Media seats outnumbered chefs. \u201cDo you have any alcohol?\u201d asked an early guest. But the Quartz Reef methode traditionnelle was strictly on ice until after the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Chefs await the inaugural Michelin Guide New Zealand reveal. Photo \/ Alyse Wright<\/p>\n
Would any restaurant get a star? When Saudi Arabia joined the Michelin Guide last year, it didn\u2019t get a single one in its first round of inspections.<\/p>\n
The ceremony started at 5pm and, 90 minutes later, 15 New Zealand restaurants had star distinctions \u2013 including the only two-star award of the night to Queenstown\u2019s Essence<\/a>.<\/p>\n An overhead camera roamed the room. A reality television-style soundtrack played over and over. Chef Paul Froggart had already decided he\u2019d missed out; that Essence, which only opened seven months ago, was not yet on Michelin\u2019s radar and really, he was just happy to be here.<\/p>\n What does it mean to have two stars? First, you phone your wife. Then, you tell the media, \u201cit means continue. Keep going\u201d.<\/p>\n Bib Gourmands (good quality cooking at great value) went to 35 restaurants and 60 more restaurants made the Michelin \u201cselection\u201d list \u2013 the first rung of a ladder that has evolved considerably since 1900, when a French tyre company issued a guide encouraging drivers to take more road trips.<\/p>\n Michelin noted it was rare to award such a quantity of stars in a country\u2019s inaugural launch.<\/p>\n Overheard: \u201cIf this is a true international mirror of our hospitality ecosystem, we really do have something that we haven\u2019t told ourselves yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Or, to paraphrase: enough with tall poppy syndrome. Because, in the true New Zealand spirit of self-disbelief, the other thing overheard quite a bit last night was \u201cdid we get too many?\u201d<\/p>\n Taste is subjective, but the Michelin inspector is allegedly not. These spectral critics maintain total anonymity. We are told (though have no proof) that inspectors eat more than 300 restaurant meals annually, and that every decision is made as a team.<\/p>\n Ask Gwendal Poullennec, the guide\u2019s international director, where he dined in Auckland and he \u201cwill not focus on that. I always would like to avoid the confusion between what could be my experience and the inspector\u2019s experience … the inspectors are much more savvy about New Zealand food than I am\u201d.<\/p>\n Last night, everybody had a critical opinion.<\/p>\n Did Aarth<\/a> (Parnell) and Return<\/a> (Ponsonby) simply open too recently to make the cut? Where were Cocoro and Culprit<\/a>? How did Onslow<\/a> miss a star? How did Britomart\u2019s Amano not even make \u201cselected\u201d?<\/p>\n In Wellington, Hillside Kitchen\u2019s loyal customers direct-messaged their dismay; Christchurch\u2019s Mapu was not on the list but, in a competition that counts consistency as key criteria, maybe describing your six-seater as \u201can experimental kitchen, not a restaurant\u201d counts against you?<\/p>\n Forest<\/a>\u2019s Plabita Florence was one of six New Zealand chefs to claim a \u201cknife\u201d at the recent Best Chef awards in Milan, but she spent last night in her Dominion Rd restaurant making her own stars out of persimmons.<\/p>\n Lucas Parkinson from Piha\u2019s Aryeh<\/a> pre-empted the ceremony, with an Instagram post advising he had not been invited to the ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t make the cut … And that was my Hail Mary throw. Where we go from here, we\u2019ll see. We still have Aryeh, we still plan to keep operating. It\u2019s just a blow. It hurts … onwards and upwards. We keep going on and focus on the most important things in life, and that\u2019s family and your health. Your friendships, your relationships \u2013 and eating good food.\u201d<\/p>\n More bad optics? Chef Al Brown has been vocal about the pros and cons of Michelin\u2019s arrival. He might not have expected a distinction, but he has been a champion of New Zealand\u2019s food scene forever \u2013 people like him should have been seen in this historic room.<\/p>\n There was no Prime Minister and no Mayor of Auckland but his deputy Desley Simpson said Ahi<\/a> (one star) was one of her personal favourite restaurants and, \u201cFor the likes of Henry [Tala] in the biggest Polynesian city in the world, to get one Michelin star is so incredibly special for our Pasifika community, for our city, for T\u0101maki Makaurau\u201d. <\/p>\n (She did pronounce \u201cMichelin\u201d with a \u201ct\u201d but the evening had form \u2013 earlier, host Sonia Gray had done the same thing to \u201cconfit\u201d).<\/p>\n Speaking of speaking about food. How about that p\u0101ua chawanmushi from visiting international Michael Cimarusti\u2019s three Michelin-starred Los Angeles restaurant Providence?<\/p>\n \u201cF***ing awesome,\u201d said Shaun Clouston hot off the back of receiving a star for Wellington\u2019s Logan Brown. He frowned. \u201cThat\u2019s swearing.\u201d Do they not do that in kitchens? \u201cCan\u2019t say I\u2019ve heard it before …\u201d<\/p>\n Six \u201cpresenting chefs\u201d and their Michelin-starred restaurants fed the post-match crowd. Nobu Lee (Nobuo, Taiwan), Ben Bayly (Ahi), Clouston (Logan Brown), Chris Scott (Sherwood) and Onesemo (Tala) made a strong case for canapes as the main event, whole baby blackfoot p\u0101ua as something I would like to eat daily, and whitebait as an unexpected vehicle for a very smart palusami.<\/p>\n Walk and talk. Talk and fork. The room was soaked in truffles, but if you wanted water, it was in the dispenser in the corner by a pile of paper cups.<\/p>\n Ortega\u2019s head chef Teresa Pert (one of the few women on stage) was looking for a misplaced Michelin plaque; food writer Lauraine Jacobs thought \u201cthere were some chefs that 100% deserve the accolades they were given\u201d but I think the implied emphasis in that sentence was the \u201csome\u201d.<\/p>\n Nick Honeyman flew in the day before and was going home to France the day after with one star on home turf for Paris Butter<\/a>, the restaurant he co-owns with chef Zennon Wijlens and their respective partners. They wore sharp jackets over chef whites. \u201cHugo Boss,\u201d Honeyman confirmed. \u201cNot sponsored but open to it.\u201d They smelled good. \u201cTom Ford,\u201d Honeyman said. \u201cHeineken,\u201d said Wijlens, who was planning to frame his Michelin presentation jacket and today added a Michelin-meets-Aotearoa tattoo to his ink collection.<\/p>\n (Fun facts: chefs only ever get one Michelin jacket, even if they keep their star the following year. There will be no hard copy red Michelin Guide book for New Zealand \u2013 it\u2019s only physically printed in \u201chistoric\u201d territories such as France. The digital version is, however, available in 15 languages.)<\/p>\n Tourism New Zealand invested an initial $6.3 million in three years\u2019 worth of guides for Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Its spending will push up to $8m with the global \u201cinvitation to dinner\u201d campaign<\/a> launched off the back of last night\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a drop in the bucket,\u201d Wijlens said.<\/p>\n \u201cThink about all our young chefs that leave New Zealand to go and work in starred restaurants, and now they can stay here,\u201d Honeyman said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Formula One cars in New Zealand \u2013 we just haven\u2019t had the track. Now they\u2019re on the world track.\u201d<\/p>\n Tears? When Onesemo\u2019s Tala took the first star of the night, and Tempero\u2019s chef and co-owner Fabio Bernardini leapt to his feet, it set off an emotional standing ovation. Earlier, the big screen close-ups of chefs from restaurants that had made the Bib Gourmand and select lists demonstrated the power of Michelin.<\/p>\n Shivam Chhibber was born in Agra, India. He returned to his seat sobbing after Soul Quarter picked up one of Christchurch\u2019s 10 Bib Gourmands.<\/p>\n \u201cI come from a very humble background. I\u2019m the only chef in my entire family,\u201d he said. \u201cI was holding myself because it took me 15 years to reach what I achieved today … I chose my own journey. I started when I was 17, and I\u2019m here in New Zealand, the most happy person here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n (Sweat? I imagine it was quite cosy inside the white puffer jacketed onesie worn by the Michelin Man mascot or, to use his correct name \u201cBibendum\u201d, which, according to Wikipedia, means \u201cnow is the time to drink\u201d \u2013 a slogan taken to heart by Vodka sponsor The Reid. Bartender Harry Findlay confirmed he had 30 litres, or enough for about 1000 drinks, on-hand.)<\/p>\n What does the morning after Michelin look like? <\/p>\n Michelin Guide\u2019s Poullennec told the Herald stars could change a chef\u2019s professional trajectory.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be bankable in any other star restaurant in the world. Your name starts to have real value. It\u2019s a passport to liberty … a recognition of your talents and it has much more power than any kind of marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement before the ceremony, Michelin had also told the Herald: \u201cDistinctions are awarded to restaurants, not to individuals. They recognise the collective commitment of an entire team and do not constitute an endorsement of any individual\u2019s conduct or managerial practices, nor of the working conditions within an establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n See also: Amisfield?<\/p>\nMichelin Guide international director Gwendal Poullenec (left) awards executive chef Paul Froggatt the night’s only two-star distinction for Queenstown restaurant Essence. Photo \/ Alyse Wright<\/p>\n
Chef Henry Onesemo collects the first Michelin star awarded to a Samoan restaurant Photo \/ Smoke Photography<\/p>\n
Sherwood’s baby p\u0101ua for Michelin canapes win. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
Paris Butter’s Zennon Wijlens’ post showing his star-shaped ink.<\/p>\n
The room rose when Tala, co-owned by Henry and Debby Onesemo, received the night’s first one star distinction. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
The bubbly flowed freely post-ceremony, but the pre-match was strictly mocktails. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n