TMOliver

In my life, three of the best meals ever eaten came from establishments visited because the chosen starred Michelin entry was unavailable....

In Arras, an old hotel, where after missing a multi-star lunch, we dined to excess unexpectedly.

In Paris, turned away from stars, we found an Alsation-menued brasserie just off the Champs which revealed after four people each ordered three different dishes nothing less than excellence.

Long ago, in Nice, when our proposed benefactor wasa no show, around the corner, the Price Fix which included jugged hare made up for having to pay my own bill.

Zagat needs careful analysis, often reduced to little more than a Chamber of Commerce puff piece.

The real test for a restaurant and its kitchen are a handful of "signature" dishes perfected and served consistently over several decades. Recently, on "Top Chef", Jaques pepin call for a simple Roast Chicken said more about food than most of us will ever comprehend.

Rudi

red guide Michelin France 2009 (édition march 2009)

*** 26
only new one: Le Bristol, Paris

** 73; new ones:
Arles: l'atélier de Jean Luc Rabanel
Bordeaux/Boullac: Le St-James
Chasselais: Guy Lasausalle
Lyon: Mčre Brazier
Paris: l'Espadon
Pont-du-Gard/Collias: Hostellerie Castellas
Porto Vecchio: Casadelmar
Tourrettes: Faventia
Versailles: Gordon Ramsay au Trianon (I red yesterday in a reliable swiss paper that Ramsay is in big financial troubles with his emperium of renowned Restaurants)

* 449

bib gourmande 527

Rudi

to celebrate the 100th edition of the new red Michelin guide France 2009 (first edition was 1900, but no edition in some war years in between) this new Michelin has a special gift enclosed:

a Privilege Pass for special priced gourmand meals at selected Restaurants in France from march-9 through april-5 2009 if you show the pass. You find all details (in french) at this homepage

calitequilasippergirl

Hubby and I are in the process of planning a 3 month vacation. The focus is to include dining at all Michelin 3 Star Restaurants

http://www.3starrestaurants.com/mich...star-guide.asp

Unlike the gentleman who set out in 2007/2008 to do this, we don't plan on going missing.

Swanhunter

Angela Hartnett's Murano is well worthy of a star. While the room is a bit corporate, the food was excellent and imaginative and the service pleasingly relaxed but efficient.

A tip for next year would be Bocca di Lupo in Soho. Truly impressive Italian regional cooking.

SFflyer123

I use the Michelin guide religiously for my dining adventures in Europe. I have been to quite a few, and now that they've moved to rating USA restaurants, I have been to even more. Overall, I find that the guide is excellent. Some are a little over-rated; some are a little under-rated. But overall, it's a great guide. I will start with a few recent and notable experiences.

1) Madrona Manor (Healdsburg)--1 star. This place is phenomenal, food-wise. I think if it had a more "grandiose" ambiance, it would be a two-star. The food is clearly two-star caliber. The food is way better than that of Cyrus (two-star), FarmHouse Inn (1-star), or Aqua (1-star, and now defunct), or Boulevard (1-star).

2) Le Cinq (Paris)--2 stars. I ate here when it was 3 stars a few years ago. The ambiance is phenomenal, and food was very good. But I can see why it lost its 3rd star because of the food; it really is not 3-star level food.

3) Steirereck (Vienna)--2 stars. I ate here last year, and it was a phenomenal experience. Definitely lives up to its reputation. It's creative, different, tasty, and a true dining experience.

4) Jean Georges and Daniel (Both New york)--both 3-stars. I would say that they are both excellent places, no question. However, I did not find that they were the 3-star level as one would find in Europe. I think that if these two places were in Europe, they probably would be 2-stars. However, they were quite excellent, no question.

5) Salieu (Cote d'Or, France)--3 stars. This, I would say, was my first true "3-star" experience. Easily worth the drive, phenomenal food, wonderful ambiance, great experience. The meal lasted nearly 5 hours....

6) Au Crocodile (Strasbourg, France)--1 star. This used to be a Michelin 2-star when I ate here. It lost its 2nd star this past year, and I can see why. The food was not 2-star level.

7) Taillevent (Paris, France)--2 stars. This place lives up to the 2-star reputation. Excellent place, but probably a little too "casual" to be a 3-star experience. But a historically famous place and definitely worthwhile going to.

What has your personal experience been with Michelin star restaurants?

Gaucho100K

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; Series60/5.0 NokiaN97-3/21.2.045; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1) AppleWebKit/525 (KHTML, like Gecko) BrowserNG/7.1.4)

It varies.... but in my view, there is plenty of politics in the ratings.... and I will also say that I despise celeb chefs that are michelined but dont get their fingers soiled....

Steirereck is a 3 star establishment in my book.

gleff

The Michelin Guide has many competitors, it's one voice and no longer monolithic.

I've reported on some of my 3* meals in these pages, and had many meals that have surpassed them at unrated restaurants and in unrated regions.

Jazzop

Michelin has a lot of experience and emphasis on rating traditional Continental restaurants, particularly those in France. This sounds like an obvious statement, but people fail to keep this in mind when they are looking for something nontraditional or located in the New World. The accuracy and reliability of the Michelin Guide decreases the farther away you get from its core competency of French cuisine.

I am a fan of the guide, as it has never left me disappointed. But it's a guide, not an autopilot.

luxury

I am not even sure what Michelin 3 star food is anymore, though at the time I drank the Michelin koolaid I thought I did.

My first Michelin 3 star meal was at Phillipe Rochat. Then we did Paul Bocuse. We then went to Le Moulin de Mougins (1 star back then) and Le Louis XV (2 at that time). We then did Au Crocodile (3 back then) and Buerehiesel (3 then). Back in Paris we did Pierre Gagnaire, Taillevent (3 then), Le Cinq (2 then), Lasserre (2), Jamin (2), Le Bristol (1), and Les Ambassadeurs.

I enjoyed Le Moulin de Mougins more than I did Buerehiesel or Phillipe Rochat. I thought the food was way better. I think Taillevent still has the finest dining experience as a totality.

In the US, I think places like Daniel, or the old guard NYC restaurants like La Cote Basque and La Carevelle which are now sadly gone, embody gracious french service and merit 1-2 stars at most.

However, I find I don't go to Michelin starred restaurants for the food any more. For excellent food, there are much better places at a fraction of the cost and haughtiness. If I want a dining experience, I may consider a Michelin starred place, but then again, I may just go to the hole in the wall.....

MrEntrepreneur

My experience has been that you go in hungry and come out hungry.

Large plates, small items. Easily drop 600 per couple.

Have dined at

Le Bernadin
Per Se
Daniel Boulad

All in New York City.

PTravel

I've eaten at very few so I don't have much of a basis of comparison.

There's one in the Wynn in Las Vegas that has a single star -- it was delicious but I wouldn't say it was dramatically better than other fine dining restaurants at which I've eaten.

There was also a single star one in a chateau in Tours that was, truly, a memorable experience. The food was out of this world, the service impeccable, the atmosphere incomparable -- I was impressed.

Jenbel

I haven't been to many - the first one I went to, we didn't actually realise it was starred. We walked in off the street on a Monday night, and they were able to take us - Raika, in London, an Indian which was starred at the time. Food was amazing (except the tomato sorbet) and showed just how good Indian food can be if the chef is willing to think outside the box.

Meal at the Rheims Do which was like I'd died and gone to heaven (but I can't recall the restuarant name, in part due to our decision to have a different bottle of champagne with every course )

Nobu in London for a 'I'm not going to do this often so it had better be good dinner' - and it was.

Despite the plethora (now) in Edinburgh, including 3 within a 10 minute walk, I've only made it to one up here - Champany Inn. Strangely, they did better than Nobu for service and atmosphere, and we only went for lunch! For a simple lunch, it's one of the best steaks I've ever eaten, and wasn't British overcooked (i.e. for a change, medium rare was actually medium rare and not medium!).

Having said that, I also know some fabulous restaurants which either aspire to be Michelin (so can't charge the Michelin mark-up) or which won't ever be Michelin because they won't do the service standards - but where the food is still amazing. This might explain why I've never made it to the Edinburgh Michelins... because at the end of the day, is it worthy paying double for Kitchin for what I'd pay at Wedgwood? Or to put it another way, I can eat twice at Wedgwood for every trip to Kitchin.... so I'll go to Wedgwood most of the time - although I will get to the rest of the Edinburgh Michelins too!

slawecki

to become a 3*, the restaurant must meet certain physical requirements not related to food. cloth napkins of a min. dimension. chrystal water glasses, plate plates of a certain dimension and about 100 other nit pick thing.

in the '80's my wife and i ate in about 15 of the 20 3*'s outside paris.(the others were closed for the winters). we found all to be superb. during the same period, we ate in a large number of 0,1, and 2*'s. the main differences to the 3*'s(and the hopeful 2*'s) we saw was the ambiance and the lack of the ultra exotic concoctions(not necessarily a determent).

about 5 years ago, we ate in two 2*'s in paris. in both, we got unbelievably wretched service, and we thought the food was lousy.

also, about 5-10 years ago in Nice, we made a point of eating in The CHANTECLER in the hotel negresco. they had lost all 3 *'s, and had gone from 18 or 19 (of 20) points in gault million to no mention.

interesting experiment. the ambiance was beyond comprehension. very very formal. the food superb. somebody just said "go away food raters"

as an aside to that meal. we sat next to an extremely large round table that had been roped off(red velvet). a grand dame was dining in a very large special chair. the other two chairs at the table had pillows on them, and two small white poodles.

SocialAdept

My experiences of Michelin * star restaurants have generally been good. The best meal of my life I ate at the 1* restaurant Evo in Barcelona:http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...Catalonia.html

And while I generally find Michelin * restaurants to provide excellent food and service the cost can sometimes become incredibly disproportionate. I would say fine dining follows an exponential curve. At the higher levels you will simply have to put in a lot of $$ to get discernable better experience, the differences in quality can simply be subliminal.