Michelin Guide stars mean stress for chefs – and do diners care?
I wonder who, apart from chefs and restaurant public relations people, pays attention to the annual awards for Hong Kong and Macau. Gold by Harlan Goldstein’s Harlan swears his stars are a big draw, but surely Hong Kongers let Open Rice, not a French guidebook decide where they eat. Michelin only started here in 2009, but has made some odd calls, such as dishing out stars to local dim sum joint Tim Ho Wan.
But Michelin defends their Hong Kong decisions. Michael Ellis, Michelin Guides’ international director, insists the evaluation criteria are the same everywhere. “Our method has always been the same focus on quality of ingredients, personality, consistency and value,” he says, pointing out that local experts do the reviews in each location. What’s more, he added, the designation of stars is based on what’s served, not how or where it’s served. Perhaps he should see how his judges in Paris and London do it.
Regardless, there’s a hint of emperor wearing no clothes about hordes of people queuing outside a Michelin starred dim sum restaurant for HK$26 dumplings, no matter how wonderful they are. And many of the tried and tested restaurants, which are packed every day, such as those in Mandarin Oriental, only just this year picked up a second star for their posh Pierre, while their Chinese restaurant Man Wah was awarded a Michelin star for the first time. Has the food suddenly improved there in the five years since Michelin set up shop? Meanwhile Mandarin Grill retains its single star for the fifth consecutive year. I can vouch for the Grill having improved dramatically under the current chef – yet it still only rates a single star.
In Joel Robuchon’s Macau restaurant chef Francky Semblat does it the classical way. But it’s bigger and bolder than it would be in France, with bright colours and large portions.
When I met Joel Robuchon last year, he was sanguine about Michelin. It’s a bitter sweet thing for him, though this year again his restaurants again won three stars in Hong Kong and Macau. Back in 2003 he suddenly stopped cooking, at the pinnacle of his career, with more Michelin stars in than he could count. “It had become a rollercoaster,” he explained. No sooner had you won a star than you had to work harder to retain it or get more. The stress was so bad that his great friend, chef and restaurateur Alan Chapel died, aged 53, in 1990. “He had three Michelin stars and he had a heart attack,” said Robuchon. “That’s when I became a little bit scared and started to think about it. I thought I need to be careful of myself, because we never stop in this industry, we work so very hard,” he added.
“Sometimes you push yourself too hard and then you have personal issues and then like my friend, you die.” Robuchon stopped cooking altogether for a two year retrenchment. And then he came back with his informal Atelier concept. Does he sleep over Michelin stars these days? He does not. But he keeps winning them anyway.