I can't sit in one place for 3 hours without wanting to go for a walk a couple of times. Too bad I don't smoke or drink.

3+ hour meals in Tokyo are especially difficult because they keep their thermostats quite warm.

In this case a Business Lunch can be an option;) Or simply asking for fast service. Always good not to drink or smoke....

I've been in this situation a couple of times where the first few courses have absolutely flown out the kitchen, asking the waiting staff to slow it down is perfectly acceptable and works. Once was at Martin Beresetegui, at Azurmendi the lunchtime tasting menu I had took hours and was decidedly leisurely without prompting. I don't think they're flipping tables at places like Azurmendi and if they are they should let you know on reserving.

I don't mind leisurely dining, but 3+ hours for a 7-course meal is really stretching it.

My Tokyo Michelin visits this time around:
-Ryo (1 star, unagi): incredibly good. The eel is cooked with such painstaking care and attention, and it is delicious. Mixed in are a few non-eel courses (e.g. tempura). Very pricey but love the food, love the vibe. The sake pairing was delicious.
-Sushi Shin (1 star, sushi): very good but not the best sushi I have had by any stretch. Some very delicious pieces (anago, uni, the infamous shirako), but others (shad, clam sashimi, tuna) seemed dry / not as fresh. Would be willing to revisit but a tad underwhelmed.
-Ginza Okuda (1 star, kaiseki): had a special New Year's Day tasting menu. Very good, particularly the Kobe beef. Kind of pricey given it was only 6-7 courses in total, but I would probably return nonetheless. I enjoyed the drink pairing, which included sake and wine. My wife's nonalcoholic pairing was arguably even better.

Next up for us will be Benu in SF in a couple weeks - really looking forward to that.

My meal at La Pergola for their 10 course was 5 hours including a birthday song. I can say I was pretty well drunk by the end with their very generous wine pairing (tons of refills).

5 minutes and depending on course perhaps even 10 would let me wonna talk to the manager but for a completely different reason;). To be fair I never stop time, so if I count 8 courses, 10 minutes between each and 5 minutes between each to eat it´s not that fast. Next time I will take time;)

Not sure how long my dinner will last but I´m sure I will not be drunk;)

I don't entirely agree.

We do a lot of tasting menus and for us the good ones have the 'snacks' at the beginning coming reasonably quickly and the spacing between dishes increases as you get deeper into the progression and especially between the main proteins. More so if they are pairing wines across two courses or less lest you end up with a table littered with half finished pours.

Of course, it has something to do with the chef, but I suspect there's a cultural element as well. Just like portion sizes vary by locale, so can the speed of consumption. Some people just like to eat quickly while we like to savour our food, have a pleasant conversation and otherwise enjoy the craft of the chef. The 'best' restaurants get this and adjust the service pacing to match their patrons seamlessly. Other places need a gentle reminder.

Case in point - we pushed back a little at the service pacing on our first visit to Le Calandre. About three minutes later Chef Alajmo came to our table, asked if everything was fine and said he had no problem adjusting the pace of the service. In fact he seemed pleased as he lamented that some diners seem to just want to rush through their meals. He joined us after dessert and we chatted about other restaurants we had visited on that trip.

But in the end, it's up to personal taste and we each have our own standards of how quickly we like to eat and the 'right' way to run a service. And a great restaurant can keep us all happy.

I think high end restaurants have a feeling what guests like. Sometimes you can experience that 2 tables star a menu at the same time but in a different speed. I also was asked if I perfer my next course sooner or later. For me no proble, everyone should have the experience expected. For me it also depends on mood. There are evenings I enjoy my time at the restaurant and it could last for hours and sometimes (even if the food is good) I wish to have a faster meal.

Anyone try the Hong Kong Sushi Saito yet?

Grace (the now-closed 3* restaurant in Chicago) explicitly told us they had someone watching and timing the pacing at which folks were eating to calibrate the timing by table. That said, I felt it was still too fast - just because we were eating our courses relatively quickly didn't mean that we immediately wanted the next one out. As such, that was a ~1h45m experience that felt way too rushed.

Ate dinner at Benu a couple nights ago. What a fantastic meal. Very impressed they are able to incorporate pretty much every Asian cuisine into a 'fusion' dinner, although Chinese and Korean figure more prominently than others. Meal went along at what felt like a very nice pace for 2.5 hours. Half of the meal are the intro bites, which are not individually listed on the menu. $310 + 20% fixed gratuity is steep, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd definitely revisit.

Going to Paris next month and made reservation at "LA DAME DE PIC" (1 Michelin star by star chef Anne-Sophie PIC) and "ACCENTS TABLES BOURSE" (newly-rewarded with 1 Michelin star in January 2019).

Are you aware that Pierre Gagnaire has a 90 euro lunch special (which is no longer on their website but u can write to them to confirm)? It is quite an experience and amazing food (and service of course)!

We will be in Paris during a week-end, so most restaurants (including the one you suggested) are closed. Thanks though :)

We did Gaa last night, and going to Gaggan tonight (for the 2nd time - wanted to hit it again before he closes in BKK)....we had a very enjoyable dinner at Gaa. Solid tasting menu with some interesting dishes.

Will just mention 1 thing here - dining with my wife & in-laws, as mentioned overall the meal was great...but we did have 2 incidents that kind of took me by surprise, and especially at the lack of response by the restaurant. Wanted to see what folks here think/would have done (if anything)?

Everything was going along nicely, and then on ~course 7 (the flatbread dish, if anyone has eaten here recently), the 2 servers arrived at the table with 2 dishes each, and as the one server went to place the dish to my wife, he let the 2nd dish tilt and the flatbread slide off, hit my FiL's sleeve and went to the floor. They immediately apologized, of course, and quickly cleaned, and re-served the dish (they both went back to the kitchen and returned with the dishes). As I said, it did catch me by surprise, an unusual occurrence (for me at least) at a M* restaurant, but accidents do happen.

Well not 15-20 min later, as they served the "main" course (the roasted jackfruit dish), with all the accompanying small condiment bowls, the server (not the same one) was moving my wife's wine & water glasses, and upended the water glass on the table (at least it wasn't the wine!) and it spilled down into her lap. Wow, now we were quite surprised. One server accompanied my wife as she went to the washroom, and they tidied up the table.

Here's the thing - after that, and the initial apologies, not 1 word was said further. And especially the maitre'd/sommelier (the guy seemed the be the head of service?) never came to the table again - until he presented the bill.

Now I wasn't really expecting anything more than a quick check on us, and maybe once again apology. But to not have one word said, well just struck us as interesting. As far as we could tell there were no other incidents for any other diners, so I'm sure it's not a normal occurrence.
Again, no harm was done, no clothes soiled or ruined, but the lack of acknowledgement seemed off?

Yes, been successful. My understanding is that Amex has a special relationship with this restaurant. They were able to book and confirm earlier than the typical 3 month window.

Doing a birthday dinner at an old reliable this year - Gramercy Tavern - next week. I would usually want to seek out something new (I was thinking of L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon), but the wife overruled. :p

Going to be in SFO for a day or two at the end of a Napa valley trip in April, probably will only have time to visit 1 M* restaurant before flying back, so the big question is -- Benu or Saison? Any input is appreciated!

Tough call. I would give the edge to Benu based on shear variety. But you won't go wrong either way.

Bump

Been to Sushi Shikon in HK a couple of times (expensive but good), Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons (wasn't as wowed by the dim sum as I'd hoped) and Sushi Saito in Tokyo (excelent and cheaper than HK) and so I'm keen to hear reports of the HK branch.

Had dinner the other night at Sepia 1* in Chicago. We heard good things and they had a prix fixe menu for Restaurant Week.

I started with the duck liver mousse, which so-so. Lots of mousse and two very small pieces of bread. The ricotta cavatell was superb, and I really enjoyed the pesto sauce. The main was a pork sausage crepinette - the sausage was definitely tough / chewy - the fried oysters were delicious. The chocolate mousse dessert was probably the best chocolate mousse I've had. Overall, the food was good, but the service was lackluster. I'm not sure if this was because it's restaurant week but it was off. Little things like giving people the wrong food - two of the four courses only 1 out of 5 had the right plate put in front of them. When refilling water, they would dribble all over the table - not a big deal, I get it things happen. Lastly, one of my friends was celebrating his birthday and the waitress confirmed his name at the beginning and middle of dinner service. She brings out his dessert with the standard happy birthday, NAME!! on the plate. However, the name on the plate isn't even close to his name.

We thought it was rather humorous because things like this happen my friend, so we were all laughing. The waitress was embarrassed but didn't say much other than I can't believe they (kitchen) did this. We stopped at the bar on the way out to have a nightcap, and a manager stopped by to ask how dinner was. We said good and relayed the story of the wrong name dessert. His only response was oh, glad you enjoyed the meal.

For the same money, I would go to Black Bird which is also one star. Even Girl & the Goat was far superior and a must-do on every return trip to CHI.

Ended up being excellent as always. The winter tasting menu is really spot-on. Enjoyed a 2013 vintage of Goose Island's Bourbon County Rye Stout along with the meal...hard to get better than that.

Michelin Switzerland 2019
 

new ** Restaurants:
** Focus Park Hotel Vitznau
** Pavillon Hotel Baur au Lac, Zürich

New * Restaurants
* La Brezza Hotel Eden Roc, Ascona
* Roots Basel
* Le Café Suisse Bex
* Zur Gedult Burgdorf
* L'Etoile –Nova Charmey
* Gasthaus zum Kreuz Dallenwil
* Le Berceau de Sens Lausanne
* Neue Blumenau Lömmenschwil
* Jakobs Esszimmer Hotel Jakob, Rapperswil
* Tredecim Hotel Restaurant Krone, Sihlbrugg
* Ritzcoffier Bürgenstock Resort, Obbürgen
* La Régence-Balavaud Vétroz
* Sens Hotel Vitznauerhof, Vitznau
* Paul's by Schützelhofer Widnau
* Alpine Gourmet Prato Borni Grand Hotel Zermatterhof, Zermatt
* Gustav Zürich
* Ornellaia Zürich
* 20/20 by Mövenpick Zürich

I like CP very much. Unfortunately, for some, it isn't going to be the 13 course militaristic dining marathon that certain people seek in their fine dining. It is also a fraction of the price of many of those places. It is just good fresh food done right, with a lovely wine list priced fairly.

https://sf.eater.com/2019/2/6/182140...-san-francisco

I wonder if this is going to affect restaurant morale ... or perhaps it already has.

Seems like all signs are pointing to Benu!

Re Hong Kong Michelin restaurants:

It was brought up in another Forum that the "star rating of Hong Kong restaurants is not in any way comparable with the rating in Europe for example. A three Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong would most likely not get awarded with more than one star (or less)."

Do others agree with this statement?

Ive eaten at alot of the top restaurants in Hong Kong with alot of positive results, but Im not going to pretend im a world traveling Michelin foodie....that is why I ask.

I agree for the most part. However, you make it sound a bit like a nice diner and it is obviously far above that. It is incredibly creative, locally sourced food at a place that, it could be argued pretty persuasively, invented the California Cuisine and really modern American fine dining. I think it would be very difficult to argue it isn't the most influential American restaurant of the last 50 years.

Maybe they're pretentious and don't like the fact that hole in the wall spots can have 1*s? I will say that the majority of my Michelin dining experiences in Europe from 1* to 3* have all been fine dining.

I don't disagree with you, and am spoiled to be able to take a leisurely walk there for dinner should I want some exercise. I'm just highlighting what I believe most complainers of the restaurant are complaining about.

I only had dinner at 2 restaurants so can´t speak in general. One was Lung King Heen. I found it hard to rate as it´s very different from normal Michelin starred restaurants. I had dinner at a 1 star Cantonese restaurant in Paris and must say compared to this Lung King Heen was definitively a level above.

Other retaurant was Caprice which had 2 stars at this time. I wasn´t really impressed but wouldn´t say it was a 1 star.

This same 'star value' comment has been applied to Japan as well.

I won't pretend I eat at M* restaurants all the time but I've been to a few in Europe and a few in Asia.

If we talk about restaurants like air travel, the M* process gives consideration to both the hard product and the soft product.
Soft=food
Hard=Ambience, service, decor., location..

The 1* being referred to is a chain of dim sum restaurants called Tim Ho Wan. I really like their BBQ buns
http://www.timhowan.com/dim-sum/yangzhou-fried-rice/
but whether they truly deserve a star based on just this when their Hard product is non existent I would dispute.

3* it's difficult to think that any of them are as inventive or creative as some of the European places and I probably wouldn't drive hundreds of miles for them (which was the original intention of the star rating) but there is a good hard product in several of them. Sushi Shikon is an exception to that though. People fly in from abroad just to eat there and then fly home.

Despite the name of this thread I think we all know that there are some amazing restaurants that don't have M* for various reasons. So there are commercial and cultural forces at play so you can expect regional variation in how *s are awarded.

I should say that Michelin deny this.

Indeed! There are also the cutlery and red cutlery

I'm not convinced that the fork and star ratings are as orthogonal as pledged,
[Puts on flame proof suit]