Michelin Guide adds 22 restaurants across Great Britain and Ireland in September
The Michelin Guide has expanded its restaurant selection across Great Britain and Ireland with 22 new additions in September, highlighting everything from contemporary British cooking and French cuisine to Asian-inspired menus, modern seafood and a new generation of ambitious dining pubs.
The latest update, published on September 17, brings together restaurants from London, Scotland, Northern Ireland and several regions across England. While London remains the most represented location, the latest selection also underlines the growing importance of restaurants outside the capital.
Among the month’s additions are several high-profile new openings, including Chez Rose in Mayfair, Outlaw’s Bistro in Port Isaac and Cradle at Cromlix, the fine dining restaurant inside the Scottish country house hotel owned by former tennis champion Andy Murray.
The September update also includes the reopening of one of London’s historic restaurants, Simpson’s in the Strand, which dates back to 1828.
For Michelin, the monthly selections are increasingly becoming a way to recognise restaurants throughout the year rather than waiting for the annual ceremony.
Twenty-two new names join the selection
The September additions cover a broad geographical and culinary range.
London accounts for seven of the new entries, including Chez Rose, Bar des Prés, DakaDaka, Dante Mayfair, MRBL and Sushi Amamoto, as well as the return of Simpson’s in the Strand.
Outside the capital, the selection includes AO by Daniel Rogan in Southampton, Canvas in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke, Nevill Arms in Medbourne, PL28 Café in Padstow and The Smithfield in Leeds.
Scotland is represented by Cradle at Cromlix and Whirlybird in Edinburgh, while Capparelli at the Mill becomes the new Belfast addition.
The full September selection also includes Restaurant Kensington in Lynton, The Black Horse in Amberley, The Cedar Restaurant in Daventry, The Rose and Crown in Thorney and The White Horse Easton.
The range of styles is equally broad, from modern British and traditional British cooking to French, Italian-American, Eastern European, Japanese and meat-focused restaurants.
New restaurants are changing the Michelin landscape
One of the most interesting aspects of the latest update is the number of relatively new restaurants receiving recognition.
Chez Rose in Mayfair, for example, opened in June under chef Spencer Metzger, whose career includes 12 years at The Ritz. The restaurant focuses on French classics while deliberately avoiding the idea of being a strictly traditional French bistro.
Its menu includes dishes such as Orkney scallop with Café de Paris butter, grilled lobster with sauce Choron, aligot au Morbier and crêpes Suzette.
The restaurant has also attracted attention because of the philosophy behind its opening.
Rather than building an expensive restaurant designed primarily around awards, Metzger has spoken about creating something more straightforward and genuine.
That approach reflects an interesting direction within the restaurant industry, where chefs are increasingly looking for ways to combine high-quality food with more manageable operating models.
Nathan Outlaw chooses a more casual direction
Another notable addition is Outlaw’s Bistro in Port Isaac, Cornwall.
The restaurant is the successor to Outlaw’s New Road, which chef Nathan Outlaw closed earlier this year after deciding to move away from the traditional fine dining format.
The new restaurant opened in April inside Outlaw’s Guest House and operates with just ten tables.
The concept is deliberately more relaxed and offers a shorter, lower-priced menu compared with the chef’s previous fine dining operation.
Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen continues to operate in the village.
The move is significant because it illustrates how established chefs are experimenting with formats that can potentially appeal to a wider audience without abandoning the standards associated with their names.
In an environment where restaurant operating costs remain high, a smaller and more flexible format can also offer chefs a different way of managing staff, ingredients and customer demand.
A historic London restaurant returns
The Michelin selection is not only about new restaurants.
Simpson’s in the Strand, one of London’s best-known historic dining institutions, has also been added following its reopening earlier this year.
The restaurant dates back to 1828 and was brought back into operation by restaurateur Jeremy King.
Rather than completely reinventing the concept, the new version retains many of the classics associated with the restaurant.
Prawn cocktail, boiled ham with parsley sauce and spotted dick remain on the menu, while beef is carved tableside every day.
The inclusion of Simpson’s illustrates another trend within contemporary British dining: the revival of historic restaurants and traditional dishes.
At a time when many new restaurants are built around increasingly experimental concepts, there is renewed interest in places that offer a strong sense of history and identity.
For Michelin, that identity can be as important as technical innovation when assessing a restaurant’s overall appeal.
Scotland adds a new fine dining destination
Cradle at Cromlix is another standout among the September additions.
Located inside Cromlix, a Michelin Key country house hotel near Dunblane, the restaurant offers an intimate dining experience with only seven tables.
The hotel is owned by Andy Murray and his wife Kim, and the restaurant opened in June under executive head chef James Mearing.
Its tasting menu focuses on Scottish produce, including ingredients sourced from the property’s kitchen garden.
The dining room itself is deliberately intimate, with a dark interior and distinctive oyster mushroom-shaped chandeliers.
The combination of luxury accommodation and high-end dining reflects a broader trend in hospitality, where hotels are increasingly treating restaurants as an essential part of the guest experience rather than simply an additional service.
Dining pubs continue to gain recognition
Another notable feature of the September update is the number of dining pubs included in the Michelin selection.
Hop Pole Inn, Nevill Arms, The Black Horse, The Rose and Crown and The White Horse Easton all joined the Guide this month.
Their inclusion reflects the continued evolution of the British pub.
The traditional pub remains an important part of the country’s food culture, but many establishments are now placing significantly greater emphasis on food quality, local ingredients and carefully developed menus.
This has created a category that sits somewhere between casual dining and fine dining.
For consumers, the appeal is relatively straightforward. A dining pub can offer ambitious cooking in a less formal environment, often at a lower price than a conventional tasting-menu restaurant.
Michelin’s growing interest in these establishments suggests that high-level cooking is increasingly being recognised outside traditional fine dining settings.
Michelin recognition does not necessarily mean a star
The September announcement also highlights a distinction that can sometimes be overlooked when Michelin news reaches a wider audience.
Being added to the Michelin Guide’s restaurant selection does not mean that a restaurant has received a Michelin Star.
The Guide’s inspectors continuously assess restaurants and can add new establishments to the online selection throughout the year.
Michelin Stars, Bib Gourmands, Green Stars and special awards are announced separately at the annual Michelin Guide ceremony.
That means the September additions should be understood as a recommendation and recognition from Michelin inspectors rather than an immediate award.
For restaurants, however, inclusion can still be commercially valuable.
Being listed in the Guide can increase visibility among international visitors, food enthusiasts and diners specifically searching for Michelin-recommended establishments.
For a newly opened restaurant, that exposure can be particularly important during the early stages of building a customer base.
London remains dominant, but the rest of Britain is gaining ground
London’s seven additions demonstrate the continued strength of the capital’s restaurant scene.
The city remains one of the world’s most competitive dining markets, attracting chefs, investors and customers from across the globe.
But the September selection also reinforces the diversity of the wider British food scene.
Southampton, Padstow, Lynton, Leeds, Edinburgh, Dunblane, Belfast and other locations outside London are increasingly represented in Michelin’s recommendations.
That geographical spread matters for tourism as well.
Food has become an increasingly important reason for travellers to visit particular cities and regions. A Michelin recommendation can therefore contribute to a destination’s reputation and encourage visitors to travel beyond the traditional tourist centres.
For smaller towns and rural locations, a recognised restaurant can become part of the identity of the destination itself.
A snapshot of where British dining is heading
The 22 September additions offer a useful snapshot of the direction in which the restaurant industry is moving.
There is still plenty of traditional fine dining, but the Michelin selection also reflects growing interest in intimate restaurants, dining pubs, modern interpretations of classic cuisine and more accessible formats.
Several of the month’s additions are relatively small operations, suggesting that high-quality dining does not necessarily require a huge dining room or an elaborate concept.
At the same time, established chefs are experimenting with smaller and more flexible formats, while historic restaurants are being revived for a new generation.
The result is a restaurant landscape that is increasingly diverse.
For diners, that means the Michelin Guide is becoming useful not only for finding formal fine dining experiences, but also for discovering restaurants that offer strong cooking in more relaxed environments.
The next stage will be the annual awards
The September additions are not the end of the Michelin story for these restaurants.
Their inclusion gives them a place in the Guide, but the annual ceremony remains the moment when the industry’s biggest distinctions are announced.
For the chefs and restaurant teams that entered the September selection, the coming months will therefore be important.
Some may eventually progress toward Bib Gourmand recognition or Michelin Stars, while others may remain recommended restaurants without receiving a formal distinction.
Either way, the latest update shows that Britain’s food scene continues to evolve quickly.
From a French-inspired Mayfair bistro and a reinvented Cornish restaurant to a historic London institution, a Scottish country house dining room and a growing collection of ambitious pubs, Michelin’s September selection reflects an industry that is becoming more varied rather than less ambitious.
And for diners across Great Britain and Ireland, the message is simple: some of the most interesting restaurants to discover right now are not necessarily the ones that already have a star.
Sources: Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland, The Staff Canteen, Michelin Guide inspectors
