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If there were bubbles above the heads of all the chefs at the Michelin Guide gala dinner on Wednesday night, they could have read something like this:
"Michelin stars are a I do not cook for Michelin, I just want my customers to be happy … The Michelin stars are a bonus …. "
" Shit, why am I still a star, I deserve two. "
"Shit, Andre's gone, I should be three stars."
"OMG, OMG, OMG J have a Michelin star!"
(In Cantonese) "Aieeee, Michael Ellis, you have not yet called my name! "(The poor head of a Crystal Jade Golden Palace was dismissed from the call until the international director Michael Ellis remembered it. Forgotten.)
Apart from the five new stars, this was not what was happening on stage, but what proved his interest Wednesday night. It is then that all the feverish speculations of recent weeks about who had how many stars and who did not do it, finally ended up in an anticlimax where the results of 2018 remained in largely the status quo
. Party. What we felt, apart from the euphoria of the beginners, was an air of resignation, an "oh-well" behavior on the mysterious mechanisms of the powers-aka, like the Michelin guide – how it rewards the stars, how it finances itself, and why it never seems to be able to give direct answers to questions beyond the five obvious criteria for entry in the guide
(Namely, they are the quality of products, mastery of "Chef in his kitchen, value for money, consistency between visits.)
Meanwhile, guests hobbled in the ballroom of Resorts World Sentosa – congratulations at the station for a polite operation that showed its resilience in the face of losing stars Joel Robuchon and Atelier Joel Robuchon in Osia
Dinner with delectable Michelin starters, seafood departure from St. Peter and M crab bibimbap eta to a strange mutation of fish, durian and sauce buen keluak en no less than the BO Innovation of Hong Kong.
Between classes, questions and gossip flew fast and furiously.
Why are there no Michelin stars this year? Have we missed good stalls? Mr. Ellis explained during a post-event Q & A session that there were only three stalls of street vendors in Asian guides with a Michelin star, but the guide It is not our goal to search for them specifically.
He said, "A Michelin star for peddlers is an exception, not a rule, I would not expect to see a lot of peddlers with stars."
And after the release of Joel Robuchon, why does none of our two-star restaurants deserve to be rated three stars? What has happened to Mr. Ellis' shrug and an answer without hesitation that "if it happens, it happens".
It is comforting for the main contenders like Odette and Les Amis, who, according to the five criteria, seem to have them all nailed. We would even go so far as to say that, according to a recent tasting, both are at the top of their art, Friends having a long history in terms of technique and product quality. But the problem is, what does it take to get past the two stars? Consistency is a plausibility. Another delicate aspect is the personality of the leader – the only criterion which, unlike the other four, is almost impossible to quantify, which makes him completely open to subjectivity. Could this be a decisive factor if the other four are met?
Then there is everyone who pays for a Michelin guide. It is hard to convince tourist boards to admit that they are sponsoring the guide, even though Michelin said it was receiving sponsors and business partners as it became more difficult to fund the guide on book sales.
people that there is no return to play. This year, in particular, the issue of selling stars was a hot topic.
Unpleasant and irresponsible rumors all this may be, but they all start somewhere. It is also clear that no matter how many people claim to reject the guide, question his intentions, complain about favoritism or a long series of complaints, any leader who still wants to be in the guide. Because it always means something. And they desperately want it, regardless of the number of parrots in public: "The Michelin stars are a bonus, I do not cook for Michelin, I just want to make my customers happy".
Transparency, and the responsibility to defend the integrity of a guide, may be the responsibility of Michelin, and Michelin alone. He has no obligation to answer anyone he does not want, but the stricter he is, the more skepticism he has.
It may be time to open a little. But, by then, the cycle is repeating itself
Since this is the latest issue of Mr Ellis since he started a new career after September, it will be interesting to see what will happen when his successor joins him
. In the meantime, we wait, we chat, and for the leaders, they work hard and hope for the best.
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