A Michelin Star Meets a 12-Cover Highland Kitchen

Killiecrankie House seats 12 diners in a former Perthshire manse, and on 9 February 2026 it collected its first Michelin star in Dublin. 1887 at The Torridon, farther up the west coast, took a star and a Green Star on the same night. Ireland hosted the Great Britain and Ireland ceremony for the first time since the guide began in 1974.

Two Irish rooms joined them, and every three-star restaurant kept its rank. A 12-cover kitchen cannot add tables to match the booking surge that follows.

Dublin Hosted the Guide for the First Time Since 1974

The awards were read at the Convention Centre Dublin on Monday 9 February 2026, 52 years after the Great Britain and Ireland guide was established. Gordon Ramsay was in the room. The official Michelin Guide channel livestreamed the hour-long reveal.

Michelin put 1,210 restaurants in the 2026 selection, including 230 with stars. Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides, called it a record intake in a hard year for the trade.

In a year filled with challenges and turbulence in the industry, chefs and restaurateurs have once again shown their admirable resilience and innovation. This is reflected in a record number of restaurants being added to the Great Britain and Ireland Guide this year.

Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, 10 February 2026 press release

THE 2026 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND SELECTION

The 10 three-star restaurants all kept their rank, and all 10 are in England. No Irish or Scottish room sits in that band. Bonheur by Matt Abé walked into two stars a few months after opening on the old Le Gavroche site in London. Row on 5, the Jason Atherton and Spencer Metzger room, moved up from one star.

Michelin listed 20 new one-star restaurants, among them Maré by Rafael Cagali, the first starred room in Brighton and Hove in nearly 50 years. Dublin, the host city, gained Forest Avenue plus three new Bib Gourmands. Tourism Ireland counted eight Irish restaurants awarded that night across stars, Bibs and a service prize. The cooking prizes that travelled farthest from the hall went north.

Twelve Covers, Five Staff, a Waiting List

Tom Tsappis and Matilda Tsappis bought the 19th-century house in 2020 and opened it in October 2021 after a 10-month rebuild, on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park near Pitlochry. He came from finance, learned to cook during a stay in Japan at 23, and met Matilda there. She is co-owner and head sommelier. He told the Dublin hall they were a baby restaurant, four years old, and that they had promised the first staff a star within three years.

“We’re a tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere in the Scottish Highlands and we’re chuffed,” Tsappis said on stage. The whole brigade of five people, kitchen and floor, heard the news on a trip to Japan. He later called the award completely overwhelming. Scotland now has 15 starred restaurants, two of them at two stars.

WHAT KILLIECRANKIE HOUSE CAN ACTUALLY SEAT

• The dining room: 12 covers at the tables, plus a chef’s table, in a Nordic-style room built around an open kitchen.
• The house: five guest bedrooms, a lounge over the kitchen garden, and an Art Deco cocktail bar for up to eight.
• The menu: a surprise tasting of 15 to 20 courses at dinner, or nine at lunch, with the printed menu handed over only at the end.
• The brigade: five staff in total, who were in Japan when the star was read out in Dublin.

That is the whole machine. Inspectors praised dripping-fried porridge with pickled walnut, and house-made oat tofu with fermented broad-bean sauce, black sesame and rose. Tsappis has said the dining room can be loud, that they play records, that they serve no bread and use no tablecloths, and that the people who like it come back. After the star, the house went onto a waiting list. The room did not get bigger.

Those remote Highland restaurants with new stars now sell a scarce seat, not a scalable one. On 30 September 2026 Tsappis was named a finalist for Hotel Restaurant Chef of the Year at the Hotel Cateys, alongside Adam Degg of FIFTY TWO in Harrogate, another 2026 one-star. The winner is due in London on 23 November 2026. The plaque pulled a five-person manse onto a hotel-industry shortlist it was never built to staff like a hotel.

Why 1887’s Double Award Matters in Torridon

1887 is the fine-dining room at The Torridon, a Relais & Châteaux hotel on Upper Loch Torridon in Wester Ross, run by owners Dan and Rohaise Rose-Bristow. Head chef Danny Young, named National Chef of the Year in 2025, took a Michelin star and a Green Star in the same envelope, the only new Scottish room to do both.

Michelin’s inspectors wrote that Highland produce sits under dishes that can read classic or odd, from day-boat John Dory with roast chicken sauce to white chocolate and rocket with preserved brambles. Young said the double award was pride for the whole team, from the kitchen to the local producers, and that sustainability had always been in the work, so seeing it named beside the food mattered.

A lochside hotel can turn a star into nights, whisky flights and garden tours. Killiecrankie has five bedrooms over the pass. 1887 has a resort behind the pass. Same plaque, different shock absorbers. The Green Star, which Michelin uses for kitchens cutting their load on the natural world, now sits on 37 restaurants in this guide, seven of them new, including Timberyard in Edinburgh and The Free Company in Balerno as well as 1887.

Glenlo Abbey Put a Star in Motionless Carriages

The Pullman at Glenlo Abbey Hotel in Galway is the other rural first-star story, and it is a hotel story in open view. The room occupies two restored Orient Express carriages on the estate. It reopened on 1 March 2025 with an aim, stated by the hotel, of reaching a Michelin star. It had one by 9 February 2026, inside a year.

Head chef Angelo Vagiotis cooked at Noma in Copenhagen and Manresa in California, then led Terre at Castlemartyr Resort to two stars. Glenlo’s general manager, Rónán O’Halloran, called the award a proud moment for both floor and kitchen after the restoration. Vagiotis said a star in the first year was a remarkable result for the team and that the cooking was meant to follow Irish seasons.

Stepping inside was like a portal to another time and place. The restoration is so impressive that I felt like I was dining in the midst of their heyday nearly 100 years ago, with flawless service to match. Importantly, the cooking lived up to the surroundings, with outstanding produce and skilful execution. The carriages may be motionless, but my experience was still full of emotion.

Michelin Guide inspector, quoted by Glenlo Abbey Hotel

Dinner runs Wednesday to Sunday, 6:00pm to 9:30pm, as a seven-course tasting. On 18 September 2026 Glenlo Abbey was named among four Irish newcomers in the Michelin Key hotel list. The star did not have to invent a destination. The hotel already had beds, a restored train, and a marketing desk. That is the split the Dublin night treated as one party.

A €75 Lunch Tasting After the Dublin Star

Forest Avenue in Dublin 4 is the city version of the same shock, run by John Wyer and Sandy Wyer from an open kitchen. They opened the restaurant in 2013. Wyer told the Convention Centre, “When you love what you do, it’s easy, and we love what we do.” He also said they run a lovely, authentic restaurant in Dublin 4, and that is what gets them up in the morning. In a ceremony clip he said he was in shock and had never thought it would happen.

Michelin praised cooking that does not show off. Wyer has said about 90% of the vegetables come from a local organic farm. Their sister room Forêt took a new Bib Gourmand, one of 37 named on 2 February 2026, a week before the star night. After the award, Sandy Wyer said diners should book two months ahead, and that the room had been full every night.

THE FOREST AVENUE MENU AFTER THE STAR

• Evening tasting: €95, up from €85 before the star.
• Lunch tasting: €75, the figure attached to a March 2026 meal in the newly starred room.
• The wait: about two months for a table, according to Sandy Wyer after the ceremony.
• The group: Forêt, Little Forest in Blackrock, and Una Bakery in Ranelagh sit around the same family business.

A city restaurant can add a sitting more easily than a 12-cover manse. Even there, the star showed up as a price rise and a longer book, not as extra chairs. Special awards on the night went to Maria Bradford’s Shwen Shwen in Sevenoaks for Opening of the Year, Tom Earnshaw, 27, of Bohemia in Jersey for Young Chef, and Barbara Nealon of Saint Francis Provisions in Kinsale for service.

Somssi Closed Five Weeks After Its Star

The 2026 list also recorded how little a plaque can do for a hotel counter. Somssi by Jihun Kim, a 14-seat Korean chef’s table under Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, took a first star after about six months of trading. On 17 March 2026 Kim posted that he was leaving the hotel. The hotel said Somssi had closed after an exceptional tenure. Trade desks timed the shutdown at five weeks after Dublin.

Michelin’s own new-star round-up now marks the restaurant closed. Kim’s post traced a run from Akira Back at the same hotel through Dosa Kitchen Table, a first star, a loss, and a quiet rebuild as Somssi. The hotel said it would keep cooking in Atrium Restaurant and Hanover Bar. The starred counter did not survive the spring.

FROM THE STAR TO THE MONTHS AFTER

1. 1 March 2025: The Pullman reopens in Galway with a stated aim of a Michelin star.
2. 2 February 2026: Michelin names 37 new Bib Gourmands, including Forêt in Dublin.
3. 9 February 2026: The Dublin ceremony awards 20 new one-stars, two new two-stars, and seven Green Stars.
4. 17 March 2026: Jihun Kim leaves Mandarin Oriental Mayfair; Somssi closes.
5. 18 September 2026: Glenlo Abbey is named a new Michelin Key hotel.
6. 23 November 2026: The Hotel Catey chef award is due in London, with Tsappis on the shortlist.

Several other starred rooms left the 2026 book after closing, among them long-running London dining rooms. Poullennec’s turbulence line was not colour. A star is a demand shock and a labour shock, and it is not a going-concern guarantee. Killiecrankie House is still serving a surprise tasting in a manse that seats 12. Somssi is not. The same winter list recorded both.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Did Ireland First Host the Michelin Guide Ceremony?

The 9 February 2026 event at the Convention Centre Dublin was the first Great Britain and Ireland ceremony on Irish soil since that guide launched in 1974, a 52-year gap. The official Michelin Guide YouTube livestream ran 1 hour 5 minutes and 50 seconds, and Ireland already had starred restaurants for years before it hosted the night.

What Do One, Two and Three Michelin Stars Mean?

Michelin describes one star as a very good restaurant in its category, two stars as excellent cooking worth a detour, and three stars as exceptional cuisine worth a special journey. Inspectors score ingredient quality, mastery of flavour and cooking, the chef’s personality on the plate, harmony of flavours, and consistency between visits.

What Is a Michelin Green Star?

The Green Star is a separate badge for restaurants Michelin’s inspectors judge to be cutting their impact on the natural world, and the guide calls it a complementary recognition rather than a cooking rank. It can sit on a room that also holds one, two or three cooking stars, which is how 1887 in Torridon collected both on 9 February 2026.

Which Restaurants Won Two Michelin Stars in the 2026 Guide?

Bonheur by Matt Abé entered at two stars a few months after opening in the former Le Gavroche rooms in London, after Abé’s years running Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Row on 5 was promoted from one star; it is a Jason Atherton and Spencer Metzger collaboration, and inspectors singled out Inverness langoustine served several ways.

The plaque on a Perthshire door and the empty Mayfair counter came off the same list. One room had five people and 12 seats. The other had a hotel behind it and still did not see out March.