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Who will be the hottest chefs to watch in 2008, what will customers be looking for, and what other trends are likely to emerge? We asked a panel of 10 top chefs for their predictions. Tom Howard reports
With Michelin poised to publish its latest guide to Great Britain and Ireland on 25 January, Caterer decided to draw together a panel of 10 of the UK's top chefs to reveal who they thought would go up or down in the star ratings and to discuss what will be hot on the domestic culinary scene in 2008.
Not surprisingly, on the Michelin star front, a lot of the talk revolved around Claude Bosi at Hibiscus, newly moved to London from Ludlow, and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Four of our chefs tipped Bosi to retain his two stars, with Jason Atherton describing him as "definitely one of the best chefs in the country", while three predicted that Ducasse's new London restaurant would go straight to two stars in the new guide. As Andrew Pern summed it up: "Alain Ducasse and Claude Bosi have raised London's profile again. They're very different to each other and they're keeping London on the top of the pile for the culinary scene."
While the panel bemoaned the lack of three-star chefs in Britain and Ireland, for Kevin Mangeolles at least, one strong contender next time round could come in the shape of Phil Howard at the Square in London. Also tipped to make the leap from two to three stars in January were David EverittMatthias at Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham; John Campbell at the Vineyard at Stockcross; and Michel Roux Jnr at Le Gavroche in London. (see page 25 for a summary of our panel's tips).
While our chefs were full of praise for Japanese cuisine, after Michelin awarded an unprecedented 191 stars - more than London, New York and Paris combined - to restaurants in Tokyo in November, most felt the effect on the domestic scene would be minimal. "Tokyo won't affect anything," said Tom Kerridge. "People should cook what they want to cook, and if they're any good, they'll get stars." According to Marcus Wareing, "only idiots" would copy Japanese chefs. "They're in a league of...