On our trip to Singapore this month I took a fancy on restaurants with Michelin stars. This time I was more conscious of them that I did some readings and learned more about the Michelin Guide and how restaurants can acquire a Michelin star.
In the early 1900's, Michelin, a French tyre manufacturer came up with a Michelin guide published annually as a manual for car owners. It focused on trouble shooting and maintenance, maps, location of petrol filling stations and other information relevant to road trips so people were encouraged to travel. In so doing, they thought it would enhance car sales and boost their business. Included therein is a list of food stops for drivers which were marked with one, two or three stars.
From my readings,the prestigious Michelin star has evolved a bit differently from its infancy. Nowadays it has become a status symbol for restaurants who earned these coveted stars. In fact in the case of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay being stripped of his two Michelin stars in his New York restaurant has been frequently mentioned in my readings. "It felt like losing a girl friend, that you want to get her back", said Ramsay.
They say that there are a select 120 secret inspectors/reviewers who are schooled and expert in the culinary field and possess the discriminate palate to appreciate food.
They cover about 40,000 restaurants worldwide, each one dining at 240 restaurants per year; visiting them every 18 months for evaluation. They pay to dine like an ordinary customer so they blend in the crowd and remain incognito while doing their jobs.
It takes at least four visits of consistent satisfactory observation and only after consultation with two of the world-wide Executives before a single star can be awarded ; 10 visits for two stars and so on. This guide focused mostly in Europe and only later in the United States.
In recent years, Asian countries have been included; among them are Japan, Hongkong, Macao and the latest is Singapore. In 2016, two Singaporean hawker food stalls were awarded a single star for their delicious and affordable meals. From there, many restaurants were awarded the Michelin star in Singapore that it warranted an Apps, a guide for Singapore restaurants with the Michelin stars.
Our son brought us to lunch at Nabe Siezan, a 2-Michelin star Japanese restaurant for its Dashi soup (fish broth). We ordered their bestsellers;
the wagyu beef
the Sea Bream with dashi rice.
I'd say that the dishes were not cheap.
The Kam's Roast Restaurant is a spin off of the Michelin star restaurant in Hongkong, the Kam's Roast Goose. In Singapore, Kam's Roast serve star-quality roast duck instead of goose using the same ingredients and method because they couldn't find a reliable goose supplier in Singapore. Kam's Roast is still working on earning a star but the food is already Michelin-star worthy.
Kam's Roast also serve roast chicken and Char Sui Pork. Our son ordered all three dishes for us to taste and they were all great.
The high quality of Dim Sum at affordable prices for the masses to enjoy is Tim Ho Wan restaurant's pride for acquiring it's Michelin star.
There are the big four heavenly King in the hierarchy of their dim-sum; pan fried radish cake, steamed egg cake, bean curd of pork and shrimp and the baked ban with BBQ pork. The latter seems to be a great favorite for many.
Among the four, I only tasted the baked ban with BBQ Pork (their best seller) when our younger daughter bought some for us to taste the last time we were in Singapore.
Here we were at Tsuta Ramen, another Michelin-star restaurant. Our son-in-law and younger daughter brought us there last September to try their Shoyu Ramen complimented with truffle oil that earned them the Michelin star.
In the photo above we were waiting for our ramen being prepared by two chefs in front of us.
Note that a Michelin star is awarded to a restaurant because of the quality, authenticity and exceptional good taste of a dish and nothing to do with the place and its ambiance. However, having a Michelin star is a crowd drawer and before long expansion and beatification is inevitable.
There are more restaurants with Michelin Stars that our children would like to bring us to but Jim said "enough of star restaurants". So on our last night our younger daughter and son-in-law brought us to NamNam at Plaza Singapora for Vietnamese Pho Noodles. The mint, spring onions and cilantro in the soup were so refreshing and served with a generous amount of tender beef. Now, I would rate that with a Michelin star.
During my trips to Singapore I had the opportunity to dine in many restaurants, (our children make sure we experience a new one most of the time) I believe that there are more deserving of that coveted star.
Sometime ago, the Michelin Guide was said to be biased with French Cuisine, this maybe due to accessibility and their food orientation. Wouldn't you wonder why a tyre manufacturer is critiquing food at restaurants around the world?
Having tasted a few Michelin star dishes, I have to say that most of them are great but some are not to my liking. Maybe my palate is not sophisticated enough to appreciate a variety of dishes. Still, I believe that if "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", then delicious food is in the tongue of the taster.
Today, a week after this was published, I learned further that restaurants having Michelin Stars is not really all that great afterall. Just recently, I read that Sebastian Bras, a French chef gave up his three stars and requested not to be included in the 2018 Michelin guide because he can no longer stand the pressure of being inspected or rated everytime he puts out a new dish. There were also a few other chefs who dropped out of the guide for the same reason.
Your blog had very good knowledge and that gave huge instructions and that was really commendable ideas. you have provided good knowledge about singapore truffle oil topic please share more information with us.
ReplyDelete