The Michelin organisation, regarded as the final arbiter of quality in luxury restaurants, was forced into an emergency round of phone calls to Britain's top chefs
yesterday after the much awaited list of new star ratings was leaked on
the internet five days ahead of its planned release. It's a huge
embarrassment for Michelin, which is famous for how fiercely it guards
each new set of ratings.

While there are no new three-star
restaurants, a number have been elevated to the much coveted two-star
status, including Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, which opened to
almost universally poor reviews.

"Based on the meal I had there,
I am surprised by that," said one highly regarded London chef who asked
to remain anonymous. "I ate there early on with a lot of other chefs
and we were all disappointed by the experience we had."

The award
to Ducasse, which comes with a marker indicating Michelin thinks it is
on course for three stars, will play to suspicions in the British
restaurant world that the famed restaurant guides are biased towards
French chefs and French cuisine.

Hibiscus, which lost its second
star when it moved from Ludlow to London, has had it returned. "I'm
delighted," Hibiscus chef Claude Bosi said last night. "I have put so
much on the table for this restaurant and to get the second star back
in London means an enormous amount both for me and for my staff ."

Fergus
Henderson's London restaurant St John, in Smithfield, famed for its
offal-oriented menu, was one of26 restaurants to win a single star for
the first time. There were also stars for Angel Hartnett's restaurant
Murano and for the much admired Purnell's in Birmingham.

The full
press release first appeared on a small closed discussion site for
luxury restaurant obsessives called Niac, run by Pim Techamuanvivit, a
well-known food blogger based in San Francisco. A member of Niac posted
the full list on the site, and from there the results quickly spread to
other food and restaurant discussion boards.

Late yesterday
Michelin bowed to the inevitable and released the whole press release
on its website ahead of time. "It's very disappointing that it happened
like this," said Paul Cordle of Michelin. "But we can guarantee that
we'll be looking at our security measures and nothing like this will
ever happen again."

The Michelin Guide is the oldest and
best-known hotel and restaurant guide in Europe, awarding one, two or
three stars each year to restaurants of exceptional quality. The Fat
Duck in Bray, Berkshire, and the Waterside Inn, also in Bray, both have
three Michelin stars, as does Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea.

Get the list here .PDF download>   >>>>>>> Download<<<<<<<<