovery, particularly in the Food Tourism sector. Some positive news in these difficult times.