Michelin Guide under fire

How carefully does Michelin work when compiling the dreaded guide? De Volkskrant reports that chefs are once again raising questions about the thoroughness with which the most prestigious restaurant guide is produced. The newspaper took the trouble to compare the latest guide (2017 edition) with last year’s. What does it show? Of the 67 Amsterdam restaurants listed in both guides, 58 have identical text.

Remarkably, restaurant La Rive, which lost a star this year, receives exactly the same description in the latest edition as in last year’s guide, when the restaurant at the Amstel Hotel still had a star. “Intimate ambiance, refined decor and beautiful wines…”. You would expect the description to change after such a drastic intervention. Apparently not. Descriptions also turn out to be the same in other cities. Of the 26 restaurants in Maastricht, only six received new text.

you would expect the description to change after such a drastic intervention

And another painful point has come to light. Restaurant Jaspers in Amsterdam has been listed in the guide for five years with the same specialty: poached egg with asparagus, comté and truffle-hazelnut tapenade. A dish that the chef in question explains in De Volkskrant has not been on the menu for years.

Paul van Craenenbroeck

Criticism of the Michelin institution is nothing new. It raises the age-old question of how carefully and how frequently Michelin conducts its inspections. Former chief inspector Paul van Craenenbroeck criticized the inspectors’ workload in his memoirs, ‘De Magie van Michelinster – onthullingen van een oud-inspecteur’ (2012). Michelin has only three inspectors for the three thousand restaurants in the Benelux. According to him, the inspectors have so little time that they eat at most restaurants no more than once every two years. In his book, Craenenbroeck raised the issue that, in his view, there are restaurants that have not been worthy of a star for some time, yet continue to receive the accolade.

Michelin’s response

Michelin dismisses the criticism in the De Volkskrant article as ‘sloppy’, according to Michelin Benelux chief inspector Werner Moens. Michelin still refuses to disclose exactly how its methods work and how many inspectors work on the guide. According to the current inspector, ’12 to 15 percent of the restaurants change’ each year. Restaurants in line to receive or lose a star would be monitored more intensively.