The much coveted Michelin Star is only issued to restaurants who answer to the highest possible criteria of excellence. Many a chef has spent his entire life yearning for that star, working at his craft, perfecting the standards of his establishment, and dying trying.
And then, out of the blue, a Michelin guide director -- in this case Jean-Luc Naret, happens to visit a city, happens to walk into an informal little hole-in-wall eatery, happens to be hungry and ready to enjoy whatever he eats, and happens to find the food in this little place excellent -- so much so that he recommends a Michelin Star.
A chef prepares a rice pastry roll at the Michelin star-awarded Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong.
Photo: ED Jones
Perhaps it shows that Michelin has woken up to the fact that you don't need all the trappings to create great food, report Malcolm Moore and Rachel Browne.
The small canteen in Hong Kong, Tim Ho Wan, which means Add Good Luck, that seats only twenty people in its steamy dining room where battered bamboo baskets of dim sum sell for as little as $1.42, offers dishes for less than $1.50 and has become the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. "Michelin always used to be about the fine china, the glassware, the cutlery and the tablecloths, but people aren't always necessarily impressed by that. Sometimes all they want is great food."
Still, some of the better-known Michelin-starred establishments come with equally famous price tags. The three-star El Bulli in Spain charges $422 a person for a meal without wine. Customers spend an average of $400 a head at the three-star English restaurant Fat Duck, which was ranked the world's best restaurant until it was displaced by El Bulli .
Compared with other Michelin-ranked restaurants where a meal can cost more than $400, Tim Ho Wan is excellent value. Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret said it was the "most affordable starred restaurant in the world".
His most expensive dish, a plate of noodles, costs the equivalent of about $5.40, and he sells about 750 of his signature crispy pork buns each day. Other dishes include a cheung fun, or steamed rice noodle roll, with pork livers and delicate jellies containing flower petals. At lunchtime, diners can expect queues of up to an hour on the street.
The star ratings, which range from one star to three, are a rare honour in the restaurant trade, with only a few hundred in the world deemed good enough. Three-star ratings are even rarer – only 81 restaurants are on the list. Tim Ho Wan is headed by Mak Pui Gor, the former dim sum chef at Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel, where he worked at its three-starred restaurant Lung King Heen.
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