Last night at around 19:30 one could feel a slight transient tremor in Tel Aviv’s fine-dining restaurants, with the broadcast of the news in the “Savings Plan” that the prestigious Michelin restaurant guide is making its way to Israel. The Michelin Guides are considered to be the highest global authority in regards to haute cuisine, and their arrival in Israel will open up the option for the first restaurants on the soil of the homeland to receive the coveted star.
According to the report request 12the representatives of the respected guide are in advanced negotiations with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, which offers the tire giant a five-year contract at a cost of two million euros, or a three-year contract for one and a half million euros (that is, the state will pay Michelin a considerable sum for the guide’s arrival in Israel). Several years ago months, for example, Turkey became the 40th country where the guide is published, and no less than four Turkish restaurants received their first star. It is not known how much money the Turks paid for the pleasure, but it should be clear that the Michelin guides are a business and that their arrival in Israel is mainly a question of money .
Michelin causes smiles. Assaf Granit and Uri Navon receive a star in Paris (Photo: PR Network 13)
The Ministry of Tourism hastened to cool the enthusiasm and said that today (Wednesday) a “preliminary request for information” will be published to “bodies with knowledge and experience in auditing internationally distributed restaurants”, and that “the request is only an initial stage of gathering information and does not constitute a public tender”. It should be noted that this is not the first time that there have been rumors about the arrival of a Michelin guide to Israel, and that contrary to attempts to claim that his non-arrival in the country until now was due to political reasons, sources in the industry clarify that it is mainly the insufficiently high professional level of the restaurateurs in Israel that has kept him away from us until now.
We have a first star among equals. Gal Ben Moshe, pastel (photo by Haim Yosef)
Israeli chefs have already won Michelin stars in recent years, led by Asaf Granit for the Parisian “Shavor” and Gal Ben-Moshe for the Berlin “Prism”, but it is doubtful whether in Israel itself there are more than a handful of restaurants that can see themselves nominated for such a star. A senior chef who preferred to remain anonymous told “Time Out” last night that “Michelin guides look for two things that do not exist in Israel: perfect service and consistent excellence. Even in the best restaurants in Tel Aviv it is difficult to get consistency night after night, and in everything to do with service – don’t make me laugh. There are maybe three restaurants in the city where the service can dream of approaching the standard.”