1 Michelin star chefs: Martin Carabott, Gravetye Manor
Martin Carabott is executive chef at Gravetye Manor, the Elizabethan manor house hotel and restaurant on the West Sussex borders of Kent and Surrey, where the Dining Room has held a Michelin star for 11 consecutive years.
The star was first awarded in 2015, a year into the tenure of Martin’s predecessor, George Blogg, and has been retained every year since.
Martin took over as executive chef on April 1, 2025, and was in the room for his first Michelin Guide ceremony in the job when Gravetye Manor's star was reconfirmed at the Great Britain & Ireland awards in Dublin in February 2026.
The hotel also holds two Michelin Keys, the guide's separate quality mark for exceptional accommodation, awarded in October 2024, alongside four AA rosettes and four AA red stars.
Early career and background
Martin is originally from Malta.
His career in UK kitchens has taken in some of the country's most demanding fine dining rooms: he worked as senior sous chef at Apsley's, Heinz Beck's Michelin-starred restaurant at The Lanesborough hotel in London, and at the Royal Automobile Club, picking up recognition along the way, including the Club Secretaries' and Managers' Association award for culinary excellence in 2013 and the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts' annual award of excellence in 2014.
In 2016 he was named British Culinary Federation Chef of the Year and reached the final of the Craft Guild of Chefs' National Chef of the Year.
He then moved to Luca, the modern Italian restaurant in Clerkenwell, as senior sous chef, before joining Hide in 2018, working under chef Ollie Dabbous while the Mayfair restaurant was still being built.
That year, at 29 and on his third attempt, Martin won The Roux Scholarship. His prize placement took him to three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park in New York.
Joining Gravetye Manor
Martin was promoted to head chef of Above at Hide, the restaurant's rooftop dining room, for its reopening on May 18, 2021.
He went on to become group head chef across Hide, before returning to Luca in early 2024, this time as head of development. He joined Gravetye Manor as executive chef on April 1, 2025, succeeding George Blogg, who had led the kitchen since 2014 and left the business in December 2024; Theo Clench had stepped in as interim head chef in the meantime.
Martin Carabott's cooking style
Martin's cooking is built around Gravetye's own 35-acre garden, and in particular its elliptical walled kitchen garden, understood to be the only one of its kind in the country.
He works directly with head gardener Tom Coward on what gets planted each season, and has said the garden's proximity to the kitchen changes what is possible on the plate: produce can be picked and cooked within two hours, ripened fully rather than harvested early to survive transport.
Martin told The Knife: "I firmly believe that seasonal, local produce if anything is the foundation to real fine dining luxury."
He has described dishes built directly from conversations with Tom, including beetroot paired with Slipcote, a tangy local ewe's milk cheese, and monkfish cooked over charcoal for the smokiness it brings to a meaty fish.
Martin said: "The seasons dictate the plates."
Michelin star at Gravetye Manor
Gravetye Manor's Dining Room first won its Michelin star in 2015, a year into George Blogg's time as head chef, and has held it every year since.
Martin was in his first year in the job when the star was reconfirmed at the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland ceremony in Dublin on February 9, 2026, taking the run to 11 consecutive years.
Martin said: "It is a huge honour to have been invited to attend the Michelin Guide ceremony and to receive the news in person that we have retained Gravetye's Michelin star.
“For many years Gravetye Manor Hotel and Restaurant has enjoyed a wonderful reputation for providing exceptional Michelin star quality and I am proud to be continuing this legacy."
The two Michelin Keys held by the hotel are a separate accolade, covering the accommodation rather than the restaurant, and were awarded in October 2024, before Martin's arrival.
Beyond Gravetye Manor
Martin remains part of the Roux Scholarship's alumni network, the competition he has credited with shaping his approach to fine dining after more than a decade working through some of London's most demanding kitchens.
His route to Gravetye by way of Apsley's, the Royal Automobile Club, Luca and Hide has given him a broad grounding in different kitchen cultures, one he has said informs how he now runs his own brigade.
With a Michelin star now in its second decade at Gravetye Manor, Martin's task is less about winning new recognition than building on an established legacy while making the kitchen, and its garden, his own.
(Photos: Jodi Hinds)
Other Michelin Star Chefs
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