The UK and Ireland’s Michelin-Starred Restaurants, 2023

The Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland announced today which restaurants earned, kept, or lost their prestigious star ratings. In 2023, the list added no new restaurants to its three-star ranks, keeping the total number of three-starred restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland at just eight. Meanwhile, 20 restaurants received their first star, bringing the guide’s net total to 188 starred restaurants, and three new restaurants received a second star. Receiving a Michelin star is considered the highest honor in the food world by many chefs and restaurateurs. 

It was the first in-person ceremony since the onset of COVID-19. Last year’s guide, revealed via a somewhat chaotic Twitter thread, clocked in at 194 total restaurants across the United Kingdom, with 19 new one-star additions and five two-star additions; only one new restaurant, L’Enclume, received three. 

While the list encompasses England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, London is reliably dominant, accounting for 74 restaurants in 2023’s guide—London is home to the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom. Of the three-starred restaurants on this year’s updated list, all but three reside in London. Earning three Michelin stars indicates a restaurant serves “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey,” per the institution’s notoriously opaque rating system. The restaurants in Michelin’s highest tier include Sketch—yes, that place with the egg-shaped bathroom stalls—and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. 

Five restaurants snagged two stars, including Dede at the Custom House, promoted from its previous one-star ranking. In Michelin’s book, these destinations are “worth a detour.” Meanwhile, as 20 restaurants took home their first star—described by the guide as “worth a stop”—two others lost theirs, alongside six that were scrubbed from the guide by default for having closed within the year. 

Tara Ozols was honored with the 2023 Sommelier Award for her all-American wine list at the London restaurant Sola. And, for the first time, Michelin announced a Cocktail Award focused on the art of mixology. That award went to Makis Kazakis, of the restaurant and bar Park Chinois in London.