A TripAdvisor-topping restaurant in Fordham is to feature in the 2018 Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland.

Ely Standard: Fordham restaurant The White Pheasant is set to be featured in the Michelin Guide 2018. They have also received AA Rosettes four years in a row.Fordham restaurant The White Pheasant is set to be featured in the Michelin Guide 2018. They have also received AA Rosettes four years in a row. (Image: Archant)

It comes after The White Pheasant - rated as Ely’s top restaurant for several years on TripAdvisor - was awarded the AA rosette for culinary excellence for the fourth year in a row.

Gary Holland, who co-owns the restaurant with his son Calvin, said: “It is an honour.

Ely Standard: Fordham restaurant The White Pheasant is set to be featured in the Michelin Guide 2018. They have also received AA Rosettes four years in a row.Fordham restaurant The White Pheasant is set to be featured in the Michelin Guide 2018. They have also received AA Rosettes four years in a row. (Image: Archant)

“My son is head chef now, he started as a pot washer when he was at school and he returned as owner/head chef when we opened the restaurant together in 2013.”

Gary puts the success down to the restaurant’s “loyal customers. It’s nice to get recognition from the Michelin guide and the AA Rosette Awards.

“The Michelin Guide only features a select amount of restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland so for us to be featured is an extreme honour.

“We’ve had several visits from inspectors over the years and finally one pulled my son to the side and revealed we were set to be in the Michelin guide.

“We’ve had to keep it a secret until now.”

Rather than just a meal out, Gary says The White Pheasant offers an “experience. We’re a small team, with four in the kitchen and seven front of house. They all deserve a pat on the back.”

The White Pheasant on Market Street is also one of the first independent restaurants in Cambridgeshire with its own mobile phone app.

According to www.theaa.com ‘AA Rosettes are awarded solely by AA hotel and restaurant inspectors with no influence from hotels, restaurants or other guides.

‘The AA Rosette scheme is long established and successfully recognises cooking at different levels nationwide.

‘The success or failure in achieving rosettes is based on at least one visit to a hotel or restaurant. Essentially it’s a snapshot, whereby the entire meal including ancillary items are assessed.

‘Of all the restaurants across the UK, approximately 10 per cent are of a standard which is worthy of one rosette and above’.