Chefs and restaurant owners across the country are celebrating today after Michelin announced the latest additions to its prestigious guide.
Featuring a total of 1,285 UK restaurants, including 194 Michelin-starred establishments and 122 with a Bib Gourmand, the 2022 edition is made even more momentous by the impressive number of new stars in this year’s selection.
There are three tiers to the Michelin star award and earning three stars is considered to be the pinnacle of a chef's career, only achieved by a handful of establishments.
Read more: Bristol restaurants that deserve a Michelin star
But even being awarded one star is highly commendable, and there are three Bristol restaurants that can boast this: Casamia, Paco Tapas and Bulrush.
There is one new three-star restaurant entering the 2022 guide - L’Enclume in Cumbria - along with five new two stars and 19 new one stars.
Sadly there are no new restaurants in Bristol celebrating news of a Michelin star today - but one restaurant in the city has been handed a Michelin Green Star, which highlights restaurants at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices.
Read more: Bristol's Michelin-starred restaurants and where to find them
Michelin states restaurants with this honour are "a source of inspiration both for keen foodies and the hospitality industry as a whole".
Since Bristol is known for being one of the greenest cities in the UK, it's perhaps not surprising that Wilson's in Redland has been awarded this accolade.
The Chandos Road bistro, headed up by chef Jan Ostle and his partner Mary, becomes the second restaurant in the Bristol region to earn a Green Star, after The Ethicurean in Wrington picked one up last year.
Wilson's - which was last year recognised with a Michelin Plate (the third tier of Michelin's award system after the star and Bib Gourmand) - has long placed a focus on sustainability, which is something its diners appreciate - not to mention the exquisite food, of course.
Its menu is deliberately limited, offering customers “next to no choice” in order to serve fresh, local produce including vegetables from its own farm, fish from Cornwall and chicken from a small-scale farm operation in Wiltshire.
Named after Mary’s former family restaurant in London, Wilson's rejects the "short-sighted" approach of "ordering whatever you want, whenever you want" because of its detrimental impact on the environment.
“It’s not sustainable to keep food at low cost and have it on tap all the time,” said Jan in an interview with Bristol Live last year.
“With one plate of food, you could add 30 kilos of carbon to the atmosphere. I’m not saying that tuna is not incredible, but is it that good we are willing to risk the ecosystem of the sea?”
Wilson's is regarded by many as one of the finest restaurants in Bristol and it even eclipsed Casamia as the city's top restaurant in an influential national diners’ poll earlier this year, and this recognition only strengthens its case.
The bistro is the city’s only entry in the Top 100 of Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2022 at number 80.
Harden's description for Wilson’s reads: “Unbelievable value for the most sensational food produced in a minuscule kitchen, agree fans of Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson’s hyper-local Redland bistro.
"Three cheers for this welcoming local, with very friendly, efficient, knowledgeable service in simple surroundings. The kitchen relies on home-grown veg and local suppliers to produce the most brilliant mixture of innovative dishes, textures and tastes.”
Wilson's is located at 24 Chandos Rd, Redland, Bristol BS6 6PF. More information can be found on its website.
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