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Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

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Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#201

Post by nizmow »

jiggawatts wrote: post #89
tomcam wrote: post #3

Went to Paris and dined at a number of Michelin-starred places, including Le Cinq. The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. On the other hand I was lucky enough to dine at Poppy Seattle every year of its existence and felt their completely original approach to th…

I've been to two Michelin-starred Sushi places in Japan. I thought they were both amazing, but I realised that my parents would not have thought so. They grew up relatively poor, and still have the habit of eating at home from a rotating menu of relatively straightforward recipes. Stews, soups, that kind of thing. They've gone to restaurants maybe a few dozen times in their lives , if that. I've been to so many Sushi…

What on earth do people do besides eating at home from a rotating set of straightforward recipes? Honestly curious. I’m the main cook in my home and we do eat out every other week, but who has time for that much experimentation?

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#202

Post by olivierduval »

bjarneh wrote: post #151

The worst part about some of these 3 star restaurants, is that staff are often unpaid. It's basically what Americans call an internship, i.e. the only "salary" is that you can add working in a 3 star restaurant to your CV. I once visited a 3 star restaurant in Spain (Arzak), where this was the case. If you look at the cost of eating there, and consider that most of the staff is unpaid, it really leaves a bad taste in…

Surprising!!! It's not possible in France, because internship is always paid... and quite well paid in 3 stars restaurants

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#203

Post by michaelbuckbee »

nizmow wrote: post #201
jiggawatts wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to two Michelin-starred Sushi places in Japan. I thought they were both amazing, but I realised that my parents would not have thought so. They grew up relatively poor, and still have the habit of eating at home from a rotating menu of relatively straightforward recipes. Stews, soups, that kind of thing. They've gone to restaurants maybe a few dozen times in their lives , if that. I've been to so many Sushi…

What on earth do people do besides eating at home from a rotating set of straightforward recipes? Honestly curious. I’m the main cook in my home and we do eat out every other week, but who has time for that much experimentation?

The pandemic has had us eating in for the last year. There's a variety of food blogs/sites that have easy "can't miss" type recipes that are safe enough bets that you don't have to worry about making something else if they're failures.

We try to swap in one or two new recipes a week and the rest are the standards. You get an occasional hit new recipe and then it becomes a standard.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#204

Post by rdeboo »

Semaphor wrote: post #99
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #53

First, you really need to enjoy that type of experience. A 3-star restaurant is going to have attentive, almost (but not quite) intrusive service. The servers come across more as dining consultants or even storytellers. One lunch at The French Laundry, our server spent quite a few minutes explaining the history of the butter served with the 'hot buttered rolls' course. The cow that provided the milk had been given to…

> A 3-star restaurant is going to have attentive, almost (but not quite) intrusive service. The servers come across more as dining consultants or even storytellers. I had that experience in a 0-star chain steakhouse. It was the Football World Championship in Germany, and Germany was playing. I don’t care for that at all (nor did any of the people working that day), they were one of the few restaurants without a TV. I…

I've had this experience in Germany and it turned out that the waitress gets a cut of the turnover, at least for drinks. So they have an incentive to keep the glasses full. I'm not sure if this is common in Germany.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#205

Post by dghf »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #95
cameronh90 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scotland does have excellent meat and produce - the Aberdeen Angus and Scottish Salmon for example. The standard of food in the lowlands is generally poor - especially outside of Edinburgh. But there is a lot of absolutely cracking Scottish/British food in the Highlands. Of course, it's not as good for a foodie as somewhere like London, NYC or Tokyo. But it's a lot better than the kebabs, pizza crunches and munchie b…

> But it's a lot better than the kebabs, pizza crunches and munchie boxes that people associate with Scotland. If it's any consolation, the only food I associate with Scotland is haggis, and I don't expect that people there are actually eating it. I have no opinion whatever on what people in Scotland eat. (Except, of course, that it probably isn't haggis.)

> If it's any consolation, the only food I associate with Scotland is haggis, and I don't expect that people there are actually eating it. I have no opinion whatever on what people in Scotland eat. (Except, of course, that it probably isn't haggis.)

I mean, not everyone eats it, and those that do certainly don't eat it all the time, but it's pretty common. The haggis supper is a chip-shop staple. A full Scottish fried breakfast may well include a slice of haggis. There's a good chance that a cafe or van selling bacon rolls will also sell haggis rolls. And so on.

It's about as common as black pudding, and fills a similar culinary niche.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#206

Post by rob74 »

jiggawatts wrote: post #138
praptak wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always makes me question whether it is good to have a well developed taste. Having taste makes you require more dollars to get the same level of satisfaction from a meal or a drink.

> Having taste makes you require more dollars to get the same level of satisfaction I have carefully avoided trying excessively high quality things because once I've experienced something truly luxury then it becomes an ongoing expense to keep up that level of experience. The irritating part is that before I was perfectly happy in my ignorance of something better being available out there, but aftewards I feel like I…

Makes me glad to be a simple person with simple tastes - sometimes I taste a more expensive wine, and it's good, but then I ask myself "is this really worth paying 3x or 10x more than for a regular glass of wine?", and most of the time the answer I give myself is no...

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#207

Post by olivierduval »

dr_hooo wrote: post #196

> In those days, drink and driving wasn’t a factor, so half a bottle of wine with dinner every night This surprised me a little. Was drinking and driving so much more prevalent in the past?

Well, "half a bottle" was then considered just "normal" (one for lunch, one for dinner), like if you drank a soda. After all, it was "just wine" and everybody was supposed to still be "sober" and able to drive... Troubles started after a bottle of wine ;-)

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#208

Post by thaumasiotes »

kragen wrote: post #172
thaumasiotes wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm saying it doesn't suit your purposes either. You are assuming that all meals at a given restaurant have the same effect. This assumption is untrue, and this means that any prediction you make based on your interpretation will also probably be untrue.

No, I'm not making that assumption, and it serves my purposes fine, thanks for your concern.

You made that assumption so explicitly that there is already another comment objecting to it:

> There's nothing about a 1-10 scale that implies that every visit to the restaurant will be equally pleasurable.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#209

Post by dazc »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #181
bjarneh wrote: post #151

The worst part about some of these 3 star restaurants, is that staff are often unpaid. It's basically what Americans call an internship, i.e. the only "salary" is that you can add working in a 3 star restaurant to your CV. I once visited a 3 star restaurant in Spain (Arzak), where this was the case. If you look at the cost of eating there, and consider that most of the staff is unpaid, it really leaves a bad taste in…

Considering the owners of Arzak are not in jail and that not paying your workers would be a serious violation of Spain labor laws, I am going to go on a limp and posit that what you say is probably not entirely true.

I lived in Spain for a couple of years and I was of the understanding that many bars, cafes and restaurants existed on this basis.

A waiter in a restaurant I frequented regularly explained this to me as to how, despite working there for 3 years, he couldn't just go and work in the UK for a few months and come back because he could so easily be replaced.

I witnessed myself, on many occasions, groups of kids coming in, filling in forms and being interviewed for these non-paid intern positions.

If I am wrong about these people not being paid it is because I was specifically told this, it isn't something I just assumed.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#210

Post by kragen »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #208
kragen wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm not making that assumption, and it serves my purposes fine, thanks for your concern.

You made that assumption so explicitly that there is already another comment objecting to it: > There's nothing about a 1-10 scale that implies that every visit to the restaurant will be equally pleasurable.

They just made the same incorrect inference that you did, that's all, but they did so more politely. In my response, which I linked for you earlier in this thread, I pointed out one way my original comment took those complexities into account in what you evidently think is my Grand Unified Theory of Restaurant Hedonics.
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