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Street food chef's stall becomes world's first to earn Michelin star

349 points by wallflower 10y ago

lifeisstillgood 10y ago
I have tried to comment on this several times but cannot say what I mean : my last try... This is a fairly big deal for me - not because Michelin awarded a street vendor a star. I don't think this is a stunt, Singapore has sufficient vibrancy in this market that someone was going to be worth a star once they started looking. No this is a big deal because of the golden future of humankind. Somehow it's possible for all humans to live safe middle class low energy democratic not in a war zone lives. It's a 5% chance maybe. But it means that to do it we need to raise the lives and lifestyle "bottom" billions. This is the goal of the UN millennium goals and their new follow on work, and it is worthy - and this award, while not really about the poorest of the world, is about how we are spreading the wealth, spreading the capability. A street vendor has the supply chain, the training the market to cook Michelin starred food. This is a tiny tiny hint that we can do it - We can pull everyone up to the golden future I know there are a million objections to this - but to bastardise William Gibson, the golden future is here, it's just unevenly distributed.
- erdevs 10y ago
  A wonderful thought and insight, and you're right that this is a positive indication. Perhaps for those of us here on HN, a worthwhile thought is how we can accelerate this change and help more rapidly distribute it as well.
- cyberferret 10y ago
  While I appreciate your sentiment and objectives, in this case we are talking about Singapore - one of the most affluent Asian cities. The standard of living, health, safety is probably better than most Western countries. As other have pointed out, if awards like the Michelin one can provide recognition and support for actual third world countries, then it will start to make the difference you are looking for. I eagerly await to see if we will see street vendors in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Bangladesh etc. being nominated/winning stars.
  - aaron695 10y ago
    > I eagerly await to see if we will see street vendors in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Bangladesh etc. being nominated/winning stars. Unfortunately this is not going to happen. A street vendor got a Michelin star in Singapore because it is such a super rich place. As mentioned even the lack of a dependable supply chain in these poorer countries would be crippling to the last 5% Michelin requires.
avar 10y ago
The article doesn't make this obvious, but the Michelin Guide just expanded into Singapore this year. Singapore has some amazing food, and the hawker stalls are no exception. If anything they exceed far fancier restaurants with their focus and authenticity. But as far as this being news or worthy of HN goes, this just seems like shameless corporate propaganda, even the video accompanying the article is entirely produced by Michelin. If anything I think the newsworthy aspect of it is why there's been literally no street food stall in Michelin's established markets deemed good enough for certification? Maybe I just have my guilty pleasures, but there's some truly delicious street food to be had in Europe.
- fatjokes 10y ago
  Suggestions for delicious street food in Europe? I travel to Europe pretty often and consider myself quite the glutton but have yet to experience good street food (great restaurants, yes, but not street food).
  - Panoramix 10y ago
    London is packed with street food, but other than that there's less by orders of magnitude than Asia or Latin America. (I'd love to be wrong on this one).
  - klausa 10y ago
    Berlin has something called "Thai Park", which happens on summer weeekends. It is, as far as I know, the best Thai food west of Thailand.
  - poloniculmov 10y ago
    Kebabs, gyros and shawrma, though they're served from holes in the wall and not from a cart.
  - dempseye 10y ago
    Europe is much too diverse to give you proper recommendations without knowing what city or country you'll be in.
  - 10y ago
mark_l_watson 10y ago
Wonderful! I worked in Singapore in April, and the street food is indeed great! I looked at the pictures in article and didn't recognize the chef or his restaurant. My other favorite place to eat in Singapore, that I would like to recommend: in the basement of the famous "Buddha Tooth Relic Temple" is a cafeteria where the monks and the public eat; delicious food!
- hhandoko 10y ago
  Thanks for the tip! I worked in Tanjong Pagar before, and went to Maxwell many times, but never knew about the temple cafetaria :)
xorgar831 10y ago
I thought Michelin stars were about the whole restaurant experience, and especially the consistency. That's interesting they said it was just about the food in the video, that really opens up the award to a more contemporary foodie audience, which is interested in where to get the most delicious X, which is rarely even expensive.
- skc 10y ago
  Me too, but I suppose they are attempting to get with the times. There's always been an air of pretension and stodginess around the whole process. Undoubtedly the food must be excellent, but this is also a feel good story for Michelin and great PR.
- sliverstorm 10y ago
  Street food can have an experience too, if you open your definition of experience beyond white tablecloth
- davidmr 10y ago
  I think in general the hawker stands are such an integral part of the Singaporean culinary culture that, even as an homage, you'd have to honor that culture by finding the best one to give a star to. I'm certain that his food is outstanding, but it's also a good move to ingratiate yourselves with the locals as you start your business there. As an aside, I have never been anywhere with more consistently amazing food than Singapore. You can pay $300 for a fabulous meal or $7 for an almost equally fabulous one. The first time I went, I ate at a couple of high-end restaurants, but on all my subsequent trips, I've basically just wandered around and eaten at random. I've never been disappointed.
  - klausa 10y ago
    Just curious - have you been to Bangkok? "Just wander around and eat at random — you have a decent chance of having one of the best meals of your life" was my impression of it — but I haven't had chance to visit Singapore yet, so I'm wondering how it compares.
yomly 10y ago
Really fantastic achievement and a really down to earth take on food - good to see Michelin not adopting a stuffy elitist stance on their awards. I shudder, however, when I think of the queues to try this tasty goodness. For reference, queues can easily top 90 mins if a hawker stall is locally well reviewed! And just over the sea, the queues for Tim Ho Wan (Michelin star dim sum in Hong Kong) are also already oppressively long (1-2 queues). Bookings are non-existent (it's a street stall after all).
- CrackpotGonzo 10y ago
  Secret to Tim Ho Wan is to get there before rush times! Went at like 4:30 for an early dinner and had no wait. Amazing.
  - klausa 10y ago
    According to my Photos.app timestamps I went at 5:30PM and there were no lines at all, too. I actually didn't came out that impressed - sure, the BBQ Pork Buns definitely lived up to their reputation and are worth the trip alone, but the rest of the menu was kind of a disappointment. I did spend the previous week in Bangkok though, eating almost everything in sight, so my heightened expectations might have had something to do with my impressions.
    - yomly 10y ago
      Agree it's more about the individual dishes rather than the entire menu, but their prawn dumplings (har gau) are also spot on.
      - klausa 10y ago
        Photos of menu I took say that I did have them too, but I can't say they were memorable. The only two dishes from Tim Ho Wan that I _really_ remember are BBQ Pork Buns and the steamed egg cake. Looking at the photos now — I remember thinking toasts filled with kaya were interesting too. But none of shrimp or pork dumplings, neither any of the vermicelli or steamed rice were notable.
sandworm101 10y ago
Does the star go to the chef or to the stall? I always thought it was awarded to the restaurant rather than a particular member of staff. That would seem to preclude such small venues where the quality of food is so tied to the chef on duty at the time. This guy is always there, but the principal remains. Fyi, from what I've heard about getting your 'first' star is that there is then a not-fun obligation to try and keep it. I hope this guy handles the pressure well.
- dimal 10y ago
  I've always thought that pressure was more internal, that is, celebrity chefs want to have that accomplishment and maintain it, rather than an external obligation to Michellin or anyone else. If this guy never even considered it a possibility, I doubt he'd feel that pressure. If he lost it, I imagine that just earning it for a while would still be an achievement of a lifetime
- Mikeb85 10y ago
  It depends. The star IS given to the restaurant, however they do consider how big the chef's influence is. Many restaurants lose a star or two when the chef leaves, and many don't. In this particular case, if he were to sell the stall I'm sure it would lose the star. On the other hand, if he passes it on to a child or a protégé, the stall might keep the star.
bane 10y ago
Until recently, I thought Michelin stars were awarded everywhere if the food was good enough. As it turns out, only select cities are reviewed. Recently there's been a big push to get Michelin to review food in Seoul, South Korea (which was successful). I always just thought the lack of stars meant the food scene wasn't quite good enough. It turns out the lack of stars in, say, Washington D.C., just means they haven't bothered to rate food in that town. So questions like "which city has the most stars?" really mean "which cities that Michelin rates has the most stars".
- achamayou 10y ago
  That's true in the US and Asia, but not in Europe, where you will find that the majority of three star-rated places aren't in big cities to begin with.
  - yeukhon 10y ago
    My wild guess, however, is that many of these three-star places are in some ancient / traditional / cultural towns.
    - oliwarner 10y ago
      Not at all. When you have the requisite density of Michelin reviewers, you can be in the arse-end of nowhere and still get your stars if your food, service and venue are up to scratch.
      - yeukhon 10y ago
        I am not saying it can't, but I am saying many could turn out to be cultural towns rather than big cities like NYC or London. And to the person who downvoted me: just so you know, I rarely care about this, but if you downvote on a wild guess, you need to double check your interpretation of "wild guess."
  - fab1an 10y ago
    One shouldn't forget that the Guide Michelin started as (or maybe still is?) a content marketing strategy for the tire manufacturer Michelin! The original idea (~100 years ago!) was to boost demand for cars and tires in general, and what better way to do that than to provide a list of amazing places you'll only get to visit as a motorized person.
phantom_oracle 10y ago
Not to discount the efforts of this chef, but is it not possible that the organization called Michelin has done this in an attempt to stay relevant with the growing East-Asia market? It kind of reads like a touch-your-heart story that will increase brand-presence of Michelin and the validity of their ratings of food. Who knows though...
- kagamine 10y ago
  the food is not just rated on taste and the decor (or lack of it in this case) is not a significant factor afaik. From my extensive research[1] the reviewer takes into account: 1. taste 2. presentation 3. use of local ingredients 4. use of fresh quality ingredients [1]every episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK.
  - ktta 10y ago
    I think one of the important factors is the consistency of the food (taste, presentation, etc.). I learnt this from my research[0] [0] Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/)
  - titanix2 10y ago
    When I was child my grand father sometimes took me to a restaurant he said didn't get a star because the parking lot wasn't big enough. So I believe they rate restaurant no just on the food, or at least they used to. I'm right now eating at a takoyaki place in Osaka which is referenced in the guide (no star thought) so I guess criterions were somewhat adapted to deal with foreign food culture.
crdb 10y ago
I have mixed feelings about this Guide and I think it's important to see the backstory. The origins of the Michelin Guide were to be a trustworthy guide for its salesmen travelling around the country. Gradually, it became the de facto standard for an impartial guide that not only checked food quality with experienced, anonymous inspectors but also consistency with repeated visits - all costing a fortune, all more than made back with sales. Chefs would literally kill themselves for losing a star (see [1]). The Gault Millau became the Michelin rival but few other guides or competitors really existed. This has been true in London or Tokyo as well as Paris. You could trust the Michelin Guide: not only would your meal be good, it would be roughly at the level implied by the stars, and it would always be good. However, I suspect the internet killed sales of the paper guide and generally, as with movie piracy, reduced the amount of money people were willing to pay for the information. Why pay when you can check any of a thousand blogs and newspapers and grab the latest stars there? So the Guide needed a new strategy and Singapore is sort of the hard launch of it. This Guide was financed (cannot find a source now) by both the tourism authorities (fair enough) and various corporate sponsors (not so good for impartiality). Various writers (see for example [2]) have pointed out the large presence of Resorts World Sentosa restaurants (this is also where the award ceremony was held) and the absence of young interesting chefs or many restaurants that are on par with the starred. (Examples: I'm personally surprised not to see Gunther's anywhere in the rankings, since the restaurant has been around for years, is a massive favourite of the community, has a chef with pedigree in Singapore (Les Amis, starred), the service is friendly (I've eaten there in shorts a couple of times surrounded by suits and it was STILL friendly) and despite the eye watering dinner prices there's a $35 set lunch with 3 courses and petits fours which is one of the most generous in Singapore. No mention of Hakumai, where a Singaporean chef with a decade of training and experience at the best sushi-yas is doing very interesting things with the same Tsukuji fish used at every other high end sushi-ya in the country. Pollen is not listed; I haven't eaten there, but corporate friends who have and who do these things all the time often told me they thought it was "the best", and Jason Atherton has stars in London where the standards are higher.) And then we get to the food courts. Yes, including a chicken rice stall and a bak chor mee stall have gotten the "new Michelin Guide" what they wanted - massive PR, as seen by many of the comments on this thread and virtually every headline everywhere. Yes, hawker food can be good and filling. But it's also quite commonly good. I've not been to either of the starred stalls but friends have and confirm they are nothing that rare - you can probably find a similar quality stall in your neighbourhood. So, either you star them all - after spending a year and a huge staff to create a good quality guide - or you don't star any of them, because the standard of cooking is far below what - even in Hong Kong - used to pass as the minimum for a star. Just yesterday, I was hesitating between two stalls facing each other, both of whom were making their noodle fresh from flour even as they served customers. This is normal and starring a hawker is like starring a bakery or cheesemonger in Paris (not Pierre Herme, more like your decent neighbourhood bakery) or a chippy in London or a kebab or pizza truck in Berlin. It's a massive departure from what the guide stood for. On the other hand, Singapore is the ideal city for this departure, because its food review scene is completely and utterly commercialised. I ate yesterday at a delicious, packed restaurant which has 2.5/5 on Yelp and is ignored by bloggers. I've talked to chefs who have confirmed that bloggers and reviewers literally come in and say "I have X visitors, feed me your best food for free" and in some cases "if you don't, I'll slam your restaurant" (one did not, the threat was executed). The bulk of the high spending customers are brand driven - a chef that trained at a French 3* place told me he could not sell his boeuf charolais hanger steak because the customers repeatedly requested wagyu fillet and got angry at him for not stocking it. It makes it hard to spot where are good places to eat and as such everybody relies on word of mouth, friends' recommendations, and so on. Michelin was sorely needed but at the same time, could get away with what they did big time: now a steady stream of affluent foreign tourists will be directed like a hose at the awaiting arms of RSW's various commercial ventures, and the next year's Guide list price can probably go up multiples once the data is in. I am sad as a Frenchman that one of the last bastions of French excellence has just died out like that. I hope Paris and Tokyo will not follow. I recommend anybody who wants to understand why the Michelin was a big deal watch "L'Aile ou la Cuisse" [3]. The fight between integrity and encroaching corporate interests is absolutely there, and beyond the comedy, you get the message: journalism is about getting past your short term interests, fighting those who want to use you as a shortcut to profitability, and enlightening your readers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau#Death [2] http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/unhappy-with-michelin-guide-singapore-choices-dont-get-mad-get-to-work http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/unhappy-with-mich... [3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/
bby 10y ago
Fuck Michelin.
hiou 10y ago
* > Incredibly, the 51-year-old, who works 17 hours a day* Could anyone comment on if this is an exaggeration? After commuting plus basic life tasks like bathing etc, this would allow him for a realistic maximum of 5 hours of sleep a day. And that is optimistic as likely this results in about 4 hours a day. It seems like the story of a person who has gone 35 years on 4 hours of sleep a day is possibly more interesting than a Michelin star if this is true.
- 3legcat 10y ago
  Based on my impression of the hawker trade in Singapore, this is pausible. I am guessing his 17 hours probably consists of the following: 2-3 hours of food preparation in the early morning. 12 hours of manning his stall. The remaining hours for commuting and other work things maybe. It is likely with the michelin star he can work fewer hours. He can choose to close his stall once he sells all his meat. It is a hard way of making a living.
  - puranjay 10y ago
    The article already states that he has a line of up to 100 people to eat his food. I'm not sure finding customers is his problem. He will likely be able to raise money now though
- prawn 10y ago
  I imagine that he was asked to describe his day and someone generated the number from that, which might've been exaggerated, might've included things like getting dressed, commute, "thinking about menu changes before bed", etc. The story is not better served by a modest number, after all. Many of us would have days and weeks of high working hour counts, but very rarely would it be sustained for many months on end.
- StanislavPetrov 10y ago
  It says 17 hours a day but it doesn't say anywhere in that article how many days he works, in which case he'd be able to recover (somewhat) on days off.
oliv__ 10y ago
If anyone else wants to watch the video without their fans firing up, here's the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dBTqm90A4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dBTqm90A4
agentgt 10y ago
I feel ambiance and decor of a restaurant is highly underrated. It is one of the reasons I do not like food trucks (I assume a street food stall is analogous but perhaps I'm wrong). There is a difference between dining and just eating something good. Reviewers seem to harp on taste and service but honestly I can put up with both (with taste there is always alcohol and with service ... you can just be patient). Of course there are exceptions to this if the food truck is positioned in a great place (some Hawaii food trucks come to mind). I'm not saying I can make better food than a Michelin star chef but one of the reasons I go out to eat is for an experience and that experience for me has to be more than it tastes really good. I feel like many review sites, magazines, etc are ignoring this.
- mywittyname 10y ago
  I'm the opposite, I only care about atmosphere as long as there's a mostly clean and comfortable place to sit. One of my favorite Indian "restaurants" in college was a just a guy that converted a camper into a kitchen and parked it in an empty parking lot. It took forever to get your food, since it was just one guy, and there was no place to sit. But I was happy enough to walk down the street to a park and enjoy my delicious food on a picnic table under an oak tree.
exclusiv 10y ago
I just recently read the back story about the Michelin ratings and I must say - I really think it's awesome that a 1 star is a huge achievement. Most rating systems rate everyone and end up with a lot of mediocrity. Michelin's system makes their brand mean something at every level. Quite brilliant from a branding and social experiment.

349 points by wallflower 10y ago

I have tried to comment on this several times but cannot say what I mean : my last try... This is a fairly big deal for me - not because Michelin awarded a street vendor a star. I don't think this is a stunt, Singapore has sufficient vibrancy in this market that someone was going to be worth a star once they started looking. No this is a big deal because of the golden future of humankind. Somehow it's possible for all humans to live safe middle class low energy democratic not in a war zone lives. It's a 5% chance maybe. But it means that to do it we need to raise the lives and lifestyle "bottom" billions. This is the goal of the UN millennium goals and their new follow on work, and it is worthy - and this award, while not really about the poorest of the world, is about how we are spreading the wealth, spreading the capability. A street vendor has the supply chain, the training the market to cook Michelin starred food. This is a tiny tiny hint that we can do it - We can pull everyone up to the golden future I know there are a million objections to this - but to bastardise William Gibson, the golden future is here, it's just unevenly distributed.

erdevs 10y ago
A wonderful thought and insight, and you're right that this is a positive indication. Perhaps for those of us here on HN, a worthwhile thought is how we can accelerate this change and help more rapidly distribute it as well.
cyberferret 10y ago
While I appreciate your sentiment and objectives, in this case we are talking about Singapore - one of the most affluent Asian cities. The standard of living, health, safety is probably better than most Western countries. As other have pointed out, if awards like the Michelin one can provide recognition and support for actual third world countries, then it will start to make the difference you are looking for. I eagerly await to see if we will see street vendors in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Bangladesh etc. being nominated/winning stars.
- aaron695 10y ago
  > I eagerly await to see if we will see street vendors in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Bangladesh etc. being nominated/winning stars. Unfortunately this is not going to happen. A street vendor got a Michelin star in Singapore because it is such a super rich place. As mentioned even the lack of a dependable supply chain in these poorer countries would be crippling to the last 5% Michelin requires.

avar 10y ago

The article doesn't make this obvious, but the Michelin Guide just expanded into Singapore this year. Singapore has some amazing food, and the hawker stalls are no exception. If anything they exceed far fancier restaurants with their focus and authenticity. But as far as this being news or worthy of HN goes, this just seems like shameless corporate propaganda, even the video accompanying the article is entirely produced by Michelin. If anything I think the newsworthy aspect of it is why there's been literally no street food stall in Michelin's established markets deemed good enough for certification? Maybe I just have my guilty pleasures, but there's some truly delicious street food to be had in Europe.

fatjokes 10y ago
Suggestions for delicious street food in Europe? I travel to Europe pretty often and consider myself quite the glutton but have yet to experience good street food (great restaurants, yes, but not street food).
- Panoramix 10y ago
  London is packed with street food, but other than that there's less by orders of magnitude than Asia or Latin America. (I'd love to be wrong on this one).
- klausa 10y ago
  Berlin has something called "Thai Park", which happens on summer weeekends. It is, as far as I know, the best Thai food west of Thailand.
- poloniculmov 10y ago
  Kebabs, gyros and shawrma, though they're served from holes in the wall and not from a cart.
- dempseye 10y ago
  Europe is much too diverse to give you proper recommendations without knowing what city or country you'll be in.
- 10y ago

mark_l_watson 10y ago

Wonderful! I worked in Singapore in April, and the street food is indeed great! I looked at the pictures in article and didn't recognize the chef or his restaurant. My other favorite place to eat in Singapore, that I would like to recommend: in the basement of the famous "Buddha Tooth Relic Temple" is a cafeteria where the monks and the public eat; delicious food!

hhandoko 10y ago
Thanks for the tip! I worked in Tanjong Pagar before, and went to Maxwell many times, but never knew about the temple cafetaria :)

xorgar831 10y ago

I thought Michelin stars were about the whole restaurant experience, and especially the consistency. That's interesting they said it was just about the food in the video, that really opens up the award to a more contemporary foodie audience, which is interested in where to get the most delicious X, which is rarely even expensive.

skc 10y ago
Me too, but I suppose they are attempting to get with the times. There's always been an air of pretension and stodginess around the whole process. Undoubtedly the food must be excellent, but this is also a feel good story for Michelin and great PR.
sliverstorm 10y ago
Street food can have an experience too, if you open your definition of experience beyond white tablecloth
davidmr 10y ago
I think in general the hawker stands are such an integral part of the Singaporean culinary culture that, even as an homage, you'd have to honor that culture by finding the best one to give a star to. I'm certain that his food is outstanding, but it's also a good move to ingratiate yourselves with the locals as you start your business there. As an aside, I have never been anywhere with more consistently amazing food than Singapore. You can pay $300 for a fabulous meal or $7 for an almost equally fabulous one. The first time I went, I ate at a couple of high-end restaurants, but on all my subsequent trips, I've basically just wandered around and eaten at random. I've never been disappointed.
- klausa 10y ago
  Just curious - have you been to Bangkok? "Just wander around and eat at random — you have a decent chance of having one of the best meals of your life" was my impression of it — but I haven't had chance to visit Singapore yet, so I'm wondering how it compares.

yomly 10y ago

Really fantastic achievement and a really down to earth take on food - good to see Michelin not adopting a stuffy elitist stance on their awards. I shudder, however, when I think of the queues to try this tasty goodness. For reference, queues can easily top 90 mins if a hawker stall is locally well reviewed! And just over the sea, the queues for Tim Ho Wan (Michelin star dim sum in Hong Kong) are also already oppressively long (1-2 queues). Bookings are non-existent (it's a street stall after all).

CrackpotGonzo 10y ago
Secret to Tim Ho Wan is to get there before rush times! Went at like 4:30 for an early dinner and had no wait. Amazing.
- klausa 10y ago
  According to my Photos.app timestamps I went at 5:30PM and there were no lines at all, too. I actually didn't came out that impressed - sure, the BBQ Pork Buns definitely lived up to their reputation and are worth the trip alone, but the rest of the menu was kind of a disappointment. I did spend the previous week in Bangkok though, eating almost everything in sight, so my heightened expectations might have had something to do with my impressions.
  - yomly 10y ago
    Agree it's more about the individual dishes rather than the entire menu, but their prawn dumplings (har gau) are also spot on.
    - klausa 10y ago
      Photos of menu I took say that I did have them too, but I can't say they were memorable. The only two dishes from Tim Ho Wan that I _really_ remember are BBQ Pork Buns and the steamed egg cake. Looking at the photos now — I remember thinking toasts filled with kaya were interesting too. But none of shrimp or pork dumplings, neither any of the vermicelli or steamed rice were notable.

sandworm101 10y ago

Does the star go to the chef or to the stall? I always thought it was awarded to the restaurant rather than a particular member of staff. That would seem to preclude such small venues where the quality of food is so tied to the chef on duty at the time. This guy is always there, but the principal remains. Fyi, from what I've heard about getting your 'first' star is that there is then a not-fun obligation to try and keep it. I hope this guy handles the pressure well.

dimal 10y ago
I've always thought that pressure was more internal, that is, celebrity chefs want to have that accomplishment and maintain it, rather than an external obligation to Michellin or anyone else. If this guy never even considered it a possibility, I doubt he'd feel that pressure. If he lost it, I imagine that just earning it for a while would still be an achievement of a lifetime
Mikeb85 10y ago
It depends. The star IS given to the restaurant, however they do consider how big the chef's influence is. Many restaurants lose a star or two when the chef leaves, and many don't. In this particular case, if he were to sell the stall I'm sure it would lose the star. On the other hand, if he passes it on to a child or a protégé, the stall might keep the star.

bane 10y ago

Until recently, I thought Michelin stars were awarded everywhere if the food was good enough. As it turns out, only select cities are reviewed. Recently there's been a big push to get Michelin to review food in Seoul, South Korea (which was successful). I always just thought the lack of stars meant the food scene wasn't quite good enough. It turns out the lack of stars in, say, Washington D.C., just means they haven't bothered to rate food in that town. So questions like "which city has the most stars?" really mean "which cities that Michelin rates has the most stars".

achamayou 10y ago
That's true in the US and Asia, but not in Europe, where you will find that the majority of three star-rated places aren't in big cities to begin with.
- yeukhon 10y ago
  My wild guess, however, is that many of these three-star places are in some ancient / traditional / cultural towns.
  - oliwarner 10y ago
    Not at all. When you have the requisite density of Michelin reviewers, you can be in the arse-end of nowhere and still get your stars if your food, service and venue are up to scratch.
    - yeukhon 10y ago
      I am not saying it can't, but I am saying many could turn out to be cultural towns rather than big cities like NYC or London. And to the person who downvoted me: just so you know, I rarely care about this, but if you downvote on a wild guess, you need to double check your interpretation of "wild guess."
- fab1an 10y ago
  One shouldn't forget that the Guide Michelin started as (or maybe still is?) a content marketing strategy for the tire manufacturer Michelin! The original idea (~100 years ago!) was to boost demand for cars and tires in general, and what better way to do that than to provide a list of amazing places you'll only get to visit as a motorized person.

phantom_oracle 10y ago

Not to discount the efforts of this chef, but is it not possible that the organization called Michelin has done this in an attempt to stay relevant with the growing East-Asia market? It kind of reads like a touch-your-heart story that will increase brand-presence of Michelin and the validity of their ratings of food. Who knows though...

kagamine 10y ago
the food is not just rated on taste and the decor (or lack of it in this case) is not a significant factor afaik. From my extensive research[1] the reviewer takes into account: 1. taste 2. presentation 3. use of local ingredients 4. use of fresh quality ingredients [1]every episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK.
- ktta 10y ago
  I think one of the important factors is the consistency of the food (taste, presentation, etc.). I learnt this from my research[0] [0] Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/)
- titanix2 10y ago
  When I was child my grand father sometimes took me to a restaurant he said didn't get a star because the parking lot wasn't big enough. So I believe they rate restaurant no just on the food, or at least they used to. I'm right now eating at a takoyaki place in Osaka which is referenced in the guide (no star thought) so I guess criterions were somewhat adapted to deal with foreign food culture.

crdb 10y ago

I have mixed feelings about this Guide and I think it's important to see the backstory. The origins of the Michelin Guide were to be a trustworthy guide for its salesmen travelling around the country. Gradually, it became the de facto standard for an impartial guide that not only checked food quality with experienced, anonymous inspectors but also consistency with repeated visits - all costing a fortune, all more than made back with sales. Chefs would literally kill themselves for losing a star (see [1]). The Gault Millau became the Michelin rival but few other guides or competitors really existed. This has been true in London or Tokyo as well as Paris. You could trust the Michelin Guide: not only would your meal be good, it would be roughly at the level implied by the stars, and it would always be good. However, I suspect the internet killed sales of the paper guide and generally, as with movie piracy, reduced the amount of money people were willing to pay for the information. Why pay when you can check any of a thousand blogs and newspapers and grab the latest stars there? So the Guide needed a new strategy and Singapore is sort of the hard launch of it. This Guide was financed (cannot find a source now) by both the tourism authorities (fair enough) and various corporate sponsors (not so good for impartiality). Various writers (see for example [2]) have pointed out the large presence of Resorts World Sentosa restaurants (this is also where the award ceremony was held) and the absence of young interesting chefs or many restaurants that are on par with the starred. (Examples: I'm personally surprised not to see Gunther's anywhere in the rankings, since the restaurant has been around for years, is a massive favourite of the community, has a chef with pedigree in Singapore (Les Amis, starred), the service is friendly (I've eaten there in shorts a couple of times surrounded by suits and it was STILL friendly) and despite the eye watering dinner prices there's a $35 set lunch with 3 courses and petits fours which is one of the most generous in Singapore. No mention of Hakumai, where a Singaporean chef with a decade of training and experience at the best sushi-yas is doing very interesting things with the same Tsukuji fish used at every other high end sushi-ya in the country. Pollen is not listed; I haven't eaten there, but corporate friends who have and who do these things all the time often told me they thought it was "the best", and Jason Atherton has stars in London where the standards are higher.) And then we get to the food courts. Yes, including a chicken rice stall and a bak chor mee stall have gotten the "new Michelin Guide" what they wanted - massive PR, as seen by many of the comments on this thread and virtually every headline everywhere. Yes, hawker food can be good and filling. But it's also quite commonly good. I've not been to either of the starred stalls but friends have and confirm they are nothing that rare - you can probably find a similar quality stall in your neighbourhood. So, either you star them all - after spending a year and a huge staff to create a good quality guide - or you don't star any of them, because the standard of cooking is far below what - even in Hong Kong - used to pass as the minimum for a star. Just yesterday, I was hesitating between two stalls facing each other, both of whom were making their noodle fresh from flour even as they served customers. This is normal and starring a hawker is like starring a bakery or cheesemonger in Paris (not Pierre Herme, more like your decent neighbourhood bakery) or a chippy in London or a kebab or pizza truck in Berlin. It's a massive departure from what the guide stood for. On the other hand, Singapore is the ideal city for this departure, because its food review scene is completely and utterly commercialised. I ate yesterday at a delicious, packed restaurant which has 2.5/5 on Yelp and is ignored by bloggers. I've talked to chefs who have confirmed that bloggers and reviewers literally come in and say "I have X visitors, feed me your best food for free" and in some cases "if you don't, I'll slam your restaurant" (one did not, the threat was executed). The bulk of the high spending customers are brand driven - a chef that trained at a French 3* place told me he could not sell his boeuf charolais hanger steak because the customers repeatedly requested wagyu fillet and got angry at him for not stocking it. It makes it hard to spot where are good places to eat and as such everybody relies on word of mouth, friends' recommendations, and so on. Michelin was sorely needed but at the same time, could get away with what they did big time: now a steady stream of affluent foreign tourists will be directed like a hose at the awaiting arms of RSW's various commercial ventures, and the next year's Guide list price can probably go up multiples once the data is in. I am sad as a Frenchman that one of the last bastions of French excellence has just died out like that. I hope Paris and Tokyo will not follow. I recommend anybody who wants to understand why the Michelin was a big deal watch "L'Aile ou la Cuisse" [3]. The fight between integrity and encroaching corporate interests is absolutely there, and beyond the comedy, you get the message: journalism is about getting past your short term interests, fighting those who want to use you as a shortcut to profitability, and enlightening your readers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau#Death [2] http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/unhappy-with-michelin-guide-singapore-choices-dont-get-mad-get-to-work http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/unhappy-with-mich... [3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/

bby 10y ago

Fuck Michelin.

hiou 10y ago

* > Incredibly, the 51-year-old, who works 17 hours a day* Could anyone comment on if this is an exaggeration? After commuting plus basic life tasks like bathing etc, this would allow him for a realistic maximum of 5 hours of sleep a day. And that is optimistic as likely this results in about 4 hours a day. It seems like the story of a person who has gone 35 years on 4 hours of sleep a day is possibly more interesting than a Michelin star if this is true.

3legcat 10y ago
Based on my impression of the hawker trade in Singapore, this is pausible. I am guessing his 17 hours probably consists of the following: 2-3 hours of food preparation in the early morning. 12 hours of manning his stall. The remaining hours for commuting and other work things maybe. It is likely with the michelin star he can work fewer hours. He can choose to close his stall once he sells all his meat. It is a hard way of making a living.
- puranjay 10y ago
  The article already states that he has a line of up to 100 people to eat his food. I'm not sure finding customers is his problem. He will likely be able to raise money now though
prawn 10y ago
I imagine that he was asked to describe his day and someone generated the number from that, which might've been exaggerated, might've included things like getting dressed, commute, "thinking about menu changes before bed", etc. The story is not better served by a modest number, after all. Many of us would have days and weeks of high working hour counts, but very rarely would it be sustained for many months on end.
StanislavPetrov 10y ago
It says 17 hours a day but it doesn't say anywhere in that article how many days he works, in which case he'd be able to recover (somewhat) on days off.

oliv__ 10y ago

If anyone else wants to watch the video without their fans firing up, here's the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dBTqm90A4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dBTqm90A4

agentgt 10y ago

I feel ambiance and decor of a restaurant is highly underrated. It is one of the reasons I do not like food trucks (I assume a street food stall is analogous but perhaps I'm wrong). There is a difference between dining and just eating something good. Reviewers seem to harp on taste and service but honestly I can put up with both (with taste there is always alcohol and with service ... you can just be patient). Of course there are exceptions to this if the food truck is positioned in a great place (some Hawaii food trucks come to mind). I'm not saying I can make better food than a Michelin star chef but one of the reasons I go out to eat is for an experience and that experience for me has to be more than it tastes really good. I feel like many review sites, magazines, etc are ignoring this.

mywittyname 10y ago
I'm the opposite, I only care about atmosphere as long as there's a mostly clean and comfortable place to sit. One of my favorite Indian "restaurants" in college was a just a guy that converted a camper into a kitchen and parked it in an empty parking lot. It took forever to get your food, since it was just one guy, and there was no place to sit. But I was happy enough to walk down the street to a park and enjoy my delicious food on a picnic table under an oak tree.

exclusiv 10y ago

I just recently read the back story about the Michelin ratings and I must say - I really think it's awesome that a 1 star is a huge achievement. Most rating systems rate everyone and end up with a lot of mediocrity. Michelin's system makes their brand mean something at every level. Quite brilliant from a branding and social experiment.