The Stag on Fleet Road has been celebrating after the Michelin Guide praised its cooking, led by head chef Ismail Hossain.
Ismail Hossain, originally from Rajshahi in Bangladesh, moved to London, began working as a kitchen porter and rose through the ranks to become head chef at The Stag, London Now reports, where further details of the award and his journey can be read.
The Stag pub on Fleet Road in Hampstead, with its distinctive black-painted exterior. (Image: NQ)
Speaking to The Staff Canteen ahead of his appearance on BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals, the 33-year-old said: “I started my career at the very bottom as a kitchen porter in a Spanish restaurant, Barrica Tapas Bar in London, where I learned discipline, speed, and respect for ingredients.
“Over the years, I worked my way up through every section and eventually became head chef.
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Ismail Hossain’s journey from kitchen porter to head chef
He said his biggest highlight has been building strong kitchen teams, writing seasonal menus and delivering top-quality food.
“I couldn’t afford to go to culinary school, so I worked for free with ex-colleagues to start learning things in the kitchen.
I was then lucky enough to be sponsored by one of my companies to do a Level 2 Advanced Cheffing course.
Last year I did Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene to become supervisor.”
He is now competing on MasterChef: The Professionals, billed as head chef of the newly refurbished gastropub.
Mr Hossain told The Staff Canteen his first inspiration was his mother.
“Growing up in Bangladesh, I spent a lot of time helping her in the kitchen as she was always busy, and that is where my love for food truly began.
Cooking was part of daily life, and I learned early on how food brings people together.”
He said moving to the UK pushed his ambition even further.
“Watching my head chef, James Knight, create new dishes and transform simple ingredients into beautiful, delicious plates opened my eyes to what cooking could be.
I realised then that food has the power to make people happy, and that inspired me to pursue it as a career.”
Ismail Hossain’s cooking style and influences
Mr Hossain’s food philosophy is built on classical techniques, slow cooking and open-fire flavours, with a “less is more” approach.
“My cooking style is rooted in simplicity and respect for ingredients,” he told The Staff Canteen.
“I strongly believe that less is more when it comes to food, allowing natural flavours to shine.
“I have a real passion for slow cooking, where time and technique transform simple ingredients into something exceptional.
Open-fire cooking is also a favourite of mine, as it brings depth, character, and authenticity to every dish.”
That ethos runs through The Stag’s revamped menu, aimed at casual drinkers and serious food fans alike.
The Stag serves stacked toasties and bar snacks, plus rotisserie chicken with house sauces and Sunday roasts with Yorkshire puddings.
Food and drink at The Stag includes martinis, roasts and rotisserie chicken. (Image: NQ)
The menu has been praised for its detail, with clean-flavoured desserts and vegetables treated as key parts of each dish.
The menu keeps classic pub roots and shows off Mr Hossain’s competition polish; his three must-haves are “salt, chilli and garlic”, he told The Staff Canteen.
The Stag Hampstead’s Michelin star and MasterChef exposure
The Stag has been given one star in the 2026 Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland — meaning “high-quality cooking, worth a stop”.
It puts The Stag among the few London pubs with a Michelin star, in a guide still dominated by central restaurants and hotel dining rooms.
Mr Hossain has already made it through to the next round of the current BBC series MasterChef: The Professionals, boosting The Stag’s profile.
Each episode puts Mr Hossain and The Stag in front of a primetime audience, giving the newly refurbished Michelin-starred pub a huge boost.
The Stag has had a £2.5m refurbishment.
Inside The Stag’s £2.5m refurbishment and new spaces
It now has a front bar for locals, a cosier dining room, an upstairs space for parties and tastings, and a revamped beer garden with its own bar and Garden Room.
Young’s has upgraded The Stag’s downstairs bar and added an outdoor bar in the beer garden. (Image: NQ)
The pub lets Mr Hossain serve classics to Hampstead Heath walkers, cook more intricate dishes for Michelin and MasterChef fans, and feed the beer-garden crowd on match days.
For north-west London, The Stag is still a proper local — but now it has a chef in the Michelin Guide and on BBC screens.
For Mr Hossain, it is a public payoff for years of graft — a Michelin star in Hampstead and a spot on MasterChef.
Before the refurbishment, The Stag was independently owned by brothers Jonathan and Andy Perritt for 17 years, but it was sold to Young’s last August.
Young’s said the rebuilt pub was due to reopen on January 22 with a refreshed food-and-drink offer, including a rotating craft-beer line-up and a seasonally changing martini menu.
