DO Michelin stars matter? Judging by the online activity prior to, and after, the recent launch of the Michelin Guide 2017, they do indeed.
In the days leading up to the live ceremony (the first to take place in London and glitzed up by the introduction of new awards such as Female Chef and Restaurants Which Have Retained One Michelin Star With A Change of Head Chef), the big boys of the culinary world were counselling each other to “stay calm” and “be strong” in the face of the potential embarrassment of losing a star or being deleted altogether in front of their peers.
On the day itself, it was quite a thrill to see famous faces such as Marcus Wareing, Clare Smyth, Michel Roux, Giorgio Locatelli, Raymond Blanc, Tom Kerridge, Heston Blumenthal and Scotland’s own Andrew Fairlie gossiping together before the show and trying hard to pretend they didn’t care.
I was disappointed there weren’t more chefs from Scotland in attendance. I’d been told by the Michelin Guide people not to expect any or many but wondered if that was a red herring to offset speculation that there would be good news for Scotland, thus spoiling the surprise.
In fact it was only those from two and three-starred restaurants who’d been invited. None lost their stars; a total of 21 new ones, eight in London, were eagerly announced and wildly applauded. Evidently this was what the ceremony was all about.
Sitting with top names in the British restaurant industry while the gongs were being ladled out was an experience marred by Scotland not being mentioned at all – save for Isle of Eriska, which held on to its star despite a change in head chef over the year. No new stars were awarded to Scottish restaurants, although there were no deletions and all of the 13 who already had stars kept them. That is to be celebrated, of course.
The Guide’s editor laments the fact that Glasgow’s three Bib Gourmands have not triggered an upwards evolution.
If it’s ever to get a star it has to get its act together and turn its ambitions in the right direction.
All the same, I know I’m not alone when I say it is depressing that we must wait another year to find out if the culinary revolution underway across Scotland at the hands of our innovative, original, talented chefs is good enough to be officially acknowledged by the 110 Michelin inspectors who work all over the world.
It’s all very well for the Good Food Guide to say that, unlike the Michelin Guide, it rewards new young talent.
Michelin stars attract more tourists and business people to a restaurant.
The kudos they lend to the locale and its fishermen, farmers, butchers, bakers, cheesemongers and yes, even candlestick makers, is unfathomable.
They also act as a magnet for trainee chefs and front of house staff desperate to do a “stage” or two in return for invaluable work experience and the consequent enhancement of their CV.
Scotland has world-class produce, but it needs more world-class chefs too. If Michelin Guide is the carrot that entices them, then we shouldn’t give it stick.
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