How are Shanghai restaurants dealing with the ‘Michelin curse’? A look at the post-award dining scene
How has the Michelin Guide to Shanghai affected the favoured restaurants? We talk to the owners and operators who were awarded stars and bibs
On September 21, 2016, the inaugural awards for the Michelin Guide to Shanghai were announced. Stars were bestowed on 26 restaurants, with another 25 places receiving the Bib Gourmand award, denoting good food at a reasonable price. After the initial highs of the ceremony and the media storm that followed, what happened after the dust settled?
T’ang Court, China’s only three-star Michelin restaurant, experienced a surge of reservations following the announcement (the branch in Hong Kong also has three stars). They have enjoyed a steady increase in affluent customers with high spending power, particularly those from other Chinese provinces, says Lazio Zuo, food and beverage manager of The Langham Xintiandi. “We have a lot of guests from Beijing and Nanjing.”
After winning a Bib Gourmand award, staff at East Eatery have spent time educating local guests about the Michelin ratings. “People don’t know the difference [between stars and Bib Gourmand],” says Yoshi Stiller, who, with her husband, owns East Eatery and Taian Table.
Her Chinese staff found a way to explain to local diners what the award means. “They call it the ‘baby star’, not the Bib Gourmand,” she says.
