Ramsay retains his third Michelin star

The TV chef Gordon Ramsay's grip on the culinary world held fast yesterday as his Mayfair restaurant kept its triple Michelin-star rating.

Three stars were also retained by the Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn, both at Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire, the only two other restaurants in the UK in this elite category, when the 2005 Michelin Restaurant Guide was published yesterday.

The Midsummer House in Cambridge was the only restaurant in the UK to break into the culinary bible's two-star domain this year. It joins 11 other restaurants which already had two stars.

A lick of paint and an ever-changing menu were credited with helping the restaurant gain its second star. Daniel Clifford, its 31-year-old chef, has a "scientific laboratory" in the kitchens where he experiments with flavours for up to six hours at a time, his spokeswoman said yesterday.

"He's constantly looking for new ways to change the menu, it's a real passion for him. Three stars are definitely within his reach," she added.

The new venture by the chef Gary Rhodes, Rhodes Twenty Four, which was set up after the closure of his two Michelin-starred restaurants, Rhodes in the Square and Rhodes in the City, was awarded a single star, joining 104 others in the category.