The Michelin Guide KL & Penang 2023

Now that the Michelin Guide has announced the recipients of the stars and bib gourmand ratings, the question arises on how some of them were even selected in the first place to be in the review. It is said that they would speak to locals in the know who would make suggestions of the places for them to consider.

Since the Malaysian edition is a partnership that includes Tourism Malaysia, the state offices could have possibly been made suggestions too. Could they have checked and scoured the Internet for an indication? It is possible but uncertain. And you can write them to make suggestions, as one friend has done and actually received a reply.

The restaurants that made the select list were:

Interestingly, while the Curate Group was one of the companies that brought the Michelin Guide in, only one of their outlets made the selection.

Food tasting is always going to be subjective. The Michelin guide would have a certain guideline for their reviewers to follow and none of us are going to agree with all of them but they are going to serve as a guide. After all that’s in their name. So I won’t question their preference. 

The guide is the *supposed* benchmark for good food everywhere and it does its job by drawing international attention to a country’s cuisine and its purveyors. And for that, I don’t think there’s a guide that does better than them.

It’s like some of us here going to Bangkok and making a bee line to Raan Jay Fai and even willing to wait in line for hours to sample it. Why? Because she has 1 star. Many locals there won’t bother though some will. Foreigners will because for them it’s part of the experience of the trip. I have been one of those that played into this. Did the Michelin guide factor in my decision to visit Bangkok coming out of the pandemic. It certainly did.

As a local, are you going to agree with all their assessment? Probably not. Hey, we almost could not agree on a PM, what more when it comes to food. 

But for foreigners, it means there is a body that “TRIES” to evaluate dining establishments in a way that’s consistent or perhaps even homogenized throughout the world. 

I emphasise TRIES because it will not be perfect when the sample size is a handful of reviewers. Even with a larger sample size, how many times have you been led astray by Google Map reviewers even when they are local. I know I have.

And it means that we can finally tell Singaporeans we have Michelin rated eateries too. How can we let them have all the glory.

Congratulations to those that won a Michelin star and had a Bib Gourmand rating. 

https://guide.michelin.com/en/my/restaurants/bib-gourmand

https://guide.michelin.com/en/my/restaurants/1-star-michelin