Michelin Guide

I love food, and there are so many great food in Paris, which is one of the things I enjoyed the most here. There are 26 3-star Michelin restaurants in France in the last updated research, and there are 10 of then in Paris. It is one of the foodie's paradises here. Since I didn't have much knowledge about those Michelin restaurants, I did some researches on them.

Where did Michelin starred restaurant came from?  There are michelin inspectors who are completely anonymous. They don't identify themselves, not even allowed to talk to journalists as well as not to disclose their line of work even to their parents. They wrote reviews on the Michelin Guides which are a series of annual guide books published by the French company Michelin for more than 100 years. Whenever it is published, it sparks a media frenzy which has been compared with the annual Academy Awards for films.

It is owned by one of the largest tire manufactures companies, the Michelin (SCA Campagnie Generate des Etablissements Michelin ), which is a tire manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auergne region of France. Other than its red and green travel guides, the roadmaps, the michelin starts and for its company mascot Bibendum, colloquially known as the Michelin Man.

In 1900 the tire manufactured Andre Michelin and his brother Edouard published the first edition of a guide for French motorists. At the time there were fewer than 3000 cars in France, and the Michelin guide was intended to boost the demand for cars, which will also increase the demand for tires. This is a really smart marketing strategies.  The publication was suspended twice during 2 world wars, but after two wars, it got more popular. In 2005 Michelin had the first American guide and concentrated on New York. In 2007 Michelin launched first Japanese guide, which also has 26 3-star Michelin restaurants.

If you guys ever come back or has family want to try a 1-star michelin restaurant in Paris, and don't want to spend that much money, Benoit is a good place to try French cuisine in Paris. Or Sola, a 1-star Japanese restaurant in Paris as well. There are also restaurants without stars but taste really good with a good environment, the Kong. If you go to the Kong, only order the Plates.

And if you guys are ever interested in those restaurants in Chicago, personally west loop is a food heaven, the Publican, Avec, Momotaro, even though these are not starred yet, but all on the Michelin guides. Most of 3-star and 2-star Michelin restaurants in Chicago are molecular gastronomy, which I am not a fan.

Hope you will find this useful :)

 ( molecular gastronomy, alinea)

 (benoit)

(the kong)