Chef Robin Ho – Group Executive Chef of Prive
by Darinee Durai
@ 23 Sep 2016
There are many restaurant guides around the world, many countries have their own guides (for guide examples, refer below), which is your favourite one to read and refer to? Why?
Australian Good Food and Travel Guide (Australia)
-The World’s 50 Best (Online)
-Repsol (Spain & Portugal)
-Singapore’s Top Restaurant (Singapore, Wine & Dine)
-Singapore Tatler’s Best Restaurant Guide (Singapore, Tatler)
-Zagat (American)
-Gault et Millau (France)
-Le Liste (France)
- James Beard Foundation (United States)
-The Good Food Guide (United Kingdom)
RH: Please see the replies next to the guide I refer to:
-Australian Good Food and Travel Guide (Australia)
-The World’s 50 Best (Online) (one of my favorite international base guide. In addition to the main ranking, the Chef's Choice list is based on votes from the fifty head chefs from the restaurants on the previous year's list. The top restaurants are often forerunners of molecular gastronomy. Most of the restaurants serve haute cuisine)
-Repsol (Spain & Portugal) (this guide reveals the history, culture, and the cuisine unique to each of the different regions in Spain. In addition to beautiful landscapes and interesting people, there are also local delicacies and unique beverages. They also have a section dedicated to gastronomy and chefs with three repsol, which I enjoy reading, as Spanish proves to be a challenge , well at least for me)
-Singapore’s Top Restaurant (Singapore, Wine & Dine)
-Singapore Tatler’s Best Restaurant Guide (Singapore, Tatler)
-Zagat (American) (not favorite but I do refer to it at times the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals with the guides reporting on and rating restaurants)
-Gault et Millau (France) (I refer to them when I just started cooking at Les Amis Gault Millau (also the French based relais & chateaux guide book. Back then, Singapore’s Duxton Hotel was already in the guide) where rates are on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed. The points are awarded based on the quality of the food, with comments about service, price or the atmosphere of the restaurant given separately. Based on the ratings, high-ranking restaurants may display one to five toques. Michelin is more popular and therefore more influential, while Gault Millau has been considered more purist due to the main system being based purely on the quality of the food.)
-Le Liste (France) (Le Liste features 1000 restaurant and 48 countries which uses an algorithm instead of anonymous “inspectors”. The list factors in 200 international dining guides, crowd-sourced sites, yelp and trip advisor plus New York Times and Washington Post reviews. It also takes into consideration Zagat, Michelin, the James Beard Award, Gault & Millau, OpenTable, and more.)
James Beard Foundation (United States) (This is one of the food guides I refer to most of the time. However, the guide is strictly only for America. The JBF, just like the Michelin guide, also known as the Oscars of the food world, cover all aspects of the industry: chefs and restaurateurs, cookbook authors and food journalists, restaurant designers and architects, and more. The James Beard Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals in America.)
The Good Food Guide (United Kingdom) (Established since 1951, The Good Food Guide has reviewed the best restaurants, pubs and cafés across the UK. Each year, the Guide is completely rewritten and compiled from scratch. All reviews are based on the huge volume of feedback that we receive from readers and this, together with anonymous inspections, ensures that every entry is assessed afresh.
For 65 years The Good Food Guide has scoured the UK for the best dining experiences on offer, from high-end restaurants for that once-in-a-lifetime meal to hearty pubs for Sunday lunch with friends. If a restaurant isn’t up to scratch, it won’t be included in The Good Food Guide. The team of anonymous inspectors is based around the UK; they include ex-restaurateurs and chefs, experienced writers and food critics. Inspectors undergo a series of tests to demonstrate their foodie credentials before we enlist their services.)
When travelling I will also refer to time out, AA Rosette stars which basically provides an informative guide to where to eat and tasting notes provided by the time out panel.
Do you think these restaurant guides are well equipped to give restaurant rating?
RH: Each guide has their own systems and credibility with some being country-specific while others international. These guides act as good references and are well-compiled, which is why many of them are still well-regarded and referred to by both locals and tourists when planning their culinary adventures.
How do you think the Michelin guide compares with other restaurant guides?
RH: For Michelin Guide, each time a reviewer dines at a restaurant, they write a thorough memorandum about their experience and then all of the reviewers come together to discuss and decide on which restaurants will be awarded the stars. In this way, the Michelin guide’s criteria are very different than Zagat and Yelp for example, which are based on consumer feedback via the Internet. Zagat tallies restaurants anonymously based on reviews of diners and consumers while Yelp tallies stars based on user reviews provided online. The Michelin guide does not take into account consumer reviews when “grading” restaurants. Unlike the other guides, the Michelin reviewers also tend to concentrate more on the quality, mastery of technique, personality and consistency of the food, so do not look at interior decor, table setting or service quality when awarding stars. Michelin also awards a "bib gourmand" for quality food at a value price.
As a Chef, would you like to be rated by these guides?
RH: It definitely helps to raise standard by keeping you on your toes knowing there are mystery diners or a grading system in place, which can give a restaurant recognition, and to some extent prestige. The guides provide a good benchmark to strive towards. However, it is not just the effort of one person in a restaurant makes it to the guide, but is rather a reflection of a collective team effort.
What are some of the pressures that come with a high rating from these restaurant guides?
RH: Gaining the rating is one thing, but maintaining the rating is another. Post-result reservations tend to go through the roof and it is up to the whole team to pull everything together, especially with expectations becominghigher. Some of the more prestigious guides have also created a new type of customer, the “foodie trainspotter”, who rather tick a cultural box and have bragging rights on some rare effete spirit. Restaurants then begin to look the same and churn out similar dishes; the service becomes cloying and oleaginous, the menus vast and clotted with verbiage; the room hushed; the atmosphere religious and the food complicated beyond appetite. And of course the prices become ridiculously expensive.
How do you feel about online restaurant guides such as San Pellegrino’s World 50 Best? Are they any different from the published guides?
RH: I feel those published online are often more updated and for better or worse, the World's 50 Best has become the backbone of “The Way We Eat Now—or at least The Way We Talk About Eating Now”. Arriving and evolving in the era of social media and a nonstop circuit of culinary conferences and festivals, the 50 Best (there are actually 100 restaurants in the list) has become a kind of house list for the cult of Chefs who see themselves as artists and personalities. In fact, the World's 50 Best has been embraced by a generation of eaters for whom dining experiences have become the primary reason to travel.
