Prestigious honour given to Mark Birchall at Michelin Guide Awards

A Lancashire restaurant stole the show at the ceremony to launch Michelin Guide 2025.

Moor Hall in Aughton, Ormskirk lead the way as The Guide’s latest Three-Star restaurant and this latest award brings the total number of restaurants delivering “exceptional cuisine” to 10.

The Michelin Guide said: "At Moor Hall, chef Mark Birchall and his team have continued to hone their craft and have now achieved new levels of excellence.

"The ingredients, many from the kitchen garden, are outstanding; the chefs’ culinary technique is hugely impressive; and the judgement of flavours, of when to prioritise simplicity and when to add complexity, is exemplary.

"The inspectors particularly enjoyed the classically based turbot cooked in brown butter, with seasonal kuri squash and Mylor prawns."

Mark also runs The Barn in Aughton which is another Lancashire establishment featured in the guide.

In total there are 12 Lancashire venues on the Michelin Guide including: Three Fishes in Mitton, White Swan in Fence, The Barn in Aughton, Twelve in Thornton, Aven in Preston, so-lo in Aughton, Freemasons in Wiswell, Cartford Inn in Little Eccleston, Northcote in Langho, White Bull in Oswaldtwistle, Ye Horns Inn in Goosnargh.

Gwendal Poullennec, international director of The Michelin Guides said: "I am so thrilled to see that our Great Britain & Ireland Guide has had such a strong year yet again.

"Despite the challenges they face, chefs and restaurateurs have shown us that their talent, commitment and ingenuity know no bounds.

"Moor Hall newly receiving Three Michelin Stars will rightly be headline news, but I am equally pleased to see a huge total of 22 new Stars join our family.

"Having 36 Bib Gourmands awarded this year is also a great sign for British and Irish hospitality – showing how hard restaurants are working to offer great value to diners.

"Finally, we must not forget our new Green Stars and their inspiring commitments, for they are role models of our industry."

Elsewhere in London, vegetables were being put front and centre by chefs of utmost talent. Plates London has become the first fully plant-based restaurant in the UK and Ireland to receive a Michelin Star.

Chef Kirk Haworth, son of Nigel from the Three Fishes, was described by the guide as 'taking his classical training and inventively adapting it to a vegan diet'.