The new Michelin Guide Dubai revealed. My analysis and opinion.
A special edition newsletter. 23 new entries. 2 three-star restaurants. 2 new one-stars. 2 downgrades. And a list of questions for Michelin!
We have 23 new entries in the fourth edition of the Michelin Guide Dubai, two three-star restaurants, two new one-stars, and two downgrades. That’s lots of twos! Revealed last night at an invitation-only affair in the Address Sky View, that, for a change, I attended, rather than watch the live stream from home and pen notes. Pumped with adrenalin, I then pulled an all-nighter to write this up, and crashed for a couple of hours this morning ahead of editing. Et voilà 😋
Before delving into my analysis and opinion, a couple of important points to flag:
A reminder for chefs, publicists and media that stars are awarded to the restaurants, NOT the chefs. So a chef can leave a restaurant, yet the restaurant retains the star - like Ossiano this year, for example. And the chef does NOT take the star with him/ her. As Michelin itself has confirmed, the term ‘Michelin chef’ is factually incorrect.
All five criteria followed by Michelin’s inspectors are centred around food only. Agree or disagree (I’m with the latter), the likes of service, interior design and atmosphere do not play a role in their decision to award stars - as verified on Michelin’s website:
“Michelin Stars are awarded only on the basis of the quality of the cuisine served by a restaurant at a given time. They do not take into account the service, the tableware or the atmosphere at a restaurant; these aspects are documented by inspectors but are not part of the decision to award a restaurant a Star.
Five criteria are applied in an identical manner around the world when assessing a restaurant: the quality of the ingredients used; the mastery of cooking and culinary techniques; the harmony of flavours; the personality of the cuisine as expressed through the dishes; and consistency, both across the entire menu and between visits.”