Michelin's Restaurant Rating Guide

A popular series of annual guidebooks is called theas Bib Gourmand as a reference to Bib who is
Michelin Guide, or Le Guide Michelin, which offersthe Michelin Man on Michelin's century-old logo.
review for European hotels and restaurants byAccording to a Michelin inspector who wrote a
awarding Michelin Stars. The first guide wastell-all book in the year of 2004, despite the fact
published in the year 1900 by Andre Michelin, andthat Michelin claims to review every restaurant
distributed for free for more than twenty years.within 18 month blocks, they have actually only
The stars became part of the Michelin guidevisited these 4,000 or so reviewed restaurants
tradition in 1926, originally to note good cookingevery three and a half years or so, meaning that
but later to denote excellence in other areas astheir standards have become lax. Pascal
well. Michelin's restaurant rating guides are possiblyRémy, the author of the tell-all, stated
the most recognized of all culinary ratings guides inthat unless a specific complaint was made,
all of Europe. Only the most outstanding qualityMichelin's inspectors visited the reviewed
restaurants are awarded stars in the guide, andrestaurants much less often than they claimed.
may earn anywhere between one and threeSure enough, Rémy was sacked which is
stars depending on the caliber of the restaurant'sa decent indication of how true his words were.
quality. Stars are awarded sparingly in theseMany international food critics have denounced
guides, so only a small number of restaurants outMichelin's rating system on the basis that it is
of the several thousand that are listed are actuallyunfairly biased toward French cuisine because
granted at least one star, which represents "veryMichelin's guides are published in France by a
good in its category". Two stars in the MichelinFrench company. The New York Times spoke out
guides represents 'excellent cooking and worth aabout the omission of stars for highly reviewed
detour", and three stars represents "exceptionalrestaurants in the New York City restaurant
cuisine which is worth a special journey". In theguide, while more than half of the restaurants
restaurant business, Michelin Stars are takenthat did receive stars were restaurants which
extremely seriously. On the strength of theirserved French cuisine.
reputation alone, restaurants with stars can easilyBiased or not, the Michelin Guide is a superlative
charge much more for their meals than what youreview for the highest quality restaurants in a
would expect to pay for an average restaurant.large number of different countries. If you are
From 1955 until now, the Michelin guides have alsolooking for the absolute best that UK cuisine has
offered highlighted references to restaurantsto offer you, pick up the Michelin Restaurant
which offer what they call "good food atGuide and allow it to take you on a tour of the
moderate prices", which references food with aamazing things your country's restaurants have to
set maximum menu price. This feature is knownoffer you.