Plates, the restaurant from brother-sister duo Kirk and Keeley Haworth, is the first ever plant-based restaurant in the UK to receive a Michelin star in the 2025 Michelin Awards Ceremony.
Having opened just seven months ago in July 2024, Plates has quickly established itself as a leader in plant-based cooking and has welcomed unprecedented demand following opening. The restaurant’s innovative approach is threaded throughout, from design to menu, showcasing its devotion to both food and nature.
Naturally, a focus on incredible produce lies at the heart of the restaurant, with Kirk working closely with every element he puts on a plate, transforming and delving deeper into the potential of every ingredient. The menu is both innovative and comforting, championing whole, organic produce and working in collaboration with local and trusted suppliers giving credibility to the plant-focussed sphere, something Kirk was celebrated for with his victory as the “Champion of Champions” on BBC’s Great British Menu last year.
Plates’ aim is to change the perception of how fruits, vegetables and plants can be transformed. Kirk has striven to challenge the norms of traditional fine gastronomy, placing plant-based dining at the highest level, yet ensuring it is open to all. The restaurant offers diners seven or eight course tasting menus with dishes including barbecued Maitake mushroom, black bean mole, kimchi, aioli & puffed rice; caramelised Lion’s Mane, smoked shio koji, bread caramel, cauliflower cream & black truffle jus; and raw cacao gateau, sour cherry, coconut blossom ice cream, African pepper, toasted macadamia & raw caramel sauce. Throughout its opening months, fans of Great British Menu have also been able to try some of Kirk’s top scoring dishes, including his winning dessert, ‘A Taste of Unity’, a dish awarded a perfect score in the competition and which was described by chef Tom Kerridge as “just phenomenal cooking’’.
The 25-cover dining room and 20-cover private dining space and development kitchen are enveloped in textural earthy tones with low light; the use of pigments and colours that celebrate nature can be seen throughout. The bar around the open kitchen is hand-crafted from felled London trees, offering three guests, or solo diners, a chance to dine at the chef’s counter and be at the heart of the action. A dried seaweed installation pays homage, through art, to the plants to which we owe delicacy of flavour.
The next chapter for Plates takes the form of Plates Farm and Retreat, in the heart of the southwestern French countryside and which opens its doors in May 2025.
Kirk says “Earning a Michelin star is such an incredible honour and a lifetime goal since I was a young boy. To be the first in the plant-based sphere in the UK to win this prestigious award makes me unbelievably proud, and I am so grateful to our talented team for their support and dedication.” Keeley adds “At Plates, we’ve always believed in pushing boundaries, and this achievement proves that plant-based dining can stand proudly at the highest level of gastronomy.”