Thomas Carr 1873 awarded Michelin star despite ceremony omission

Chef Thomas Carr’s eponymous restaurant in Devon has won a Michelin star, despite not being mentioned in the official ceremony.

Thomas Carr 1873 in Ilfracombe, which opened in September 2020, did not feature in the Great Britain and Ireland Guide 2021 revelation on Monday (25 January).

But a Michelin spokesperson confirmed the restaurant has been awarded one star and it is included on the guide’s website.

It is understood there may have been confusion over whether to include the opening alongside other new stars due to the team’s recent relocation.

Carr’s former Olive Room restaurant in Ilfracombe held a Michelin star since 2016 but it closed in 2020 due to issues arising from the pandemic. The chef and his team launched Thomas Carr 1873 in the town’s former Victorian police station last September.

A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page said the team was “utterly overwhelmed and delighted”.

It said: ”It was a massive risk to leave the Olive Room and the in doing so we had to sacrifice the Star that we had held for three years as it remains with the building rather than the chef.

“We opened in September in a new premises, during a global pandemic but with the same small dedicated team who were passionate and eager to create something fantastic and worthy of Michelin recognition.

“Despite having had to close during November and again now in January, we have been so brilliantly supported by guests, which included a visit from Michelin who tweeted shortly after their visit.

“It has been an extraordinarily stressful couple of weeks waiting to hear whether we had managed to gain a star for 1873, but this evening all of our hard work has paid off and we are completely over the moon!”

Thomas Carr 1873 offers six-course tasting menus featuring fish from Ilfracombe’s harbour.

Carr was previously head chef at two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Nathan Outlaw and executive chef at Michael Caines’ the Coach House at Kentisbury Grange.

Photo credit: Ashleigh Brown and BBC