Content area
Full Text
Rating restaurants and hotels is a funny old business. At one end of the spectrum there is the free-for-all of TripAdvisor, which lost credibility with me more than 10 years ago. At the other end, there is the Michelin Guide, which I also have issues with. I've had fantastic dinners in Alain Ducasse restaurants around the world, but if his London dining room really warrants the maximum three Michelin stars, then I'm a monkey's favourite uncle. On my last visit, the waiter introduced a dish with a glowing preamble about its universal acclaim. "If they have to tell you it's famous, it's not famous," quipped my dining companion, rolling his eyes and reaching for his cutlery. Dinner at Ducasse is… nice. No more, no less.
And so to Gidleigh Park, put on the map by Michael Caines who began cooking there in 1994 and who kicked off an unbroken run of two annual Michelin stars for the property in 1999. From 2016, Michael Wignall was in the kitchen, creating something more left-field than Caines and indulging, like many great chefs, a fascination with Japan and a graphic, expressionist style in his plating. Despite the difference...