Michelin Star and Chef Hat
Hello again from the team at Today’s World Kitchen! We hope you have had a good time reading!
Michelin Star and Chef Hats for those of you who are new to the culinary world, we would like to prepare you for yet another important facet of the busy industry.
Not only are you under pressure to devise, develop and maintain wonderful, interesting and innovative recipes, you are also under pressure to impress the food rating systems of the world!
The best and perhaps most well-known guide is the Michelin Guide.
The Michelin Guide, by Michelin Tyres, was borne as a travel guide way back in the 1900s, in a bid to entice more cars on the road. The more cars on the road, the higher demand for tyres!
Due to the success of the guide, the company started sending anonymous reviewers to try restaurants and report the results in their guide.
The Michelin Guide ratings are based on quality, technique, innovation, characteristic and consistency of the dishes on the menu. Within this framework, it explores whether a restaurant is worthy of either a) a stop by on your way somewhere (1 star); b) a place worth a detour (2 stars) or; a place worth going out of your way to visit (3 stars.)
The system remains strong today and has spawned a similar model in Australia, the Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat system.
Whilst the AGFG Chef Hat system is based on the Michelin Star system, it is perhaps a little less intense and runs on a scoring scale from 0-20 points, 12-13 points is “’commended’” 14-15 points ‘”worth a stop on the way”’ 16-17 points ‘”worth a detour”’ 18-19 points ‘”worth a special journey.”’ It is interesting to note that a score of 20 has never been awarded and rarely has a score of 19 been awarded.
For more information on this information, please refer to the following links:
http://www.agfg.com.au/agfg/ratings-symbols/restaurants (references for above quotations)
http://www.agfg.com.au/agfg/ratings-symbols/awards
http://foodtravel.about.com/od/Restaurant-Reviews/fl/What-Are-the-Michelin-Stars.htm