9 ms·
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
by 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 agoThat'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 agoMy wild guess, however, is that many of these three-star places are in some ancient / traditional / cultural towns.
- oliwarner 10y agoNot 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 agoI 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 agoOne 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.
- yardie 10y agoThe guide was made because the founder of Michelin liked to travel and liked to eat. Over time it grew into an actual product. Rail is well established in Europe. You don't necessarily need a car to visit any of these places
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoThe Priceonomics article [1] says otherwise: > There once was a time when people had to be convinced that a car was useful. That was the situation in 1895, when brothers Edouard and Andre Michelin developed a new design for a car tire... > First published in 1900, the guide’s 399 pages contained all the information drivers needed to “go touring” through French towns and cities. Only restaurants attached to hotels were included, and they were listed rather than carefully rated. 1. http://priceonomics.com/why-does-a-tire-company-publish-the-michelin-guide/ http://priceonomics.com/why-does-a-tire-company-publish-the-...
- Aelinsaar 10y agoI mean, it's a French organization, give them time to establish a presence outside of Europe. I think they're only just taking notice of us here in the colonies. dry chuckle
- bjornsing 10y agoI like how you call Washington D.C. a "town". That's a very modest description of the capital of the world's only superpower. :P Now, Järpen in Sweden is a town (with about 1400 inhabitants). It has a restaurant called Fäviken. This restaurant has two Michelin stars [1]. 1. https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Restaurant/Jarpen-83005-Faviken_Magasinet-456922-41102 https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Restaurant/Jarpen-83005-Favi...
- Turbots 10y agoWorlds only superpower, lol
- beisner 10y agoNot sure how tongue in cheek you're being, but for those for whom English isn't a first language, calling a large city like DC or NYC a 'town' is pretty common, and is a more colloquial way to describe a region rather than to indicate the size of the named region. Often it is used interchangeably with 'place', for instance: "I've lived in New York City all my life, I've got to get out of that town."
- markcerqueira 10y agoMust be a regional thing because I've never heard of cities like NYC or SF referred to as towns. I would also say "get out of town" is a saying that means "I need to get out of this specific place." Whether the place is a town, city, region is besides the point.
- billskills 10y agoIt's a wry/sarcastic idiom, like calling the Atlantic Ocean "the pond". Nobody actually thinks the Atlantic Ocean is a pond.
- overcast 10y agoCalling the Atlantic "the pond" is so cringe worthy. Why that ever caught on.
- voycey 10y agoYeah not a thing over here in Australia which I find strange as being a UK expat the food over here is exemplary even at a cafe level!
- 2muchcoffeeman 10y agoWell, we have our own Hat system in Australia.
- nether 10y agoMichelin critics are also trained to evaluate restaurants on specific Michelin criteria and to not just give their personal take on the food. So "good enough" is very specific here to what Michelin considers important.
- Loic 10y agoThis is true, you need a scale and criteria which can be used by all the reviewers. This is really what matters for the consistency of the grades. Note that the Michelin is also reviewing hot-dog stands in the US and in Asia a couple of small Sushi shops have a star or I think even two.
- pilsetnieks 10y agoThere's a "small sushi shop" that, gasp, has even three stars! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyabashi_Jiro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyabashi_Jiro
- snark42 10y ago> Note that the Michelin is also reviewing hot-dog stands in the US and in Asia a couple of small Sushi shops have a star or I think even two. They're also doing Michelin Bib Gourmands for "quality food at a reasonable price" which is what most hot-dog stand type places have gotten (I'm sure some got stars too.)
- niravshah 10y agoDC is getting a Michelin guide this October https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/05/31/michelin-star-restaurants-in-dc-michelin-guide-coming/ https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/05/31/michelin-star-resta...
- tamana 10y agoMichelin is an auto company. The star system was originally a marketing project to promote road trips (and dining on the road) in regions Michelin did business.