A London chef celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday with a surprise – his first Michelin star, accidentally leaked a week early.
Karam Sethi who runs Indian restaurant Trishna in Marylebone with his sister Sunaina, 25, (both pictured) heard the news first thing Thursday morning.
‘It’s an absolute dream. Incredible,’ Sunaina Sethi, Trishna’s sommelier and front-of-house manager told Decanter.com. ‘We heard about it at 8.30 in the morning and got on the phone to Michelin.’
Trishna specialises in south-west Indian seafood. Karam trained at its namesake, Trishna in Mumbai, which is under separate ownership. ‘We brought the name over to London,’ Sunaina said.
Karam also trained ‘all over India’, as well as at Zuma in London and in Marbella. His specialities include Dorset Brown Crab, and Hariyali Sea Bream, cooked in the tandoor with green chilli, coriander, and tomato kachumber.
Sunaina, whose list is strong in aromatic whites such as Gruner Veltliner, Vinho Verde and a Kozlovic Malvasija from Croatia that she is particularly proud of sourcing, said the food was ‘not your average curry’.
Trishna opened in November 2008 and gained its first award, a Bib Gourmand for value for money, a year ago.
Michelin’s new 2013 star ratings for UK restaurants were supposed to be announced on 4 October but they were accidentally posted on its website. Michelin confirmed the new ratings in a statement.
This is the third time that the organisation’s ratings have been leaked: in 2009 a food blogger published them, in 2010 Amazon sent a restaurant an early copy of the book; this time Michelin itself is responsible.
As well as Trishna, the list announces a clutch of new single star-holders, notably Heston Blumenthal’s Hinds Head pub in Bray, and stars for Alyn Williams at the Westbury, the much-celebrated Dabbous, Medlar, Hedone, Launceston Place, St John Soho, and Tom Aikens.
There is no change to the UK’s quartet of three-star restaurants – Blumenthal’s the Fat Duck, the Waterside Inn, Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay.
Second stars were won by Michael Wignall at the Latymer, Pennyhill Park in Surrey, L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria and Sketch, London.
Sketch, a joint venture between three-Michelin-starred French chef Pierre Gagnaire and restaurateur Mourad Mazouz, won its first star in 2005.
Two Michelin stars
Michael Wignall at the Latymer
Pennyhill Park, Surrey
L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria
Sketch, London
One Michelin star
Paul Ainsworth at Number 6, Padstow
The Bath Priory, Bath
Raby Hunt, Summerhouse, near Darlington
Tristan, Horsham
Alimentum, Cambridge
Thackeray’s Restaurant, Kent
Hinds Head, Bray
The Red Lion Free House, Wiltshire
Alyn Williams at the Westbury, London
Medlar, London
Trishna, London
Launceston Place, London
St Johns Hotel, London
Hedone, London
Dabbous, London
Tom Aikens, London
Written by Adam Lechmere
