Michelin stars are not a big part of Australian dining life, being how the Michelin people don't do guides for Australia. It's as simple as that. But they do for San Francisco, and there are two restaurants that get three stars ("exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey ... one always eats here extremely well, sometimes superbly"). There are three more that get two stars ( "excellent cuisine, worth a detour ... skilfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality"). And then some thirty-nine with one star ( "a place offering cuisine to a very high standard"). We went to a couple of those.
There are a couple more classifications at the lower end of the scale. "Bib Gourmand" status notes a restaurant as offering "good food at moderate prices". At the lower end of the Michelin scale is "recommended" which I gather means the restaurant has good food, while falling short of the star ratings, and does not represent the very good value of the "Bib Gourmand". But still, let me stress, good food. We went to one of those too.
And there are other raters too - Fodor, Zagat, and lately Yelp (for what that's worth). So what is a visitor to do in the face of this information overload?
Going to San Francisco for a seven day jaunt involved some planning. The amount of that planning that was about food might be considered excessive by some, but for those who know me it won't be a surprise. For those who don't know me, let me say that Calvin Trillin is one of my role models and that should explain at least somewhat. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that all our evening meals and several of our lunches were planned before we even enplaned. (The Perigueuxse is more than kind in enduring this behaviour, she even encourages it, knowing that I can tend to fret if I am unsure from where my next meal is coming. Whereas if I know I am booked for some fine Peruvian cuisine at 7pm then I can deal with anything a foreign country throws at me.).
Not all, in fact only a few, of the restaurants were as you would call fine dining. Expense aside, you can't eat fancy food every night, so there was a mix of local casual, fancy, event-driven and market dining. They were picked on a combination of personal experience, recommendations from trusted friends, blogs, Chowhound and Urbanspoon reviews. That mix of inputs gives a better feel for the spirit of the food and the venue, and I find that a much better way to work out what I am likely to enjoy than a Good Food Guide (or local equivalent) review in isolation.
I was interested, maybe a little excited, to see that both of the fine dining restaurants we picked were Michelin starred - just one star, I'm afraid, but I might aim higher next time just to see what "excellent cuisine, worth a detour" is like. Also one of the restaurants I visited on my last trip in 2006 is one-starred, which was interesting too in hindsight.
I've already said that we didn't have any bad food in San Francisco, only good and better. So it will be no surprise that the Michelin'd restaurants were both very good indeed.
And the first obvious question is, how do Melbourne and other Australian restaurants rate, if we could get the French out here for a once-over? It's a tough call because I don't do a great deal of fine dining and that's definitely where those stars are at.
One of the starred places we ate at was Alexanders' Steakhouse (yes, a Michelin starred steakhouse. You'll probably see why when I get to blogging it) The two contenders that come to mind for quality of food, ambience and service comparable to that in Melbourne are Rockpool and The Point. But I've only eaten at the bar at Rockpool (81 cents per chip!!! It will be a long time before I forgive them for that.) and only been to a special-menu Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event at The Point so I can't really compare on a steak - vs - steak basis. Perigeuexse! Dust off the credit cards, we're going out for some steak!
The second starred restaurant we visited in SF was Ame, a modern Japanese restaurant which was largely superb (barring one bad ordering decision on my part. Octopus sushi - too subtle for me.). Again I don't eat a lot of high-end Japanese food in Melbourne so I don't have a direct comparison. When I think about Kenzan, a one-hatted Japanese place in Melbourne I dined at recently, Ame is all over it in terms of decor, ambiance, innovation, service and quality of food. Comparing Ame to Ezard, a GFG two-hat that does modern pan-Asian food in a pretty formal and fine dining manner, all those aspects seem to be about in line - plus or minus a little bit here and there.
The one-starred restaurant we visited last time in San Francisco, Masa's, reminds me somewhat of Est (a GFG three-hat) in Sydney. Modern Euro-American or Euro-Australian cuisine without being bogged down in fussy techniques, a fantastic quality of service that manifested in realising how good the staff were only after they had anticipated your needs and met them without you even noticing. So one GFG hat doesn't seem to equal a Michelin star. Three GFG hats seems similar to one Michelin star. So does a Michelin star equate very roughly, based on a sample size of two or so, to that number of GFG hats minus one or so? Maybe.
And the second obvious question is, so what? The key to food Nirvana is to find what you like. Reviews, guides, blogs, lists, stars, chef's hat's; these all just give you some of the information to help you decide where next to spend your precious dining dollar. To take just one source is either limiting your decision making ability, or deliberately choosing to give up your choice in favour of the critics.
Some months back at a shared table event, we met a couple who were doggedly working their way through the Good Food Guide's hatted restaurants ("Oh yes, we've done Vue De Monde. We're doing Verge in a couple of weeks") with the expectation they would make it through before the next issue came out. That would require about two restaurants per week, just so you know. Good for them, they would experience a great range of food which would probably broaden their minds, palates and possibly waistlines. Me, I prefer to make my own mind up based on as much as I can possibly find out. I don't "do" restaurants, I dine at them and see how well we suit each other's tastes. It's an adventure, and a Korean fried chicken joint can be as exciting as a fine dining pan-Asian restaurant can be as exciting as a heretofore unexperienced version of Red Guard Pork or a reaaly cood chicken schnitzel sandwich, depending on your mood and expectations.
So what am I saying with all this? Go out; eat; think about it; find what other people have said, and then make your own mind up.
Happy culinary self-determination,
Ecumer
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