Video: Inside Yorkshire’s Michelin restaurants

In the newly published 2014 Michelin Guide, five top Yorkshire restaurants have been named among the prized recipients of highly prestigious Michelin Stars. It adds up to Yorkshire boasting more Michelin Star restaurants than any other county in England, outside of London.

The Michelin Guide was first published to the British Isles in 1911. One hundred and two years later and the region’s restaurants to make the cut as Michelin standard are The Pipe and Glass Inn in South Dalton near Beverley, The Yorke Arms in Ramsgill-in-Nidderdale near Pateley Bridge, The Box Tree in Ilkley, The Black Swan at Oldstead, between Thirsk and Helmsley, and The Old Vicarage in Sheffield.

Three of the county’s restaurants have also been awarded a Bib Gourmand, a mark of good cuisine at a reasonable price, by the Michelin Guide. They are El Gato Negro in Ripponden, Prashad in Drighlington and Vennell’s Restaurant in Masham.

The Michelin star awarded to The Box Tree restaurant was an especially proud achievement as it means owners, husband and wife team Simon and Rena Gueller and their team are celebrating their tenth year of Michelin-starred dining.

Mr Gueller, the restaurant’s executive chef, has personally held a Michelin Star for 14 years.

He said: “We work just as hard every year to ensure that our standards are maintained in all that we do. It’s been a great year for the restaurant and for our fantastic team, headed up by general manager Andrew Pratt and chef Lawrence Yates, who continue to raise the bar and ensure we provide excellence in everything we do.

“Rest assured we have our feet firmly on the ground and look forward to the next ten years of awarding winning fine dining.”

Mrs Gueller added: “I don’t think there’s really a secret, it’s hard work and it’s team work, and all striving for the same thing.

“Expectation are very different nowadays. The economy drives different businesses in different directions. With food, people have more expectations. They want more bang for their buck so it’s important to deliver more and hopefully this award tells us that we are achieving that.”

She said she was proud to be part of a county that has such strong fine dining credentials.

“I think it’s really positive and I think that people across the country, in a lot of regions now, are really focusing on local produce.

“We are creating some fantastic produce in this region that are really good quality.

“I think Southerners have underestimated the quality of products from the North in the past. We are not like London that has so many restaurants and hundreds of different people visiting them each night, we rely very much on repeat business so the key for us is to be that bit more consistent and to offer better value and variety.”

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, hailed the achievement.

“It’s fantastic for our county to once again be recognised as a national leader in fine dining and indeed quality food across the board,” Mr Verity said.

“We’ve known how good the food is here in Yorkshire for a long time, so it’s nice to have the Michelin Guide acknowledge that too. We have some of the best food producers in the country, and for Yorkshire to have so many Michelin Star and Bib Gourmand restaurants is great for tourism.

“This is also welcome recognition for the county as Yorkshire prepares to host the world’s largest annual sporting event – the Tour de France – next July.”

The Michelin Guide is one of the oldest and best-known reference guides to hotels and restaurants in Europe, and contains details of the establishments to be awarded a Michelin Star for excellence.