Interesting - loved my visit at Zen a few weeks back. Rated it 96/100 - the food was superb and the presentation gorgeous. Service friendly and knowledgeable and the dining rooms (!) beautiful. Had booked Thevar but had to cancel.

Yep, the dining rooms were definitely very well designed. The service was certainly polished, but I think the staff serving me might have been less experienced and they definitely weren't chatty or friendly, more stand off-ish.

We dined at Candlenut in November. It was our second favorite meal in Asia after Baan Tepa in Bangkok - one Michelin :star: restaurant at the time, they received the second :star: less than a month after we were there. One day, I'll get around to posting on those two meals and more.

Did a couple (or maybe 3 if an honorary is counted.

Shang Palace (1*) at the Shangri La in Paris was on the verge of extremely good but service sort of fell apart at the end. Food was excellent, even exquisite (what I expect and my criteria for a star).

iDen @ Quan Ju De (1*) in Vancouver is hugely overrated (we suspect standards are looser in Canada). Service tried to be very good but the table (booth-ish) was a bit awkward for Michelin service. Food was just so-so (definitely not exquisite).

Last was on a cruise ship with a menu "curated" (or some such term) by Claude Le Tohic (of 1* L'O in SF) on an Explora cruise. The sous-chef came out at the end of dinner and explained that Le Lohic came onboard for 10 days to instruct the dedicated kitchen crew how to recreate the meal. Generally very good and food was on the verge of exquisite (as much as French food can be). The day after, saw Le Lohic onboard the ship as it sailed from SF (where he must have got on) for a slow cruise down to L.A. He was onboard to, I surmise, inspect the quality of the food, and supervised the menu (fixed) that night. Just wished I had known in advance. Some bonuses. Meal with wine pairing costed at least $400 for 2 less than at SF and no upcharge for the waygu main.

Pre-Catelan in Paris (3*), 94/100. Beautiful dining room, generally good service but not particulary personal and some strange (minor) issues (such as not folding napkins when leaving the table, not removing empty tea cups for 15 minutes). Food: some truly memorable dishes (champagne sorbet with Kaviari oscietra!) and some rather unimpressive ones (pea tarlet with way too much and creamy stracciatella).

Gron in Helsinki (1*). Almost the same price as the Pre-Catelan but very uneven meal. Desserts were particulary good but savoury dishses were not particularly exciting and several (much) too salty. Dining room looks like a daytime cafe. Would not return/advise.

The dining room of the Pre-Catelan is really very nice. The food is also well described. I am shocked that you pay the same for a star in Helsinki as in Pre-Catelan, which is anything but cheap (you could also say quite expensive).

Which shows that in SF they seem to confuse the guests' wallets with a money-printing machine. Let's be honest, the restaurant in SF has one star. That's worthy of honor, but also nothing really special. Because of the comment that it was 400$ cheaper (actually 400$ is not too little for a 1-star menu for 2 persons with whine) I was curious and checked out what they charge in SF. I was almost pleasantly surprised that it was "only" 210 or 295 ++. But for one star, that's clearly too much in my eyes.

Not just SF but - from what I understand - pretty much any place on the west coast.

It seems that way. I recently had the great idea of exploring the 3-star restaurants on the west coast. The budget without flights would easily have been 3000 per day, maybe even more. That was in 2019, I think it's even more expensive now.

Protégé :star: in Palo Alto, CA
We’ve gone a few times before (including the night they when they first got their :star: within a year of opening), but this first time trying the tasting menu. Really enjoyed it as we had the à la carte experience. It’s like French Laundry-lite being more casual, easier reservations, and less courses (and cheaper). Not surprising cz when they first opened, the marketing always emphasized the team being “French Laundry alums.”

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Francescana at Casa Maria Luigia and Osteria Francescana were the best meals I’ve had in my life. Massimo and Lara are amazing and really take the time to meet you.

Unfortunately I can't double this. I found it quite disappointing and far from great.

A couple of data points:

le pre-Catelan, Paris 3*
The restaurant is absolutely beautiful and in a gorgeous location. The food was somewhat uneven with a couple of dishes being either quite salty or quite creamy and others being absolutely phenomenal. The champagne sorbet with oscietra for example was highly memorable. Bread was very good but not excellent. There was a distinct lack of amuses bouche and mignardies, perhaps because this was the 'el cheapo' 175 euro lunch special. Overall I would rate this 94/100.

Gronn, Helsinki 1*
The restaurant is located in a rather non-descript Street in a building that looks more like a daytime cafe than Michelin Star restaurant. The food was rather uneven with especially the savory dishes being quite salty and mixed in their quality. To deserts generally were better. The wine situation is awkward to say the least. As a solo diner buying a bottle of wine was out of the question as laws in Finland prohibit wine from being taken out of the restaurant so I went by the glass. Unfortunately there is no list or indication of what is available. The sommelier did not show the bottles and just read out some names and repeatedly said that I should just tell her what I would like. But of course only a very small number of wines were actually available so I did not quite understand what she meant there. I expressed my frustration but I don't think the message was received. As someone who works in the wine industry I found this a very customer unfriendly way of presenting the wine. Overall I was somewhat disappointed with this meal, especially given it was almost the same price (144 euros) as le pre-Catelan. On balance, I don't think I would recommend it. 88/100

We had lunch at Le Bernardin today. The tasting menu is sublime. Service was fantastic.

Amazing that after all these years it just keeps on delivering. Impressive.

Noma Kyoto - 1 seat available
 

I have a seat available at Noma Kyoto on 11/19 at 12pm if anyone is interested. Cost is $1025 and includes the beverage pairing.