I’m so completely done with Michelin Starred restaurants

[Anonymous]

Just buy Korean fried chicken when you want tasty food! I tried it just a few months ago at regular restaurants and even Bonchon place; it is so delicious and so good that I do not see why people are not eating it all the time. Runs circles around other fried chicken shops.
(Also, I have a dairy allergy, so I can't have proper fried chicken anymore.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. Sorry you haven't had a good experience but maybe don't overgeneralize?

The dinners I had at Daniel and Inn at Little Washington were two of the best nights of my life. I was almost tearful at a couple of the courses and remember them vividly. We had so much fun. They are very special memories for my DH and I and a huge splurge that we don't regret at all.

The dinner I had in the kitchen at Inn of Little Washington was just ok. One course was truly amazing but the rest was not memorable. No plans to go back and have had much better and cheaper meals.

[Anonymous]

The best food I ever had was when Grandma was alive. She lived with us so from birth until I was in my 20s.

She was born in 1910 and made Viennese donuts all on her own, with no recipes; she made tortes, risotto, and cabbage dishes; she made everything out of almost nothing. Strudels, pies, one chicken made a soup and the main dish for six of us all the time.
Her fried schnitzels? Wolfgang Puck is doing it wrong, per his videos. I will never pay to eat that type of food; I can make it better, as I learned from my grandma.
And her winter pickled veggies, sour kraut, and what you call kombucha here? We drank them straight from the barrel. Grandma was not the chef, but my family did run a tavern before the Second World War.


Thank you, Nana!

[Anonymous]

I will add that if you want to go to some great reasonably priced Michelin star restaurants, go to Spain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by “the portions were grotesque”? In my admittedly narrow experience the portions tend toward smaller, more picturesque portions and plating.

It was a 5 course meal. But by the time you were done the smaller starter plates and ready for the main, you were already so full you could barely eat the main. We literally had to ask for a takeout in order to not waste the main. It’s not enjoyable to be bursting at the seams before you get to a main.

When you go to an omakase restaurant you can tell the chef to reduce the amount of rice so you aren’t so full by the time you get to the last piece. A great chef knows how to balance portion size.

One of my worst experiences was at one of those “tasting menu” places with a ton of courses. It cost $500 (in 2012) and I wasn’t even drinking. I was SO full after. I woke up in the middle of the night with a sense of acute guilt and panic for having paid $500 to literally stuff myself sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best food I ever had was when Grandma was alive. She lived with us so from birth until I was in my 20s.

She was born in 1910 and made Viennese donuts all on her own, with no recipes; she made tortes, risotto, and cabbage dishes; she made everything out of almost nothing. Strudels, pies, one chicken made a soup and the main dish for six of us all the time.
Her fried schnitzels? Wolfgang Puck is doing it wrong, per his videos. I will never pay to eat that type of food; I can make it better, as I learned from my grandma.
And her winter pickled veggies, sour kraut, and what you call kombucha here? We drank them straight from the barrel. Grandma was not the chef, but my family did run a tavern before the Second World War.


Thank you, Nana!

awww central european food is underrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate your post, OP. We were going to try a 2 star Michelin next for the experience after watching The Bear. We'll save our $$$ and dine at the non-starred but well-reviewed restaurants in the places we are headed.

This might be the dumbest post I've ever read.

Based on an anonymous rant on the internet, by someone with unknown credentials discussing an unknown restaurant in an unknown location, you have decided to change your plans and are boycotting all restaurants with a Michelin star?

Idiocy abounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First off, who in the hell ever made Michelin the king S of F mountain over determining what is the best food in the world? We just went to a two star restaurant last night and were thoroughly disappointed. The waitress missed our drink order. The portions of the food were grotesque and we couldn’t even finish the full course. The bathrooms were not amazingly clean. The were floods of loud tourist who were allowed in wearing baseball caps, t shirts and jeans, which completely ruins the atmosphere. The food overall tasted good, but nothing spectacular that I will probably even remember 6 months from now.

Meanwhile, I’ve been to so many places where I’ve had amazing food for less than $25 a plate and Michelin isn’t anywhere around for miles. I’ve probably been to 5 Michelin starred restaurants in my,life at this point, and I can’t even remember the courses at this point because they were so mediocre. Meanwhile, my death row last meal will be some chicken andcric3vdish I had from a restaurant in Chiang Mai that cost me $3. And no, I’m not anti-fine dining. I’ve been to higher end places that were really good but not in any Michelin guide. Michelin was probably reputable and good in the 1970s, but these days Michelin restaurants are synonymous with grossly overpriced food that’s often super overrated. Do yourself a favor and avoid going to Michelin restaurants. They’re so overhyped.

This doesn't describe any experience I've ever had at a Michelin starred restaurant, OP, and I've been to a lot more than you have. You're going to have to name the restaurant, or we're going to disregard this screed as fiction - a not very well done effort at creative writing.

[Anonymous]

I get it OP. Unless you’re a person who really likes to be “on trend” or show off how much money you have, these kinds of restaurants are literally no better than humble places with good food all over the world. Personally I don’t enjoy anything about the experience of “fine dining” because I’m not a fancy person and I don’t feel the need to be waited on or whatever. If you gave me the choice between 2-3 Michelin stars and a taqueria, I’d go for the taqueria every time. I do like interesting food but I feel like that’s accessible many places.

Here’s a recent Pete Wells article bashing the “top restaurants” you may enjoy. Not about Michelin specifically but on point. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/dining/what-makes-a-50-best-restaurant.html

[Anonymous]

I’m
A poor and have never been to a Michelin Star restaurant. Having said that I’m not sure why you’re comparing US restaurants with food carts in Thailand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate your post, OP. We were going to try a 2 star Michelin next for the experience after watching The Bear. We'll save our $$$ and dine at the non-starred but well-reviewed restaurants in the places we are headed.

This might be the dumbest post I've ever read.

Based on an anonymous rant on the internet, by someone with unknown credentials discussing an unknown restaurant in an unknown location, you have decided to change your plans and are boycotting all restaurants with a Michelin star?

Idiocy abounds.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. Once at a Michelin-starred restaurant, tucked away in the Jura mountains, the chef personally came over at the end of our meal, to inquire how we'd liked it. Before I could open my mouth and say my dish was delicious, my mother says straight up: "it was too salty". The chef stayed polite, but I could tell he was furious.

Point is: plenty of people will have had a different experience from yours, OP.

DP. To me, that is indicative of the problem with celebrated chefs. Your mom was honest, and rather than think about what she said and examine if there was any truth to it, he was furious. He is detached from reality by his own ideas of what food and fools promote his ilk. You were embarrassed, but hopefully, BCS, your mom lacked the manners to lie, which is the norm in such situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much drama, OP. Are you this hyper emotional in real life?

So much gaslighting. Are you always a narc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Michelin meals can be fun experiences if you can afford it and just see it as a good time, rather than the best meal of your life. It’s like the people that overhype Disney and try to do everything in one trip.

But it isn’t even a good time. I am able to get waited on hand and foot almost like royalty with my own dedicated waitstaff for my table for a simply $50 dinner in Thailand. Meanwhile, a $240 pp course at a 2 star Michelin misses my drink order and has a bunch of loud obnoxious tourists bulldozing in while wearing baseball caps and jeans. A lot of other Michelin places are also stuffy as hell with formality even when they do tighten up for who they allow in. It’s like dining with a puckered butthole the whole time, and for food that might not be better than the $2 pad Thai cart n the back alley of a city in Thailand.

I fondly remember the noodle carts of my native Japan, but the comparison is simply not fair. The upkeep costs were simply not comparable to a restaurant, and simple dishes are easier to make.

What an idiot you are, OP.

Is everyone else in your native Japan as rude as you are?

Is everyone around you as stupid as you are?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the restaurant, the chef/servers that particular night, and of course the diners.