Anstruther chef awarded Michelin star

The Cellar in Anstruther has been awarded a Michelin star. Picture: Google.

Billy Boyter, who runs The Cellar in Anstruther, has become the latest Scot to gain a Michelin star and he revealed that he only found out about the career-defining moment after he was tagged in a tweet from the guide’s Twitter account.  The guide controversially announced its new set of stars on social media yesterday ahead of its planned scheduled announcement of 7:30am this morning, after a bookshop began selling issues ahead of the deadline.

Two restaurants newly awarded two stars are both Japanese – Araki and Umu – and both in London’s Mayfair.

Boyter, 31, who is originally from Anstruther, spent 15 years working in some of Scotland’s best restaurants before re-opening the popular East Neuk restaurant in April 2014.

It had closed following the death of award-winning chef and owner Peter Jukes, who had run the restaurant for 30 years, in December 2012.

He said: “We’re all a bit shellshocked to tell you the truth. We weren’t aiming for a Michelin star, our principles have always been that if you do good food then the accolades will follow. We’ve never chased it.

“The first I knew was when my phone beeped to say I had been tagged in a tweet from the Michelin Guide. I was blown away.”

The Michelin guide tweeted: “Let down once again by a bookshop here are the new #MichelinStars2016” and then proceeded to announce its new stars.

It added: “Once again apologies to everyone. We wanted you to hear it from us first. It was out of our hands.”

Heston Blumenthal’s famed three-star The Fat Duck is absent from this year’s guide as, following a temporary move to Australia, it had not reopened in time for the guide to assess it.

Andrew Fairlie’s restaurant at Gleneagles is again the top Scots restaurant boasting the country’s only two Michelin stars. In total Scotland has 13 single star restaurants. The others are Martin Wishart at both Loch Lomond and Edinburgh; Number One at the Balmoral, 21212, and Tom Kitchin in Edinburgh and outside the city – Eriska in Argyll, Braidwoods at Dalry in North Ayrshire, Sangster’sin Leven, Fife, Albannach at Lochinver, Boath House in Nairn, The Peat Inn in St Andrews and Kinloch Lodge on the Isle of Skye.

Kinloch’s chef director, Marcello Tully, said “It’s amazing to get this high level of recognition, the Michelin star system is probably the most well-known accolade – the Oscars of the food industry. The entire team work incredibly hard to maintain the high standards and consistency.”

The Michelin Guide editor Rebecca Burr, said: “The next generation of chefs are really coming through to give the established chefs a run for their money. They all have their own individual style and their ability, coupled with their confidence, looks set to lead them on to great things.”