The World’s Newest Michelin 3-Star Restaurants Are Both Run by Women
Reprinted from the Robb Report Newsletter JANUARY 26, 2021
In what has been a dark year for the hospitality industry as a whole, a ray of light shined bright from Michelin’s UK and Ireland ceremony last night, despite the fact restaurants across the region are closed. During the virtual event, the gastronomic guide’s executive director Gwendal Poullennec announced that not one, but two restaurants had achieved Michelin’s highest honor. Not only that, both restaurants are run by female chefs—a rare achievement in an industry that has long been hostile to women.
Hélène Darroze at the Connaught and Core by Clare Smyth became the UK and Ireland’s newest Michelin three-star restaurants, joining Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Fat Duck, Sketch (The Lecture Room & Library) and Waterside Inn.
Darroze, whose London restaurant combines British ingredients with modern French sensibilities, just received her second star for her Parisian restaurant Marsan when Michelin released its French guide last week. Before the live stream of the ceremony, Poullennec surprised the chef with a jacket emblazoned with three stars and filmed her reaction. Darroze looked shocked and moved nearly to tears upon seeing her new chefs whites. She thanked her team, but she also paused to reflect on the bigger meaning of three stars.
“I’m thinking a little bit also of all the women in the kitchen and I just want to let them know that everything is possible,” Darroze said. “Just believe in what you are and live your passion as you are and be positive and everything can happen.”
