Gaggan Anand has some strong words on the Michelin Guide:
“I have never found an Indian inspector there. My question is even if the inspector has spent five years in India or has an Indian wife, they will never understand the difference between a hing (asafoetida) in kachori, or a hing in a fried stew, and a hing in a cauliflower stew. They will never understand - they were not born in India,” he says.
“How can a French Michelin guide judge Indian cuisine without even having an Indian inspector? Would the French accept (the) Ceat (Indian) tyre company going and doing restaurant awards in Paris? And giving them three stars with Indian guys who have spent 10 years in France? If they would not acknowledge that, why should we acknowledge that?”
6 restaurants with Two MICHELIN Stars (1 promoted)
Chef’s Table (Promoted)
Le Normandie
Mezzaluna
R-Haan
Sorn
Sühring
22 restaurants with One MICHELIN Star (2 new, 1 promoted)
80/20
Blue by Alain Ducasse (New)
Bo.Lan
Cadence by Dan Bark (New)
Canvas
Chim by Siam Wisdom
Elements
Ginza Sushi Ichi
J’aime by Jean-Michel Lorain
Jay Fai
Khao (Ekkamai)
Le Du
Methavalai Sorndaeng
Nahm
Paste
Saawaan
Saneh Jaan
Savelberg
Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin
Suan Thip
Sushi Masato (Promoted)
Pru
1 Green Star restaurant
Pru
106 Bib Gourmand restaurants (17 new, 4 promoted)
165 MICHELIN Plate restaurants (32 new)
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
2
You will find me towards the front of the queue to criticise the Michelin process.
It’s still heavily weighted towards French and French-ish restaurants and, just looking at the restaurant names here, that would seem to apply to a disproportionate number of awards in Thailand.
Here in the UK, Michelin is very London-centric. Over our seven 3* places, five are in London with the other two being just outside the capital. It also seems very arbitrary in its decisions. I know of restaurants which hold stars and, whilst I wouldnt necessarily criticise that, I know of other comparable or better places which remain starless.
Then create a local guide book then with local inspectors. Anyway, Michelin outside France is just something to help if you have no hint at all what to eat. Certain city pays to have Michelin team to come.
Maybe the author ought to also look inward for evidence of bias. Unless one of the job requirements is being a straight married man or a gay married woman, in which case Michelin is a weirder organization than I thought.
