Top London Hotels with Best Michelin Restaurants
Star Chefs Cook in London's Finest Hotels, Some with Michelin Stars
Apr 3, 2009
If planning a visit to London for business or a vacation, or a little of both, lovers of gourmet food should first check on a hotel's restaurant before booking somewhere to stay. London hotels including Claridge's, the Dorchester, the Berkeley, The Connaught, and the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park all have restaurants whose chefs have won either one or two Michelin stars.
To sample the food of some of the world's best and most famous chefs including Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Nobu Matsuhisa, and Gary Rhodes, book a room at the hotel where they take command of the kitchen. It's usually easier for hotel guests to book a top table at an in-demand restaurant than someone ringing to book a table from outside. Some tables are always held in reserve for favored hotel guests.
Many years ago it was the case that a hotel restaurant would be the last place anyone would eat, as they often simply ran through the motions of feeding their guests and there was always much better food to be had elsewhere. That is no longer the case, and certainly not in London. The top hotels bring in the top chefs to add cachet to their name, and the coveted Michelin stars are as much sought after in the hotel kitchens as anywhere else.
Here are some of London's top tables in London's best hotels, according to the Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland 2009:
Two Michelin Stars
- Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester: The legendary French chef, the only chef in the world to earn the maximum three Michelin stars at restaurants in three different countries at the same time (France, Monaco, the USA), has worked his magic again in London.
- Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley: Wareing earned his spurs and his first Mchelin stars working for Gordon Ramsay, but now emphatically runs his own show here at the Berekely. Ask about the availability of the chef's table, enabling a lucky group of diners to eat right in the kitchen and watch the chefs at work.
One Michelin Star
- Foliage at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park: Foliage goes for a modern cooking style, and has a setting to match its cuisine with views over Hyde Park.
- Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's: It's nigh-on impossible to get a table at Gordon Ramsay's eponymous 3-Michelin star Chelsea restaurant, but stay at Claridge's and it should be easier to sample the great chef's innovative food.
- Hélène Darroze at the Connaught: Stellar French chef Darroze has worked alongside Alain Ducasse, and already won two Michelin stars for her own restaurant in Paris. Brought in to beef up the Connaught's dining, another Michelin star quickly followed.
- Nahm at the Halkin: Tha cooking doesn't get any better than this.
- Nobu at the Metropolitan: On Old Park Lane close to Hyde Park corner, Nobu presents Japanese cooking with hints of South America, and a consistent quality that satisfies the Michelin inspectors.
- Quilon at Crowne Plaza London St James Hotel: The range of London's ethnic cuisines is well-known and here the Michelin inspectors acknowlwedge exemplary Indian cooking.
- Rhodes W1 at the Cumberland Hotel: Tables here are harder to get than most as there are just 12 tables being treated to TV chef Gary Rhodes's top British/European cooking.
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Check also the Top London Luxury Hotels in the Best Locations.
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