From LuxeEat, February 28, 2021:
Gaining a Michelin star, or three, isn’t simply a mark of excellence, it means your restaurant status goes automatically from a great choice to a must. We had the great pleasure to speak to Chris Watson, ex-Michelin Guide inspector, about the complexity of this rating system, the weight of allocating stars, what it takes to get the highly-coveted three star rating at the oldest European hotel and restaurant reference guide. Hailing from Scotland where, as a child, he was regaled with some of the world’s best meats and produce, Chris spent his Michelin tenure covering the UK and Europe regions. He is as passionate and insightful on the topic of cuisine as ever, despite leaving the guide to become an entrepreneur, food writer and consultant, now based in Bangkok.
Can you tell us about the recruitment process to be a Michelin inspector?
It started with an interview process, which was gruelling, around 150-200 questions about food, answers should be written down in one and a half hours. Then, an interview with the deputy editor and various other staff and then the final kind of blessing, you go for lunch with the editor. We went to “La Tante Claire” which was Pierre Koffmann’s three-star restaurant, two-stars at that time. So you are asked questions during lunch, it was daunting, but I got through it.
You don’t get rich when you are a Michelin inspector, obviously, it’s about quality of life and the experience. The average length of stay in the position is 5 years, very few do more than that. Largely your seniority comes from length of service, you join as an inspector, you leave as an inspector. But your opinions and the restaurants you visit, you gain more experience and you get better restaurants to go to, or have more complicated decisions to take. I did about 4.5 years, after that time you’ve nearly reached the end.
What does an inspector’s schedule look like?
The schedule is very tight. You have to do largely two weeks away per month, with almost no weekends. If you go to Ireland or Channel islands, those are expected to be three-week trips. three weeks alone, with probably the only highlight, in the middle of your trip – you will do a Michelin star restaurant in your region, and one of the other inspectors will come and join you. Usually, I had to dine alone, for breakfast, lunch and dinner…
And the restaurants you would go, are not the most fabulous as we all imagine…
There are many good restaurants without a star which you are quite happy to go to. And there are great opportunities, you go and stay in country house hotels, small establishments, where the room, in those days (20 years ago) was 150-200 pounds a night, these days 500-600 pounds a night. You are staying there, your expenses covered with “American Express”. My expenses were 2000-3000 pounds per month, my salary was 600-700 pounds. You are kind of in a different world, it’s truly a fabulous experience!
What people don’t understand fully, your 10 meals a week, you are probably lucky to get one starred restaurant a week or a star contender, and the other meals are pretty mediocre. And that’s kind of a drudge. And you get into awkward situations, when at the end of you finishing your region, you have an extra restaurant to go to where you haven’t factored it in. So you do dinner at 6 pm, and you do another dinner at 8 pm. So it’s lunch, dinner and dinner. I have done it a couple of times. You know, you are careful, you eat half of the dessert, you eat sensibly. I’m not talking about eating at Michelin starred restaurants twice in a row, usually, these are fairly ordinary restaurants....
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