October
might mark the publication of new guides for Great Britain and Ireland, San
Francisco, Washington, Chicago and New York, but there’s been a slow restaurant
revolt bubbling in kitchens around the world with a number of high profile
chefs seemingly turning their back on the famous red book.
At
the end of 2016, as Michelin announced their 2017 selection for Belgium and
Luxembourg, one chef, Karin Keyngaert, had already decided she wanted to return
the star she had held for five years. “Until ten years ago, a Michelin star was
a blessing, but in these economic times it is more of a curse. People go to star
restaurants just to go for a festive occasion, to dine long and extensive, but
personnel costs have become so high that it's unpayable,” she told Vice in an
interview at the time.
More
recently, Sébastian Bras, son of the legendary Michel Bras and heir to a three
star Michelin dynasty, shocked the culinary world when he said he would like to
return the three stars he had inherited and maintained for ten years.
Bras
shared the sentiments of Keyngaert, explaining on Facebook that he wanted to
carry on creating, just away from the watchful eye of the guide’s anonymous
diners. “You’re inspected two or three times a year, you never know when. Every
meal that goes out could be inspected. That means that, every day, one of the
500 meals that leaves the kitchen could be judged,” he wrote.
Just
days after the announcement from Bras, and just days before the publication of
the new guide for Great Britain and Ireland, the owners of the Boath House
restaurant in Scotland joined the list in asking to have their stars removed,
citing the “enormous stress” and financial strain cooking for the star had
caused them and their business. They told the BBC they wanted to move their
restaurant in a more “informal direction” in an attempt to responding to diner
demand: “The feedback we are hearing time and time again from our customers is
that they want an experience that is more informal and relaxed and this extends
to the restaurant, the food and even how it is served."
Michelin
heard and responded to the comments, “It's obviously up to individual
restaurants how they want to run their businesses, and there is absolutely no
formula for winning or retaining a Michelin star,” they said, however, Boath
House was included in the guide for 2017. Giving back stars, as Michelin
director Michael Ellis told Vanity Fair back in 2015, is not actually possible.
“You can agree with it or you cannot, but you can’t give it back. That’s not an
issue ... kind of an urban myth,” he said.
What’s
echoed across all the cases above is the want from chefs for more freedom in
the kitchen, a chance to be more informal in the dining room, and a way to
adapt menus and ingredients to match with demand they are receiving from
customers.
Michelin
on their part have recognised this, the editor of the Great Britain and Ireland
guide, Rebecca Burr, told the BBC that the organisation had noted the trend
towards more informal dining over the last 10 years and that it was something
they had been at the forefront of celebrating and recognising.
In
2016 a street food vendor in Singapore was awarded a star, they’ve given stars
to places like Tsuta, a super informal and cheap ramen place in Tokyo, but this
isn’t enough it seems, especially in Europe. To be fair, they have followed the
trend of restaurants that create more informal atmospheres paired with high
quality food, think of The Clove Club or Lyle’s in London. There’s also the
more recent example of Elystan Street, also in London, where they awarded a star
in the 2017 guide to chef Phil Howard for his attempt to create something
“informal and crowd-pleasing”.
They
also have a few relaxed and affordable dim sum places in London and Hong Kong,
but this street-food style preference, where delicious wins above all else, is
something that's only been celebrated on a small scale in Asian editions. They
are launching guides in new foodie cities, Bangkok will come at the end of
2017, surely a place where street food will play heavily. They’re moving in the
right direction, but as they do this, chefs are rapidly firing out new ideas
and concepts to feed a growing army of food savvy consumers who are eating out
more than ever, in a landscape that's changing faster than ever. Evidently, at
least from the examples above, chefs are asking for the freedom required to
create and challenge these changing palates, in changing times.
Many
young people now choose to express themselves through the food choices they
make, just look at the crazy amount of food pics shared on social media, or the
demand for pop-ups and celebrity chefs. Food is part of pop culture in a way
it’s never been before, because of this it moves and fragments quickly.
Michelin’s difficult job is to constantly evolve while reflecting the now, to
predict the future while maintaining and respecting history and tradition. The
ironic thing is, this is also a goal shared by greatest chefs.
By FDL