Michelin Guide – Is it still the bible of French cuisine?

For years, the Michelin restaurant guide has been considered a leader in ranking fine restaurants around the world. In recent years, more and more Israelis have been exposed, and it quickly became a leader in public opinion, directing Israeli foodies abroad to locations where it is recommended to leave a large wad of bills for Naomi's palate.

As a Francophile-culinary expert whose expertise and practice is in French cuisine, I have often asked myself how this happened? Is this justified? Does the guide truly reflect what I will be eating in the most reliable way? Is it worth the considerable investment? Is it possible to eat “Michelin” cheaply?

I decided, for the benefit of Zvi's Francophile readers, to write a few words about the respected restaurant guide that crowns or dethrones the best restaurants in France.

How was the Michelin Guide created?

Michelin is a tire company. French A veteran, at the beginning of the 20th century, managers sat down and thought about how to increase sales, and the immediate conclusion was to make the French drive more in their cars, wear out more tires, and lead to more and more frequent tire replacements, sales in Michelin's business language.

Management discussions led to an unusual decision: Michelin, a tire company, will create a printed tourist guide, which will feature tourist attractions and regional maps. France The various ones, with the aim of encouraging the average French person to take advantage of their free time to travel around the country, and that is what was done.

In 1925, the Michelin Guide first began recommending prominent restaurants throughout France, and highlighting restaurants recommended by its critics. Recommended restaurants are marked with one star. At this point, there was no rating, but rather a star rating for a particularly deserving restaurant.

In 1933, Michelin developed and launched the rating system for inspected restaurants: one, two, and three stars. And the definitions according to Michelin:

* Good restaurant in the area
** A restaurant that justifies a detour
*** A restaurant that justifies a special trip

Michelin determined that a restaurant would receive between zero and three stars based on five criteria: quality of ingredients, mastery of flavors and cooking techniques, personality of the chef, value for money, and consistency from visit to visit.

In addition to the aforementioned star rating, Michelin also gives a rating marked with a crossed fork and spoon, from one to five. This part of the rating refers to the quality of service, the appearance of the restaurant, and its atmosphere. The rating is given and valid for one calendar year only, and is re-examined each year.

Over the years, the Michelin Guide has become a restaurant guide only, and the general tourism format has been abandoned. Over the years, the guide has been given increasing prestige, as the world's most respected restaurant rating, chefs and restaurateurs turn the world upside down to enter the guide, and those rated in it fight to advance in the star rating or maintain what they have.

Michelin Guide nowadays

It is important to understand that on the one hand, receiving a Michelin star, two Michelin stars, and three Michelin stars means a significant financial investment, in the restaurant, the kitchen, the chef, the staff, the tools, the raw materials, the costs, and so on.

On the other hand, every star brings an audience and every star justifies an increase in the prices of the dishes, and in the end, this Michelin star format is a very significant business matter for the restaurant, a reputation is worth money. Tourists book a table at a restaurant months before their trip and pay 350 euros per diner just because it has been rated with three Michelin stars. This is the huge pre-sales of fine dining in our world.

Alongside the star rating, Michelin has developed over the years a secondary rating of restaurants that Michelin reviewers have enjoyed and appreciate primarily for their culinary aspects, but which do not meet the strict standards of fine dining according to Michelin's concept.

Since 1955, Michelin has had a Bib Gourmand symbol, for example, indicating a pleasant restaurant that serves good food at reasonable prices.
In 2016, a plate and amount symbol was first launched in the Parisian guide, indicating a restaurant serving good food (originally).
A noteworthy wine offering at a restaurant will be separately marked with a grape cluster symbol.

All restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide receive at least one visit from a professional Michelin reviewer during the year, while starred restaurants receive 3-4 visits during the year.

It is estimated that Michelin France currently employs about thirty paid restaurant reviewers. They book a table and dine in the restaurant anonymously. They identify themselves and introduce themselves after paying for the meal. This is how they usually end a Michelin reviewer's visit to a restaurant being reviewed. The review of a restaurant meal is written immediately after it is finished. France is divided into 15 sectors in Michelin, each sector is covered by at least two reviewers.

A Michelin restaurant reviewer visits an average of 240 restaurants a year (but what an exhausting job). The decision to award stars is made twice throughout the year, at a meeting attended by all the reviewers, the editor-in-chief, and the CEO.

Several anecdotes

• In 2012, a copy of the Michelin Guide from 1900 was sold at auction for $18,400.
• After receiving the first star, there is an average increase of 20% in the number of customers at the restaurant, and when a restaurant receives a star, the average price per dish increases by 27%.
• Joel Robuchon received a record 2016 stars in total in 31.
• Tokyo holds the record for the most stars in one city, 227 stars (more than Paris).
• Only two French chefs currently hold three Michelin stars: Hélène Darroze and Anne-Sophie Pic.

Will Michelin remain relevant today?

The Michelin Guide is still considered the most important ranking of world gastronomy, but is now seen as anachronistic and disconnected from trends and contemporary restaurant business. The rules of ceremony that were important in the elite restaurants of the past, and which were a criterion in the Michelin star ranking, are no longer relevant today. Today's cutting-edge elite restaurants ignore the outdated criteria, and are willing to give up Michelin stars for the personal agendas of the restaurateurs and chefs.

Michelin is trying to deal with the image and adapt itself to the spirit of the times. Today, you can see restaurants that are tapas bars, bars that serve quality food, and even a food stall in a Bangkok market that receive a Michelin star for the food and ignore everything else, a move that is unprecedented in historical terms.

However, today's audience is partly reluctant. Restaurant reviews, which were once the preserve of guides of this type and restaurant reviews by restaurant critics in the press, have today become a tool in the hands of online opinion makers, on private blogs and social networks, and the need for the Michelin institution is diminishing. There is currently a movement of chefs in France who are returning their stars and are not interested in dancing to the tune of Michelin critics, but rather in feeling completely independent in what they create in their restaurant.

Only time will tell us what the future holds for this old institution and whether it will survive the current century.

At the same time, there are quite a few restaurants that have received one or two Michelin stars and will not mention it on their website or at the entrance to the restaurant itself. You can eat at a restaurant and not know that it has a star. A few years ago, I asked a chef at a starred restaurant why? And she explained to me that she doesn't want that to be what sells her.

A few words about the behind-the-scenes of the genre in Paris, and my words refer to three-Michelin-starred restaurants only.
These are restaurants that are required to work to exceptional standards to maintain their rating, and these standards cost a lot of money every day.

Most three-Michelin-starred restaurants, inParis At least, they have a hard time being economical, they have 70 staff members for 40 diners in just one round, which takes hours of sitting to serve.

You should know that there are some of the most prestigious three-Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris that lose money month after month.
The raw materials used by these restaurants are insanely expensive, maintenance is expensive, a cook may be required to work on only one dish per service, sometimes more than one kitchen deals with one dish, and the number of dishes in a meal may reach a parade of many more dishes than we are familiar with in a typical restaurant.

In the end, the diner pays 350 euros before drinks and wine, and the restaurant is full to the brim, but making a loss. It's a ritual that sounds strange, but it's a typical situation in this landscape.

Then two things happen, a significant portion of these restaurants in Paris are located inside HotelAnd not without reason, they do share overheads and reduce costs. The restaurant benefits from the hotel's participation in its costs, and the hotel benefits from the restaurant's reputation, which brings customers to the hotel. A kind of solution.

Another type of solution is a concept in which a group of investors establishes a group of restaurants around a renowned chef, in Paris, France and throughout the world, restaurants at all price levels, including, and this is very typical in recent years, having at least one traditional classic bistro restaurant in the group.

And then the customer hears that he can go to this bistro and eat Alain Ducasse for sixty euros, won't he go? Of course he will. And so they build a strong and profitable group of restaurants that become a huge and very profitable economic business with crazy demand, when in fact the high demand for the restaurants in the group is based on the reputation of the loss-making three-star restaurant. In fact, it generates profits in the other restaurants. A crooked concept, but in the end it's a survival method that probably works over time. This is how the most famous top chefs in France operate.

In fact, currently in Paris, having a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, independent on the street, standing on its own and without satellite restaurants – a venture that is very difficult to make financially viable over the long term.

It's worth adding another side note here: there are also tycoons in our world for whom the losses of a well-regarded three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris don't really strain their bank accounts, and there are those for whom the added prestige and status as the owners of this restaurant are worth the need to finance it every year. Can I tell you that over time I believe in such a business structure? No.

Some advice from me about elite restaurants

Personally, I never choose a restaurant because it has received a Michelin rating, however, sometimes I will find that the restaurant I chose has a star. In the chapter on prestigious restaurants inMy culinary recommendations kit for Paris I do not indicate Michelin stars for some of the restaurants I recommend, because I do not want users to choose a restaurant based on its stars. This is wrong. This is a decision-support tool, not a tool that decides for you.

In the end, it's important to understand that you can dine at a starred restaurant and fall short. In Brussels, I had a truly disgraceful meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant, in Paris, I had a meal with many reservations at a three-star Michelin restaurant, and conversely, you may enjoy it above and beyond all expectations at fine dining restaurants that are not starred. There is no guarantee that Michelin's criteria will match your preferences.

It is important to understand that stars are worth money. Generally, the more stars a restaurant is decorated with, the higher its prices will be, and when it comes to two stars and three stars, the increase is significant.

Dinner at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant today will cost an average of €350-450 per person, excluding drinks and wine. A more reasonable option for most of us who want to experience an elite restaurant at this level is to book a table at a one-Michelin-starred restaurant and enjoy it for a more affordable price of €90-180 per person.

Most meals at these restaurants are delicious meals based on a structured, pre-planned menu, a menu containing a large number of small, tasty dishes, with usually (not always) an a la carte option for ordering from a menu.

Another option worth checking out is a two or three Michelin star restaurant for lunch. Some of these restaurants offer great deals at affordable and sometimes really low prices. Five years ago a three-course meal at the Michelin star restaurant L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in London was on sale for £39. Four years ago I had a 27-course lunch at the three Michelin star Pierre Gagnaire in Paris for €95.

Bottom line – it's worth checking out deals offered at upscale restaurants for lunch, sometimes you'll get a one-time opportunity.

Another detail worth checking out if you're interested: some of these two- and three-Michelin-starred restaurants offer a "chef's table," which is located inside the kitchen itself, or overlooks the kitchen, and where a special meal from the chef's feverish brain is served. Throughout the meal, you'll get to watch the starred kitchen function in real service. It's an unforgettable experience. It's worth checking out if the option interests you.

In my opinion, every food lover must try a meal experience at a good three-star Michelin restaurant at least once in their life. Keep in mind that some people contract the disease and it becomes chronic.