Are Michelin stars a mark of quality – or a pompous straitjacket for chefs?
It’s that time of the year again: the latest UK edition of the Michelin Guide is at the printer’s, ready to hit bookshelves next week. Chefs are holding their breaths, brows sweating more than usual, anorak diners are preparing for another season of braggadocio banqueting.
But as the guide prepares for publication there are growing signs that the annual “restaurant bible” is becoming increasingly out of step with the mood in the kitchen – and expectations in the dining room.
Last week one of France’s most acclaimed chefs, a man who has held three Michelin stars since 1999, asked to be stripped of them. He didn’t want them. Sebastien Bras, who runs Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole, said he yearned to be free to cook away from the hysteria that comes with Michelin stars.
He said he’d grown weary of maintaining the exacting standards of Michelin’s anonymous judges, who could step into his restaurant at any moment.
“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 told AFP. “Maybe I will be less famous, but I accept that.”
Chefs can’t, technically, return stars: restaurants earns them, not individuals. However, revamping a menu or renaming a restaurant is one way of surrendering them.
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Nevertheless, in publicly shunning his stars, Bras has proven right the many critics of the guide, who bemoan its limited scope, pomposity and imposition of standards that act like a straightjacket for chefs.
There’s also an issue of sustainability: some restaurants simply can’t afford to run a financially viable business with a Michelin star hanging over them.
One such business is Boath House, a luxury hotel near Inverness, whose kitchen currently holds one star from the Michelin men. For the owners that star has been a mixed blessing.
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“While we are extremely proud of the Michelin star we gained 10 years ago and it undoubtedly enhanced our reputation, our restaurant has consistently made a loss,” said Wendy Matheson, who owns the hotel with her husband, Don.
“We believe that the expectations from Michelin are at odds with achievable profit margins and put an enormous stress on a small family-run business like ours.”
Speaking to Telegraph Travel, Mrs Matheson said a recent decision to take the hotel’s restaurant in a more informal direction was made after listening to feedback from diners.
“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,” she said. “The food industry is changing, the hospitality industry is changing.”
However, as the latest guide wends its way to bookshops, there is little sign that Michelin is changing.
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