Why Some of the World’s Most Famous Chefs Don’t Want a Michelin Star
by Siti Zawani
@ 09 Oct 2015
The pressure that comes for a chef who has attained a Michelin star rating can be daunting and definitely taxing, in terms of reputation. There have been several chefs who have declined their stars for different reasons, in the hopes of (ironically) being better cooks and innovators in the craft.
In 2013, chef Julio Biosca returned the Michelin star held by his restaurant, Casa Julio, in Valencia, Spain, not because he’d lost faith in the Michelin rating system but because the star, he felt, meant that he could no longer innovate. He was tired of his complicated tasting menu and he wanted to do something simpler, so he gave back his star. The following year, chef Frederick Dhooge, in East Flanders, Belgium, also returned his star because he wanted to be able to cook simpler food, like fried chicken (not considered a “star-worthy dish”), without his customers’ expecting a grand spectacle at his restaurant, ‘t Huis van Lede. And in 2011, Australian chef Skye Gyngell, of Petersham Nurseries Café, in London, called a star “a curse” because of the high expectations it raises among customers. She gave hers back, too, after diners complained about the dirt floors of her “shabby chic” restaurant. Get full details at
http://goo.gl/KrnUfc
