The head chef at The Barn at Moor Hall has said that he’s ‘so proud’ to have won his first Michelin star.
The restaurant scooped the coveted accolade this morning, as the famous food guide announced the annual list of new recipients.
Nathan Cornwell, who works alongside chef patron Mark Birchall at the converted barn outside Ormskirk, has been at the helm of the restaurant since 2019.
Nathan Cornwell said: “I am so proud to see The Barn win a star. As a team we’ve worked tirelessly to make The Barn what it is today and I’m fortunate to work with such incredible people and world class produce.
“Thank you to Michelin for awarding our restaurant with such a coveted accolade and, of course, our guests, suppliers, and team.
“Finally, a huge thank you to Mark who has given me the platform to achieve these goals.”
Birchall added: “I’m extremely proud of Nathan and the whole team in The Barn for achieving their first Michelin star as well as everyone that’s made achieving a Green Star possible.
“The Barn is a beautiful neighbourhood restaurant, offering simple, seasonal dishes. It’s a great reward for Nathan and the team and I know our guests will be as thrilled as we are!”
Birchall also runs Moor Hall, the grade II-listed manor house just adjacent to the Barn, and the recipient of two Michelin stars in consecutive years.
The Barn opened in 2017, and like Moor Hall, champions the produce grown in its own kitchen garden, on the manor’s five acre estate.
Cornwell has devised celebrated dishes like including 60-day aged Jersey beef tartare with Jerusalem artichoke, nasturtium and squab pigeon with confit leg parcel, quince purée and chutney sauce.
The Barn is also markedly cheaper than the main Moor Hall restaurant.
While Moor Hall charges £195 for its eight course evening tasting menu (or £95 for its shorter four course at lunch time), starters at The Barn range from £10 to £22, with main courses from £18 to £36.
The Barn joins a number of northern establishments to have been celebrated by Michelin this year.
Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in the Lake District, where Birchall also worked as a head chef, was awarded a coveted third star, one of just eight restaurants in the UK to hold three stars.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Thom Hetherington, CEO of the Northern Restaurant and Bar show, said: “It’s hard to emphasise quite what an achievement L’Enclume’s three stars are. Only eleven restaurants have ever been awarded three stars in the entire 49 year history of the UK Michelin Guide, and none have ever been outside of London and the South East.
“For me Simon and his team have been operating at the highest level for more than four years now, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that it’s finally been recognised in this way.
“And let’s not forget The Barn Hall at Moor Hall also picked up a star, to sit alongside the two stars for Moor Hall Itself, and that Cumbria already had more Michelin stars than any other county but with L’Enclume’s third and The Dog and Duck at Skelton picking up a new star it now has 10.
“It is truly a world class gastronomic destination, but the depth and breadth of talent right across the North, from Lancashire to Yorkshire, Northumbria, where Pine also deservedly picked up a first star, to Cheshire is currently at an all-time high.”
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