Are Michelin stars overrated?
It is no surprise that it should be Marco Pierre White who is trying to stick the boning knife into the butter-drenched heart of the venerable Michelin Guide. Since 1999, when the chef claimed he was “giving back” his three stars – despite there being nothing physical to return – he has been engaged in an intense personal rebranding exercise, separating himself from the luxury ingredient frottage with which he made his name. His latest claims, which come braised in classic Pierre White hyperbole, are of a piece with that. He argues that the Michelin organisation has lost all touch with reality; that it has misplaced any sense of consistency, awarding two stars to a bunch of restaurants in New York, while ignoring 40 restaurants of a similar quality in the UK; that it has failed to recognise a growing hunger for simplicity. In one sense he is right. In the age of web-democracy, a restaurant reviewing model based on anonymous experts handing down baubles from on high has struggled to jus
