A star to guide you

28/09/2014
THE 2015 edition of the "Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland" has just been released and the annual navel-gazing bout has begun. The world's most prestigious rater of restaurants has handed out 14 new stars although, perhaps of particular interest to Gulliver readers, only one went to a hotel: Fera at Claridge's. Meanwhile some illustrious establishments, such as Nobu in London, a fabled haunt of the glitterati, have had their awards snatched away.
As ever, the debate among some chefs is whether it is seemly to be so obsessed with winning Michelin stars. Often, those who already have a couple of them hung on their restaurant doors, smugly declare they don’t matter, while those who are passed over protest too loudly they are nothing but a distraction. Deep down, one suspects, most care deeply. But that is besides the point. What really matters is whether Michelin stars should matter to customers.

The guide is probably more useful for travellers than for locals. When you plan a posh meal in your hometown, you can base your choice of restaurant on years of trial and error—not only your own but also your friends' and family's. If you get it wrong, it can be an expensive and frustrating mistake, but at least you can file away that £85-a-head in the “avoid next time” box. On the other hand, if you want a special experience in a city you are visiting briefly, you may only have one chance to make a meal count. You simply don’t have time to right a mistake. So for travellers after something high-end, a Michelin guide, while it will probably not help you find an undiscovered gem, is a useful way of ensuring you get a top-quality dinner for your money.
In the time of Yelp and TripAdvisor, the Michelin guide can feel something of an anachronism. To some it is not in keeping with the democracy of the connected age; why listen to a pompous “expert” when you have the wisdom of the masses to tap into? But there is still value in the opinion of a professional who has spent his life judging the world’s finest eateries, and who has the analytical vocabulary to compare one restaurant with another. The whole point of a Michelin-starred restaurant is that it is supposed to transcend the normal fare for which we pay.
Don’t get me wrong: TripAdvisor can be a wonderful tool to help you choose a restaurant in a new town; I use it all the time. It has helped me find some memorable, decently-priced meals abroad. But the higher the bill, the less likely I am to trust my choice to the masses. Heavens, even my local takeaway kebab shop has four-stars on Tripadvisor. Its doner with chili sauce is perfectly nice, once you have fought your way through the drunks who have been chucked out of the local pub. But then, my expectations are never that high to start with. The same can't be said about any restaurant I have had to save my pennies to attend.

By:http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2014/09/michelin-guide?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/startoguideyou

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