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Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

luxeat.com

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Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#81

Post by therealdrag0 »

tomcam wrote: post #20
therealdrag0 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any alternatives to Poppy you’d recommend in Seattle?

Lionhead, a particularly authentic Sichuan Chinese restaurant surprisingly founded by the same gentleman (Asian family; this is one thing I know well). Or Pomegranate in Redmond. They are both top-notch but I have eaten at hundreds of restaurants and nothing has been remotely as original yet tasty as Poppy. You have any faves there?

I enjoyed Herb Farm (tho pricy). But I quite liked Archipelago which had a very intimate setting with only like 8-12 seats facing the kitchen. And they do a neat job telling about Filipino history between dishes. I haven’t tried many other fancy places there.

Edit: oh a bit more casual but Kamonegi is a great Japanese/soba place.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#82

Post by tayo42 »

blunte wrote: post #74
tayo42 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have had food from street vendors and family restaurants that blew my mind Do you have some examples to share?

I'm trying desperately to remember specifics. I love to travel, and food is my #1 or #2 focus when I travel. So I try a lot :). Places and be hit or miss, or at least vary in experience over time or depending upon various factors. But here are some of the ones I can think of, in no particular order. desmaakvanafrika.nl in Rotterdam, NL kuarestaurant.nl in The Hague, NL www.die-kueche-bamberg.de in Bamberg, DE Aum Veg…

thanks, im hoping to get to thailand soon, one of my lockdown covid hobbies was learning thai cooking

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#83

Post by sgerenser »

cameronh90 wrote: post #46
tracerbulletx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jeez Cheesecake Factory must have really wronged you or something.

As a non-American, I found The Cheesecake Factory baffling. Far more baffling than any other restaurant I've been to in the USA. The restaurants appear to be trying to look fancy, with their extravagant yet tastelessly cheesy interior design. I wasn't sure if it was some kind of ironic inside joke that everyone from the USA is in on? Despite the OTT design, the food was unremarkable. Not too surprising given that the…

Food is definitely unremarkable, but I actually enjoyed the cheesecake. The portions are outrageous though so better to get 1 slice and share it.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#84

Post by refurb »

moehm wrote: post #75
refurb wrote: post #48

This just seems like someone sharing their own subjective take on food? I mean there is no right answer , it’s personal preference? It reminds me of audiophiles who can hear the difference in oxygen free speaker cables or prefer the “warmth” of vinyl. I’m like “ok? seems like that works for you so keep doing it?”

There is a huge misconception that professional tasters are rating by their personal preferences. I can't really talk about restaurants, but about wine and spirits. As a taster, you don't look for things you personally enjoy. You look for "quality". That is, balance, complexity, off-flavors, typicity etc. Just because I like my wine oxidized and my meat burned, I can't say the meal was terrible. (But maybe the servic…

But quality is still a subjective measure to a large extent.

Sure, if something is so salty it's not palatable or your cheesecake is lumpy, one can have a more objective assessment.

But even if "professional tasters" agree on what balance means, that's still a subjective measure agreed upon by a select group.

As someone who has eaten at Michelin star restaurant and had a mediocre experience, I'm of the mind if I like it then it's an enjoyable experience. It's pretty irrelevant what professional tasters think.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#85

Post by bobthepanda »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #36
Ansil849 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Correct. I don't know why this is a revelation that seems especially hard for HN audiences to grasp, or why it's a revelation at all. Every single domain has its own expertise. It is absurdly arrogant and deeply condesce…

I think with this one it is, because everyone has tasted before, but comparatively few have coded before. So everyone can say something about their subjective taste experiences, but not so many can about some code. The actual difference might be subjective or one of practiced ability to distinguish in detail. There is also the aspect of science and engineering leading to objective an hopefully reproducible results. T…

> So everyone can say something about their subjective taste experiences, but not so many can about some code.

This is not too true for frontend. Everyone and their mother has an opinion on what needs to be pixel pushed, or something that "should be easy."

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#86

Post by nyanpasu64 »

miles wrote: post #32
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 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. That got me wondering: Third Michelin Star for Blockchain Chef https://medium.com/@aaron.lipeles/third-michelin-star-for-bl... "For Soltys, a third star is the ultimate accolade in an accidental profession. Trained as a computer scientist, he originally became in…

BTW it's an April Fools article.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#87

Post by [deleted] »

miles wrote: post #32
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 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. That got me wondering: Third Michelin Star for Blockchain Chef https://medium.com/@aaron.lipeles/third-michelin-star-for-bl... "For Soltys, a third star is the ultimate accolade in an accidental profession. Trained as a computer scientist, he originally became in…

[deleted]

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#88

Post by davidw »

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…

> McDonald's at 4, and Olive Garden at 6

Having lived in Italy and experienced real Italian food, I'd move the Olive Garden lower than McDonalds. McDonalds is not trying to pretend it's something else. It is what it is, and everyone knows what it is.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#89

Post by jiggawatts »

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 restaurants in so many cities that I have a nice smooth gradient of ratings along which I can place them. I can recognise and appreciate the small touches like real wasabi or expensive sake. The fancy places in Japan extended that experience just past the upper end of what I've experienced before. I could place them in context.

My parents tried a Sushi train... once. A $300 sushi set would be wasted on them, because they would be just as happy with a $50 sushi set. The difference would be completely lost on them.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#90

Post by miles »

nyanpasu64 wrote: post #86
miles wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That got me wondering: Third Michelin Star for Blockchain Chef https://medium.com/@aaron.lipeles/third-michelin-star-for-bl... "For Soltys, a third star is the ultimate accolade in an accidental profession. Trained as a computer scientist, he originally became in…

BTW it's an April Fools article.

Yes, it stretches credulity rather thin as it goes on:

> “Within 3 years,” predicts Soltys, “everyone will use Blockchain.” Referring to the graphical processing units used to run Blockchain technology, he added, “You will not be able to make a sauce bordelaise or pate a choux without a GPU,” he asserts, “And what a wonderful world it will be! So many culinary disasters could have been averted. We never would have had cronuts or rumaki or pizza with shrimp on it!”

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