Miele Guide: Cast Your Vote for Asia's Best Restaurants!
Last week, an email invite to vote as a member of the special jury for The Miele Guide landed in my inbox, so I thought I'd have a Skype chat with uber-cool foodies Aun Koh & Sulyn Tan -- who are the embodiment of the Little Cream Life -- about their ambitious project to produce the definitive guide to Asia's best restaurants. While waiting for Sulyn's computer to start up ("Vista!" explained AK for the lag), we chatted about his recent meal at el Bulli and reminisced about the days of Commodore and Atari. When Sulyn finally joined us, Aun explained how the whole project started:
Aun: Both Su-Lyn and I have spent almost a decade each working in publishing. Many of those years have been dedicated to (1) food and restaurants; and (2) covering thr growth of Asia's lifestyle markets. The Miele Guide is something that we've wanted to do professionally for a long time. In 2002-2004, Su-Lyn was the editor in charge of Wine & Dine, and also thus ran its restaurant guide.
LCL: it's quite ambitious to do a pan-asian guide. was it hard putting together the shortlist?
Sulyn: The challenge was in first tracking down the best people to help us put it together. We really wanted to work with journalists who are currently keeping tabs on the restaurant scenes in their home cities/countries; people whose primary focus is to check out restaurants.
LCL: how many restaurants did each journalist recommend?
Sulyn: We ended up working with 84 of Asia's top restaurant critics. Each one was invited to nominate the 20 restaurants they felt were the best in their city/country.
In addition, when voters go online, they still have the option of adding in restaurants they feel are missing.
LCL: did you contribute to the shortlist?
Aun: Nope. We only invited full-time restaurant critics, plus a few others who are considered "local authorities". We actually don't fall into these categories. For Singapore, the panelists were Wong Ah Yoke, Geoffrey Eu, Jaime Ee, and Daven Wu, all of whom cover restaurants professionally.
LCL: any chefs?
Aun: Nope. Full-time restaurant critics! We did have a case in which a Contributing Editor (in Japan) suggested a panelist who is both a respected food writer and a respected chef. We said no but have invited this person to vote as part of the Special Jury. It was very important to have only critics creating the shortlist. Our Special Jury, on the other hand, is made up of regional freelancers, other media, foodies, chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others from related industries that have some authority and know the region's restaurant scene.
LCL: y did you choose to follow the zagat model as opposed to the michelin model?
Sulyn: Actually, we're not following the Zagat model. While the public is invited to vote, we won't be consolidating their comments into our reviews. Each restaurant guide book company has its strengths. Zagat is strongest in the United States. Michelin is strongest in Europe. And while Zagat has had a presence in Asia for many years, its ratings and reviews are not considered significant benchmarks by Asian foodies and critics. Michelin’s own foray into Tokyo, while a success from a sales point of view, has garnered a lot of criticism from some of Japan’s most respected food critics and writers, and even Tokyo’s own mayor. Each guide book company also has its own process of evaluations. Zagat, being American, is entirely democratic. Its results are based on a popular survey. Michelin, on the other hand, likes to employ secrecy, depending on a small army of appointed tasters. Each of those systems work well in their own backyards, so to speak, but in Asia, we have decided it is important to look to other systems in order to best determine what our region’s best restaurants are. I think it will be the readers that at the end of the day decide if we have done our jobs properly, i.e. whether we have put together a guide that most accurately reflects what is happening in Asia’s restaurant scene. Most importantly, we want this guide to reflect the tastes of Asians, and not become an imposition of our own taste judgements on the region’s restaurants.
LCL: i think in Asia, there's the added complication where most international cities have a multi-cuisine focus when it comes to the best restaurants and a lot of great restaurants happen to be western imports. so i think it will be interesting to see how many robuchons or nobus make it onto this asian list
and how many local-grown restaurants make it. for example, a gau gee noodle shop or even a tsui wah hongkie fast food joint
Sulyn: you make a very good point. essentially, we want to create a system that allows for more than just the imports to be lauded in Asia. That said, it is a restaurant guide. So, a hawker stand would not be considered a restaurant.
Aun: we are setting specific guidelines as to what is a restaurant. None of the restaurants that we have allowed into the shortlist are "stalls", so to speak. That said, each panelist was allowed to push the definition of "restaurant" a little, if within their local context what they consider a restaurant is a little outside the box. For example, Naughty Nuri's in Bali is a restaurant to any critic in (and probably voter) in Indonesia. But a hawker stall in Newton Circus clearly is not. When the final results come in, we will look carefully to see if non-traditional restaurants were nominated and then make a decision on a case by case basis.
LCL: were the critics asked to recommend restaurants on food quality alone or also dining experience?
Sulyn: critics were asked to propose restaurants they consider to deliver a complete experience of excellence. In some contexts, whether there are table cloths and a stool for your handbag is irrelevant. For others, the ambience is part of the whole experience. We asked them to judge the restaurants as their fellow citizens are likely to judge them.
LCL: do you think that local "Asian" restaurants might suffer a little in the rankings since sometimes those serving good food have a habit of neglecting the "experience"?
Aun: It is up to the panelists, public voters and Jury members to make those decisions.
LCL: thanks guys, as a final question, i'd still like to get one of your fave restaurants...can be outside of asia if you don't want to compromise the objectivity of Miele Guide
Aun: Su-Lyn would like to qualify our answer: Le Cinq for a chi-chi affair and L'Atelier de Robuchon for everyday eating. Both in Paris. :)
Sulyn: I meant I'd be happy to eat at pretty much any L'Atelier in the world. It is impressive that they are pretty consistent wherever they are.
LCL: wow, so no el bulli
Aun: El Bulli is amazing and a really incredible experience, but I don't think I would call it a favourite. A "favourite" is the kind of place you could go to regularly -- and crave regularly. Don't forget, though, our guide is a determination of Asia's best restaurant not the public's favourite restaurants, which are two different things.
LCL: ciao! thanks for the chat! have a great weekend! i am going for sham tseng roast goose tmr night. can't wait to break this fast from good food!!!
Aun: We'll be dining at The White Rabbit 3 times over the next 3 days.
Everyone is eligible to cast their vote for the 10 best restaurants in Asia until 31 July 2008.
Aun: Both Su-Lyn and I have spent almost a decade each working in publishing. Many of those years have been dedicated to (1) food and restaurants; and (2) covering thr growth of Asia's lifestyle markets. The Miele Guide is something that we've wanted to do professionally for a long time. In 2002-2004, Su-Lyn was the editor in charge of Wine & Dine, and also thus ran its restaurant guide.
LCL: it's quite ambitious to do a pan-asian guide. was it hard putting together the shortlist?
Sulyn: The challenge was in first tracking down the best people to help us put it together. We really wanted to work with journalists who are currently keeping tabs on the restaurant scenes in their home cities/countries; people whose primary focus is to check out restaurants.
LCL: how many restaurants did each journalist recommend?
Sulyn: We ended up working with 84 of Asia's top restaurant critics. Each one was invited to nominate the 20 restaurants they felt were the best in their city/country.
In addition, when voters go online, they still have the option of adding in restaurants they feel are missing.
LCL: did you contribute to the shortlist?
Aun: Nope. We only invited full-time restaurant critics, plus a few others who are considered "local authorities". We actually don't fall into these categories. For Singapore, the panelists were Wong Ah Yoke, Geoffrey Eu, Jaime Ee, and Daven Wu, all of whom cover restaurants professionally.
LCL: any chefs?
Aun: Nope. Full-time restaurant critics! We did have a case in which a Contributing Editor (in Japan) suggested a panelist who is both a respected food writer and a respected chef. We said no but have invited this person to vote as part of the Special Jury. It was very important to have only critics creating the shortlist. Our Special Jury, on the other hand, is made up of regional freelancers, other media, foodies, chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others from related industries that have some authority and know the region's restaurant scene.
LCL: y did you choose to follow the zagat model as opposed to the michelin model?
Sulyn: Actually, we're not following the Zagat model. While the public is invited to vote, we won't be consolidating their comments into our reviews. Each restaurant guide book company has its strengths. Zagat is strongest in the United States. Michelin is strongest in Europe. And while Zagat has had a presence in Asia for many years, its ratings and reviews are not considered significant benchmarks by Asian foodies and critics. Michelin’s own foray into Tokyo, while a success from a sales point of view, has garnered a lot of criticism from some of Japan’s most respected food critics and writers, and even Tokyo’s own mayor. Each guide book company also has its own process of evaluations. Zagat, being American, is entirely democratic. Its results are based on a popular survey. Michelin, on the other hand, likes to employ secrecy, depending on a small army of appointed tasters. Each of those systems work well in their own backyards, so to speak, but in Asia, we have decided it is important to look to other systems in order to best determine what our region’s best restaurants are. I think it will be the readers that at the end of the day decide if we have done our jobs properly, i.e. whether we have put together a guide that most accurately reflects what is happening in Asia’s restaurant scene. Most importantly, we want this guide to reflect the tastes of Asians, and not become an imposition of our own taste judgements on the region’s restaurants.LCL: i think in Asia, there's the added complication where most international cities have a multi-cuisine focus when it comes to the best restaurants and a lot of great restaurants happen to be western imports. so i think it will be interesting to see how many robuchons or nobus make it onto this asian list
and how many local-grown restaurants make it. for example, a gau gee noodle shop or even a tsui wah hongkie fast food joint
Sulyn: you make a very good point. essentially, we want to create a system that allows for more than just the imports to be lauded in Asia. That said, it is a restaurant guide. So, a hawker stand would not be considered a restaurant.
Aun: we are setting specific guidelines as to what is a restaurant. None of the restaurants that we have allowed into the shortlist are "stalls", so to speak. That said, each panelist was allowed to push the definition of "restaurant" a little, if within their local context what they consider a restaurant is a little outside the box. For example, Naughty Nuri's in Bali is a restaurant to any critic in (and probably voter) in Indonesia. But a hawker stall in Newton Circus clearly is not. When the final results come in, we will look carefully to see if non-traditional restaurants were nominated and then make a decision on a case by case basis.
LCL: were the critics asked to recommend restaurants on food quality alone or also dining experience?
Sulyn: critics were asked to propose restaurants they consider to deliver a complete experience of excellence. In some contexts, whether there are table cloths and a stool for your handbag is irrelevant. For others, the ambience is part of the whole experience. We asked them to judge the restaurants as their fellow citizens are likely to judge them.
LCL: do you think that local "Asian" restaurants might suffer a little in the rankings since sometimes those serving good food have a habit of neglecting the "experience"?
Aun: It is up to the panelists, public voters and Jury members to make those decisions.
LCL: thanks guys, as a final question, i'd still like to get one of your fave restaurants...can be outside of asia if you don't want to compromise the objectivity of Miele Guide
Aun: Su-Lyn would like to qualify our answer: Le Cinq for a chi-chi affair and L'Atelier de Robuchon for everyday eating. Both in Paris. :)
Sulyn: I meant I'd be happy to eat at pretty much any L'Atelier in the world. It is impressive that they are pretty consistent wherever they are.
LCL: wow, so no el bulli
Aun: El Bulli is amazing and a really incredible experience, but I don't think I would call it a favourite. A "favourite" is the kind of place you could go to regularly -- and crave regularly. Don't forget, though, our guide is a determination of Asia's best restaurant not the public's favourite restaurants, which are two different things.
LCL: ciao! thanks for the chat! have a great weekend! i am going for sham tseng roast goose tmr night. can't wait to break this fast from good food!!!
Aun: We'll be dining at The White Rabbit 3 times over the next 3 days.
Everyone is eligible to cast their vote for the 10 best restaurants in Asia until 31 July 2008. 
posted by 10000miles at 17:14
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