Michelin is a vehicle tire brand founded in the 1850s. How does this vehicle tire brand turn into a taste evaluation authority? First of all, it is necessary to talk about its history.

When the sales of Michelin, the French tire company founded by brothers Andre Jules and Edoudard Michelin, decrease, marketers start looking for remedies. The idea comes out as follows: Let’s prepare a guide to attract the attention of visitors to the restaurants and cafes on the way… To the guide; Everything from auto repair shops to maps, from tire sales centers to gas stations and hotels is entered; other than restaurant recommendations! Because the goal is clear: to increase road travel and, of course, tire sales.

Michelin Guides Distributed

The first copies of the guide are starting to be distributed. After a short time, restaurant recommendations are also requested and it is decided to add the restaurants to the guide. These “red” coloured books have been the same colour since that day. Then, “stars” are started to be given. Star scoring is designed in three levels. The highest level is determined as three stars. Each star is considered valid for a year, it is possible to get 3 stars immediately, as well as to rise gradually… A star means “a very good restaurant in its field”. Two stars mean “Such a great meal that it is definitely worth changing your route”, while three stars mean “An excellent cuisine, worth a special trip”. In short, it is useful to add that the star is given to the places, not the chefs, because only the meals are not evaluated; Every detail from service to cleaning rules affects scoring.

The star-winning chef multiplies his reputation; its restaurant is flooded with visitors. When he became the star of the chef, he was now known as the “star chef”.
Who Gives the Michelin Star?
The gourmets chosen by Michelin set the stars in great secrecy. The same restaurant is rated by several experts, and none of the employees are aware of this scoring phase. The official website of the Michelin Guide states that inspectors grade restaurants primarily according to the following five criteria:

  • The quality of the products to be used in meals,
  • Mastery of flavour and cooking techniques,
  • The personality displayed by the chef in his kitchen,
  • The harmony between meals and price; value for money,
  • Consistent service quality in different visits.
  • It is known that there are a total of 480 restaurants, 349 with one star, 81 with two stars and 50 with three stars, all around the world.

    Other Ratings in the Michelin Guide

    Not only the star symbol is used in restaurant evaluations in the Michelin Guide. Some other symbols used for restaurants with or without a star are as follows:
    Fork and Spoon: On the official website of the Michelin Guide, it has been emphasized that the inspectors give stars to the restaurants, while the interior decoration, decorations on the table or the service quality are graded with the fork and spoon symbol in the guide. One fork-spoon symbol is used to mean ‘quite comfortable’, and five fork-spoon symbols are used to give the note ‘traditionally luxurious’.

    Plate: The plate symbol, which has been included in the Paris guide since 2016, is deemed worthy of ‘good food’ restaurants.

    Local Symbols: The traditional diversity of some countries is also evaluated with symbols in the Michelin guide. In Spain, an additional wine-toothpick symbol is used for notable tapas bars. In UK and Ireland guides, fine pubs are rated with the beer glass symbol.

    Michelin-Starred Restaurants and Celebrity Chefs

    1. Noma (Chef Rene Redzepi) in Copenhagen, offering the most special flavours of Scandinavian cuisine.
    2. Chef Alain Ducasse’s own restaurant; Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester. It is known to be one of the best representatives of French cuisine. It is located in The Dorchester Hotel in London.
    3. Chef Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck Restaurant. Located in Bray, England, the restaurant is famous for its seafood.
    4. The Waterside Inn in Berkshire, England. It is a restaurant that offers French cuisine to its customers in the best possible way.
    5. Chef Thomas Keller’s restaurant in Napa Valley, California, which won the 3rd Michelin Star in 2005, The French Laundry.
    6. El celler de Can Roca in Spain, owned by three brothers. It is a restaurant specializing in Catalan Cuisine.
    7. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is a business owned by Chef Gordon Ramsay, who is also known for his television screens. The famous chef has 14 more restaurants. It welcomes French cuisine enthusiasts in London in the best way.
    8. One of the 3 Michelin-Starred restaurants in the USA; Alinea is on this list.

    Michelin-Starred Restaurants in Turkey

    There is no Michelin Guides in Turkey yet because this famous guide is distributed in countries with stars but there is a Michelin-Starred Turkish Chef: Chef Ali Güngörmüş is the only Turkish chef who achieved this prestigious award in 2006 with his restaurant named Le Canard Nouveau in Hamburg, Germany, and still holds this title. With a radical decision, he left the Michelin star restaurant in Hamburg and opened a restaurant called Pageou in Munich.

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