Michelin Guides are the oldest series of tourist guide books on the European restaurants and hotels published annually by the French editors Michelin Editions du Voyage in over 12 countries all over the world. The guides have become popular thanks to its special system of evaluating gastronomic services by awarding symbols and the assessment of the chosen establishment is based on the opinion of the so called anonymous inspectors.
Michelin stars are awarded on the scale from 1 to 3 to the establishments which excel in quality, creativity and taste value of their dishes. Other ratings include "forks and spoons" and "houses", respectively for restaurants and hotels, awarded on the scale from 1 to 5 for the interior design, quality of the service, and the comfort of being at the place. Because of the variety of the criteria, there are establishments that are very luxurious (they get 5 forks and spoons) but only have one Michelin star. There are also restaurants with modest interiors, which are awarded a few Michelin stars thanks to their exceptional cuisine.
Michelin Guide was created in 1990 by Andre Micheli. Originally it was a free of charge publication given to the customers who bought tyres. At that time France had 2.400 drivers. The guide contained useful information for the motorisation pioneers including garage addresses, doctors lists, city plans and other interesting facts. In 1920 the price for the guide was introduced and lists of recommended restaurants began to appear. In 1926 the guide began to award Michelin Stars to the best dining establishments and in 1931 the three-star hierarchy was introduced. In 1955 "Bib Gourmand" rating began to be used. It highlights restaurants offering good food at moderate prices, which means it considers the price to quality ratio.
The system of awarding symbols to gastronomic and hotel establishments proposed by Michelin Guides raises a lot of controversy both among reviewers from the industry and among the society because it is only a reflection of a group of experts, who are always subjective. Additionally, the annual rating means that the establisments, which no longer meet the required criteria, have to be removed from the lists.
Michelin Stars appeared in the guide in the late 1920s and they gradually changed until the early 1930s. In 1936 the criteria for the stars were published and they have remained unchanged until today:
Having one or more Michelin stars means that a restaurant is not only one of the best in the country but also one of the best in the world. At the moment, around 2000 restaurants from all over the world have the stars, which suggests that the gastronomic industry is becoming highly competitive.
The anonymous inspectors, also called judges, are responsible for setting the criteria related to the choice of the establishments offering the highest quality services. That is why the restaurants willing to achieve Michelin Stars should take care of the choice of products, creativity, the right level of culinary techniques, combination of tastes and the proper price to quality ratio.
Each year an anonymous inspector eats around 250 meals in different restaurants and spends around 150 nights in hotels, he also visits 800 establishments and makes nearly 1100 reports.
Inspectors usually spend three weeks a month searching for good hotels and restaurants. They check, they discover and confirm the choice of a particular establishment or cross it out from the initial list. After they come back to the office and present the report, a decision is made about which gastronomic and hotel establishments deserve an award and which have to removed from the list because of the quality decrease.
Michelin Stars are awarded twice a year during the special meetings of the guide editor, the inspectors and the Michelin Guide director. The decision about awarding an establishment a specific number of stars is reached through a consensus. Moreover, during the same week, the anonymous inspectors prepare for their next tours, book restaurant tables and hotel rooms, gather information about the given establishment they are going to visit. They also receive support from the administration team which gives them information from the press, Internet or from the restaurants and other sources.
In 1910 the first edition of Michelin Guide concerning hotels and restaurants was published in Spain and Portugal. In 1987 Zalacin restaurant located in Madrid, whose owner was Jesus Maria Oyarbide and whose chef was Benjamin Urdiain, became the first Spanish establishment with three Michelin Stars.
In the list of of 3-star restaurants in Spain in 2015 appeared eight exactly the same restaurants as in the previous year: four in the Basque Country, two in Catalonia, one from Madrid and one from the Valencian Community.
El Bulli, a Catalan restaurant which was in business from 1962 to 2011. It became famous internationally thanks to the great work devoted to the culinary development of the establishment by its chef, Ferran Adria. Apart from Michelin three-star award in 1997, El Bulli was also judged to be the world's best restaurant in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 by the culinary magazine Restaurant.
On 30th July 2011 El Bulli restaurant was closed and, at the end of 2014, it was converted into "el Bulli Foundation" which is a culinary institute dedicated to searching new, creative and innovative methods of cooking. At present the foundation is the property of three Spanish chefs: Ferran Adria, Julia Soler and Albert Adria.
