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Four London Restaurants Receive Michelin Bib Gourmands

Neighbourhood restaurants won the day

Michelin Bib Gourmand 2019 London winner Sorella from chef Robin Gill in Clapham
Sorella Clapham
Sorella Clapham | Instagram

The Michelin Guide is announcing this year’s Bib Gourmands, in anticipation of London’s new constellation of Michelin-starred restaurants.

This year, four London restaurants received Bibs:

The Bibs, like Michelin stars, are also subject to deletions. Notable deletions this year include Middle Eastern stalwart Honey & Co, Borough Market modern British restaurant and wine bar Elliot’s, Islington pub and dining room The Drapers Arms, and Merlin Labron-Johnson’s Clipstone, which only received the Bib last year. Great Queen St, Charlotte’s W5, Azou, The Canton Arms, Foley’s, and Dehesa were also dropped for 2019. Losing a Bib, of course, can also be a path to a star, and Clipstone is fancied to upgrade on Monday. Honey & Co could also be a curveball. Those deletions — and the closure of Paradise Garage, Madame D, and Legs (next week) will leave London with 41 Bib Gourmands, compared to 52 last year.

Last year, 10 London restaurants received Bibs, including Ben Chapman’s northern Thai-inspired claypot and charcoal barbecue restaurant Kiln; David Carter’s Brit-American barbecue site Smokestak; Merlin Labron-Johnson’s minimalist, modern British Clipstone; Jacob Kenedy’s Southern American-inspired gastropub, Plaquemine Lock; Indian small plate-focused Soho restaurant Kricket; pan-Italian bar in Shoreditch, Popolo; Adam Handling’s The Frog E1 in Shoreditch; Himalayan Madame D, which is now closed; modern seafood restaurant Westerns Laundry; and Vivek Singh’s Indian “market cooking” restaurant Cinnamon Bazaar.

Michelin parlance defines the Bib Gourmand-winning restaurant as one that delivers “simple yet skilful cooking and great prices.” The Bib Gourmands are, plainly, second-tier awards to Michelin stars — last year’s awards made clear that while the guide is willing to recognise the existence of the kind of regionally specific, not French, not formal, and not expensive dining that readily thrives in London, it is, thus far, not willing to award restaurants of that ilk with stars. The award of a star to A. Wong in Pimlico last year was one notable exception, most notable for being just that: one.

This year’s Bibs, for their part, are defined by a regional specificity and — for all of the vagaries of definition — the quality of being a ‘neighbourhood’ restaurant. Seb Holmes’ Farang is the second white-owned Thai-inspired restaurant to be awarded a Bib in as many years, while Sorella outdid its previous incumbent, which received a Michelin Plate.

Stay tuned for more analysis, and how this might feed into Monday’s Michelin star announcement.

A. Wong

70 Wilton Road, , England SW1V 1DE 020 7828 8931 Visit Website

Farang

72 Highbury Park, , England N5 2XE 020 7226 1609 Visit Website

Madame D

76 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LY Visit Website

The Drapers Arms

44 Barnsbury Street, , England N1 1ER 020 7619 0348 Visit Website

Clipstone

5 Clipstone Street, , England W1W 6BB 020 7637 0871 Visit Website

Dehesa

25 Ganton Street , London , W1F 9BP Visit Website

Popolo

26 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3DU Visit Website

Cinnamon Bazaar

28 Maiden Lane, , England WC2E 7JS 020 7395 1400 Visit Website

The Frog E1

2 Ely's Yard, London, Greater London E1 6QR +44 20 3813 9832 Visit Website

Plaquemine Lock

139 Graham Street, , England N1 8LB 020 7688 1488 Visit Website

Kudu

119 Queen's Road, , England SE15 2EZ 020 3950 0226 Visit Website

Kiln

53 Foy Lane, , NSW 2000 (02) 8099 8799 Visit Website

Kricket

12 Denman Street, , W1D 7HH 020 7734 5612 Visit Website

Canton Arms

177 South Lambeth Road, , England SW8 1XP 020 7582 8710 Visit Website

Westerns Laundry

34 Drayton Park, , England N5 1PB 020 7700 3700 Visit Website

The Manor

148 Clapham Manor Street, , England SW4 6BX 020 7720 4662 Visit Website

Sorella

148 Clapham Manor Street, , England SW4 6BX 020 7720 4662 Visit Website

SMOKESTAK

35 Sclater Street, , England E1 6LB 020 3873 1733 Visit Website