London restaurant joins 3-Michelin-star elite club

Britain has now got a fourth restaurant boasting three Michelin stars after the restaurant at The Dorchester Hotel, which is owned by French chef Alain Ducasse, earned the rare top ranking. Skip related content
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The Fat Duck is another three-star establishment, run by Heston Blumenthal Enlarge photo

    * The Fat Duck is another three-star establishment, run by Heston Blumenthal Enlarge photo
    * French chef Alain Ducasse Enlarge photo

Ducasse joins Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Alain Roux in the three-star elite club in the 2010 Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland.

"To receive such prestigious recognition from Michelin is a great honour," said Ducasse.

"The team here has worked very hard to maintain the level of service and cuisine, and I am very proud of our achievements."

The Dorchester's general manager Roland Fasel said the restaurant presents "outstanding cuisine in elegant surroundings with an unmatched level of service; features that mark our success and ones which Michelin recognise as symbols of excellence."

Guide editor Derek Bulmer said: "Last year was clearly a difficult year for hotels and restaurants but those establishments who reacted by being more flexible and creative appear to be riding the storm.

"Chefs have had to be more resourceful and restaurants have had to adapt to changing eating habits. Some have even introduced 'credit crunch' menus to help fight the recession.

"Long-established restaurants have proved to be resilient but we have also seen plenty of new openings.

"As we head into this new decade, the hotel and restaurant industry appears to be leaner and fitter.

"Greater emphasis is being placed on satisfying customers' needs; diversity continues to be one of the UK's greater strengths and the public's interest in chefs, food and cooking shows no sign of abating."

The 2010 Michelin Guide, which comes out on Wednesday, recommended more than 1,900 hotels and guesthouses, and around 1,900 restaurants and pubs.

The Michelin has been the top food guide for more than a century.

The Michelin "Red Guide" began in 1900 as a way of promoting tyres and guiding owners of the first motor cars to France's best restaurants.

The firm's feared inspectors are still regarded as the most serious in the business, and winning and losing Michelin stars can make or break a restaurant or the reputation of a chef.

Britain's Michelin three-starred restaurants:

Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea, London

Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair, London

The Fat Duck (Heston Blumenthal), Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire

The Waterside Inn (Alain Roux), Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire

hilpa Shetty to take marriage celebration to House of Commons?

London, After her fairytale marriage to Britain-based businessman Raj Kundra, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is reportedly planning to hold a grand reception this week at the House of Commons.
Mirror.co.uk reports that Shilpa, who became a big name in the west after winning the “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2007, will hold a special ­reception at the House of Commons Wednesday.
“The ­celebrations have been organised partly by MP Keith Vaz and they are thrilled to be ­holding their special day at such an iconic British location. Shilpa’s having a ceremony in India too but the British celebrations are going to be big and they’ve spent a lot of money ­organising a grand affair,” said a source.
Shilpa met Raj after her win on the British reality show “Big Brother” in 2007. They tied the knot Nov 22 and they share a seven-bedroom house in ­Weybridge, Surrey.
Reportedly Shilpa Shetty’s wedding jewellery was worth Rs.3 crore (Rs.30 million).

Shilpa to bring Bollywood glamour to beleaguered British parliament

London, The British parliament, down in the dumps over a long-running expenses scandal, is set to brighten up to a touch of Indian glamour Wednesday when it hosts a wedding dinner in honour of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra.
The dinner at the House of Commons is to be hosted by Keith Vaz, Britain’s longest serving MP of Indian origin, and is expected to be attended by prominent British MPs and ministers led by the Leader of the House of Commons and Equality Minister Harriet Harman.
Leading members of the Asian community and corporate leaders will also figure among an estimated 150 guests, said Vaz, who attended the wedding of Shilpa and London-based businessman Kundra in Mumbai November 2009.
“I am absolutely thrilled that we are able to celebrate the wedding of Shilpa and Raj in the House of Commons,” he told IANS Tuesday.
“The wedding ceremony in India was an absolutely beautiful occasion and I am so pleased to be able to bring some of the celebrations to the UK. Both Shilpa and Raj have done so much for charitable causes.”
“Chefs at the House of Commons have created a special dessert called Shilpa’s Delight,” added Vaz, who first met Shilpa after she appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, a TV reality show, in 2007.
Wednesday’s dinner is set to cheer a parliament that has been hit by a scandal over expense claims filed by British MPs, many of which have been criticised as a wastage of public money.
Members returned Tuesday after a much-needed Christmas break following months of media revelations over their expense claims, including one for clearing a moat around an MP’s country estate.
“It’s a dinner in honour of Shilpa and Raj, but I’m sure it will enormously cheer up all of us at the House of Commons because we associate Shilpa with India and glamour,” said Vaz.
“It will cheer us up also because it’s getting so cold here,” said Vaz, as Britain prepared for Arctic weather conditions this week. Temperatures are set to dip to minus 10 in parts of Britain amid predictions of the coldest winter in 100 years.
Shilpa is an international patron of Silver Star, a charity founded by Vaz to raise