Gordon Ramsay at The London – Ramsay’s Midtown hotel dining room in New York – has bagged two stars in the new Michelin New York guide, published today. Of the nine stars he collectively craves for his flagship restaurants – three each in London, New York and Paris – he now holds five. (A pretty good start, given that his Paris, or at least Versailles, operation is not yet open.)

The two star result must be considered reasonably satisfactory for Ramsay, given the lukewark reception from local media, not least Frank Bruni at the NYTimes.

The three-star restaurants, all in Midtown, are Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se.

PS (9 October). Correction: the guide is actually published on Thursday. Further, we have the Daily Mail to thank for pointing out that Ramsay, with 12 stars in total, is now the most Michelin-starred chef in the world, which will doubtless provide a ‘peg’ for even more media hype in future.

PPS (10 October). The big issue with Michelin, which we’d nobly avoided pointing out in this context until now, is that, as NYMag puts it today “nearly everyone we know agrees that the book sucks”. Everyone (including us) gets embroiled in taking Michelin to some extent seriously because it’s the only truly international show in town (so to speak). But in each of London, Paris and New York, serious concerns are expressed about the quality of the guide, and the credibility of its research effort.

PPPS (10 October) Reliable sources suggest that Ramsay actually has only 11 Michelin stars, as one of the 12 is for his ex-restaurant at the Connaught.