Restaurateur blames flood for loss of Michelin star

THE OWNER of Deanes restaurant in Belfast has blamed a disastrous flood last January for the loss of the Michelin star it held for 14 years.

The restaurant on Howard Street was not included in Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2011. There are 143 starred restaurants in the guide, a record, up from 140 last year.

There were no new Irish entries in the guide, but the six restaurants in the Republic which had stars retained them.

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud on Dublin’s Merrion Street remains Ireland’s only two-star restaurant.

Thornton’s, Chapter One, L’Ecrivain and Bon Appetit, all in Dublin, and Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford, all retain their one-star status.

O’Dowd’s Seafood Bar and Restaurant in Roundstone, Co Galway, is the only new Irish entrant in the Le Bib Gourmet category, which recognises good food in value-for-money establishments.

Owner of Deanes chef Michael Deane said losing the star after 14 years did not come as a surprise given the start his flagship restaurant had to last year.

A pipe burst upstairs in the restaurant at the end of the big freeze last January and water damage to the downstairs area forced the restaurant to close for four months.

At the time, Mr Deane described the damage as being similar to what would have happened had the restaurant been fire-bombed.

Mr Deane, who attended the centenary Michelin guide celebrations in London last night, was philosophical about the loss of the star. He opened Deanes in 1997. It won a star in its first year and retained it until this year.

“We were forced to close our premises in a period of time that would have been crucial for Michelin inspections. I suspected this year it would be unlikely we would retain our star. I have always held Michelin’s judgment in the highest regard and continue to do so,” he said.

“Now that we have re-established ourselves, we will keep on doing what we do best, cooking great local produce served with excellence, and who knows what next year will bring?”

The editor of this year’s guide, Derek Bulmer, who has just retired, said Mr Deane could not blame his exclusion from the guide solely on the floods.

“The floods might have limited the number of times we went there, but we did get there enough to make the decision. I don’t think the flood came into our consideration,” he said.

“We hate taking stars away – especially from restaurants that have it for a long time, but I’m afraid we did find that the standards had begun to slip slightly against a background of rising standards elsewhere.

“We felt we had no option but to take it away, which is a pity.”