Michelin is a world famous tyre company, whose mascot is a huge white fluffy
man called Bib. But, one might wonder why I being a Hotel Management teacher,
am I so interested in a tyre company? Well, the story goes something like this.
This particular world renowned tyre company’s Michelin Star is one of the most well-regarded
ranking systems for restaurants in the world.
What is the Michelin guide?
When a restaurant is awarded a Michelin star, it’s a sure short sign that
the chef has succeeded at the highest level. It’s an assurance of fine dining
quality and restaurants. Michelin awards 0-3 stars on the basis of anonymous
reviews. The assessors concentrate on the quality, mastery of technique,
personality and consistency of the food, and not on interior décor, table
setting, or service quality. The stars are just about the food and nothing
else.
Michelin brothers, Andre and Edouard, who started the Michelin guide came
up with the idea of food guide. Under
the Michelin guide, the restaurants are rated in a three-star system.
One star: Indicates a very good
restaurant in its category, offering cuisine prepared to a consistently high
standard.
Two star: A restaurant worth a
detour, indicating excellent cuisine and skillfully and carefully crafted
dishes of outstanding quality.
Three star: A three stars means a restaurant
worth a special journey, indicating exceptional cuisine, precisely executed and
using superlative ingredients.
‘Bib Gourmand’ features restaurants offering good food at moderate prices.
Apart from Star/ Bib Gourmand, the restaurants also receive ‘fork & spoon’,
which stands for overall comfort and quality. One ‘fork & spoon’ represents
comfortable restaurant and five signifies luxurious.
Red Michelin Guides are so powerful that celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay cried when the Michelin Guide stripped the
stars from his New York restaurant,
calling the food "erratic." Pioneers of nouvelle cuisine believe that
Michelin is the only guide that counts.
Michelin guide and India
India unfortunately still does not have its own red guide. It does have a
green one though. A green Michelin guide ranks tourist destinations rather than
restaurants. They are still waiting to see how the Green Michelin Guide that
was launched in Chennai in March 2013 will do before deciding if launching the
red one is of any productive value. Though restaurants in India have still not
been ranked, Indian restaurants and chef outside are Michelin star graded. Chef
Atul Kochar, is the first Indian chef to receive a Michelin star for his debut
London restaurant Tamarind in 2001. Popular Indian Michelin star chefs are
Vineet Bhatia, of Zaika and Rasoi; and Chef Vikas Khanna, of the popular Indian
restaurant Junoon.
The restaurant scene in India is getting classier and more posh every year.
Also the term ‘Michelin Star’ has gained popularity along with the profession
of a chef thanks to various TV shows. Hopefully India will have its own Red
Guide soon!
- Ms. Bindu Menon
Senior Faculty, INLEAD
No comments:
Post a Comment