Per Form, Michelin Drops the Moderately Interesting List of Also-Rans it Calls ‘Bib Gourmands’

There are five new London restaurants with Michelin Bib Gourmand status, with the Red Guide beginning its drip-drip of awards for the U.K. and Ireland in 2022 exclusively through its infamous and cursed Twitter account.

Those new entries, which in Michelin parlance are worthy of award for “particularly good quality, good value cooking” suggest that the inspectors have only been able to use the 55 bus to get about the city, with two entries in Soho, one in Fitzrovia, one from Clerkenwell, and one in Shoreditch.

Russell Norman’s return to the London restaurant industry with Brutto having left the Polpo group in 2020 is awarded as as a “relaxed trattoria” and one of two new “delightful Italian restaurants.”

Elsewhere, chef Angelo Sato’s yakitori counter, Humble Chicken, on Soho’s Frith Street followed up a number of rave reviews with Bib recognition from Michelin, which said it was “a fun spot which serves every part of the chicken,” while the much-publicised Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, which has taken chef Imad Alarnab on a journey through pop-ups and residencies to his first permanent restaurant off Carnaby Street in Soho was honoured “for its generous sharing dishes with Middle Eastern flavours.”

Next, Chris Leach and Dave Carter’s Brit-Italian fresh pasta and homemade charcuterie spot, Manteca in Shoreditch has been on its own tour of London with residencies first on Heddon Street in Mayfair and later on Great Marlborough Street in Soho; its settling in Shoreditch has seen the plaudits come thick and fast. Michelin said Manteca was “likeable.”

Lastly, Indian restaurant Pahli Hill in Fitzrovia overseen by head chef Avinash Shashidhara was awarded “for its fresh, simple flavours.”

Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin guides said on their release: “Bib Gourmands are an important part of our selection and are particularly popular with our readers and users, who are always on the lookout for wonderful food at great prices.

“All these restaurants are to be congratulated for what they have achieved in these very challenging times.”

More from Michelin on Monday, when it announces its special awards before the full star-spangled-Twitter-reveal on Wednesday 16 February from 10 a.m.

Check out Eater London’s predictions here.