Michael O’Hare: The Truth About Michelin Stars, Money and Failure

Michael O’Hare: The Truth About Michelin Stars, Money and Failure

From ballet dancer and Billy Elliot hopeful to Michelin-starred chef, Michael O’Hare’s journey is anything but conventional. In this episode of The Go-To Food Podcast, Michael traces his path from Middlesbrough to the top of British fine dining via aerospace engineering, Jamie Oliver cookbooks, formative kitchen years and time spent at Noma, before blowing the doors off the scene with The Man Behind the Curtain. It’s a story shaped as much by instinct and curiosity as by rebellion against tradition.

Michael speaks candidly about what success really costs. He breaks down the brutal economics of Michelin-starred restaurants, the impossible margins, the pressure to keep raising prices, and the moment he realised that even full dining rooms no longer meant financial survival. For the first time in detail, he explains the HMRC debt that followed the closure of his restaurants, how his wages became reframed as loans, and what it actually means to “go bankrupt” in modern hospitality. It’s a rare, unfiltered look behind the headlines.

Beyond the business, Michael unpacks his philosophy on food and creativity. He rails against homogenisation in restaurants, arguing that haute cuisine has slipped into fast-fashion thinking, where identity is lost and trends are copied plate for plate. He challenges ideas around seasonality, menu poetry and performative complexity, and tells the stories behind some of his most infamous dishes, from raw prawns and potato custard to why a “tikka prawn” can be more honest than something that looks clever on paper.

The conversation moves effortlessly between the serious and the absurd: chaotic kitchen stories, onion-ring addictions, shower cups of tea, the strangest customers he’s ever faced, and why he believes restaurants should feel more like homes than institutions. We also hear about his new chapter, a radically intimate restaurant built around balance, control and cooking purely for joy. Funny, fierce and deeply human, this is Michael O’Hare as you’ve never heard him before.

00:00 Intro
00:32 The best meal ever at The Ledbury
02:18 Albert Adrià & 41 Degrees
03:57 Michael’s new restaurant in Boston Spa
05:40 Cooking in the Alps with guest chefs
08:24 The rise and fall of Psycho Sandbar
08:44 How ‘The Man Behind The Curtain’ started on £30k
10:49 Financial struggles, rent hikes, and closure
15:28 The story behind the name “The Man Behind The Curtain”
17:30 Winning a Michelin Star & Great British Menu at the same time
20:00 Views on seasonality
21:04 Iconic dishes (Emancipation, raw prawn tails) & creativity
24:40 The “fast fashion” of restaurant food
27:26 Gareth Ward stories (Onion rings in the shower)
30:00 Serving a laxative (Cascara) on the menu
32:53 The dish he is most proud of
35:46 Why David Bowie inspired him more than The Roux Brothers
39:56 Working with Gary Neville & GG Hospitality
41:40 Becoming a Leeds United fan
47:30 The brutal reality of debt and liquidation
51:26 How the industry reacted to his failure
56:07 Ballet background & Billy Elliot comparisons
59:47 Quitting Aerospace Engineering to cook
01:05:27 Working at Noma
01:09:41 Eating a Parmo
01:11:13 The rudest customer story
01:13:51 Food trends he hates (Vegetable gravel)
01:17:47 Go-to restaurants (Cheesy Living Co, San Sebastian)
01:20:14 Dream Foodie Weekend: Ángel León in Cádiz
01:21:41 Death Row Meal: Doner Kebab & Oysters(Vegetable gravel) 01:17:47 Go-to restaurants (Cheesy Living Co, San Sebastian) 01:20:14 Dream Foodie Weekend: Ángel León in Cádiz 01:21:41 Death Row Meal: Doner Kebab & Oysters