After a false start last week, the full list of Michelin-star winning restaurants has been released.

You'll be pleased to know that Dorset's only starred restaurant, Sienna in Dorchester, has kept its one star status, as has the New Forest's only star, The Montagu Arms at Beaulieu.

But I'm wondering how many Taste readers pay attention to this list.

Full disclosure: I've eaten at  ten of these restaurants, and they were all amazing (on my own money, too, before anyone asks.) And yes, I do love being able to say I've eaten at ten of Britain's "best" restaurants, whether that makes me a food snob or not.

Two of my favourites - the Hinds Head in Bray and Paul Ainsworth in Padstow - didn't have stars when I went there and I don't believe that the quality of the food will be improved now they have one.  And on the list there's an astonishingly wide variety of styles and levels of formality.

The Hinds Head (one star) is basically a pub. Winchester's Black Rat (also one star) isn't formal in the slightest, while the Terrace at the Montagu Arms in Beaulieu (one star) is far closer to the type of restaurant people expect from the Michelin guide.

On the flip side, I've eaten amazing fish at Mat Follas' non-starred Wild Garlic. And while I'd give my right arm to eat at Heston Blumenthal's Dinner but the Larder House in Southbourne is pretty flipping good too. The Pig, at Brockenhurst, (no stars as yet) serves some of the best pork I've ever eaten (although the service can be hit and miss). 

The Fat Duck (three stars) is not at all formal, whereas the three-star restaurant I ate at in Rome last year (honeymoon treat, I'm not some sort of wealthy food tourist) was so formal my husband couldn't take his jacket off despite suffering from the too-many-courses sweats.

So, my question is: is the guide any use to you as a guide? Does the award of a star to a local-ish restaurant make you more or less likely to eat there? Do you assume it will be pricey and poncey? Or does it make you reach for Google to see how long it would take you to get there and whether there's a nice walk nearby?

I'd like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. I wouldn't eat at a restaurant just because it had a star, but I'm certainly guilty of checking the menus of all the ones within driving distance to see if it's worth a trip... next stop, Great British Menu legend Tom Kerridge's restaurant in Marlow. And only £15 for the set lunch!