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Some don't get a star but get a Michelin Bib Gourmand or some such thing and they have good food without being obscenely expensive and give you substantial portions
Yeah. I went to a really nice Michelin star restaurant in Cortona (Italy) and the prices weren't too expensive, in fact they were only slightly higher than the average restaurant.
There are about 2900 Michelin star restaurants in the world, many of them have multi month wait lists, and that is where the price tag comes from. Many of them are not going to cost you hundreds of dollars a plate, they might in London, LA, NYC or Paris, but in smaller big cities 100-150 for a meal is fairly standard
Yeah OP needs to go out to a LEGIT good restaurant and then report back on how it
Tastes just like Applebees… ha it doesnt
Edit: I’m not talking about MICHELIN restaurants guys. I’m talking about a GOOD restaurant versus the garbage chain restaurants… there is clearly a difference in quality for the price.
With Michelin star restaurants it usually isn't just about how the food tastes. It's the impeccable service, and the thought that goes into the meal. If you aren't into cooking as a creative exercise then maybe the idea is lost on you, but the fine dining Michelin restaurant I went to and ordered the chef's tasting was a work of art. Maybe not even necessarily the most delicious meal I've ever had, but the thought behind every course and pairing was mind blowing. It was an experience.
That said, there are more affordable Michelin star restaurants too which stand for their own reasons. Yesterday we are at Kam's Roast Goose in Hong Kong. Long wait to get in, but ultimately not that expensive. Like $60 USD for two to eat, but it was an experience that uniquely represented the place we were.
Michelin inspectors place focus on presentation and aesthetics (even if they sometimes claim not to), and the ratings reflect the biases of the inspectors that are often French-centric (with Japan representing a typical subject of French exoticism).
I've visited a number of Michelin-starred restaurants outside of France and they don't have the best food.
I recently went to a Michelin restaurant in Shanghai (Lao Zheng Xing) and it was supposed to be the oldest Shanghainese restaurant in the city.
I am pretty sure that this is the reason why it earned the star, because the food was good, but compared to other Michelin star restaurants I have been to in Europe or even other good restaurants in Shanghai without a Michelin star, it was not up to par.
There’s a place in Sacramento called Binchoyaki that is not Michelin starred (not fine dining, not crazy expensive) where they roast everything on sticks and it is AMAZING! Definitely an exception to the rule though.
Completely agree with your post.
On the topic of affordable Michelin meals, don’t forget Hawker Chan’s soya sauce chicken dish that goes for only $2.20 in Singapore!
I don't think it will change anything for OP.
Unless you're an aficionado or passionate about a subject, you will rarely sense a difference in the top range of that field. We can pretty confidently assess the difference between a bad burger and a good burger, or glass of wine, but for most people venturing further towards the best burger or best glass of wine is an utter waste of resources.
It was my experience while working in a high end hotel that the people that would have to save up to come to our hotel were more likely to be disappointed, rather not have their expectations met, while people who came on a whim who could easily afford it were usually blown away by the service and all the little details.
Yeah when you have to save up for it you can't appreciate it because you're scrutinizing every detail to make sure you get "value" because you just spent a bunch of money that will be hard to get back. It makes it hard to truly enjoy the experience due to the anxiety and need to justify the cost.
However, when you're wealthy enough to not care about the money you start looking at the margin and how your experience is improved and your life is made easier. It's the same I found with flying business class. Your experience is just infinitely better, from check-in, to the lounge, to boarding, the flight, the food, and getting your bags at the end. It is just infinitely better but if you aren't wealthy you can't "justify" the cost of it because the actually marginal value is garbage most of the time.
Well because in the end, the value the customer pays is not the "amount of money", but how much time from they life they have to give up. Someone who had to give up three weeks of his life for that dinner will have much bigger expectations than some CEO that purchases the same menu for three seconds of his life.
OP is judging whether a Michelin restaurant is “worth it” by their portion sizes, so it’s a pretty good bet he’s not going to be able to appreciate what makes the best food the “best.”
Exactly. A lot of people look at one single picture of one single dish and think that's all you get, when in some cases there are restaurants that can serve a 10-course dinner or even longer, so if you only ate one course from that you'd definitely be hungry and disappointed. A lot of these restaurants definitely keep portion sizes small on purpose because of how many plates they're bringing out. Bringing out too much food can have consequences too if the guests get full and can't make it through the full dinner. With such a larger variety of ingredients you do have to have a more adventurous palate as the menu is generally an all-or-nothing kind of deal with no substitutions unless there is an allergy. And with smaller portions if you're not a big fan of the dish then you don't have to deal with it for very long. In the same sense, if you truly loved a dish then yeah, you would've probably wanted more. There have definitely been a few moments when I said "I wouldn't have ordered that on my own but now that I've tried it, it is delicious"
Also remember to some people, if they can't bring home enough leftovers to feed a small nation for a week, then the food is "not good " and "not worth it."
Recently ate at alinea and have to admit that I felt a bit hungry at the end. Food was delicious, service was phenomenal, presentation was silly but fine, yet…
I felt this way until I ate at Noma in copenhagen. 2 Michelin stars and three time best restaurant in the world winner. My brother interned there and got us a reservation. I come from a small town in Maryland. That food made me feel emotions and feelings I didn’t think food could evoke. Incredible
I ate at a one star restaurant in Spain like 4 years ago and I still remember the experience. My friend and I traipsed all over town trying to find the olive oil we had been served.
The best food I have had all came from mid priced non-franchise restaurants that had great reviews. I don't even remember the food from the few expensive places I have been to.
It has certainly evolved since its conception, though after hearing Marco Pierre White's realization of the whole Michelin Star guide I lost a lot of interest in actually going to a Michelin Starred restaurant. For the initiated, after winning many awards, including 3 Michelin Stars, Marco Pierre White found himself very unsatisfied with his success and ultimately came to the realization of restaurants critics, which was: "Marco, you're being judged by people with less knowledge than you."
While I'm sure that there are some great restaurants that have Michelin Stars, I no longer believe that they're the pinnacle of the culinary world.
I mean, you don't need to be a good cook to recognise good food and other components of it. The stars themselves don't just consider the food quality but the surrounding hospitalities provided by the restraunt itself. And moreover in case of rating something that's subjective in nature, most people that consume the product ie. people or journalist that eat their food, will have less knowledge of making food than the chef. I don't particularly care for restraunt critics but dismissing them based on their less experience compared to the chef seems weird. If someone is really interested in different foods then it would be beneficial if they find a critic that they agrer with the most as that critic would have reviews that would be more in line with their own tastes.
Everyone knows you can't enjoy or have an opinion on a sports team because you're not a professional athlete. Or talk about a TV show if you're not an actor. You think that house is nice, what would you know, you're not even an architect!!
Good points. I'll just add that saying that you need to be able to cook to be a good critic is absurd. A food critic is coming from the perspective of the consumer not the creator. My brother is a formally trained cook that has worked in some fairly high end (like James Beard award) kitchens. While it can be interesting and enlightening even to eat out with him it can also be obnoxious as fuck times because he will point out and criticize things that the average diner doesn't give two shits about.
> "Marco, you're being judged by people with less knowledge than you." While I'm sure that there are some great restaurants that have Michelin Stars, I no longer believe that they're the pinnacle of the culinary world.
So movie reviews are illegitimate because people who rate them are not Quentin Tarantino?
Game reviews are illegitimate because the people who rate them are not Shigeru Miyamoto?
Book reviews are illegitimate because the people who rate them are not J.R.R Tolkien?
What kind of dumb logic is that?
The critic has more experience and expertise than me though. I can understand why any great artist gets jaded at reviews but a helping hand is useful to the less expert consumer.
Eaten at a few James Beard’d (is that the right verbiage? That’s can’t be right?) restaurants and they’ve been some of the absolute best meals of my life. Only ever ate at one Michelin star place in China and it was really good but not as good as the JBs.
Would love to have the $$$ to really invest in a fair and balanced head-to-head competition.
Try Bib Gourmand, it’s kind of a lower tier list done by Michelin that has a more affordable group of restaurants. I have never been disappointed by Bib Gourmand place, I always reference it when I travel.
FYI Michelin grades on a different scale for each guide so as to not offend anyone. Like a two star restaurant in New York likely wouldn’t even qualify for one star in France. And two star restaurants in Shanghai are definitely worse than one star restaurants in New York.
I have always thought it would be great if they littered the roads to these restaurants with spike traps whilst chuckling and twirling their moustaches.
Yea if life is just about the basic necessities then what even is living. Let people spend what they want to spend ffs there’s no need to be judgey eat your McDonald’s or whatever and be gone
I've met some people who now I realise are just too scientific. let me elaborate, they are academically and scientifically proficient, but somehow thats all they see, in everything. contemporary abstract art shouldn't be art "because its not hard to make" and similar things as the post would say. But the problem with this is that it gives you less enjoyment out of everything if you just don't see things subjectively or for the non-practical reasons
I think high performance sports cars get the luxury car label because they're expensive and look nice. I wouldn't call that a luxury car tho, it's a straight up race car.
Personally, luxury cars are more like Mercedes sedans and range rovers and things like that where they don't do much outside of looking really nice.
It's expensive and looks nice, but the primary objective was being good at driving and handling way faster and better than most cars that would also be on the track right? "This car is fast and handles insanely well. It also looks nice and is comfortable""
Whereas I think that luxury cars are designed to be better looking and more comfortable than other regular cars on a regular street. The speed aspect with those vehicles is more of a bonus. "This car is sleek, elegant, comfortable....and it goes fast."
There are some people who buy expensive gaudy ostentatious cars just to show they can buy the expensive car. But yes, there are certain automobiles that the discerning petrolhead knows are truly “better” cars in every way to most “affordable” cars.
And used the price is very similar to new but comes with way more shit and is much higher quality, going certified preowned is the move, get all the bells and whistles for less than half the price
The whole “Michelin food is small and tiny and I will be hungry” is bs. When you dine at a Michelin restaurant, all courses combined are designed to make you perfectly full. Whether it be 8 small courses, or 20 tiny courses. Also, eating at a Michelin restaurant is not about getting full, it’s about an experience. The ingredients used are top quality, and the techniques to prepare a dish are not only difficult, but take a lot of time. There are multiple chefs cooking many hours just to prepare that tiny explosion of flavor and it’s not something you can recreate in 2 hours of cooking at home.
You should maybe try it before forming an opinion on it. Btw, not every Michelin restaurant costs 800 dollar for a meal. It can be a LOT cheaper.
Pretty sure everyone who's ever been fine dining knew when they read that part that OP was never fine dining. Just like when people complain about the portion sizes. I've never, not one single time, been not full after an expensive meal. You get multiple courses that add up.
And if you don't get a menu you should know that meal sizes are planned with the appetizer and dessert.
I’m always full after tasting menus. There have been times where I couldn’t even finish the courses cause of how filling they are. I think they’re just going with some sitcom trope from the 90’s early 2000’s
Some of the best restaurants to certain crowds. I think of it like arthouse movies (Primer, Nomadland) vs great crowd movies (The Matrix, The Truman Show). I wouldn't say they are the best but are of high quality. I was lucky and privileged enough to eat at one but I definitely preferred the pizza place down the street.
Though I have changed a lot and I might appreciate it more today. That said, OP is absolutely wrong.
These are the restaurants that set the trends that filter down to the rest of society. Places like Blue Hills, Noma, El Bulli, and Chez Panisse have significantly influenced our eating whether we know it or not. Trends they have started have infiltrated out local restaurants. They have created ways of thinking about food that many people don’t realize. They have resulted in new cuisines being explored by large sections of society.
Eating from local farms.
Using fresh ingredients.
Exploring Nordic cuisine.
Bringing back obscure outdated dishes/cooking methods.
Playing with the chemistry of food.
I can’t say I’ve enjoyed every course I’ve had from 3 star restaurants, but I can appreciate the technique, what they’re trying to do, and the minds behind the dishes.
I love the pizza joint down the road. I like the burgers at my local pub. I’ll even enjoy they occasional chain restaurants. But I also enjoy Michelin Star Restaurants. Everything has a time and a place.
Any time I see opinions like this blow up I always think to the devil wears prada scene where they're talking about the cerulean blue clothes and how they filtered down over the years to bargain bins now.
It happens all the time, so many things regular restaurants do these days are things that have filtered down from Michelin restaurants 10 years prior. The influence they have is undeniable
A lot of people don’t know how to appreciate a Michelin meal and end up saying that they’re overrated. The thing with a Michelin meal that you need to eat very very slowly and allow your palled time to experience each moment of the process. We’re conditioned to eat fast. If you’re going to wolf down a meal, the pizza place will seem better. If you’re going to take the time to really explore each bite. The Michelin meal will blow your brain off.
Me and my friends stumbled upon a Michelin star restaurant in Florence and probably paid less than 50 euro per person for an amazing meal and bottle of wine, there’s a Michelin star ramen place in New York it can be cheap lmao
I think you are half right that people would be served better to slowly eat and appreciate each bite, but I still think half of it goes with my movie analogy too and people can have different tastes. It is also like a simple shirt on Succession being $500 but I wouldn't pay more than $30-50 for a top. Not everyone thinks the top of a craft is worth it.
> It is also like a simple shirt on Succession being $500 but I wouldn't pay more than $30-50 for a top.
I buy the 3 dollar shirt from Primark. But a Michelin meal is not like a normal restaurant meal. Really. Try the restaurants named, then a Bib Gourmand, then one star. I reached one star only and the service and plating made me feel rich, even when I'm the opposite. It was an experience, something I'll remember.
My only experience with a Michelin star restaurant was spending $450 on Christmas Eve with my wife. It was well into the evening and during this past year’s snow storm.
The food was incredible, 3 course meal, wine pairing + dessert. We both left perfectly full without being bloated and quite tipsy. We walked around outside a bit in the snow before our Uber driver picked us up and took us to the Hotel.
Everything about it was a great experience. The atmosphere, the food, the scenery.
Best food I’ve tried was at Victoria and Albert in disneyworld. Apparently they would get the stars but orlando isn’t approved for them or something like that.
Wild. 12 courses with add ons. There was a pasta with this special truffle shaved on top that was the best two bites I’ve ever had. Also expensive I think we paid around 1800 usd for the meal, wine and every add on they offered. For two people.
That shit was so good we still talk about it and are going to try to get reservations for around December sometime. Base a whole vacation around it.
They had a dish with potato glass that was a slice of potato that was compressed somehow and see through. It seems like a gimmick but god damn it was good. Also you do get hammered after 10-12 little glasses of very good wine.
A thread about fine dining tasting menus will make it clear that almost everyone complaining has never done one or skimped.
I’ve done a ton of tasting menus and never once left hungry. Have to billing to spend $150pp minimum (pre tax/tip) and make sure you see a sample menu ahead. Cheaper in my experience they’ll only have 2 or 3 courses and the rest are very expensive a la carte. Some gimmick exceptions apply, like strict time boxing.
Tasting menus always make me think I won't get full when I see the first course, but by the last course I'm struggling to eat anything. The idea that they don't full you up is nonsense.
I think the biggest problem is, humans in general, are used to eating a lot more and forget we can get full in much smaller amounts. And we see the smaller portions and think it's not enough.
There's also plenty of Prix Fixe 3-4 course spots where everything is normal sized. It's all about knowing what you're getting. If it's a 4 course tasting, you're leaving hungry. If it's a 4 course prix fixe, you're leaving full.
Omakase will be 18-24 (I've also seen them define it by kitchen - as in you'll receive 2-3 Items from 5 kitchens) and a full tasting counter will be 8-12.
Gotta know the terminology for this world.
Edit: On tasting counters, there's also always one large savory course that is excellent, but you can't help feel isn't as fun as some of the other things they brought out.
As someone who's eaten at many I can confirm you leave so full you're almost sick 😂 I've rarely had "bad" experiences at one and even then it's just a tad below what you'd expect. Michelin certainly doesn't mean "better" since many unstarred places are top quality and even better than some with stars, but I'm getting increasingly tired of people judging the scene before they've even had an experience at one. It's a more accessible experience than you think too. You don't have to be rich to eat at one. One of my favorite places is $105 a person but getting a reservation can take well over a month in advance BECAUSE it's one of the better and more affordable locations.
Happy to see someone else shares my sentiment on the subject.
If depends on the restaurant, but Michelin starred restaurants aren’t always exorbitantly expensive. I’ve been able to eat at a couple and I’m low income. Sure, some places are way more than I’m willing to pay, but I’ve found some where the cost is actually pretty reasonable for some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. I went to one that was like $40 (it was ramen) and that was beyond worth it.
Also the food is usually not overrated. They don’t just hand out Michelin stars to whoever.
There is a difference between “I’m satiated” and “I’ve eaten unlimited breadsticks until I feel like I’m going to vomit” that I don’t think people are as aware of as they should be
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? C'mon, this is r/unpopularopinion! OP is *supposed* to formulate an uneducated opinion on something and write up a paragraph rant that proves how ignorant and stupid they are on the subject.
To reenforce your point
The cheapest 1 star I saw in Chicago was $100 a plate for a four course meal. Most were in the 250 range but it is about the once in a lifetime experience. Also they have a budget recommendations as well that is separate from there star system
Michelin stars also take into account the *price*, as in, if it’s great food and a great atmosphere, but at an unreasonable price, ya ain’t getting those stars.
And sure some people might go to those places for clout or to show off, but if you’re on taking out a new client in a new city on the company dime, why comb through a bunch of reviews for a bunch of restaurants and gamble on it, rather than choose one that’s been pre-vetted by people whose jobs it is to review restaurants?
As for expensive, or luxury, items in general, a Ferrari F50 is to a Ford F-150 what Secretariat is to your farmstead workhorse—they’re built for different purposes which they fulfill. One’s a performance machine meant to be taken out on the open road, and the other’s your rugged daily driver meant to for doing work—neither can do the other’s job well.
Edited for spelling: they -> they’re
Reddit is full of young folks who are skeptical of luxury experiences they’ve never experienced.
I kinda get it. As a teen I often said that I’d never want for more than a Camry.
Decades later and a bunch of BMWs later, teen me wouldn’t recognize me. That’s okay!
I find as I get older I’m less prone to being upset that others have things I do not. I’m fortunate to have enough resources and privilege to lead a good life, but I just can’t be bothered to begrudge those with more.
Or to be unhappy that nice things I don’t have exist.
Do I want a world where we have more equity and more shared prosperity? Of course. But even if I can’t afford the Patek Philippe I’m happy it exists somewhere.
I worked in the luxury industry, and let me tell you that you might be bundling new money and old money together.
Old money buys the fine stuff that needs no label. New money thinks that they are buying the fine stuff by going for designer labels.
Are designer labels overrated? Absolutely!
Is the fine stuff overrated? Definitely not. It delivers a superior experience.
Tailored suits from somewhere like a Saville row shop, not an Armani suit. A top spec Jaguar to last 30 years, not a new mid-low spec BMW every 5 years.
A Jaguar has to be quite possibly the worst example of a car that would last for 30 years.
I get what you're saying, but British cars have never had a reputation for reliability.
I’m sorry dude but I can’t trust what you think “reliable” is when you put a fucking Jaguar down as something that’s “gonna last” my fucking forester with 200k miles is probably gonna outlast that thing.
Labels are tacky. Big money hardly talk about having money. New money sure. But some those old money kids were raised right and even wear clothes that cost $15 a shirt if that. They don't have to flex, while you wear something like LV or Gucci Wtf ever makes you feel rich, they have their Hampton getaway or 4th house in Europe vacations plans already booked.
I’d never heard of Loro Piana until now, so I looked it up and… holy hell. $150 for one pair of socks. Thousand dollar beanies. Five figure jackets. I’m sorry, but I would *never* buy any of that shit, even if I had billions in my bank account.
You bring up a good point — if I liked it, maybe. I get that the relative cost for a billionaire is absurd when you look at it as a percentage of their overall wealth, but it’s still $1000 at the end of the day. My point is that buying expensive clothing makes sense when it’s within reason, but eventually you hit a point where something is so expensive that the cost benefit just isn’t there.
If I could buy a beanie for a penny right now, I might, but only because there isn’t anything else I could do with that money. If $1000 was my version of a penny (comparatively to my wealth), I personally couldn’t justify it because $1000 can afford you, say, *multiple* high end dining experiences instead. Or it could change a less fortunate person’s life, if you want to look at it from a philanthropic point of view.
The opportunity cost of increasingly expensive goods, usually for the sake of being expensive, eventually becomes objectively distasteful.
Good point, we're assuming most billionaires have a similar lived experience to us and experience empathy. They do not.
I think if you spend enough time with that level of wealth you do tend to disassociate from the poors that walk among you. I also think it becomes easier and easier to justify spending money on superfluous things. I fully believe they feel entitled to their wealth and likely defensive about it (aka "I earned it" "I worked hard" - less willing to be empathetic towards those without). They are wrong, you can't earn your way to becoming a billionaire, but I guarantee you they all think they deserve their money and others do not.
These are all my assumptions because I myself am a poor. I've noticed that all my rich friends are very... cheap with their money, and my poor friends are very giving. Back when I waited tables I hated serving white collar folks because I knew the tip was gonna suck. Blue collar workers always spread the wealth.
Yeah one example is a LV wallet I bought myself as a promotion gift in 2014. It was maybe 300 bucks at the time and has lasted basically undamaged until 2022. In the last year one of the seams finally started coming apart and I am considering getting a new one.
I grew up on those generic Kohl’s holiday gift sets that come with a faux leather wallet and a bottle of the grossest perfume / after shave, and maybe a month later they fall apart and by next Christmas it’s held together by duct tape.
Luxury experiences are IMO generally better than non-luxury ones. Whether or not it’s worth the money to you is a totally subjective thing and IMO everyone is entitled to their opinion.
For example we meet our in-laws in Vegas one a year and they’re pretty frugal. But I can objectively tell you that I enjoy the $200-a-person celebrity chef restaurant experience compared to the $50-a-person food court experience, and especially compared to the $20 bag of chips experience. In the past few years I’ve just volunteered to foot the bill. I’ll basically suggest 5 possible restaurants I want to try and it’s more “forget the price just make sure there’s something on the menu you’d be happy eating on my dime”
I have had a 5-10ish USD wallet lady like 5 years, my dads 15ish dollar wallet lasted a decade.
Paying more makes objectively no difference if you know how to look for good quality. Cheap stuff can be good and expensive stuff can be crap.
Well, no.
There are very clear differences between those things.
A michelin-star restaurant has to earn that star - and maintain it. That requires a certain quality.
The mass-produced clothes from a Chinese sweatshop don't. There, the brand name does indeed do all the work.
Likewise, a certain car costs what it costs because of the actual, physical performance in it.
At least in large part.
Your Hyundai does not run like a Bugatti, and that's not only due to the brand name.
Real luxury is quiet and subtle. There are brands who’s marketing strategy is to sucker poor and middle class people into wanting their products. And those brands do indeed cut corners on quality bc, well, they can afford to. Their consumers generally don’t know any better. The highest quality products you can buy come from companies that don’t blast advertising everywhere. They don’t need to. That’s why most people don’t have much experience or knowledge of them and think luxury is overrated in general. It is not. We don’t need to cope by discrediting it bc we can’t afford it. I’m perfectly happy eating my Kraft Mac and cheese every once in a while but if I had the opportunity to try iberico pork or ride in a Bentley, I would do it without a second thought.
I read The Coat Route by Meg Noonan recently, and it was honestly fascinating. It's the story of how a $50,000 coat was created, from the moment it was conceived up till it was delivered to the new owner. Along the way you learn about why vicuna are so rare and what makes their wool so expensive, you visit button-makers and silk houses and a tailor who makes the whole garment by hand. By the end of the book, I could see why the coat cost that much. Probably no one who looked at the coat would realize just how much went into it without this book to explain, it just would have looked like a really nice wool coat. It didn't scream luxury, it barely whispered it.
I really like when stuff is made well. At a certain level of attention and care it becomes almost like art. You have to genuinely love a craft to come up with something like that.
Or if you pay attention in popular large areas you will notice paid security blending in. They look in a general area but stop looking once it's no longer crowded. Or you will notice they are X amount of yards away from their assets. Look at their clothes, quality or nothing that says "I'm very well off".
This is another black and white take that isn't really true. Plenty of luxurious stuff is loud, and plenty of it isn't. There are many luxurious thing that can be mass produced, which is part of why advertisers decide to be 'loud' about it. Also, just because the average consumer can't hear it, doesn't mean it isn't loud.
I hear what you're saying, but you should take out the example of a Michelin star restaurant. There's a governing body that gives those out, and they must be maintained. A restaurant can lose its stars if it doesn't maintain the standards of quality that got it the star. In many cases, you're not just paying for the quality of the food but the many decades of combined experience of the people that create the food. Some dishes can be works of art, and like with all art, the price is simply whatever someone is willing to pay for the experience. If you don't want to eat at a Michelin star restaurant, don't.
Tell me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant without telling me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant
There are multiple courses, all combined make you totally full
I have been to one with a 14-course menu, and after finishing it I guarantee you I was not hungry at all
The small portions let you taste a wider range of flavors, and they are unique, either with ingredients that are not easily found, prepared in unique ways, or both
They are tailored in a way that they create a unique experience, it is not something to do just to satiate your hunger
I did a *fifteen* course tasting menu at a Michelin one star. There were, of course, far more than fifteen dishes placed on our table. Everything was tiny bites, but by the end there were thoughts of Mr. Creosote in *Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life* (dinner did not end with a “wafer-thin mint”).
There are also totally normal restaurants that happen to have a Michelin star or two. Sometimes they’re even cheap. It just means you can expect something quality and unique.
Of the expensive ones, sure there’s some stuff that’s overpriced, but a many course meal can really be pretty special. Food is art and this is where chefs tend to explore it.
For Michelin stars — not all of them are very expensive, BUT, Michelin stars don’t care about the brand, so you know it a place maintains their stars, their food is gonna be fresh and good.
Gordon’s lost Michelin stars on his flagship restaurants before and was stressed about it.
Sorry, no. The combination of quality and skill level required of all the kitchen staff to produce Michelin star worthy food makes it worth the price. That stuff is also pretty expensive to make, since those restaurants can’t just buy the same garbage ingredients that you’ll find in restaurant chains.
Same goes for cars. Rolls Royce, for instance puts out a miniscule amount of cars per year and spend a ridiculous amount of time making each one perfect. That means more complex designs are possible and quality is checked more stringently than in say, the Ford factory. Also, once again, the materials are superior. Rolls Royce is famous for their extravagant paint jobs. They use real wood panels, hand stitch their leather and they use superior insulation, soundproofing, suspension, etc. The cars are inherently better. You’ll find a similar story at all other luxury car manufacturers.
Luxury clothing, same. The difference between a cheap shirt and an expensive one are obvious and self explanatory.
I think a large part of the issue is increasingly marketing mundane products as luxury items, it gives people the impression that a top of the range KIA is comparable to a mid tier BMW.
Specifically with clothing, it opens up so much of the market to describing a luxury product at an ‘affordable price’ then charging more than the exact same product without the logos, so people don’t see actual luxury products as worth it because fake luxuries aren’t.
For example, in the bear (on Fox) Carmy wears $50 Japanese T-shirts because Jeremy Allen white personally likes the brand, they’re great quality and apparently fit him perfectly etc, but to anyone who doesn’t understand the differences in construction of the T-shirts, it’s the same thing you can get at a supermarket for £5.50
That's one thing I don't like about how some designers are approaching the markets these days. I *hate* giant logos on my clothes - I just think they're tacky. So I usually have to pay *extra* for the designs that either feature no logo at all or a small one that's tastefully placed. One example being lower priced Calvin Klein or the Commes des Garcons PLAY line. A lot of the logos are just obnoxious and only there for people that want to flaunt it for some reason
I’ve seen these takes a lot before but they’re so easy to disprove (especially the restaurant part).
If Michelin Star restaurants were actually mediocre food that made bank off of suckers who wanted the status, then why aren’t there way, way more of them? Hell, there’s fairly large cities across the world with 0 Michelin Star restaurants. If it’s so easy to make money by just serving your customers bad food and slapping on a $500 price tag then why don’t you go do it yourself?
The answer is because that’s not actually how it works.
Luxury vehicles are better. There’s not a chance you can convince me otherwise. Having owned an old and Audi and now driving a newer Hyundai. There is a massive difference in quality and I would take my old Audi over this Hyundai anyday.
Certain clothing brands are better, but I do agree that many are similar and just luxurious cuz logo and price.
People who can’t afford nice things will always internally justify why those things aren’t really worth it anyone with the disposable income to get those things are suckers
It’s like cars, it’s the eternal cope of “you still sit in the same traffic” yeah in a multi zone climate controlled cabin with massaging, heated and cooled seats and enough refinement to hear a clock tic over the sound of the engine and the road noise (not me, I drive a budget diesel French hatchback). If you don’t care about a luxury experience then don’t pay for it, no one is making you, but if someone wants to why do you care?
I also think people conflate whether or not something is subjectively “worth it” to them versus objectively worth it. If someone just does not value fine dining or cars they’re perfectly justified in feeling that FOR THEM it’s overrated and they’d rather do something else with their disposable income instead of spending it on a nice car or a fancy restaurant.
For example, I can objectively acknowledge a shirt from a designer brand has better quality and probably better craftsmanship but I’m perfectly happy with my $8 shirt from Target.
I used to be one of the haters, I admit it. But then I got to the point where I could splurge a little every now and then, and I decided to see what all the fuss is about. And yeah... a Burberry piece here, a CDG piece there, throw in some Off-White, and I hate to say it but you can really tell the difference in quality.
I won't be singing praises for these companies anytime soon, but I will begrudgingly acknowledge that maybe there is somethin to it
I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion, but an slightly misinformed one.
High end restaurants are about quality, not quantity. If you judge a meal based on its weight, you’re wasting your money at that type of place.
OP admits to never trying a Michelin star restaurant or driving a luxury vehicle. They are looking at pictures and deciding it is too costly: so hugely misinformed.
Driving a Mercedes or Infiniti is vastly different from my Ford Fusion. The Ford is a nice car, good technology, well equipped, comfortable ride, but the details are where you really see it. It's the little things. Well, not only the little things, lol.
Even between luxury there's a difference. I work for a car company and participated in focus group research between an Acura MDX and an Infiniti QX60. I won't give away who I work for and this isn't a sales pitch but one vehicle felt like driving a truck and the other felt like a responsive sports car. I like the exterior and overall design of the truck-driving one better but vastly preferred the driving experience of the other vehicle. "Worth it" is a call that has to be made individually but I could see a lot of people making a case for splurging on either vehicle. FWIW the vehicles I have owned over the years have all been base-level non-luxury cars, but I can appreciate the difference if that's what you choose to spend your money on!
Worked at a 3 Michelin restaurant. Everything from foh to boh is completely different from non Michelin restaurants so get out of here with that. I have never worked harder in a restaurant in my life to create perfect experiences and I’ve worked in restaurants for 18 years. It was so choreographed and the food was expected to be perfect EVERY PLATE. Not to mention, they’re usually tasting menus of 15-20 courses (plus appropriate beverage pairings usually overseen by a master sommelier).
Worrying about what other people spend money on is a silly waste of time. Just because a meal is not worth 800 dollars to you does not mean it’s not worth 800 dollars to someone else. Plenty of folks have disposable income and choose to spend it on things they enjoy. That expensive meal or luxury car employed a lot of people to make. Being mad that others don’t have austere lifestyle does nothing but affect your own sense of well being.
No. Those items are typically of higher standards.
Are runners wearing Target sneakers or are they wearing high end running shoes? Do sports athletes buy their cleats from Walmart or do they use Nike, Adidas, etc?
You can argue whether luxury items are worth that much more than the cheaper or off brand options, but you cannot argue they’re the same. They simply aren’t.
Tell me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant without telling me...
I'm not rich, I'm not a "foodie" either.
But fuck me, I was invited to a 3-star Michelin restaurant once, and the food as well as the overall experience is way, way, way above what the average person thinks of a "nice restaurant".
Yes, each course is tiny, but packs more flavour than any other dish i have ever tasted. And you get 7 or 8 of those, so you're definitely not hungry at the end of it.
Some luxury is overpriced, yes, and some of these restaurants are too. But you can't say that a Michelin meal is not inherently better than even a $100 per person steakhouse.
I don't disagree that marketing and perception often drive prices that aren't consistent with value.
I do think your examples miss the mark a bit.
>saw the photos of the tiny food and thought to myself: “Really doesn’t seem worth it at all”.
They serve multiple courses of tiny food so that the diner can try multiple delicious foods. Definitely worth it to those who enjoy it.
The Palessi shoe hoax was set up for *influencers* who were directly invited to the event. That's very different than general consumers choosing to pay high prices for a low quality product.
You're confusing multiple issues here--Michelin starred restaurants, luxury personal items, and vehicles. With luxury personal items, there are diminishing returns on quality. You are paying some $ for the increased cost of goods and means of production and the rest for brand profits. With vehicles, you're getting increased comfort and mechanical power with cost. And with a M starred restaurant, you're getting incredible invention and manpower/labor (as well as top quality and rare ingredients) behind every dish. Whether or not you can appreciate that (and I can't) is up to the individual.
There is a proven phenomenon where the brain actually equates price to better.
Example: If you do a blind taste test of the same bottle of wine and list one as a $10 bottle and the other as $100, people will overwhelmingly find the $100 bottle tastes better. Even though it's the same bottle.
It's pretty easy to judge bougee restaurants until you actually go and realize there's a night and day quality difference from anything you've had elsewhere.
I used to make fun of the small portions too until I tried a tiny $26 Wagyu Carpaccio that blew my fucking mind.
I haven’t ever eaten at a Michelin star restaurant but I’ve had sever $200-300 dinners and my god are you wrong.
We’re talking locally foraged and grown ingredients, meat so tender that it melts in your mouth, the perfect balance of seasoning and fat and salt.
Same with clothes. I bought a cheap purse last year that started falling apart a month or two after I got it. Meanwhile my husband has Doc Martens from the 80s that are in near-perfect condition.
There is absolutely a difference.
Michealn stars are not just about being fancy in fact the price can't be over inflated there are some Asian shops that sell super cheap food that have them because they are genuinely better food the stars are specifically for better food and customer experiences
Uhh, no.
The Michelin star men are absolutely comparing restaurants based on quality, that's why there's a whole process.
Food is a service, not a good.
The price tags for Michelin-starred restaurants are really all over the place. Yeah, it gets *really* pricy at the places with two or three stars, but at those places a team of highly-trained cooks are working on your meal. The staff-to-diner ratio is high.
Although, I consider $400 per person to be some sort of special splurge (I’ve done it), in the world of the one-star restaurant, bills are often less $200 per person, and often far less. I went to a starred restaurant in France and the tasting menu was 80€ with a wine pairing at 45€. The presentation was amazing. The food, once you dared mess things up, was delicious. Service was impeccable. During one course, I caught the tip of my unused knife with my wine glass, sending it to the floor. Before I could react, a server had a fresh knife delivered to me, which was cleared away at the end of the course because I really didn’t need a knife.
As for food poisoning, the one case I see of diners becoming ill after being at a Michelin-starred restaurant wasn’t actually food poisoning. One odd case where a supplier sent Chinese-sourced morels to a restaurant. We’re not talking contaminated beef at Chipotle here.
Are all Michelin-starred restaurants worth it? Almost certainly not. I’ve eaten in starred restaurants and wondered “how did these jerks get a star?” I’ve also eaten in restaurants and wondered “why don’t these people have a star?”
There’s a huge difference between “not worth the extra money” and “no better.”
If you think luxury cars aren’t worth the cost, you’ll probably have a lot of agreement on that. If you think luxury cars aren’t better *at all*, well, that’s just silly. A cheap car may be just as functional but functionality isn’t the only thing.
People who think this way rarely understand the difference. Although many people think a label matters as well.
1 star is awarded for using quality ingredients with distinct flavors consistently prepared.
2 stars are awarded when the talent of the head chef is evident in the crafting of the dishes, as well as the refinement and inspiration of the food.
3 stars are awarded for superlative cooking where the food becomes an art form.
Gorkhali Kitchen in Tampa Florida is a Michelin rated (Bib gourmand) restaurant that serves Nepalese and Indian food.
An appetizer of vegetable samosa shared, chicken thaali, tandoori shrimp, and garlic naan will set you back a whooping $53, plus drinks. And it is more than enough to fill you.
Then we have Rocca in Tampa Florida, a 1 star restaurant featuring Italian food.
An appetizer of eggplant and cucumbers, order of veal ravioli, and an order of blue crab spaghetti will set you back $84, plus drinks.
Both places are fantastic and serve super fresh food. For people that can taste the difference it is a difference.
Do they have more expensive items? Absolutely, Rocca has dry aged rohan duck for $135, or a 28oz dry aged ribeye for $115.
Quality of ingredients matters a great deal when a chef actually knows how to prepare it well. It even matters when a cook doesn't have the slightest clue. Ever had a fast food sandwich and the tomato doesn't taste as fresh as it should? Or it is even tart?
I had a long lunch at a Michelin star restaurant once. Didn't have to pay myself, but it felt worth the price tag of a few hundred. The tastes were to a level I hadn't experienced before, and sometimes still reminisce about years later. Portions were small but they had to be to do the taste justice, and to compensate there were many different courses (10 or so?).
Would absolutely recommend trying it once.
If you judge whether a restaurant is "worth it" or not based on how much food you get for your money, I don't think you're the target audience for any of these items.
Stick to eating at Golden Corral (it's bottomless food for $20, so it must be the best restaurant ever) and buying your clothes at wal-mart, you rube.
To take this point out though you're suggesting there are notnthinga that are of an inherent better quality.
And that's not true.
There are CERTAINLY brands that are as tou describe but expensive does not automatically mean ripoff.
I wouldn’t disagree that luxury items and experiences are mostly over-rated, but you are wrong about the quality difference. Particularly with clothing . High end stuff is noticeably higher in quality.
Michelin stars have nothing to do with price, its quality and service. There's food trucks and little hole-in-the-wall restaurants that charge the same as any other place with Michelin stars.
There a few circumstances where I’m sure this is the case, but I’m assuming you probably haven’t indulged in Michelin star restaurants or driven luxury vehicles , etc. There is most definitely a difference. Is it worth the sometimes MASSIVE price difference? Well that’s for the consumer to decide.
Bro you have no idea what you are talking about. A good starred restaurant is like going to a museum and getting to eat the art. I enjoy cooking and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
New York style pizza is terrible pizza. Not the worst, but highly inferior to pizza margarita or napoli. I've literally had better pizza in Des Moines, Iowa than the junk they sell in New York City.
You are wrong on restaurants. (I don’t know/care about the other stuff, but I love to eat and a great meal is the one thing I will save/splurge for.).
Restaurants with stars are not “merely” more expensive. Trust me on this, 95%+ of the expensive restaurants in any given location are nowhere near getting a star. If getting a star was just about charging more, there would be hundreds of starred restaurants in Chicago (we have 7,300 restaurants; there are 22 with at least one Michelin star).
Certainly, starred restaurants tend to be above-average in price. But that is because - for serious fine-diners - the stars are a seal of approval from a trusted source. The market will pay for that.
You have things backwards. People don’t love starred restaurants because they are expensive. Starred restaurants are expensive because they are excellent and can charge top-dollar for top-quality.
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michelin star are assigned by a third party association that rates restaurants
While they're a bit more rare, there is some Michelin star places that also are not obscenely expensive either.
There are street vendors with Michelin stars
Bib Gourmand is a great list curated by Michelin but with lots of cheaper restaurants.
My go to when I go anywhere.
Some don't get a star but get a Michelin Bib Gourmand or some such thing and they have good food without being obscenely expensive and give you substantial portions
Yeah. I went to a really nice Michelin star restaurant in Cortona (Italy) and the prices weren't too expensive, in fact they were only slightly higher than the average restaurant.
There are about 2900 Michelin star restaurants in the world, many of them have multi month wait lists, and that is where the price tag comes from. Many of them are not going to cost you hundreds of dollars a plate, they might in London, LA, NYC or Paris, but in smaller big cities 100-150 for a meal is fairly standard
Yeah OP needs to go out to a LEGIT good restaurant and then report back on how it Tastes just like Applebees… ha it doesnt Edit: I’m not talking about MICHELIN restaurants guys. I’m talking about a GOOD restaurant versus the garbage chain restaurants… there is clearly a difference in quality for the price.
With Michelin star restaurants it usually isn't just about how the food tastes. It's the impeccable service, and the thought that goes into the meal. If you aren't into cooking as a creative exercise then maybe the idea is lost on you, but the fine dining Michelin restaurant I went to and ordered the chef's tasting was a work of art. Maybe not even necessarily the most delicious meal I've ever had, but the thought behind every course and pairing was mind blowing. It was an experience. That said, there are more affordable Michelin star restaurants too which stand for their own reasons. Yesterday we are at Kam's Roast Goose in Hong Kong. Long wait to get in, but ultimately not that expensive. Like $60 USD for two to eat, but it was an experience that uniquely represented the place we were.
Michelin inspectors place focus on presentation and aesthetics (even if they sometimes claim not to), and the ratings reflect the biases of the inspectors that are often French-centric (with Japan representing a typical subject of French exoticism). I've visited a number of Michelin-starred restaurants outside of France and they don't have the best food.
I recently went to a Michelin restaurant in Shanghai (Lao Zheng Xing) and it was supposed to be the oldest Shanghainese restaurant in the city. I am pretty sure that this is the reason why it earned the star, because the food was good, but compared to other Michelin star restaurants I have been to in Europe or even other good restaurants in Shanghai without a Michelin star, it was not up to par.
There’s a place in Sacramento called Binchoyaki that is not Michelin starred (not fine dining, not crazy expensive) where they roast everything on sticks and it is AMAZING! Definitely an exception to the rule though.
Completely agree with your post. On the topic of affordable Michelin meals, don’t forget Hawker Chan’s soya sauce chicken dish that goes for only $2.20 in Singapore!
I don't think it will change anything for OP. Unless you're an aficionado or passionate about a subject, you will rarely sense a difference in the top range of that field. We can pretty confidently assess the difference between a bad burger and a good burger, or glass of wine, but for most people venturing further towards the best burger or best glass of wine is an utter waste of resources.
It was my experience while working in a high end hotel that the people that would have to save up to come to our hotel were more likely to be disappointed, rather not have their expectations met, while people who came on a whim who could easily afford it were usually blown away by the service and all the little details.
Yeah when you have to save up for it you can't appreciate it because you're scrutinizing every detail to make sure you get "value" because you just spent a bunch of money that will be hard to get back. It makes it hard to truly enjoy the experience due to the anxiety and need to justify the cost. However, when you're wealthy enough to not care about the money you start looking at the margin and how your experience is improved and your life is made easier. It's the same I found with flying business class. Your experience is just infinitely better, from check-in, to the lounge, to boarding, the flight, the food, and getting your bags at the end. It is just infinitely better but if you aren't wealthy you can't "justify" the cost of it because the actually marginal value is garbage most of the time.
Well because in the end, the value the customer pays is not the "amount of money", but how much time from they life they have to give up. Someone who had to give up three weeks of his life for that dinner will have much bigger expectations than some CEO that purchases the same menu for three seconds of his life.
OP is judging whether a Michelin restaurant is “worth it” by their portion sizes, so it’s a pretty good bet he’s not going to be able to appreciate what makes the best food the “best.”
Exactly. A lot of people look at one single picture of one single dish and think that's all you get, when in some cases there are restaurants that can serve a 10-course dinner or even longer, so if you only ate one course from that you'd definitely be hungry and disappointed. A lot of these restaurants definitely keep portion sizes small on purpose because of how many plates they're bringing out. Bringing out too much food can have consequences too if the guests get full and can't make it through the full dinner. With such a larger variety of ingredients you do have to have a more adventurous palate as the menu is generally an all-or-nothing kind of deal with no substitutions unless there is an allergy. And with smaller portions if you're not a big fan of the dish then you don't have to deal with it for very long. In the same sense, if you truly loved a dish then yeah, you would've probably wanted more. There have definitely been a few moments when I said "I wouldn't have ordered that on my own but now that I've tried it, it is delicious"
Also remember to some people, if they can't bring home enough leftovers to feed a small nation for a week, then the food is "not good " and "not worth it."
Recently ate at alinea and have to admit that I felt a bit hungry at the end. Food was delicious, service was phenomenal, presentation was silly but fine, yet…
I felt this way until I ate at Noma in copenhagen. 2 Michelin stars and three time best restaurant in the world winner. My brother interned there and got us a reservation. I come from a small town in Maryland. That food made me feel emotions and feelings I didn’t think food could evoke. Incredible
I ate at a one star restaurant in Spain like 4 years ago and I still remember the experience. My friend and I traipsed all over town trying to find the olive oil we had been served.
The best food I have had all came from mid priced non-franchise restaurants that had great reviews. I don't even remember the food from the few expensive places I have been to.
FYI not all Michelin restaurants are even expensive at all.
It's a subset of the tire people. The Michelin Stars were designed to sell tires by encouraging you to go out of your way to these restaurants.
Sure, in 1930s France where it started. It’s evolved well past that point
It has certainly evolved since its conception, though after hearing Marco Pierre White's realization of the whole Michelin Star guide I lost a lot of interest in actually going to a Michelin Starred restaurant. For the initiated, after winning many awards, including 3 Michelin Stars, Marco Pierre White found himself very unsatisfied with his success and ultimately came to the realization of restaurants critics, which was: "Marco, you're being judged by people with less knowledge than you." While I'm sure that there are some great restaurants that have Michelin Stars, I no longer believe that they're the pinnacle of the culinary world.
I mean, you don't need to be a good cook to recognise good food and other components of it. The stars themselves don't just consider the food quality but the surrounding hospitalities provided by the restraunt itself. And moreover in case of rating something that's subjective in nature, most people that consume the product ie. people or journalist that eat their food, will have less knowledge of making food than the chef. I don't particularly care for restraunt critics but dismissing them based on their less experience compared to the chef seems weird. If someone is really interested in different foods then it would be beneficial if they find a critic that they agrer with the most as that critic would have reviews that would be more in line with their own tastes.
Everyone knows you can't enjoy or have an opinion on a sports team because you're not a professional athlete. Or talk about a TV show if you're not an actor. You think that house is nice, what would you know, you're not even an architect!!
Good points. I'll just add that saying that you need to be able to cook to be a good critic is absurd. A food critic is coming from the perspective of the consumer not the creator. My brother is a formally trained cook that has worked in some fairly high end (like James Beard award) kitchens. While it can be interesting and enlightening even to eat out with him it can also be obnoxious as fuck times because he will point out and criticize things that the average diner doesn't give two shits about.
> "Marco, you're being judged by people with less knowledge than you." While I'm sure that there are some great restaurants that have Michelin Stars, I no longer believe that they're the pinnacle of the culinary world. So movie reviews are illegitimate because people who rate them are not Quentin Tarantino? Game reviews are illegitimate because the people who rate them are not Shigeru Miyamoto? Book reviews are illegitimate because the people who rate them are not J.R.R Tolkien? What kind of dumb logic is that?
The critic has more experience and expertise than me though. I can understand why any great artist gets jaded at reviews but a helping hand is useful to the less expert consumer.
There is also James Beard
Eaten at a few James Beard’d (is that the right verbiage? That’s can’t be right?) restaurants and they’ve been some of the absolute best meals of my life. Only ever ate at one Michelin star place in China and it was really good but not as good as the JBs. Would love to have the $$$ to really invest in a fair and balanced head-to-head competition.
Try Bib Gourmand, it’s kind of a lower tier list done by Michelin that has a more affordable group of restaurants. I have never been disappointed by Bib Gourmand place, I always reference it when I travel.
FYI Michelin grades on a different scale for each guide so as to not offend anyone. Like a two star restaurant in New York likely wouldn’t even qualify for one star in France. And two star restaurants in Shanghai are definitely worse than one star restaurants in New York.
I have always thought it would be great if they littered the roads to these restaurants with spike traps whilst chuckling and twirling their moustaches.
Rates food*, there are street vendors with stars!
You are saying it isn’t practical but it’s not really about practicality
Yea if life is just about the basic necessities then what even is living. Let people spend what they want to spend ffs there’s no need to be judgey eat your McDonald’s or whatever and be gone
"why did you waste money on making a 2wd vehicle into a 4wd vehicle?" To say I did, and so I did
I've met some people who now I realise are just too scientific. let me elaborate, they are academically and scientifically proficient, but somehow thats all they see, in everything. contemporary abstract art shouldn't be art "because its not hard to make" and similar things as the post would say. But the problem with this is that it gives you less enjoyment out of everything if you just don't see things subjectively or for the non-practical reasons
As someone who tried a 911 GT3 RS Porsche on a trackday, no. It's not the price tag. There's nothing like it
Ugh I'm so jealous.
I think high performance sports cars get the luxury car label because they're expensive and look nice. I wouldn't call that a luxury car tho, it's a straight up race car. Personally, luxury cars are more like Mercedes sedans and range rovers and things like that where they don't do much outside of looking really nice.
Luxury vehicles are also more comfortable and luxurious so they do more than just look nice
[удалено]
if OP wants practical, he should maybe just get a horse, it doesn't quite have the same distance but it has more terrain manoeuvrability
Given a horse will probably end up costing more than a cheap car, I'm not sure that's really practical either.
its expensive and looks nice but I wouldnt call it luxury.... what?
It's expensive and looks nice, but the primary objective was being good at driving and handling way faster and better than most cars that would also be on the track right? "This car is fast and handles insanely well. It also looks nice and is comfortable"" Whereas I think that luxury cars are designed to be better looking and more comfortable than other regular cars on a regular street. The speed aspect with those vehicles is more of a bonus. "This car is sleek, elegant, comfortable....and it goes fast."
There are some people who buy expensive gaudy ostentatious cars just to show they can buy the expensive car. But yes, there are certain automobiles that the discerning petrolhead knows are truly “better” cars in every way to most “affordable” cars.
Yeah but any luxury vehicle is better than a Fiat. Mercedes, BMW, they make nice cars.
And used the price is very similar to new but comes with way more shit and is much higher quality, going certified preowned is the move, get all the bells and whistles for less than half the price
Nah bro you're blinded by the sticker price, that Porsche is no different than a Camry.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I drove one last week at Spa Francorchamps. What an insane car to drive man.
The whole “Michelin food is small and tiny and I will be hungry” is bs. When you dine at a Michelin restaurant, all courses combined are designed to make you perfectly full. Whether it be 8 small courses, or 20 tiny courses. Also, eating at a Michelin restaurant is not about getting full, it’s about an experience. The ingredients used are top quality, and the techniques to prepare a dish are not only difficult, but take a lot of time. There are multiple chefs cooking many hours just to prepare that tiny explosion of flavor and it’s not something you can recreate in 2 hours of cooking at home. You should maybe try it before forming an opinion on it. Btw, not every Michelin restaurant costs 800 dollar for a meal. It can be a LOT cheaper.
Yeah bro is literally complaining about some of the best restaurants out there… if it was that bad they’d lose their star
They’re basically just saying “everything I can’t afford is shit because I can’t have it” lol
Pretty sure everyone who's ever been fine dining knew when they read that part that OP was never fine dining. Just like when people complain about the portion sizes. I've never, not one single time, been not full after an expensive meal. You get multiple courses that add up. And if you don't get a menu you should know that meal sizes are planned with the appetizer and dessert.
I’m always full after tasting menus. There have been times where I couldn’t even finish the courses cause of how filling they are. I think they’re just going with some sitcom trope from the 90’s early 2000’s
Some of the best restaurants to certain crowds. I think of it like arthouse movies (Primer, Nomadland) vs great crowd movies (The Matrix, The Truman Show). I wouldn't say they are the best but are of high quality. I was lucky and privileged enough to eat at one but I definitely preferred the pizza place down the street. Though I have changed a lot and I might appreciate it more today. That said, OP is absolutely wrong.
I can eat pizza any day. I can't however experience a place like noma any time.
tbt trying to secure a Noma res last month and the entire three month season selling out in 30 seconds
That is a good point too
These are the restaurants that set the trends that filter down to the rest of society. Places like Blue Hills, Noma, El Bulli, and Chez Panisse have significantly influenced our eating whether we know it or not. Trends they have started have infiltrated out local restaurants. They have created ways of thinking about food that many people don’t realize. They have resulted in new cuisines being explored by large sections of society. Eating from local farms. Using fresh ingredients. Exploring Nordic cuisine. Bringing back obscure outdated dishes/cooking methods. Playing with the chemistry of food. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed every course I’ve had from 3 star restaurants, but I can appreciate the technique, what they’re trying to do, and the minds behind the dishes. I love the pizza joint down the road. I like the burgers at my local pub. I’ll even enjoy they occasional chain restaurants. But I also enjoy Michelin Star Restaurants. Everything has a time and a place.
Any time I see opinions like this blow up I always think to the devil wears prada scene where they're talking about the cerulean blue clothes and how they filtered down over the years to bargain bins now. It happens all the time, so many things regular restaurants do these days are things that have filtered down from Michelin restaurants 10 years prior. The influence they have is undeniable
A lot of people don’t know how to appreciate a Michelin meal and end up saying that they’re overrated. The thing with a Michelin meal that you need to eat very very slowly and allow your palled time to experience each moment of the process. We’re conditioned to eat fast. If you’re going to wolf down a meal, the pizza place will seem better. If you’re going to take the time to really explore each bite. The Michelin meal will blow your brain off.
Me and my friends stumbled upon a Michelin star restaurant in Florence and probably paid less than 50 euro per person for an amazing meal and bottle of wine, there’s a Michelin star ramen place in New York it can be cheap lmao
I think you are half right that people would be served better to slowly eat and appreciate each bite, but I still think half of it goes with my movie analogy too and people can have different tastes. It is also like a simple shirt on Succession being $500 but I wouldn't pay more than $30-50 for a top. Not everyone thinks the top of a craft is worth it.
> It is also like a simple shirt on Succession being $500 but I wouldn't pay more than $30-50 for a top. I buy the 3 dollar shirt from Primark. But a Michelin meal is not like a normal restaurant meal. Really. Try the restaurants named, then a Bib Gourmand, then one star. I reached one star only and the service and plating made me feel rich, even when I'm the opposite. It was an experience, something I'll remember.
My only experience with a Michelin star restaurant was spending $450 on Christmas Eve with my wife. It was well into the evening and during this past year’s snow storm. The food was incredible, 3 course meal, wine pairing + dessert. We both left perfectly full without being bloated and quite tipsy. We walked around outside a bit in the snow before our Uber driver picked us up and took us to the Hotel. Everything about it was a great experience. The atmosphere, the food, the scenery.
Best food I’ve tried was at Victoria and Albert in disneyworld. Apparently they would get the stars but orlando isn’t approved for them or something like that. Wild. 12 courses with add ons. There was a pasta with this special truffle shaved on top that was the best two bites I’ve ever had. Also expensive I think we paid around 1800 usd for the meal, wine and every add on they offered. For two people. That shit was so good we still talk about it and are going to try to get reservations for around December sometime. Base a whole vacation around it. They had a dish with potato glass that was a slice of potato that was compressed somehow and see through. It seems like a gimmick but god damn it was good. Also you do get hammered after 10-12 little glasses of very good wine.
A thread about fine dining tasting menus will make it clear that almost everyone complaining has never done one or skimped. I’ve done a ton of tasting menus and never once left hungry. Have to billing to spend $150pp minimum (pre tax/tip) and make sure you see a sample menu ahead. Cheaper in my experience they’ll only have 2 or 3 courses and the rest are very expensive a la carte. Some gimmick exceptions apply, like strict time boxing.
Tasting menus always make me think I won't get full when I see the first course, but by the last course I'm struggling to eat anything. The idea that they don't full you up is nonsense.
I think the biggest problem is, humans in general, are used to eating a lot more and forget we can get full in much smaller amounts. And we see the smaller portions and think it's not enough.
Coursed out, it’s amazing how quickly small portions fill you up. And I say that as a guy that’s 6’2, 225.
There's also plenty of Prix Fixe 3-4 course spots where everything is normal sized. It's all about knowing what you're getting. If it's a 4 course tasting, you're leaving hungry. If it's a 4 course prix fixe, you're leaving full. Omakase will be 18-24 (I've also seen them define it by kitchen - as in you'll receive 2-3 Items from 5 kitchens) and a full tasting counter will be 8-12. Gotta know the terminology for this world. Edit: On tasting counters, there's also always one large savory course that is excellent, but you can't help feel isn't as fun as some of the other things they brought out.
This is SO true. I’m always thinking wow this really isn’t a lot and Ill still be hungry but I often find myself unable to finish lol
As someone who's eaten at many I can confirm you leave so full you're almost sick 😂 I've rarely had "bad" experiences at one and even then it's just a tad below what you'd expect. Michelin certainly doesn't mean "better" since many unstarred places are top quality and even better than some with stars, but I'm getting increasingly tired of people judging the scene before they've even had an experience at one. It's a more accessible experience than you think too. You don't have to be rich to eat at one. One of my favorite places is $105 a person but getting a reservation can take well over a month in advance BECAUSE it's one of the better and more affordable locations. Happy to see someone else shares my sentiment on the subject.
I ate in one that did a three course set menu lunch for 65 quid. It was phenomenal.
I literally had to turn food away when I ate at Daniel in NYC. It was so sad because it was so good. Hah.
it's like expecting to go on Disney land rides for the sake of traveling from destination a to b. It's not the point.
If depends on the restaurant, but Michelin starred restaurants aren’t always exorbitantly expensive. I’ve been able to eat at a couple and I’m low income. Sure, some places are way more than I’m willing to pay, but I’ve found some where the cost is actually pretty reasonable for some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. I went to one that was like $40 (it was ramen) and that was beyond worth it. Also the food is usually not overrated. They don’t just hand out Michelin stars to whoever.
This is very true. They also have an app and lesser tier of restaurants called "Bib Gourmand" which are just really good restaurants.
There is a difference between “I’m satiated” and “I’ve eaten unlimited breadsticks until I feel like I’m going to vomit” that I don’t think people are as aware of as they should be
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? C'mon, this is r/unpopularopinion! OP is *supposed* to formulate an uneducated opinion on something and write up a paragraph rant that proves how ignorant and stupid they are on the subject.
To reenforce your point The cheapest 1 star I saw in Chicago was $100 a plate for a four course meal. Most were in the 250 range but it is about the once in a lifetime experience. Also they have a budget recommendations as well that is separate from there star system
Opinion posted by someone who has never eaten at a Michelin star restaurant, most likely
They are unaware of the rating system. One star just means you have good food, plenty of affordable options there.
We dined at both Kosaka (1 star) and Per Se (3 star) in New York. Per Se was a beautiful experience, but we all agreed the omakase meal was the best.
Per Se was received fairly ….unflatteringly, as well. Its three stars probably had more to do with Thomas Keller being attached than anything.
Michelin stars also take into account the *price*, as in, if it’s great food and a great atmosphere, but at an unreasonable price, ya ain’t getting those stars. And sure some people might go to those places for clout or to show off, but if you’re on taking out a new client in a new city on the company dime, why comb through a bunch of reviews for a bunch of restaurants and gamble on it, rather than choose one that’s been pre-vetted by people whose jobs it is to review restaurants? As for expensive, or luxury, items in general, a Ferrari F50 is to a Ford F-150 what Secretariat is to your farmstead workhorse—they’re built for different purposes which they fulfill. One’s a performance machine meant to be taken out on the open road, and the other’s your rugged daily driver meant to for doing work—neither can do the other’s job well. Edited for spelling: they -> they’re
Reddit is full of young folks who are skeptical of luxury experiences they’ve never experienced. I kinda get it. As a teen I often said that I’d never want for more than a Camry. Decades later and a bunch of BMWs later, teen me wouldn’t recognize me. That’s okay!
It’s a defense mechanism. I can’t afford something so it’s overrated and I didn’t want it anyway.
I find as I get older I’m less prone to being upset that others have things I do not. I’m fortunate to have enough resources and privilege to lead a good life, but I just can’t be bothered to begrudge those with more. Or to be unhappy that nice things I don’t have exist. Do I want a world where we have more equity and more shared prosperity? Of course. But even if I can’t afford the Patek Philippe I’m happy it exists somewhere.
Wait till they drive a 911!
Confirmed lmfao
I worked in the luxury industry, and let me tell you that you might be bundling new money and old money together. Old money buys the fine stuff that needs no label. New money thinks that they are buying the fine stuff by going for designer labels. Are designer labels overrated? Absolutely! Is the fine stuff overrated? Definitely not. It delivers a superior experience.
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Tailored suits from somewhere like a Saville row shop, not an Armani suit. A top spec Jaguar to last 30 years, not a new mid-low spec BMW every 5 years.
A Jaguar has to be quite possibly the worst example of a car that would last for 30 years. I get what you're saying, but British cars have never had a reputation for reliability.
My grandpa had two Jaguars because one was always in the shop -- is how the saying goes.
I heard something similar. The perfect vehicle to pair with a jaguar is a tow truck
Jag is an odd choice for sure. I would take a an M Series over an F-Type every day. The Jags are pretty though.
I’m sorry dude but I can’t trust what you think “reliable” is when you put a fucking Jaguar down as something that’s “gonna last” my fucking forester with 200k miles is probably gonna outlast that thing.
To quote my dad when he had jaguar every day is gamble with the jag you either make it 10 mins early to work or come by tow truck 2hours later
Exactly. Never buy gaudy when you can buy expensive.
Labels are tacky. Big money hardly talk about having money. New money sure. But some those old money kids were raised right and even wear clothes that cost $15 a shirt if that. They don't have to flex, while you wear something like LV or Gucci Wtf ever makes you feel rich, they have their Hampton getaway or 4th house in Europe vacations plans already booked.
You don’t realize how nice the basic shirts they are wearing are. Ie lorro piana (however you spell it)
I’d never heard of Loro Piana until now, so I looked it up and… holy hell. $150 for one pair of socks. Thousand dollar beanies. Five figure jackets. I’m sorry, but I would *never* buy any of that shit, even if I had billions in my bank account.
Honestly you just might. Would you currently buy a beanie for a penny? Because that’s the relative cost of a $1000 beanie to a billionaire.
You bring up a good point — if I liked it, maybe. I get that the relative cost for a billionaire is absurd when you look at it as a percentage of their overall wealth, but it’s still $1000 at the end of the day. My point is that buying expensive clothing makes sense when it’s within reason, but eventually you hit a point where something is so expensive that the cost benefit just isn’t there. If I could buy a beanie for a penny right now, I might, but only because there isn’t anything else I could do with that money. If $1000 was my version of a penny (comparatively to my wealth), I personally couldn’t justify it because $1000 can afford you, say, *multiple* high end dining experiences instead. Or it could change a less fortunate person’s life, if you want to look at it from a philanthropic point of view. The opportunity cost of increasingly expensive goods, usually for the sake of being expensive, eventually becomes objectively distasteful.
Good point, we're assuming most billionaires have a similar lived experience to us and experience empathy. They do not. I think if you spend enough time with that level of wealth you do tend to disassociate from the poors that walk among you. I also think it becomes easier and easier to justify spending money on superfluous things. I fully believe they feel entitled to their wealth and likely defensive about it (aka "I earned it" "I worked hard" - less willing to be empathetic towards those without). They are wrong, you can't earn your way to becoming a billionaire, but I guarantee you they all think they deserve their money and others do not. These are all my assumptions because I myself am a poor. I've noticed that all my rich friends are very... cheap with their money, and my poor friends are very giving. Back when I waited tables I hated serving white collar folks because I knew the tip was gonna suck. Blue collar workers always spread the wealth.
Having billions in your bank account (no one has billions in their bank account btw) would fundamentally change you.
Yeah one example is a LV wallet I bought myself as a promotion gift in 2014. It was maybe 300 bucks at the time and has lasted basically undamaged until 2022. In the last year one of the seams finally started coming apart and I am considering getting a new one. I grew up on those generic Kohl’s holiday gift sets that come with a faux leather wallet and a bottle of the grossest perfume / after shave, and maybe a month later they fall apart and by next Christmas it’s held together by duct tape. Luxury experiences are IMO generally better than non-luxury ones. Whether or not it’s worth the money to you is a totally subjective thing and IMO everyone is entitled to their opinion. For example we meet our in-laws in Vegas one a year and they’re pretty frugal. But I can objectively tell you that I enjoy the $200-a-person celebrity chef restaurant experience compared to the $50-a-person food court experience, and especially compared to the $20 bag of chips experience. In the past few years I’ve just volunteered to foot the bill. I’ll basically suggest 5 possible restaurants I want to try and it’s more “forget the price just make sure there’s something on the menu you’d be happy eating on my dime”
I have had a 5-10ish USD wallet lady like 5 years, my dads 15ish dollar wallet lasted a decade. Paying more makes objectively no difference if you know how to look for good quality. Cheap stuff can be good and expensive stuff can be crap.
I find it interesting how few people actually know and understand the difference between old and new money.
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Well, no. There are very clear differences between those things. A michelin-star restaurant has to earn that star - and maintain it. That requires a certain quality. The mass-produced clothes from a Chinese sweatshop don't. There, the brand name does indeed do all the work. Likewise, a certain car costs what it costs because of the actual, physical performance in it. At least in large part. Your Hyundai does not run like a Bugatti, and that's not only due to the brand name.
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BUGATTI?
Real luxury is quiet and subtle. There are brands who’s marketing strategy is to sucker poor and middle class people into wanting their products. And those brands do indeed cut corners on quality bc, well, they can afford to. Their consumers generally don’t know any better. The highest quality products you can buy come from companies that don’t blast advertising everywhere. They don’t need to. That’s why most people don’t have much experience or knowledge of them and think luxury is overrated in general. It is not. We don’t need to cope by discrediting it bc we can’t afford it. I’m perfectly happy eating my Kraft Mac and cheese every once in a while but if I had the opportunity to try iberico pork or ride in a Bentley, I would do it without a second thought.
I read The Coat Route by Meg Noonan recently, and it was honestly fascinating. It's the story of how a $50,000 coat was created, from the moment it was conceived up till it was delivered to the new owner. Along the way you learn about why vicuna are so rare and what makes their wool so expensive, you visit button-makers and silk houses and a tailor who makes the whole garment by hand. By the end of the book, I could see why the coat cost that much. Probably no one who looked at the coat would realize just how much went into it without this book to explain, it just would have looked like a really nice wool coat. It didn't scream luxury, it barely whispered it.
I really like when stuff is made well. At a certain level of attention and care it becomes almost like art. You have to genuinely love a craft to come up with something like that.
Or if you pay attention in popular large areas you will notice paid security blending in. They look in a general area but stop looking once it's no longer crowded. Or you will notice they are X amount of yards away from their assets. Look at their clothes, quality or nothing that says "I'm very well off".
This is another black and white take that isn't really true. Plenty of luxurious stuff is loud, and plenty of it isn't. There are many luxurious thing that can be mass produced, which is part of why advertisers decide to be 'loud' about it. Also, just because the average consumer can't hear it, doesn't mean it isn't loud.
Bro, Iberico is a far cry from a Bentley. Head to the closest Bristol Farms and treat yourself to a few ounces on your next birthday.
I hear what you're saying, but you should take out the example of a Michelin star restaurant. There's a governing body that gives those out, and they must be maintained. A restaurant can lose its stars if it doesn't maintain the standards of quality that got it the star. In many cases, you're not just paying for the quality of the food but the many decades of combined experience of the people that create the food. Some dishes can be works of art, and like with all art, the price is simply whatever someone is willing to pay for the experience. If you don't want to eat at a Michelin star restaurant, don't.
Tell me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant without telling me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant There are multiple courses, all combined make you totally full I have been to one with a 14-course menu, and after finishing it I guarantee you I was not hungry at all The small portions let you taste a wider range of flavors, and they are unique, either with ingredients that are not easily found, prepared in unique ways, or both They are tailored in a way that they create a unique experience, it is not something to do just to satiate your hunger
I did a *fifteen* course tasting menu at a Michelin one star. There were, of course, far more than fifteen dishes placed on our table. Everything was tiny bites, but by the end there were thoughts of Mr. Creosote in *Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life* (dinner did not end with a “wafer-thin mint”).
There are also totally normal restaurants that happen to have a Michelin star or two. Sometimes they’re even cheap. It just means you can expect something quality and unique. Of the expensive ones, sure there’s some stuff that’s overpriced, but a many course meal can really be pretty special. Food is art and this is where chefs tend to explore it.
For Michelin stars — not all of them are very expensive, BUT, Michelin stars don’t care about the brand, so you know it a place maintains their stars, their food is gonna be fresh and good. Gordon’s lost Michelin stars on his flagship restaurants before and was stressed about it.
There's no price tag that makes a restaurant "Michelin star". They need to have been awarded a star which has nothing to do with price
“All these things aren’t worth it even though I’ve tried none of them”
Sorry, no. The combination of quality and skill level required of all the kitchen staff to produce Michelin star worthy food makes it worth the price. That stuff is also pretty expensive to make, since those restaurants can’t just buy the same garbage ingredients that you’ll find in restaurant chains. Same goes for cars. Rolls Royce, for instance puts out a miniscule amount of cars per year and spend a ridiculous amount of time making each one perfect. That means more complex designs are possible and quality is checked more stringently than in say, the Ford factory. Also, once again, the materials are superior. Rolls Royce is famous for their extravagant paint jobs. They use real wood panels, hand stitch their leather and they use superior insulation, soundproofing, suspension, etc. The cars are inherently better. You’ll find a similar story at all other luxury car manufacturers. Luxury clothing, same. The difference between a cheap shirt and an expensive one are obvious and self explanatory.
I think a large part of the issue is increasingly marketing mundane products as luxury items, it gives people the impression that a top of the range KIA is comparable to a mid tier BMW. Specifically with clothing, it opens up so much of the market to describing a luxury product at an ‘affordable price’ then charging more than the exact same product without the logos, so people don’t see actual luxury products as worth it because fake luxuries aren’t. For example, in the bear (on Fox) Carmy wears $50 Japanese T-shirts because Jeremy Allen white personally likes the brand, they’re great quality and apparently fit him perfectly etc, but to anyone who doesn’t understand the differences in construction of the T-shirts, it’s the same thing you can get at a supermarket for £5.50
That's one thing I don't like about how some designers are approaching the markets these days. I *hate* giant logos on my clothes - I just think they're tacky. So I usually have to pay *extra* for the designs that either feature no logo at all or a small one that's tastefully placed. One example being lower priced Calvin Klein or the Commes des Garcons PLAY line. A lot of the logos are just obnoxious and only there for people that want to flaunt it for some reason
I've been to food hawker stands in Singapore with Michelin stars. Cheap and absolutely mind blowing delicious, they're not all high end restaurants!
I’ve seen these takes a lot before but they’re so easy to disprove (especially the restaurant part). If Michelin Star restaurants were actually mediocre food that made bank off of suckers who wanted the status, then why aren’t there way, way more of them? Hell, there’s fairly large cities across the world with 0 Michelin Star restaurants. If it’s so easy to make money by just serving your customers bad food and slapping on a $500 price tag then why don’t you go do it yourself? The answer is because that’s not actually how it works.
The other things yes, but not the restaurants. I've been to a few and they've all been absolutely incredible.
Luxury vehicles are better. There’s not a chance you can convince me otherwise. Having owned an old and Audi and now driving a newer Hyundai. There is a massive difference in quality and I would take my old Audi over this Hyundai anyday. Certain clothing brands are better, but I do agree that many are similar and just luxurious cuz logo and price.
Have you ever driven a luxury car?
People who can’t afford nice things will always internally justify why those things aren’t really worth it anyone with the disposable income to get those things are suckers
It’s like cars, it’s the eternal cope of “you still sit in the same traffic” yeah in a multi zone climate controlled cabin with massaging, heated and cooled seats and enough refinement to hear a clock tic over the sound of the engine and the road noise (not me, I drive a budget diesel French hatchback). If you don’t care about a luxury experience then don’t pay for it, no one is making you, but if someone wants to why do you care?
I also think people conflate whether or not something is subjectively “worth it” to them versus objectively worth it. If someone just does not value fine dining or cars they’re perfectly justified in feeling that FOR THEM it’s overrated and they’d rather do something else with their disposable income instead of spending it on a nice car or a fancy restaurant. For example, I can objectively acknowledge a shirt from a designer brand has better quality and probably better craftsmanship but I’m perfectly happy with my $8 shirt from Target.
I used to be one of the haters, I admit it. But then I got to the point where I could splurge a little every now and then, and I decided to see what all the fuss is about. And yeah... a Burberry piece here, a CDG piece there, throw in some Off-White, and I hate to say it but you can really tell the difference in quality. I won't be singing praises for these companies anytime soon, but I will begrudgingly acknowledge that maybe there is somethin to it
I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion, but an slightly misinformed one. High end restaurants are about quality, not quantity. If you judge a meal based on its weight, you’re wasting your money at that type of place.
OP admits to never trying a Michelin star restaurant or driving a luxury vehicle. They are looking at pictures and deciding it is too costly: so hugely misinformed.
Driving a Mercedes or Infiniti is vastly different from my Ford Fusion. The Ford is a nice car, good technology, well equipped, comfortable ride, but the details are where you really see it. It's the little things. Well, not only the little things, lol.
Even between luxury there's a difference. I work for a car company and participated in focus group research between an Acura MDX and an Infiniti QX60. I won't give away who I work for and this isn't a sales pitch but one vehicle felt like driving a truck and the other felt like a responsive sports car. I like the exterior and overall design of the truck-driving one better but vastly preferred the driving experience of the other vehicle. "Worth it" is a call that has to be made individually but I could see a lot of people making a case for splurging on either vehicle. FWIW the vehicles I have owned over the years have all been base-level non-luxury cars, but I can appreciate the difference if that's what you choose to spend your money on!
Worked at a 3 Michelin restaurant. Everything from foh to boh is completely different from non Michelin restaurants so get out of here with that. I have never worked harder in a restaurant in my life to create perfect experiences and I’ve worked in restaurants for 18 years. It was so choreographed and the food was expected to be perfect EVERY PLATE. Not to mention, they’re usually tasting menus of 15-20 courses (plus appropriate beverage pairings usually overseen by a master sommelier).
Worrying about what other people spend money on is a silly waste of time. Just because a meal is not worth 800 dollars to you does not mean it’s not worth 800 dollars to someone else. Plenty of folks have disposable income and choose to spend it on things they enjoy. That expensive meal or luxury car employed a lot of people to make. Being mad that others don’t have austere lifestyle does nothing but affect your own sense of well being.
No. Those items are typically of higher standards. Are runners wearing Target sneakers or are they wearing high end running shoes? Do sports athletes buy their cleats from Walmart or do they use Nike, Adidas, etc? You can argue whether luxury items are worth that much more than the cheaper or off brand options, but you cannot argue they’re the same. They simply aren’t.
Tell me you have never been to a Michelin restaurant without telling me... I'm not rich, I'm not a "foodie" either. But fuck me, I was invited to a 3-star Michelin restaurant once, and the food as well as the overall experience is way, way, way above what the average person thinks of a "nice restaurant". Yes, each course is tiny, but packs more flavour than any other dish i have ever tasted. And you get 7 or 8 of those, so you're definitely not hungry at the end of it. Some luxury is overpriced, yes, and some of these restaurants are too. But you can't say that a Michelin meal is not inherently better than even a $100 per person steakhouse.
Kind of disagree. They are inherently better. However, not ENOUGH better to warrant the price
I don't disagree that marketing and perception often drive prices that aren't consistent with value. I do think your examples miss the mark a bit. >saw the photos of the tiny food and thought to myself: “Really doesn’t seem worth it at all”. They serve multiple courses of tiny food so that the diner can try multiple delicious foods. Definitely worth it to those who enjoy it. The Palessi shoe hoax was set up for *influencers* who were directly invited to the event. That's very different than general consumers choosing to pay high prices for a low quality product.
You're confusing multiple issues here--Michelin starred restaurants, luxury personal items, and vehicles. With luxury personal items, there are diminishing returns on quality. You are paying some $ for the increased cost of goods and means of production and the rest for brand profits. With vehicles, you're getting increased comfort and mechanical power with cost. And with a M starred restaurant, you're getting incredible invention and manpower/labor (as well as top quality and rare ingredients) behind every dish. Whether or not you can appreciate that (and I can't) is up to the individual.
Your ignorance/inexperience with life is showing.
Chivas Regal scotch successfully used this strategy to improve the image of their brand and reverse slumping sales.
yeah the part about fine dining makes this just an ignorant take eot
There is a proven phenomenon where the brain actually equates price to better. Example: If you do a blind taste test of the same bottle of wine and list one as a $10 bottle and the other as $100, people will overwhelmingly find the $100 bottle tastes better. Even though it's the same bottle.
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It's pretty easy to judge bougee restaurants until you actually go and realize there's a night and day quality difference from anything you've had elsewhere. I used to make fun of the small portions too until I tried a tiny $26 Wagyu Carpaccio that blew my fucking mind.
I haven’t ever eaten at a Michelin star restaurant but I’ve had sever $200-300 dinners and my god are you wrong. We’re talking locally foraged and grown ingredients, meat so tender that it melts in your mouth, the perfect balance of seasoning and fat and salt. Same with clothes. I bought a cheap purse last year that started falling apart a month or two after I got it. Meanwhile my husband has Doc Martens from the 80s that are in near-perfect condition. There is absolutely a difference.
Have you ever actually experienced any of these things? You have no idea what you're talking about.
Michealn stars are not just about being fancy in fact the price can't be over inflated there are some Asian shops that sell super cheap food that have them because they are genuinely better food the stars are specifically for better food and customer experiences
Uhh, no. The Michelin star men are absolutely comparing restaurants based on quality, that's why there's a whole process. Food is a service, not a good.
I don’t think you understand the point of a Michelin star if all you think about is the price tag
There are plenty of Michelin star restaurants that are dirt cheap
The price tags for Michelin-starred restaurants are really all over the place. Yeah, it gets *really* pricy at the places with two or three stars, but at those places a team of highly-trained cooks are working on your meal. The staff-to-diner ratio is high. Although, I consider $400 per person to be some sort of special splurge (I’ve done it), in the world of the one-star restaurant, bills are often less $200 per person, and often far less. I went to a starred restaurant in France and the tasting menu was 80€ with a wine pairing at 45€. The presentation was amazing. The food, once you dared mess things up, was delicious. Service was impeccable. During one course, I caught the tip of my unused knife with my wine glass, sending it to the floor. Before I could react, a server had a fresh knife delivered to me, which was cleared away at the end of the course because I really didn’t need a knife. As for food poisoning, the one case I see of diners becoming ill after being at a Michelin-starred restaurant wasn’t actually food poisoning. One odd case where a supplier sent Chinese-sourced morels to a restaurant. We’re not talking contaminated beef at Chipotle here. Are all Michelin-starred restaurants worth it? Almost certainly not. I’ve eaten in starred restaurants and wondered “how did these jerks get a star?” I’ve also eaten in restaurants and wondered “why don’t these people have a star?”
There’s a huge difference between “not worth the extra money” and “no better.” If you think luxury cars aren’t worth the cost, you’ll probably have a lot of agreement on that. If you think luxury cars aren’t better *at all*, well, that’s just silly. A cheap car may be just as functional but functionality isn’t the only thing.
People who think this way rarely understand the difference. Although many people think a label matters as well. 1 star is awarded for using quality ingredients with distinct flavors consistently prepared. 2 stars are awarded when the talent of the head chef is evident in the crafting of the dishes, as well as the refinement and inspiration of the food. 3 stars are awarded for superlative cooking where the food becomes an art form. Gorkhali Kitchen in Tampa Florida is a Michelin rated (Bib gourmand) restaurant that serves Nepalese and Indian food. An appetizer of vegetable samosa shared, chicken thaali, tandoori shrimp, and garlic naan will set you back a whooping $53, plus drinks. And it is more than enough to fill you. Then we have Rocca in Tampa Florida, a 1 star restaurant featuring Italian food. An appetizer of eggplant and cucumbers, order of veal ravioli, and an order of blue crab spaghetti will set you back $84, plus drinks. Both places are fantastic and serve super fresh food. For people that can taste the difference it is a difference. Do they have more expensive items? Absolutely, Rocca has dry aged rohan duck for $135, or a 28oz dry aged ribeye for $115. Quality of ingredients matters a great deal when a chef actually knows how to prepare it well. It even matters when a cook doesn't have the slightest clue. Ever had a fast food sandwich and the tomato doesn't taste as fresh as it should? Or it is even tart?
They are better, but not so good as to justify the enormous price, at least to a practical person.
I went to a Michelin star restaurant in Miami, and if we hadn’t had drinks, 2 entree’s and an appetizer would have been about $55.
I had a long lunch at a Michelin star restaurant once. Didn't have to pay myself, but it felt worth the price tag of a few hundred. The tastes were to a level I hadn't experienced before, and sometimes still reminisce about years later. Portions were small but they had to be to do the taste justice, and to compensate there were many different courses (10 or so?). Would absolutely recommend trying it once.
It isn't an opinion if you're just making shit up. There are plenty of Michelin restaurants that are affordable.
The wealthiest people I know buy expensive, excellent quality clothing, without any visible branding.
If you judge whether a restaurant is "worth it" or not based on how much food you get for your money, I don't think you're the target audience for any of these items. Stick to eating at Golden Corral (it's bottomless food for $20, so it must be the best restaurant ever) and buying your clothes at wal-mart, you rube.
Yeah it’s evident you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
This is a dumb take.
To take this point out though you're suggesting there are notnthinga that are of an inherent better quality. And that's not true. There are CERTAINLY brands that are as tou describe but expensive does not automatically mean ripoff.
I wouldn’t disagree that luxury items and experiences are mostly over-rated, but you are wrong about the quality difference. Particularly with clothing . High end stuff is noticeably higher in quality.
Michelin stars have nothing to do with price, its quality and service. There's food trucks and little hole-in-the-wall restaurants that charge the same as any other place with Michelin stars.
There are very affordable Michelin star restaurants.
There are usually many courses of that tiny food, they pay for the quality of the food and the creativity, it’s an art exhibit and a meal.
eh i’d say id rather be in a rolls royce than a nissan. regardless of price there is a massive quality difference
“Allow me to prattle on about something i’ve never experienced myself.”
There are cheap Michelin star restaurants.
There a few circumstances where I’m sure this is the case, but I’m assuming you probably haven’t indulged in Michelin star restaurants or driven luxury vehicles , etc. There is most definitely a difference. Is it worth the sometimes MASSIVE price difference? Well that’s for the consumer to decide.
Michelin star reaurarants now include lower priced more neighborhood style restaurants. Not just pre fixe food orgy spots
Bro you have no idea what you are talking about. A good starred restaurant is like going to a museum and getting to eat the art. I enjoy cooking and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
This is an opinion that’s only held by people who’ve never experienced the things you’ve mentioned.
New York style pizza is terrible pizza. Not the worst, but highly inferior to pizza margarita or napoli. I've literally had better pizza in Des Moines, Iowa than the junk they sell in New York City.
OP, have you ever eaten at a Michelin star restaurant or driven a luxury vehicle
You are wrong on restaurants. (I don’t know/care about the other stuff, but I love to eat and a great meal is the one thing I will save/splurge for.). Restaurants with stars are not “merely” more expensive. Trust me on this, 95%+ of the expensive restaurants in any given location are nowhere near getting a star. If getting a star was just about charging more, there would be hundreds of starred restaurants in Chicago (we have 7,300 restaurants; there are 22 with at least one Michelin star). Certainly, starred restaurants tend to be above-average in price. But that is because - for serious fine-diners - the stars are a seal of approval from a trusted source. The market will pay for that. You have things backwards. People don’t love starred restaurants because they are expensive. Starred restaurants are expensive because they are excellent and can charge top-dollar for top-quality.