The Michelin Stars for 2023 were announced this week, and although Manchester isn’t the starriest destination in the galaxy when it comes to these awards (we’ve got just one, at Mana) it is well-placed if you don’t mind driving for an hour or so.
Cumbria has more than its fair share with a cluster of stars around Simon Rogan‘s base in Cartmel plus several more further north in the Lake District. Likewise, there’s a constellation forming over in Ormskirk with a new star for Solo, plus the stars already held at Moor Hall and The Barn.
Closer to home, your options are the aforementioned Mana or you can head to Where the Light Gets In which has a Green Michelin Star. These are given to good-quality restaurants which put sustainability and ethical business practices first.
Read on for more Michelin Star restaurants that you can visit from Manchester:
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Book Now North Yorkshire
The Angel at Hetton
One of the stars of TV’s The Trip with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan – and awarded a Michelin star in 2021 – The Angel at Hetton is the original gastro pub with rooms.
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Book Now Lancashire
The Barn
The restaurant is described as “a rustic setting” but despite living in the shadow of its sister, this dining experience is far from it. Having been awarded a Michelin star itself in 2022, the neighbourhood restaurant serves a seasonal menu using ingredients from Moor Hall’s five-acre grounds and local suppliers.
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Book Now Cumbria
The Forest Side
Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel The Forest Side, owned by Lakes hotelier Andrew Wildsmith, is built on the foundations of the cooking of former L’Enclume forager, Kevin Tickle.
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Book Now Merseyside
Fraiche
Merseyside’s fine-dining star, the tiny Fraiche restaurant is home to an artist behind the pass. Having been rated as a ‘rising star’ by the Michelin guide in 2006 and 2007, the restaurant finally secured the real thing in 2009 and Francophile Marc Wilkinson has since upheld it with ease.
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Cumbria
Heft
Awarded with a Michelin star in 2023, Heft is the brainchild of chef, Kevin Tickle and his wife, Nicola.
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Book Now Cumbria
L’Enclume
L’Enclume is Simon Rogan’s three Michelin-starred restaurant located in the Lake District village of Cartmel, which is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading dining destinations. The restaurant is situated in a former 13th-century blacksmith’s workshop.
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Book Now Ancoats
Mana
Michelin-starred restaurant Mana is the brainchild of chef patron Simon Martin who mastered his trade at the renowned Noma in Copenhagen. In his first few years at Mana, Martin has succeeded in carving his own path – one which confuses and delights people in equal measure.
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Book Now West Yorkshire
The Man Behind the Curtain
New look, same, wild styling from the Michelin-starred, glam rock loving chef. In 2018, chef-patron Michael O’Hare upped sticks from the Flannels department store attic where he made his name with The Man Behind the Curtain and moved into the basement of the same building.
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Book Now Lancashire
Moor Hall
Moor Hall delivers Michelin magic in a historic country house setting.
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Book Now Lancashire
Northcote
Northcote is where chef-patron Nigel Haworth earned his stripes as an instigator of contemporary British fine dining. Today, Michelin star chef and one of BBC2’s Great British Menu winners, Lisa Goodwin-Allen, heads up the kitchen.
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Book Now Cumbria
Old Stamp House
Head to Ambleside’s Old Stamp House for regional cooking in a heritage space by one of Cumbria’s most promising chefs.
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Book Now Cumbria
Rogan & Co.
Situated in an atmospheric 14th-century building beside the pretty River Eea in Cartmel, Rogan & Co is the home of Simon Rogan’s Michelin-starred neighbourhood restaurant.
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Book Now Lancashire
Solo Restaurant
Rocking up in the picturesque village of Aughton in West Lancashire, renowned chef Tim Allen (whose Flitch of Bacon bagged Essex’s only Michelin star in 25 years) loved the sandstone building and sunny terrace of the former Seafood Pub Company Wine Bar, and sō-lō was born.
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Cumbria
Source
Source (previously known as HRiSHi) is a Michelin Star restaurant located at The Gilpin Hotel near Windermere in the Lake District.
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Book Now Stockport
Where the Light Gets In
The UK’s most exciting ‘no menu’ restaurant. With no menu and esoteric wines, Where the Light Gets In doesn’t adhere to the typical fine-dining formula. But it’s been a success for Stockport, thanks to chef-patron Sam Buckley’s belief in doing things his own way.
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Book Now Lancashire
The White Swan at Fence
Some folk in the village still refer to The White Swan at Fence as The Mucky Duck and you can still order a pint of Timothy Taylor’s at its very pubby bar. But over recent years The Swan has established itself as a destination fine-dining spot thanks to young chef Tom Parker from up the road in Burnley.