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Have you ever been to a Michelin star restaurant?

Robson Lobson

A couple of lads in work like to go to Michelin star restaurants. One of them even went to a three star restaurant in Spain with his girlfriend, the bill came to over €500. If I had the money I might go to a few Michelin star restaurants to see what the fuss is about.

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Aongus Von Bismarck

ringadingding wrote: »

Just to make another quick point,
They don't have to be expensive,
I ate in konstantin filipou, vienna last week,
Went alone, in jeans, had a 3 course set lunch, 2 glasses of wine for €60.
Now the food was €29, that's less than a tenner a course.

I've dropped €60 quid on fûcking jaagerbombs at 2am before.

What I'm trying to say, is these places don't have to be pricey and dressy uppy,
Go alone, for lunch, enjoy the food, get out for €50-60.

They are restauranteurs, appreciate that just as much as the guys on company accounts dropping 400.
They're taking you on a journey, not rinsing you for money.

Dylan McGrath is almost certainly making more per head serving very mediocre tapas in Fade Street Social then he did serving stunning and inventive food in Mint. You might just manage to get out of Fade Street Social for €50 a head. The tasting menu in Mint was €89. I know which one will live longer in the memory.

J_E

Haven't been yet but would love to. Enjoy dining out very much. Probably my favourite place so far as been Chameleon near Temple Bar, wonderful experience on top floor with the rijsttafel, sitting on cushions eating 7 mini courses.

Some people enjoy fine dining, some don't. Nothing worth fighting over. If it's lost on someone, there's no point trying to talk them into it, this can be said for anything people enjoy, be it sport, music, etc. For people who enjoy it, we know that food can be as much of an experience as going to theatre. I've had meals in places that have been memorable and still think of fondly.

Legs.Eleven

MagicMarker wrote: »

Even yer holes? .....

*backs away slowly*

Particularly those. :cool:

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

MagicMarker wrote: »

Nope. The idea of parting with half a week's wages in a pretentious restaurant surrounded by pretentious people is about as appealing to me as a hole in the head.

I'm a simple person with simple tastes. Give me a burger and a cold beer and I'm as happy as a pig in shít.

Some are expensive, but not all, and you don't need to part with half a weeks wages to enjoy it either

tempnam

I agree that there does seem to be a little snobbery shown here... But there is twice as much inverted snobbery IMO.

I love food & drink. I've been to a good few restaurants, a few starred restaurants, some great 'cheap & cheerful' restaurants with absolutely gorgeous food and some God awful places that throw crap food at you bit still charge crazy money!

People seem to take it personally when someone says they love good food.

As others have said taste is subjective. But so is value. I would much rather go for the 2 course lunch menu in Locks Brasserie for €25 pp than be charged €18 for some greasy tastless burger in Thunder Road Cafe, with music blaring and hen parties shouting & screaming the place down. But I also enjoy a take away pizza or a Chinese with a couple of beers!

I also can't understand how some people have no problem with going to a pub/club and spending crazy money knocking back pints all night but think others are crazy for treating themselves to a nice meal instead!

tempnam

ringadingding wrote: »

Just to make another quick point,
They don't have to be expensive,
I ate in konstantin filipou, vienna last week,
Went alone, in jeans, had a 3 course set lunch, 2 glasses of wine for €60.
Now the food was €29, that's less than a tenner a course.

I've dropped €60 quid on fûcking jaagerbombs at 2am before.

What I'm trying to say, is these places don't have to be pricey and dressy uppy,
Go alone, for lunch, enjoy the food, get out for €50-60.

They are restauranteurs, appreciate that just as much as the guys on company accounts dropping 400.
They're taking you on a journey, not rinsing you for money.

Question for ya as someone in the know....

Why do so many good restaurants not bother with beers? I've been to so many restaurants with an extensive wine list to accompany different foods, yet rarely have any decent beers to go with different foods... usually they will just have bog standard heineken, carlsberg etc. (terrible beers IMO) but wont have any good beer?

Surely these places recognise that beer is just as good an accompaniment to a meal as wine. ???

MagicMarker

tempnam wrote: »

Question for ya as someone in the know....

Why do so many good restaurants not bother with beers? I've been to so many restaurants with an extensive wine list to accompany different foods, yet rarely have any decent beers to go with different foods... usually they will just have bog standard heineken, carlsberg etc. (terrible beers IMO) but wont have any good beer?

Surely these places recognise that beer is just as good an accompaniment to a meal as wine. ???

Beer is for peasants, that's why! You'd probably drink it straight from the bottle and disgrace the entire restaurant.

Aongus Von Bismarck

tempnam wrote: »

Question for ya as someone in the know....

Why do so many good restaurants not bother with beers? I've been to so many restaurants with an extensive wine list to accompany different foods, yet rarely have any decent beers to go with different foods... usually they will just have bog standard heineken, carlsberg etc. (terrible beers IMO) but wont have any good beer?

Surely these places recognise that beer is just as good an accompaniment to a meal as wine. ???

Beer is a fine pairing with some foods. Many of the gastro-pubs in Ireland I visited on my last trip had an excellent range of craft beers available. The Exchequer in Dublin; Harte's in Kildare Town and The Fatted Calf outside Athlone all had great Irish beers available. I'm not sure it's always a great pairing with some of the subtle flavours and techniques available in Michelin Starred restaurants. So while a good beer goes down very well with mussels and chips, or a cured meat platter; I don't see it working as well with delicate seafood for example.

tempnam

MagicMarker wrote: »

Beer is for peasants, that's why! You'd probably drink it straight from the bottle and disgrace the entire restaurant.

Are we still on the whole 'pretension' thing?! I found that with any of the 'fancy' restaurants I've ever been to there has always been a very relaxed atmosphere. People who go on about a place being pretentious must be suffering from some form of inferiority complex.

ringadingding

tempnam wrote: »

Question for ya as someone in the know....

Why do so many good restaurants not bother with beers? I've been to so many restaurants with an extensive wine list to accompany different foods, yet rarely have any decent beers to go with different foods... usually they will just have bog standard heineken, carlsberg etc. (terrible beers IMO) but wont have any good beer?

Surely these places recognise that beer is just as good an accompaniment to a meal as wine. ???

It's slowly changing, the Harwood arms in London is a boozer, a proper boozer, loads of ales and beers...

In the next 3-5 years, the beer selections will become way more prominent, especially with the success of gastro pubs offering a wider selection.

But to be honest, it's about the bottom line, the mark up on wine is greater than beer.
People will spend €60 on a bottle of wine, they won't on a beer.

tempnam

ringadingding wrote: »

It's slowly changing, the Harwood arms in London is a boozer, a proper boozer, loads of ales and beers...

In the next 3-5 years, the beer selections will become way more prominent, especially with the success of gastro pubs offering a wider selection.

But to be honest, it's about the bottom line, the mark up on wine is greater than beer.
People will spend €60 on a bottle of wine, they won't on a beer.

Hopefully it happens here with more restaurants. I love trying new beers and would love to have a good selection of beer with a meal as I rarely drink wine.

Also, with regard to the bottom line - if there is no decent beer I normally just drink water with a meal. It wouldn't encourage me to order wine just because there is a lack of beer on the menu. So wouldn't it be in their interest to carry even a small selection of good beers? Or is there some cost involved with stocking beer that prevents this?

I don't really understand the reasoning that there is less of a mark up. Surely it's in the restaurants interest to have a good selection for customers?

gg2

Cantremember wrote: »

You don't go to these sort of restaurants for a feed. **** off to supermacs for that. You go to appreciate the craft of cooking and the symphony of service, quality ingredients, superb cooking skills married to the best wine with the meal. It's an experience like a West End musical, El Classico or great opera. If you don't understand any of this **** off to supermacs.

Symphony of service? Well la dee frickin da

Never been, don't have much of an interest. I like what I like, thats my story and I'm sticking to it

Sir Gallagher

tempnam wrote: »

Question for ya as someone in the know....

Why do so many good restaurants not bother with beers? I've been to so many restaurants with an extensive wine list to accompany different foods, yet rarely have any decent beers to go with different foods... usually they will just have bog standard heineken, carlsberg etc. (terrible beers IMO) but wont have any good beer?

Surely these places recognise that beer is just as good an accompaniment to a meal as wine. ???

I love a good craft beer, but 9.9 times out of 10 i'd have wine with a meal. IMO beer isn't a good accompaniment to food as it's too gassy and just makes you feel fuller and bloated this obviously isn't in the interest of good restaurants where they want people to have the full meal experience rather than just a main.

I know a lot of gastro pubs and craft beer places suggest beers to go with food now instead of wine, but i find that to be a bit gimmicky. I think, in general, that wine goes much better with food than beer.

ringadingding

tempnam wrote: »

Are we still on the whole 'pretension' thing?! I found that with any of the 'fancy' restaurants I've ever been to there has always been a very relaxed atmosphere. People who go on about a place being pretentious must be suffering from some form of inferiority complex.

I think magic marker was messing, but you're dead right.

I bought my 4 year old to steirereck last year, the waiters were playing peek a boo with her, making paper aeroplanes , bought her a " kinder cocktail" with curvy straws....
This is the 10th best restaurant in the world, and it couldn't have been more relaxed.

I'm actually trying to recall the last times I had snobby service, and no Michelin place is on that list.

I like to think those days are gone, especially in ireland, we really do offer great, genuine service to our guests, and we as a nation should be bloody proud.

Aongus Von Bismarck

ringadingding wrote: »

I think magic marker was messing, but you're dead right.

I bought my 4 year old to steirereck last year, the waiters were playing peek a boo with her, making paper aeroplanes , bought her a " kinder cocktail" with curvy straws....
This is the 10th best restaurant in the world, and it couldn't have been more relaxed.

I'm actually trying to recall the last times I had snobby service, and no Michelin place is on that list.

I like to think those days are gone, especially in ireland, we really do offer great, genuine service to our guests, and we as a nation should be bloody proud.

The only time I've encountered 'snobby service' in Dublin is in those type of places that end up costing €25 for a burger or fried chicken with a few sides. Jo Burger, Crackbird, Bison Bar etc. All twitter campaigns and arseholes in tight jeans admiring themselves in a mirror as they take your order.

J_E

ringadingding wrote: »

I'm actually trying to recall the last times I had snobby service, and no Michelin place is on that list.

Absolutely, you're treated very well in most decent restaurants, it would be such a turn-off for me to have that snobby atmosphere about. I really think that sort of thing is only in the heads of people who feel like they themselves are somehow out of place.

Seaneh

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I'm not sure it's always a great pairing with some of the subtle flavours and techniques available in Michelin Starred restaurants. So while a good beer goes down very well with mussels and chips, or a cured meat platter; I don't see it working as well with delicate seafood for example.

I think this line of thinking is backdated nonsense and pretty much snobbery.

There are more flavour, texture, style and production variations in beer than there are in wine by a long way, whether it's a belgian quad or an american pale ale or a german doppelbock there are beers to be paired with anything, and paired far better and more appropriately than wines are.

Most chefs just live in a world where wine is regarded with reverence and beer is "common" and not to be bothered with beyond burgers, BBQ's and pissups.
Most chefs drink shiiiiite beer, but would never be seen with a bottle of blossom hill.

Wickers26

I've been to RPG for lunch , it was nice but I really don't think it deserves 2 stars. The service is wayyyy over the top and the actual dining room looks really outdated. Food was cooked well but it's not very interesting, there's far more exciting places to eat, like the green house, brioche, forest avenue and Etto. Probably the best restaurants in dublin at the moment, chefs are really raising the bar this year. One of the best meals I've ever had was in a little restaurant called cisten eile in Wexford, just good honest hearty irish food, so tasty and it's not expensive whatsoever. The mulberry garden is a great restaurant as well. So many excellent places to eat in dublin, we are spoilt really.

B.A._Baracus

I would never go to Michelin star restaurant. I know its quality food. But seriously, paying so much money for such a little portion? No matter how good it tastes it isnt worth that.

A fool and his money I say. It's a different story if you are a millionaire. Of course you would be eating in the best of places then. But normal person and normal wages? :pac:

J_E

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I would never go to Michelin star restaurant. I know its quality food. But seriously, paying so much money for such a little portion? No matter how good it tastes it isnt worth that.

A fool and his money I say. It's a different story if you are a millionaire. Of course you would be eating in the best of places then. But normal person and normal wages? :pac:

Really though you can replace this with any sort of interest. Going to a gig vs watching the live DVD, buying vinyl instead of MP3, etc. It's just a different experience to some people.

It's not supposed to be about the portion size. I had what you'd call a 'small' portion size eating in The Pig's Ear but still came out feeling satisfied, the food was to die for.

Aongus Von Bismarck

Seaneh wrote: »

I think this line of thinking is backdated nonsense and pretty much snobbery.

There are more flavour, texture, style and production variations in beer than there are in wine by a long way, whether it's a belgian quad or an american pale ale or a german doppelbock there are beers to be paired with anything, and paired far better and more appropriately than wines are.

Most chefs just live in a world where wine is regarded with reverence and beer is "common" and not to be bothered with beyond burgers, BBQ's and pissups.
Most chefs drink shiiiiite beer, but would never be seen with a bottle of blossom hill.

I live in Germany, so am used to having a glass of beer with food. And I'll agree that beer is a delicious accompaniment to some foods. But I hated the trend of suggesting a beer with food that seemed to have become de rigueur in Irish gastro pubs when I visited. I was in Mulligan's in Stoneybatter. They suggested some heavily hopped IPA with their scotch egg starter. The scotch egg wasn't great to being with, but pairing it with an IPA was a stupid suggestion.

Tigger

Wine license is soo much easier to get than a beer license

Seaneh

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I live in Germany, so am used to having a glass of beer with food. And I'll agree that beer is a delicious accompaniment to some foods. But I hated the trend of suggesting a beer with food that seemed to have become de rigueur in Irish gastro pubs when I visited. I was in Mulligan's in Stoneybatter. They suggested some heavily hopped IPA with their scotch egg starter. The scotch egg wasn't great to being with, but pairing it with an IPA was a stupid suggestion.

To be fair, that's a problem with suggesting the wrong beer for the wrong food.
They either need to hire a cicerone/beer sommelier or at least consult with one when making their menus.

Something like a london porter would have went better with scotch egg. And I'd rather have a nice Saison like Goose Island "Sofie" with lobster than any wine.

Slattsy

Go as often as I can. Maybe every 6 weeks to 2 months we go out and threat ourselves.

Why not, we work hard. We love our food. Yet it's pretentious apparently.. I lol at that.

Hard to beat the food, it's just a different level.

Each to their own.

Lingua Franca

Once or twice a year as a treat, yeah. I've never found them pretentious, they go out of their way to be really nice and friendly to everyone whether you're in jeans or furs. I've also never left one hungry. We usually get 8 course tasting menus or whatever, and that's plenty of food to fill you. Usually comes with never ending bread at the start and a wee box of chocolates as you leave, as well.

Our last trip wasn't even terribly expensive. There are events all over the Netherlands called "restaurant week", scattered and staggered, when most of the local restaurants offer heavily discounted menus and we went to 't Amsterdammertje for a 6 course menu that was about 40 euro per person, and included one of those fancy cocktails made at the table and the aforementioned chocolates.

I don't see it as any different to people spending their money on, say, Garth Brooks tickets, or a day at a spa, or premier league match tickets. I wouldn't enjoy any of those things myself, but I wouldn't say anyone who does is a fool for spending their money that way. I happen to like food and splashing out on food-as-theatre and getting to eat things I would otherwise never get to try is my pleasure.

awec

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I would never go to Michelin star restaurant. I know its quality food. But seriously, paying so much money for such a little portion? No matter how good it tastes it isnt worth that.

A fool and his money I say. It's a different story if you are a millionaire. Of course you would be eating in the best of places then. But normal person and normal wages? :pac:

This is baffling.

"These chips are pretty average and I could probably make better myself, but at least you gave me loads of them."

Bootsy.

I'd like to but those places seem to really hate vegetarians. So no.

Lou.m

Cantremember wrote: »

You don't go to these sort of restaurants for a feed. **** off to supermacs for that. You go to appreciate the craft of cooking and the symphony of service, quality ingredients, superb cooking skills married to the best wine with the meal. It's an experience like a West End musical, El Classico or great opera. If you don't understand any of this **** off to supermacs.

Opera and classical music are financially affordable to all in this country. recitals in the John field room are exceptionally affordable to all for example.

The national concert hall has an audience of every social strata. They give educational workshops and concerts to state school children.

I play violin as a hobby and have played in amateur recitals.

There is a difference.

There are waiting lists and a context with some restaurants beyond art. There is a difference between art and business.

The Abbey is accessible to all.

The price of a restaurant would not be affected by a star if it were art and artist does what they do because of a burning desire to.

I don't claim to be a foodie but I know the difference between pretense and dedication to art form. Culinary arts should be appreciated but I don't know that is what Michelin star restaurants are always about.

Yes but to be honest I am not enough of a foodie to be able to distinguish the difference.

I have taken family members for birthdays etc. I took my ex to celebrate his birthday. He didn't like it.

My Dad has taken me to them.

As I understand it the stars are not just for the food but the service etc. I don't think it's worth it anymore.

Whether that is because I prefer museums galleries and music to a foodie gourmet experience or I have a good point I don't know.

I do know that my ex's father was a chef who thought most people who ate there and even cooked there did not have a clue what it was about.

Some people buy cd's of the three tenors or Russel Watson and some prefer Dietrich Fischer Deskau. It really does not matter it's your taste , so long as you know and appreciate the difference and you can only do that if you really love music.

I am not a restaurant lover. I would respect someone's efforts and art etc. But I suspect going to a restaurant with me is about as much fun as going to a ballet or dance class with someone who is not a ballet-mane.

You would think I would be I am a fussy eater! I would never be able to afford to go regularly. And that sense never appealed to me.

I wouldn't scoff at people who genuinely appreciated it. But I would scoff at people who felt it made them impressive people simply by going. Or to be honest I wouldn't bother with them.

If people go because they enjoy it and appreciate it good for them. If they do it as a sign of something else they have been conned.

Opera and music is generally affordable here for me. But if it wasn't I WOULD MAKE THAT HAPPEN!:P

Generally in Ireland people are not pretentious about this things I think. But I would not be able to go more than once or twice a year for an occasion and it would be more for the other people than me. I much prefer to spend time and money on the arts for myself each week or something.

osarusan

"People without much interest in something don't understand that other people who are interested in it are willing to pay lots of money for it" shocker.

MagicMarker

awec wrote: »

This is baffling.

"These chips are pretty average and I could probably make better myself, but at least you gave me loads of them."

Or alternatively...

"These chips are feckin awesome, and I've got LOADS!!!!".

But why chips? Why is it someone who would prefer not to go to a michelin star restaurant would automatically prefer plentiful but crap chips instead?

Hmmmm.... I wonder.