1 Michelin star chefs: Chris Bassett, Portland
Chris Bassett is executive chef at Portland, the Michelin-starred neighbourhood restaurant on Great Portland Street in Fitzrovia, and at its more relaxed sister restaurant, Clipstone.
Both are part of Woodhead Restaurant Group, founded by school friends William Lander and Daniel Morgenthau.
Portland opened in January 2015 and won its Michelin star within months, a star it has held every year since, most recently reconfirmed in February 2026.
The restaurant marked its tenth anniversary in January 2025, a milestone shared with the group behind it.
Early career and background
Chris built his early career in the north of England.
He worked under Michael Caines in Chester, the chef best known for his long tenure at two-Michelin-starred Gidleigh Park in Devon.
He later became head chef at Hispi, Gary Usher's crowdfunded neighbourhood bistro in Didsbury, south Manchester.
Joining Woodhead Restaurant Group
Chris's time with Woodhead began at The Quality Chop House, the historic Farringdon Road dining room that the group now operates.
From there he moved into the group's Fitzrovia restaurants, playing a central role at both Portland and Clipstone before stepping up to executive chef across the two.
Clipstone opened in the summer of 2016 on Clipstone Street, a short walk from Portland, as the group's more informal sibling.
At Portland, he works alongside head chef Angelica Hope, the restaurant's longest-serving team member, who rose from chef de partie to lead the kitchen.
The pair compiled Portland's five-course anniversary tasting menu in January 2025, built around dishes from the restaurant's first decade, including crispy chicken skin with liver parfait, candied walnuts and Muscat grapes, and a Highland beef wellington with Bordelaise sauce.
Chris Bassett's cooking style
Portland's cooking is seasonal, ingredient-led and deliberately restrained.
The menu is often reprinted after lunch as ingredients run out and are replaced, and the Michelin Guide highlights a kitchen that does as little as possible to its raw ingredients, with every component on the plate there to lift another.
Dishes have included roast monkfish with charred brassicas, potato purée and an Exmoor caviar sauce, and Sika venison with a warm beetroot terrine, crispy capers, kalettes and horseradish.
Snacks are a fixture, from a mushroom and Parmesan macaron to a duck sausage roll with clementine, and there is always pastry on the menu, with apple tart tatin a regular for pudding.
The bread course of sourdough, soda bread, whey butter and a hollandaise infused with toasted hay has become one of the restaurant's signatures.
Chris told OpenTable: "Fine dining can sometimes feel intimidating, but our team has a real talent for making people feel instantly comfortable."
That approachability has been part of Portland's identity from the start.
William said: "Fine dining was never our aim. Our focus has always been on serving accomplished, yet above all, delicious food in a warm and welcoming setting."
Michelin star at Portland
Portland was awarded its Michelin star in the 2016 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland, around nine months after opening, under founding chef Merlin Labron-Johnson.
The star predates Chris's time as executive chef, but it has been retained through several changes in the kitchen since Merlin's departure in 2018.
It was most recently reconfirmed at the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland ceremony in Dublin on Monday, February 9, 2026.
Chris told OpenTable: "Retaining our Michelin star every year since opening is something the whole team is immensely proud of."
The guide sums up the restaurant simply, noting that "the pared-down look of the room matches the understated food."
Beyond Portland
Chris also leads the kitchen at Clipstone, giving him oversight of two of Woodhead's three Fitzrovia restaurants.
The group's portfolio also includes The Quality Chop House, Quality Wines and 64 Goodge Street, the Gallic-inspired restaurant that opened in August 2023 and won a Michelin star in February 2025, giving Woodhead two starred restaurants within walking distance of each other.
With Portland now past its tenth birthday and its star intact, Chris's task is keeping a decade-old restaurant as sharp and unfussy as the one that won recognition within months of opening.
Other Michelin Star Chefs
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