Derek Bulmer

I'm afraid that's confidential information although I can disclose that inspectors get a good car and as much food as they can eat!

Derek, for what it is worth, I'd like to see a Pan-Euro Michelin Star Guide. I think it would be a nice product for a frequent European traveller to have, as well as for us in the industry who need a good point of reference from time to time. ← Thanks for the feedback. Its perhaps something we should look into.

Our policy has always been to request that hotels and restaurants don't use our name in any form of publicity. This policy is currently under review and may therefore change in the future.

I've only one at present although in the past I've had as many as four.

I was just going to make a similar post, I would also be interested in the average age of the inspectors. ← The current UK team are all aged between 30 - 45.

Our inspectors are recruited directly from the hotel & catering industry. Most have a relevant degree or HND and a passion for food and wine. They would also have several years experience in good quality hotels and restaurants and for that reason they are rarely less than 27 years old when they join us and they would then undergo training of up to 6 months before starting to work alone. There are about 75 inspectors across Europe (we don't publish numbers in individual countries) and they would be expected to conduct inspections both in their own country and internationally as required.

We are currently studying the possibility of making a Michelin Guide to New York. Watch this space.

The purpose in awarding MIchelin stars is to indicate to our readers where they will eat particularly well. We don't see our role as consultants to the industry and we therefore don't offer help or advice to restaurants. It is for them to decide what to serve based upon their customers needs. The most we would do, and only if asked, is to give a limited feedback on our experiences and those of our readers.

We are naturally aware of how restaurants are rated in other guides and if we were out of step with everybody else it would prompt us to look again. Ultimately though it is our own experiences - and those of our readers - that count. Sometimes the award of a star takes time as we need to be absolutely sure before making that decision.

I'm sorry Basildog but I've no plans to raise the limit at the moment. When it becomes difficult to find restaurants serving the required quality at no more than £25 then I'll have to think again. Remember, it's not necessary to serve only a menu at £25 or less. Many existing Bib Gourmands run these alongside a more expensive carte.

As Editor of the GB & Ireland guide I'm hardly likely to agree with such a sweeping comment. You'll need to be much more specific.

In order for a restaurant to earn a star it must consistently produce food of high quality. In arriving at our decisions we consider the following: - the general interest and balance of the menu - the quality of the products used - the technical skill and flair in the preparation - the compatibility of the ingredients used - the clarity of the flavours - the quality of the wine list - the value for money offered However, as we say in the Introduction of our guides, 1 star is awarded to a very good restaurant in its category and beware of comparing the star given to an expensive deluxe establishment to that of a simple restaurant (or in the case of the GB guide a pub) where you can appreciate fine cooking at a reasonable cost. Your request to accompany an inspector has been asked many times before and I'm afraid it will not be possible. Certain details of how we work must remain confidential.

We positively encourage feedback from our readers by including a questionnaire in every copy of the guide we sell and there is a similar form for readers to complete online on our ViaMichelin website. We appreciate feedback on both establishments we already list and those that we don't. It's a very useful way of finding good new addresses quickly - essentially a whole army of unpaid inspectors! For your information we receive approximately 45,000 letters and questionnaires each year for the whole collection and an ever increasing number of e-mails. If the broad thrust of reader opinions on a particular hotel or restaurant - either in a positive or negative direction - is out of step with our own then we would return for another experience. After all , we can be particularly lucky/unlucky just like any other customer.

Yes, is there congruence between the different national guides? For my tastes, a French star is worth about two in the U.K. and one and a half in Spain. Indeed, I just don't believe the U.K. has any three star dining, if by three star we mean the standard to found at Michel Bras or Pierre Gagnaire etc. Do you think you'd sell less U.K. guides if there were no three starred restaurants in the U.K? Have you considered doing a 'guide of guides' for Europe as whole, but ranking establishments on a Europe-wide criteria instead of a set of differing national criteria? It would make the list obsessed like myself very happy ← See my answer to Jason above. I obviously completely disagree with your suggestion that stars have different values in different countries and that the UK doesn't have any 'real' 3 stars. Our stars - at any level - are just as valid as those in any other country. I don't think the number of 3 star restaurants we list would affect our sales in any way and that is certainly not a consideration we would make when arriving at our star decisions. Your idea of a 'guide of guides' is an interesting one although it would be too large as a paper product to include all the current addresses. Perhaps a guide to the star restaurants of Europe might be interesting?

It usually follows that inspectors of each individual guide are nationals of that country although there are a couple of exceptions to this. All UK inspectors are British. One of the major advantages of Michelin Guides is that our selection is pan European and that each guide is made in exactly the same way. In order to ensure this consistency the training of new inspectors takes place in different European countries - not just the mother country. Therefore restaurant evaluations are fundamentally the same, whether in France Italy or the UK. Similarly decisions relating to 3 stars are not just 'local' decisions. They are made by senior/very experienced members of our company from different countries. It therefore follows that I don't see any cultural differencies between our 3 star restaurants throughout Europe as the same people are making the decisions. It should be noted, however, that with regard to stars - and especially 3 stars - the chef's origins, creativity and personality can result in very different cooking styles that cannot be compared and that some styles are more suited to one customer than another.