Join Kat Shortsleeve on a mouthwatering journey into the prestigious Michelin star system. Discover its tire-related origins, decode star ratings, and explore both budget-friendly and luxe Michelin dining experiences worldwide. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or a curious traveler, this episode serves up a delectable feast of insights!
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Join Kat Shortsleeve on a mouthwatering journey into the prestigious Michelin star system. Discover its tire-related origins, decode star ratings, and explore both budget-friendly and luxe Michelin dining experiences worldwide. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or a curious traveler, this episode serves up a delectable feast of insights!
Instagram @katshortsleeve
Tik Tok @katshortsleeve
Youtube Shortsleeve Travel with Kat Shortsleeve
Welcome back to the Short Sleeve Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Kat Shortsleeve. Join me each week as we embark on a journey to help you achieve your wildest travel dreams. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or new to the adventure, I'll guide you in exploring the world on your terms. No matter your situation or experience, I'll show you how to fill in your life with as much travel as you desire. Okay, gather around because today we're diving deep into a topic that I shamelessly admit I didn't discover until college. I'm demystifying the enigmatic world of the Michelin star rating system. Now, please don't feel embarrassed if you're drawing a blank because I'll be honest, none of us are born with the Michelin star knowledge encoded in our DNA, and I remember feeling embarrassed having learned about it in college, but There's really no reason. But I will say it's pretty crucial to know about in my opinion. Especially when you're traveling and if you travel a lot you will come across this more and more. So I'm going to give an explanation of what the Michelin star rating system is, explain what each star means, and then I'll get into the cheapest Michelin star restaurants I've come across in the world. And just for fun, we'll wrap it up with the rizziest, wallet shredding Michelin star restaurants that you might want to put on your maybe someday list. And spoiler alert, I will not be the one ordering golden caviar any time soon, but I'm all in for those budget friendly stars, so let's dig into it. The My first Michelin experience was in Thailand. So, I enjoyed Michelin Star Pad Thai at this hole in the wall restaurant with three of my best friends. We had been traveling through Southeast Asia for three weeks together, and one of my friends knew about this spot from someone else. And we went there, had the most unforgettable experience, and the entire meal only cost us 15 each. When I say this is the best Pad Thai I've had in my entire life, it absolutely was. I could eat this meal every single day for the rest of my life. Funny enough, they actually serve the Pad Thai with bottled orange juice. And so, you're not sitting down at a white tablecloth restaurant, you're sitting down at, like I mentioned, a hole in the wall. And it's these low tables, and they want to bring you in quickly. They basically just have this one thing on the menu, everyone gets that, everyone gets the orange juice, and you're out of there in about 20 minutes. You do get to see them cooking the pad thai, which is pretty cool, and they wrap up the pad thai in this very thin egg wrap, keeping it hot, steamy, fresh, delivered to your table. And the plate of Pad Thai is huge, so you can take some home with you, but we enjoyed it so much and we have been starving, so we, of course, ate every last morsel. The Michelin star rating system is an extremely prestigious culinary guide. You might remember if you've watched Emily in Paris, the chef there was working so hard just to get one star. And oftentimes it's a lifelong goal for chefs to even be on the guide for Michelin stars. This guide is internationally recognized and just for a little bit of a reference, France has the most number of Michelin star restaurants and they have a total of 630 different Michelin star restaurants, and the U. S. actually only has 200. I'm from Boston, and none of those 200 are actually in Boston, and they're not even on the guide either. So all 200 lie in California, Chicago, D. C., New York, and Florida. So of course that's mostly L. A., Washington, D. C., New York City, and Miami. And as you might expect, the rating is based on the quality and the excellence, but I'll get into more of what actually makes up a Michelin star rating a little bit later. The most fascinating piece of all this, and my favorite part, and what I like to tell people about, because not everyone knows this, is that this rating system was developed by the Michelin Tire Company to encourage people to travel to these restaurants and get in their cars and go, and of course, subsequently wearing out their tires, it was a great marketing tactic in my opinion, and something to think about. So in the year 1905, Michelin published their first Michelin Guide. And this was the guidebook that essentially was a handbook for motorists, and it provided practical information. Things like maps, instructions for repairing tires, how to do it yourself, where to find a mechanic, and lots of lists of hotels that were suitable for people traveling. 25 years later in 1930, the Michelin Guide introduced these things called star ratings, which is what I've been talking about. This was a way to highlight the most exceptional restaurants and hotels, and the rating system initially had just one single star that was awarded to restaurants for, and I quote, this is what the guidebook says, very good cooking. And today, One Star is awarded to any restaurant that is considered very, very good in its category. And so it signifies high quality cuisine and it's truly a mark of excellence. And what One Star means is if you're in the area, the restaurant is worth a stop. Now I think this is a bit of a humble way to define what a one star is. If a restaurant has one star, it is truly exceptional. It's extremely hard to get. Chefs in restaurants will work for their entire lives just to get this one star. So it's a little bit higher of a rating and an accolade than this might suggest. About five years after the one star was introduced, the two star rating was introduced, and this was to indicate, and I quote again, excellent cooking. Currently, a two star rating means This restaurant is worth a detour, so don't plan an entire trip around this restaurant, but definitely it's worth it to go out of your way because they have exceptional quality and it's kind of a destination in and of itself for people who are big food enthusiasts. Two years after that, they've created a lot more buzz around the two star rating. And so the coveted three star rating was added for, and I quote, exceptional cuisine worth a special journey. Now to this day, the three star rating is the highest Michelin rating and it signifies exceptional cuisine. That is worth its own journey. And so foodies will, maybe they plan an entire trip to Paris to go to these restaurants, or they plan an entire trip to go to Japan and experience this food. Really any restaurant that has three star ratings. It is beyond difficult to get one star, let alone three stars, and three stars will signify a very unique and exceptional dining experience. It will feature innovation and meticulously crafted dishes, so it's an entire experience that really transcends beyond just the food. At the very end of this episode, I'll get into three of the absolute best, most expensive, but most fulsome experiences that you can have when Michelin starred dining. Now I want to tell you a little bit about how these stars are awarded because Of course, if a restaurant knows that a guest is coming and they'll be rating the restaurant, they would give them the best experience and they'd make sure each dish is coming out to be absolutely perfect. But then that would defeat the Michelin star ratings and the guide because every guest who visits the restaurant would want to have that same experience. So the way that this works is an anonymous inspector will visit and dine at the restaurant. The identity of these inspectors is completely anonymous, and if you go online and try to find out who they are, it's really pretty impossible. We do not know what they look like, how old they are, and there are lots of different myths around these inspectors. And when you're running a restaurant with all the hustle and bustle and hundreds of guests coming in each week, it's impossible. to pinpoint and to pick out which one might be the inspector. I want to know how you become one of these inspectors because that, in and of itself, is a major mystery to me. It seems just as top secret as the CIA. But these inspectors follow a strict and comprehensive set of guidelines and criterias when they need to evaluate these restaurants. While doing research for this episode, I did a bit of a deep dive into the Michelin star rating website to learn more about the criteria and the guidelines that they follow. And so they're looking at the quality of the ingredients. The mastery of the technique used to create the food, but then also to present it. They're looking at the balance of flavors, consistency, and the originality of the dishes. And by consistency, I mean from Friday night to Saturday night to Tuesday night and from October to April. And so inspectors will go multiple times to these restaurants and make sure that it is consistent month over month. And I'm not a chef, but even I make the same scrambled eggs every morning and somehow they're different from day to day. And so I can't imagine how much pressure and how difficult it is to maintain consistency month over month with different staff coming in and out. And finally, the inspectors actually assess the entire dining experience. So from the food to the beverages to the quality of the service and even the ambiance. I have seen videos of some people who take a clipboard with them, they dine alone, dressed up very nicely, to a very fancy restaurant in hopes that they can kind of trick that restaurant into thinking that they are a Michelin star rating inspector, and some of these people have actually had some exceptional service and Extra dishes brought to their table, and things taken off the bill, and maybe a really nice bottle of wine. Now, I don't recommend doing this, and I haven't done this myself, but it's kind of funny. Okay, and finally, before we get into the most affordable Michelin star restaurants, and then the most expensive and luxurious, my final point on this will be to note that Michelin stars are actually awarded to the restaurant. rather than to the chef. So therefore, if a chef moves from one restaurant to another, that establishment retains the star, and the chef would actually lose it. Despite the fact that maybe that establishment got their star because of the chef. And to that point, losing a Michelin star can be a significant blow to a restaurant's reputation and to their overall business. And at the same time, if you earn or if you retain stars that you already Have received that will lead to increased visibility and prestige there's this great story about a restaurant in Paris that got one star and overnight The demand for their restaurant just Skyrocketed they had their tables full every single night from then on out and they were able to hire Incredible staff and retain their staff and it just changed the entire trajectory Of the lives for the people working there and the restaurant owner, of course I thought for a while that dining at Michelin starred gems would be too expensive and not something that I would ever do, but while I've been traveling, I have come to learn that that is not the case. Believe it or not, you can savor these luxury dining experiences without breaking the bank while you're traveling, but it's likely not going to happen in your hometown unless you're from, let's say, Paris or Japan. Who am I kidding? Most of the places in Paris and Japan are extremely expensive. The places that I'll be telling you about are more focused on Eastern Asia. Now I want to run through 9 of the absolute cheapest Michelin star restaurants that you can go to, and no need to write all this down, there is a blog post on my website that includes all of this information. I'll tell you the name of the place, the price range, as well as what they are known for and what you have to get because while the restaurant does have a Michelin star, oftentimes it's just a few dishes that are their famous dishes. Sitting in the first position and this is the absolute cheapest Michelin star restaurant that I know about and that I've been able to find online. It is in Singapore. And it is called Liao Fan Hawker Chan. Of course, I'm going to butcher a lot of these names, but I'm doing my best. If you've been to Singapore, you know that there are all of these hawker centers and they're basically... food stalls. So, or food halls. So you walk in and it's kind of a big cafeteria on the inside with big tables and benches for people to share a table and enjoy very inexpensive meals. And on the outside of the Hawker Center are food stalls and they often offer just maybe five to ten different dishes and they make them incredibly well. So they're kind of experts at those dishes. At this place, you have to get the soy sauce, chicken rice, and it will cost you 5. Next up is Hong Kong. It's a place called Tim Ho Wan. And this is dim sum, and they're especially famous, and please, if you go, you have to get their famous BBQ pork buns. They are truly mouth watering, and you don't even have to go and sit down. You could actually just grab them to go, which I did twice, and this will cost you 10. Number three, we're moving on to Tokyo, Japan, and this is where we have a place called Daiwa Sushi. Now this is affordable sushi and they do have one Michelin star. I recommend trying the omakase, which basically just means the chef's selection. And it's a very budget friendly, incredible sushi experience. And this will roughly cost you from 20 to 50. And that's it. Of course, if you only get a few dishes, it'll be 20, and if you get more of a full meal, it might be closer to 50 and upwards. Number 4 and number 5, we are headed over to Eastern Europe. Actually, for the next 5, we're headed to Europe. Uh, first we have Latvia, and this place is called Plate. By D Z I N T R A. Not sure how to pronounce that one. But this is modern Latvian cuisine with some sort of innovative twist. Now, I have not been here, but this comes in at number four, uh, being the cheapest Michelin star place in all of Europe. And this will cost you between thirty to sixty dollars. In the fifth position, we are moving on to a place where I studied abroad for six months and I absolutely love. It is Prague in the Czech Republic and the restaurant is called Alcron. Now, this is a Michelin star restaurant and they offer a blend of international cuisines as well as Czech cuisines. And this will cost you about 50 to 90 per person. In the UK, there are two Michelin star restaurants that are inexpensive, one being The Coach. This is a gastro pub and they offer a very relaxed dining experience. So if you're someone who doesn't want to sit at a very fancy restaurant, want to enjoy great food, this is perfect for you and it will be about 20 to 50 per person. The final two restaurants that I want to tell you about, the first one is in Berlin. It's called Tim Rao and this is... A restaurant that serves Asian inspired cuisine, it will cost you around 80 per person. And the final one is in Spain. I am going to absolutely butcher this name, but I think it's L'Antique Molay. Again, all of this will be detailed in my blog post. This will cost you about 50. And they have Mediterranean and Catalan cuisine. And actually, the restaurant is very beautiful. It's a very rustic, old, gorgeous restaurant. Last but not least, I'm going to tell you about the most expensive Michelin rated restaurants and Michelin star restaurants in the entire world. And while most expensive does not always mean the best, these Top three are truly exceptional. I will not be dining here anytime soon, but it is definitely on my bucket list and something I eventually would love to do because they truly create unique experiences And so if it means I have to eat ramen for six months before and afterwards I will actually be willing to do so and you might too after hearing about this. So Stop number one. This is the tip top of the list and it is located in Ibiza, Spain. It is called Sublimotion. Now this is a very immersive dining experience, but prices will often exceed 2, 000 per person, which is a bit mind blowing to me. They offer a multi sensory journey and It's combining gourmet cuisine with technology and art and music. And I'll get into how they do this. But they actually pioneered the concept of a multi sensory dining. They were one of the first ones to do it. During the meal, diners actually put on these virtual reality headsets, and that transports them to a different virtual setting. Of course, that enhances the entire sensory journey, and is supposed to make the food taste even better. At the same time, the restaurant is using this projection mapping technology that transforms the dining space into various captivating environments that correspond to each course. So, I don't know, and there aren't pictures of this because of course they want to keep it exclusive and very private. But I think I can imagine, you know, if you're having fish or some sort of crazy seafood, the entire room is going to feel like you are there in the ocean or I don't know, on a coral reef or something to that effect. They are known to collaborate with renowned artists and performers that would actually transform the space to be even more engaging. It honestly sounds a bit overwhelming, but with all the insanely incredible reviews, I'm sure it is quite the experience. What I find pretty cool and very unique is the menu is ever evolving and apparently from week to week new dishes and experience are introduced. So if you visit one week and for some reason you just need to burn a hole in your wallet and you need to return the next week, it will be an entirely different dining experience. Finally, to give you another great idea as to what the space looks like, apparently they can only accommodate a dozen guests per evening and there is never a single seat open and so that adds to the intimate and immersive atmosphere and helps them to create this incredible experience. Well, now that I'm sad that I have not been there and probably will not go there, let's move on to the second one. This place is in Kyoto, Japan and it is a three star Michelin restaurant. Prices will range from about 300 to well over 600 depending on the items that you're going to choose off the menu. Here you'll experience a multi course Japanese meal. This restaurant is called Kicho Arashiyama. And here you'll experience a traditional multi course Japanese meal that perfectly balances great taste with texture, appearance, and colors. You can go onto their Instagram and see it is a very vibrant setting and they create this exceptional dining experience. It's almost as if each plate is its own work of art. The location also adds to the entire experience. It's surrounded by these lush bamboo groves, and it has tranquil gardens that lead you up to the restaurant. What's unique about this spot is their menu is heavily influenced by the different seasons, and so they only use the most fresh, most seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. If spending 600 on this meal is not expensive enough for you, they do offer private dining rooms where you'll sit on the mats down on the floor and look out over the garden and it's very intimate and serene. So I do know a friend who went here and she did this on her honeymoon and it was one of the best, nicest dinners that they had saved up for and really wanted to splurge on. And she told me that the dining experience also includes a very traditional Japanese tea ceremony, so that's adding some cultural richness and she felt as though she was learning something while also having an incredible meal. The staff will wear their traditional kimonos, creating a very cool environment, and I'll be honest, reservations here can be quite exclusive, and are made well in advance, upwards of six months. If I had to sum this place up after doing a deep dive into the different menus and the experience and the surrounding area, it seems as though it's truly a journey through the seasons, and it's a celebration of very traditional culinary masterpieces that come out of Japan. Finally, we're actually moving on to the U. S. We have this restaurant in Las Vegas called Joelle Robuchon. And this restaurant, the dining experience will often exceed 500 per person. And to be honest, I shouldn't bore you with all the details here. You can go check it out on my website where I have this blog post about what I've discussed here and some more juicy mouth watering info and then photos, of course. So that will be a story for another time. Thank you for listening, and thank you for hanging out with me. I really appreciate all of you who do come listen, and if you enjoyed this, you should subscribe to the Short Sleeve Travel Podcast. I have new episodes coming out each week, occasionally multiple episodes per week, just like this one. And at the same time, you can follow me on any platform, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, whatever you want. Also, if there's something that you want to hear me talk about, you can email me at katshortsleeve at gmail. com. I can't wait for the next episode. I'll actually be doing a little bit of a deeper dive into Japan and some skiing that I did this past year there. So I can't wait. Thank you. Cheers.