How 50 Best has shaken the mighty Michelin Guides' undisputed position

It started in 2002 as an annual awards event held in London to recognise fifty of the world's best restaurants

Last year I announced on stage that I hoped younger chefs would take over from me and new talent would be recognised,” said a magnanimous Gaggan Anand, when we met just before the awards ceremony of the latest edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in Macau last month. The annual awards show attracts over a thousand culinary enthusiasts who fly in from around the world and is possibly the most influential event of its kind today. At the Wynn Palace in Macau, fifty of Asia’s top chefs traded their chef’s coats for slick tuxedos, walked the red carpet and posed for shutterbugs in an Oscars-esque setup.

Gaggan had done the unthinkable  — his eponymous two Michelin-starred restaurant in Bangkok (which will close next year) had been awarded the title of “Asia’s Best Restaurant” for four consecutive years. So he could afford to be generous. But other chefs were more competitive; for many it wasn’t enough just to be part of the top 50 — even a little slip in ranking affected team morale immensely and, to some degree, reservations at their restaurants.

“When you are in the 40s on the list, you wish you were in the 30s. Similarly, when you make it to the top 20, you wish you were in the top 10,” explained Chef Jason Tan, from the Michelin-starred Corner House in Singapore, which came in at No 49, dropping 13 spots.

Odette’s signature heirloom beetroot dish

All guests and chefs were ushered in to a banquet hall for the awards event. And it was a strange sight to see these chefs, many of them celebrities in their own countries, visibly nervous. Most were at the top of their careers, had earned Michelin stars, accumulated thousands of social media followers and signed brand endorsement deals, but this mattered. A lot. An hour and a half later, the ceremony had ended, as had the suspense. The year’s rankings had been revealed and the hall was filled with jubilation and disappointment.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Garima Arora. It was the Mumbai girl’s first time at the awards and her Michelin-starred restaurant Gaa in Bangkok made a splash by debuting at No 16. “When they were counting down to the 20s, I actually pulled out my phone to re-read the invitation email, I thought maybe they had forgotten me or there was some mistake,” she confessed sheepishly.

As guests walked out of the hall, Garima was greeted by Gaggan Anand (a partner in her restaurant) and later by Manish Mehrotra, whose restaurant Indian Accent in Delhi ranked No 17. (It was the only restaurant in India to make the list this year; India has had a better showing in previous editions with restaurants like Wasabi, Karavali, Dum Pukht and the now defunct Indigo making the cut.) The three shared a warm embrace and posed for a photograph before being bombarded by waiting journalists.

Gaa’s corn-with-corn-milk

At the awards “after party”, copious flutes of champagne went around and chefs toasted each other’s success. Watching the euphoria, I had an epiphany: 50 Best had managed the impossible. 

It had made making it  to their list matter more than achieving a Michelin star. In fact, 50 Best seemed to have managed to eclipse Michelin.

“Michelin will always be Michelin, but 50 Best is young, dynamic and knows how to use technology better to reach more people. They also throw fun parties!” shared British chef Kirk Westaway, of Jaan in Singapore, which jumped 12 spots to No 32.

It all started in 2002, as an annual awards event held in London, to recognise fifty of the world’s best restaurants, chosen anonymously by hundreds of well-travelled voters who were selected by a jury of food personalities. The voters are rotated every few years and the process overseen by consulting firm Deloitte. The website explains “there is no pre-determined check-list of criteria” and thus, in theory, restaurants do not have to be expensive or known as “fine-dining” establishments to be in contention. This format worked well, and relatively obscure restaurants from countries like Kenya and Barbados showed up on the list, too. 

Garima Arora

A decade later, the management cleverly worked out that their popularity was growing and there was an opportunity to go global. They moved the awards to trendy gourmet destinations like New York and then Australia and Bilbao, and simultaneously started regional editions in Asia and Latin America, earning the moniker of “Culinary Olympics” along the way.

All this, while the famous Michelin Guide seemed content doing what it had done successfully since the early 1900s: releasing an annual guide for each country that awarded stars to restaurants. No trendy award ceremonies, limited social media presence. And by this it largely missed the rise of 50 Best.

There are further arguments for this change in the global culinary power dynamic: The “red guide”, as Michelin is known, has not changed its framework or guidelines in years and is still structured regionally. This means restaurants within a country compete with each other for stars. According to the guide, one star signifies “a very good restaurant”, two stars “excellent cooking that is worth a detour” and the highest rating of three stars, “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey”. This model worked for the better part of a century but is it still as appealing in a world where technology allows for easy access to information and cheaper travel? Would someone on a food adventure to Europe really want to buy three separate guides for France, Spain and Italy? Michelin at least acknowledged the latter question, and now offers an abbreviated version on its website for free.

Julien Royer

Michelin’s detractors also point to its limited appeal to a younger demographic. Trends show that the millennial “information consumption rate” is increasing, thus a popular format used by many digital content providers is of a “listicle” (an article summed up into a list), which is faster to consume. And in a globalised world, a listicle that pits great restaurants from numerous countries against each other is by default more interesting to young foodies.

So how did 50 Best capitalise on Michelin’s inertia to become the de-facto global culinary authority? In his opening remarks in Macau, William Drew, editor of 50 Best, said, “We are more than just lists or ratings.” The organisation used its clout to reposition itself as an all-encompassing culinary power-house. This meant engaging with the chefs and restaurants they rated, creating video content, organising trips and events around the world and fostering a community by encouraging collaborations. They also organise a bi-annual seminar to discuss such relevant topics as food waste management and sustainability. They have a philanthropic partnership with the NGO Farm Africa. And crucially, a technology-friendly attitude and active social media channels (the combined following on their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts is 1.3 million).

Contrast this with Michelin’s operations. The French guide continues to wield influence and is expanding at a leisurely pace with new editions in Thailand and Korea. The guide has just announced a return to Los Angeles after a nine-year hiatus (it pulled out after Esquire magazine quoted a former Michelin Guide director as saying “the people in Los Angeles are not real foodies”). 

But there seems to be a general sense of lethargy about it today. Rather than engage with chefs, they are often accused of terrorising them. 

And though every chef still dreams of hanging a Michelin star plaque at his or her restaurant, fewer global travellers treat a Michelin Guide as the unquestionable arbiter of a city’s culinary landscape.

Will Michelin change direction and get with the times? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t or perhaps it just doesn’t care enough. But for the time being, 50 Best will keep it on its toes. It is likely that 50 Best will increase its global footprint in the years to come with editions and events in new countries, making Michelin seem more and more outdated.

As for Gaggan Anand, whose restaurant lost the title of “Asia’s Best” this year (he came a close second to French chef Julien Royer, from the two Michelin-starred Odette in Singapore), he will be in contention once again this June. At the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in Singapore, many expect him to be crowned World No 1, which will make for a fairy-tale finish to his innings before he shutters his restaurant next year.