It is common that it is actually assigned one of the most prestigious awards in the world of gastronomy not to the institution, but to the author of dishes from its menu. We checked whether this is really so.

The Village publication at the end of 2020 It wrote: “It is also worth noting that the Michelin stars receive not so much restaurants as the chef, who lead the work of the kitchen of these institutions. Therefore, the chef’s transfer - leaving for another restaurant or opening his own - can take away the star. ” A year earlier on the website of the Ukrainian television channel "1 + 1" was published The analysis of “what are Michelin stars and what they give for”, in which there is a similar statement: “The Michelin star can be assigned to both the restaurant and the chef personally-if it was his author’s cuisine that the restaurant critic was struck. Interestingly, when changing his workplace, the titled chef is being hiding his star with him. ” It is possible that in both cases the authors of the texts used Wikipedia. And in Russian -speaking, and c Ukrainian -speaking The versions are such a fragment: “It is known that often stars are awarded to chefs, and not restaurants, so the chef can leave and“ grab ”his star into another restaurant.”

The analysis of such statements is devoted to a separate fragment in selection “The exposure of the five myths about the Michelin guide”, which was prepared by its compilers.

First of all, they note that such a “term” as a “chef marked by the Michelin star”, in principle, does not exist. Work in the institution with this award or even the possession of such a restaurant does not lead to the receipt of the appropriate formal status. Also, the compilers of the guide pay attention to the fact that, from their point of view, the whole team of the restaurant works on the preparation of dishes, so it is not quite fair to celebrate only one person.

Secondly, the guide is updated annually-during the time the chef can leave the restaurant with the Michelin star, but if the institution retains a high level of dishes with the new kitchen leader, then the prestigious status will remain with him.

Thirdly, and the main ones,-the Michelin guide directly declares: “The cooks cannot take the stars with them, as well as the stars cannot go to another restaurant, which is owned by the same chef. If the chef, who leads the restaurant with the Michelin star in Spain, opens a new institution in Hong Kong, he does not receive the star automatically. ”

There are many examples. Thus, the famous chef and TV presenter Gordon Ramzi in 1998 opened Gordon Ramsay Restaurant in London, which was already in 2001 received Three stars Michelin. Although Ramsi has not headed the kitchen of the institution since 2007, the compilers of the guide are still Give The restaurant is maximum assessment. Since then, the famous cook Opened Not one dozen new projects around the world and not all of them boast of such a success (while six of its restaurants received one star, another two).

Photo on the cover: Reuters / Maxim Shemetov