The title of this article is not meant to be provocative. It is simply stating a fact: there is no such thing as a Michelin-starred chef. Colloquially, however, a Michelin star chef is the chef of a restaurant that has been awarded at least one Michelin star. The Michelin guide awards these stars to restaurants, not to individual chefs. Therefore, to say that someone is a Michelin star chef is not necessarily accurate if they no longer work in the same restaurant. If they leave, the star does not leave with them. So, in reality, we use the term Michelin star chef somewhat loosely to refer to any head chef who ever worked in a Michelin Star restaurant. Rather than a true title, it’s more of a nickname.
You can read more about Michelin stars here and we’ll go further into the nuts and bolts of Michelin stars later on in the article.
What If A Chef Leaves A Michelin-Star Restaurant?
It is quite possible that a chef could leave a Michelin-star restaurant and have his or her sous chef take over. In this case, the star would not be revoked until the guide’s personnel re-assessed the restaurant (which can take months to a year) and decided whether to revoke it or retain it.
So, another chef could inherit the Michelin star previously earned under the stewardship of another chef. It would probably not be proper for this chef to call themselves a Michelin star chef even though they work in a Michelin star restaurant!
If a restaurant changes ownership and the new owners change the format and cuisine of the restaurant, the guide is likely to simply remove the restaurant from the Guide and start over.
It is also possible that a chef who is consistently referred to as a Michelin star chef could leave the restaurant that had achieved the rating and upon taking up residence in a new restaurant, fail to achieve the same rating.
It Doesn’t Matter Who Does the Cooking
Let’s suppose that anonymous Michelin guide judges visit a restaurant several times, and each time, the main components of their meal happens to be prepared by the most junior cook in the kitchen. And, the judges find the food tasty and and consistent. They award a Michelin star! So, is that junior cook now a “Michelin Star Chef?” It will be the head chef who refers to himself as a Michelin Star Chef, even if he was away on vacation the whole time. The guide does not care at all who prepares the food. The star belongs to the restaurant.
Getting a Michelin Star is Like a Gold Medal in the Olympics
This chef will probably still be referred to as a Michelin-star chef. So, in other words, getting a star is like getting a gold medal in the Olympics or winning an Oscar as an actor. Once you’ve won one, you’re always an Olympic Gold Medalist or an Oscar winner, even if you never win again.
Why is any of this important? While it is true to say that the success of many top restaurants is due to a talented chef, you should not visit a restaurant based solely on the past glories of the chef. You should also consider the reputation of the restaurant they cook in now.
Not all chefs who ever earned a star or more than one, deserve the distinction today. Again, the Michelin Guide only rates restaurants, not individual chefs. This is because the guide is concerned with what places are worth visiting, not promoting individuals. In fact, the stars themselves denote this.
A Star Is a Review
The Michelin Guide considers its stars as reviews. Technically, if you get a good review as an actor in one play, you don’t retain this review for the rest of your life and get to apply it to all your other plays. So, the cooking world plays somewhat fast and loose with these ratings. Still, you will often hear that a once celebrated chef failed to achieve a star like they had in the past.
The truth is that the Michelin guide couldn’t care less who is doing the cooking. Seriously. If the head chef is away for an extended vacation while the restaurant is being assessed, it can still earn a star. And many Michelin Star restaurants owned by famous celebrity chefs earn stars even though the chef is off doing other things, like filming TV shows.
It Takes Many Visits for the Michelin Guide to Assess a Restaurant
Also important to note is that, unlike a regular restaurant review that you might find in a restaurant, Michelin stars are presented in a guide that is current for a year. Therefore, it takes more than one visit for the guide to assess a restaurant and consistency is one of the main keys.
To achieve a star, the food a restaurant serves must be consistently high quality. You can’t get a star by serving one exceptional meal!
In this way, the efficiency of the kitchen and the work of the entire kitchen staff play a role, making it a bit unfair for the head chef to take all the credit. You can’t earn a Michelin star all by yourself.
As well, any restaurant can qualify for a star, even if they don’t employ a culinary school-educated chef. A barbecue joint run by your smokemaster uncle could earn one, in theory.
Gordon Ramsay Once Lost Two Stars For Lack of Consistency
Consistency is so key that even the great Gordon Ramsay once sadly lost two starts at once for his restaurant, The London. According to Chowhound, more than one Michelin reviewer had a bad experience at the restaurant and Michelin guide director Michael Ellis told Bloomberg,
We’ve had issues with consistency, and consistency is a huge thing for us … we’ve had some very erratic meals…
Just as above, the problem in Ramsay’s restaurant was that he was stretched too thin and off doing television shows and running his restaurant empire, so consistency suffered.
Some Chefs Are THAT Good
Despite my efforts to convince you that Michelin stars are misrepresented, some chefs have won so many of them that we can admit that they absolutely deserve the title, as unofficial as it is, of Michelin Star chef.
For example, celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse (or at least his restaurants) has been awarded 21 Michelin stars, making him the current record holder. Before him, the late chef Joël Robuchon earned 31 stars during his career.
I know you’ll wonder how many Gordon Ramsey has won. He has been awarded 22 stars. Many of those restaurants closed, so he now holds seven stars. Ramsey was, at one point, tied with Alain Ducasse. So, yes, he really is that good, making any comparisons between Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver ridiculous, as Jamie Oliver, despite owning many restaurants, has never been awarded a Michelin star.
What are Stars Based On?
The Michelin star is all about the quality of the food and its consistency. The decor of the restaurant, the atmosphere, and even the service, at least according to the guide, are not relevant. Inspectors are trained to take no notice of these things.
I find this to be inconsistent with the role of the guide since the guide may encourage you to go out of your way visit a 3-star restaurant that has horrible service, dirty floors, and a terrible atmosphere. A Michelin-star restaurant, it seems, can have wonderful food but still be a bad experience in other ways.
One would assume that the wine menu will be top-notch to complement the food, but this doesn’t mean, for instance, that the bar is excellent, assuming the restaurant has one. Therefore, you might not enjoy every restaurant the guide recommends and you must evaluate the restaurant to consider whether it meets your expectations.
How Do Michelin Stars Work?
The Michelin guide employs an army of globe-trotting inspectors. These are highly trained experts who travel to the regions the guide covers and eat in the restaurants included in the guide. Unlike many food critics, these inspectors are anonymous so they don’t get any special treatment and they might visit a restaurant many times to sample as much of the menu as possible and ensure that the experience is consistent at all times.
What Do the Stars Mean?
- One Star: “High quality cooking – worth a stop.”
- Two Stars: “Excellent cooking – worth a detour.”
- Three Stars: “Exceptional Cuisine – worth a special journey.”
In other words, a one star restaurant is worth stopping at should you happen to be passing by. A two-star restaurant is worth going out of your way to visit if you are going to be in the vicinity. A three-star restaurant is worth taking a special trip for the sole purpose of visiting the restaurant.
According to the guide:
A Michelin Star is awarded for outstanding cooking. We take into account the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavours, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed in their cuisine and, just as importantly, consistency both over time and across the entire menu.
The inspectors judge each restaurant solely on the merits of its own food. There are no pre-set expectations, special formulas, expected techniques, etc. Any kind of menu and any kind of food may be judged.
There is No Such Thing as Michelin Food
Just as there is no such thing as a Michelin-starred chef, there is no Michelin food or Michelin techniques. Michelin is often used as an adjective in the cooking world to mean high quality and consistency.
Using the term in this way can lead to faulty assumptions. For instance, I saw a YouTube video demonstrating how to cut “Michelin Star Onions.” Michelin does not care how a chef cuts their onions. They only care that the food is as excellent as possible.
Image Credits:
Gordon Ramsay by www.davepullig.co.uk/
Alain Ducasse by Wikialainducasse via wikimedia
