London Restaurant loses all Three Michelin Stars

[liuzhou]

Araki, one of London's three Michelin 3-star restaurants has been stripped of all three. Story here.

Edited October 13, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

 I think the way the restaurant responded is the bigger story. 
 

Here.

 

“Lau told CNN that it was "a shame" to have been deleted from the 2020 guide. "But we take it as a fair judgment and a fresh start following the departure of our master Mitsuhiro Araki," he said. 

"We believed it placed Michelin in a difficult position to make a decision on how to score The Araki, as the master was here during half of the inspection period for 2020's guide."

The restaurant has not asked Michelin for an explanation, he said. "It's their guide, and we're in total respect of how they want to do it. I'm taking it on the chin and getting on with proving myself.

"Lots of chefs are devastated when they lose stars, but you'll get nowhere with that attitude. You have to dust yourself off and try again."

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 I think the way the restaurant responded is the bigger story. 
 

Here.

 

“Lau told CNN that it was "a shame" to have been deleted from the 2020 guide. "But we take it as a fair judgment and a fresh start following the departure of our master Mitsuhiro Araki," he said. 

"We believed it placed Michelin in a difficult position to make a decision on how to score The Araki, as the master was here during half of the inspection period for 2020's guide."

The restaurant has not asked Michelin for an explanation, he said. "It's their guide, and we're in total respect of how they want to do it. I'm taking it on the chin and getting on with proving myself.

"Lots of chefs are devastated when they lose stars, but you'll get nowhere with that attitude. You have to dust yourself off and try again."

 

I agree. The good old "British stiff upper lip"!

[teonzo]

I don't see any surprise in that move by Michelin. It's a very different case from the usual chef leaving a 3* restaurant. The chef in a usual 3* restaurant is just directing the brigade, he/she is not executing any food and he/she has a sous chef who is able tu run the kitchen when the chef is away, maintaining the same levels. So when a chef leaves a 3* restaurant there's no risk for it going downhill. At The Araki it was the chef who executed all the crucial preparations, so after he left people can't know what to expect from the new chef: he can continue making 3* sushi as well as he can be making 2* or 1* or 0* level. When Michelin heard about the chef departure they had no time to make new visits, so based on their principles the more sensed choice was leaving out the restaurant from the guide. A sous chef taking the lead at a usual 3* restaurant is making a small jump, a sushi master assistant going chef is a much bigger jump.

 

 

 

Teo