Does the Middle East have the volume and consistency in its F&B to justify the arrival of international ratings?
WHERE WOULD IT BEGIN?
But why would an international rating such as Michelin even venture forth into the Middle East? The region needs to meet certain criteria — volume and type of diners for example, for them to consider it.
Fraser-Smith says: “Firstly I believe the pre-requisite for Michelin to look at any city or region is a minimum number of outlets that would qualify for Michelin stars. Has any one city consistently hit the standards required? It is hard to say given the requirements for consideration, specifically the star rating, focus purely on the cuisine.
“Consistency is a key qualifier; consistency in the preparation, production and delivery of food and the quality of the ingredients that are utilised. The Middle East is establishing greater supply chains for quality product, both local and international, which bodes well for future reviews.
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“We have some truly amazing restaurants in the region that would be benchmarked against the best in the world. Regionally, I believe, we have the scope to have a Michelin Guide for the GCC or broader and then as the cities continue to develop their offerings, books would be produced that specialise on specific locations.”
Khan thinks that, if international ratings do enter the region, it will be through Dubai. He adds however: “We should not forget that Doha has seen an encouraging increase in high profile names entering the scene recently, and this trend appears not to be slowing down in the near future.
The challenge within the region, or at least within Doha is that we have some amazingly talented chefs leading some great restaurants, however the brigades that they generally have to work with may not possess the skills and experience that they are used to working with, this can add a significant amount of pressure for one person to handle.”
Alvis explains: “Dubai is definitely on course and if Michelin was to release a guide on Dubai, then I think that it would be more of a combined UAE guide, or Middle Eastern cities. Something like that would make more sense as it will be many years before we can ever compete with the likes of London, Paris or New York, due to the history of dining out in those cities.”
He continues: “As far as qualifications go, the Michelin guide adapts to whatever part of the world the guide is based on, but as a chef working towards Michelin stars in many restaurants I think that the focus has always been on quality and consistency, so it is all down to the individual restaurants performance. I do not really see a reason for Michelin not to publish a guide other than their historical roots, which could possibly hold them back.”
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