Michelin recognition once more for Peterborough chef Lee Clarke and Prévost

The famed restaurant guide and the latest additions to its list of big hitters were unveiled this week.

But Lee, who moved his fine dining restaurant to the Haycock Manor in Wansford after four years in the city centre, just as lockdown hit, was happy to see the inspectors had once more recognised what the restaurant was capable of after two years of missing out

And it is the first signs that the investment in the kitchen and the team at the Haycock - which has undergone a stunning multi-million pound refurbishment - are starting to pay off.

The Prévost @ the Haycock listing says: “Set in the orangery of a lovingly restored former coaching inn, Lee Clarke’s restaurant is bright and colourful, with bird cage chandeliers, pergolas and a faux olive tree.

“Choose from three set menus of up to 8 courses: imaginative dishes have rich, hearty flavours and are served by an enthusiastic team.”

Lee said: “After a two year break - with the move here and then the long closure brought about the pandemic - I couldn’t be happier,” he said.

“We only reopened at the end of August, so it is almost like being a new restaurant, but the inspectors obviously liked what we are doing.

“It shows the direction we are going which is good news for the hotel and the restaurant.”

“It has been a massive group effort - in particular from head chef Sam Nash and his team - to get us back to where we are and where we want to be.

“I always believed that with a bigger platform and a bigger team, which coming here to the Haycock Manor provided, we could take standards to another level and that is the way things are heading.”

Adebola Adeshina’s Chubby Castor restaurant in nearby Castor retained its entry in to guide with a note: “Time-honoured recipes are reworked, with flavourful dishes presented in a restrained modern vein.”

Jim Trevor’s Six Bells at Witham-on-the-Hill, near Bourne, is also included alongside a clutch of Rutland venues.