1 Michelin star chefs: Adam Handling, Ugly Butterfly
Adam Handling MBE is chef owner of newquay restaurant Ugly Butterfly, awarded its first Michelin star in 2026.
The star is Adam's second, following the continued success of Frog by Adam Handling in Covent Garden, which first won its star in 2022.
The recognition came at the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland ceremony in Dublin in February 2026, two days before Ugly Butterfly reopened after a major refurbishment on February 11.
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The restaurant relocated to Newquay from Carbis Bay in the summer of 2025, and the refurbishment gave Adam's team its first proper chance to reshape the space since opening under tight timelines at the height of last year's summer season.
Early career and background
Adam was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1988.
He started his career at 16 as an apprentice chef at Gleneagles Hotel, working his way from vegetable preparation to running the grill within nine months.
He spent almost three years at Gleneagles, before becoming head chef at Fairmont St Andrews in Fife for two years.
In 2011 he travelled for a year, spending time in Japan developing an interest in zero-waste cooking that would go on to shape much of his later work.
Returning to London, he became head chef at St Ermin's Hotel in St James's Park, and in 2013 reached the final three of MasterChef: The Professionals.
Founding the Adam Handling Collection
In 2014 Adam opened Restaurant Adam Handling at Caxton, which earned three AA rosettes and was named best newcomer UK restaurant by Food and Travel Magazine in 2015.
He opened The Frog in Spitalfields in 2016, before launching his flagship, Frog by Adam Handling, in Covent Garden the following year, alongside Eve Bar and a zero-waste pop-up called Ugly Butterfly in Chelsea.
Ugly Butterfly found a permanent home at Carbis Bay Estate in St Ives Bay in August 2021, the same year Adam opened his first restaurant outside London, The Loch & The Tyne, in Old Windsor.
The Tartan Fox, a pub near Newquay, followed in July 2024, ahead of Ugly Butterfly's own move to the town.
Ugly Butterfly closed at Carbis Bay in June 2025 after four years, before reopening at The Headland Hotel in Newquay that summer, on a tight turnaround at the height of the season.
Adam Handling's cooking style
Ugly Butterfly's food is rooted in hyper-local Cornish produce, in line with the Adam Handling Collection's wider ethos of redefining British
cooking through a strong sense of place.
Since the refurbishment, the main restaurant and terrace serve a single tasting menu built around ingredients from the South West's larder.
A separate bar food menu centred on caviar and lobster is available in the bar or in the restaurant's new Afternoon Tea Lounge, extending that produce-led approach across every part of the experience.
Adam said: "We've relaunched with a bigger focus on seafood, reflecting our views over the ocean, while our nearby pub, The Tartan Fox, will be more meat-led."
Sustainability has run through his cooking since his time developing zero-waste techniques in Japan, and shows up at Ugly Butterfly in a menu shaped as much by what the coastline provides as by classical technique.
Michelin star at Ugly Butterfly
Ugly Butterfly was awarded its first Michelin star at the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland ceremony in Dublin on February 9, 2026.
Michelin pointed to the restaurant's well-balanced flavours and technical prowess, one of 20 new one-star restaurants added to the guide that year.
It is the first Michelin star for Ugly Butterfly under any of its sites, and the second for the Adam Handling Collection overall, following Frog by Adam Handling's star, first awarded in 2022 and held every year since.
Adam said: "To receive a second Michelin star for the Collection, and the first for Ugly Butterfly, at this moment is incredibly special.
"It recognises the hard work of the whole team and confirms that what we're building here in Cornwall is something truly world-class."
Beyond Ugly Butterfly
Frog by Adam Handling remains the group's flagship, and has held its Michelin star at its Covent Garden home since 2022.
Adam was appointed MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to hospitality and international trade.
He created the official coronation pudding for King Charles III in 2023, the same year he won Great British Menu's Champion of Champions title.
His wider portfolio includes The Loch & The Tyne in Old Windsor, The Tartan Fox near Newquay, an Adam Handling Chocolate Shop in Covent Garden, and Ahrelia, a caviar company he launched in 2026.
With Michelin stars now either side of the country, one in London and one on the Cornish coast, Adam has built a collection that stretches from tasting menus to pub food, all tied together by the produce-first approach he started developing as an apprentice more than two decades ago.
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