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

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

#21

Post by bane »

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".

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

#22

Post by dimal »

sandworm101 wrote: post #17

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 k…

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

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

#23

Post by jghn »

xorgar831 wrote: post #6

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.

That has been changing over time. Traditionally there was a bias towards the classic french style restaurant for exactly that reason. As dining trends have changed over time there's been a push to focus more on just the food.

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

#24

Post by avar »

beachstartup wrote: post #19
avar wrote: post #4

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 produ…

this is just my opinion, but i don't think this is literally 'street food' -- it's not on the street, it's in a food court inside of a shopping mall frequented by affluent professionals. in my experience, east and southeast asia have the best 'food court' cuisine on earth, probably by an order of magnitude. nothing i've seen on any other continent even comes close. i think this is just michelin recognizing that fact.

It's not inside a mall, it's in a hawker center, a complex that doesn't have traditional shopping and is literally many levels of nothing but small one-man eateries.

Saying that it's not "street food", I think, glosses over the context of what these things are in Singapore.

There was a concerted effort by the government at some point to bring what were "street food" stalls in the western sense into regulated hawker centers for hygienic reasons.

There's almost no "street food" in the western sense in Singapore, for a combination of that reason and the fact that it's bloddy hot outside. While Hawker centers usually don't have AC, they at least tend to have fans everywhere, which makes it a bit more tolerable than eating food outside in the street.

It is street food in the sense that it's all really cheap food that's prepared almost instantly, you can eat it in a hurry, and the Hawker centers are all in major thoroughfares.

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

#25

Post by xorgar831 »

twoodfin wrote: post #13
xorgar831 wrote: post #6

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.

At least nominally this is not true: Michelin claims that stars are only earned based on the quality of the cuisine, not the comfort or service of the establishment. Now, Michelin "inspectors" are human and certainly still susceptible to our usual cognitive biases, like food tasting "better" if it's eaten with a vermeil fork. And the economics of the restaurant industry make it difficult to profitably produce the kin…

Looks like the stars are for the food and the forks and spoons are for everything else accoding to this anonymous inspector interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J2YpV2442w&t=3m42s

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

#26

Post by cyberferret »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #2

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 al…

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.

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

#27

Post by phantom_oracle »

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...

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

#28

Post by achamayou »

bane wrote: post #21

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'…

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.

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

#29

Post by klausa »

yomly wrote: post #20
klausa wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 someth…

Agree it's more about the individual dishes rather than the entire menu, but their prawn dumplings (har gau) are also spot on.

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.

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

#30

Post by klausa »

davidmr wrote: post #11
xorgar831 wrote: post #6

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.

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 t…

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.
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