TV chef Gino D’Acampo has slated the Michelin Guide and its famed ‘star’ system as ‘absolute nonsense’.
D’Acampo, who has run a restaurant in the Corn Exchange in Manchester and another in the Arndale, branded the process as merely a marketing exercise. Speaking to Cheshire Live, he said: “I don’t believe in the Michelin star system. I think it is absolutely c**p.
"Because I cannot accept an organisation that knows less than me, judge me. Most of the Michelin stars are absolute nonsense. It is the best marketing ever, but the worst idea ever. Because if you think about it, you get judged by people who know less than you.
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“I’ve been in Italian cuisine for 30 years, are you telling me that you’re going to get some French guy, he is going to come here and he is going to sit in my restaurant and judge the way I cook? I don’t think so.”
Michelin judges are, in fact, representative of all nationalities and genders, though its current international director Gwendal Poullennec is indeed French. D’Acampo runs a number of restaurant franchises across the UK, as well as appearing regularly on shows like This Morning.
Five of his Gino D’Acampo branded restaurants closed at the beginning of the year, including his branch in the Corn Exchange. His three My Pasta bars in London also closed, though his My Pizza & Prosecco bar in the Arndale remains open.
His remarks came after the Chester Grosvenor restaurant lost its Michelin star this year. He added: “You should not think about stuff like that. Cheshire should not think about a Michelin because they are a nobody. They are no-one. Who are they?
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“Tomorrow I can come up with s**t like that. I can say, ‘I’m going to call it the Gino Star’. I’m going to go to a Chinese restaurant and I’m going to judge them. Who am I to judge someone who has been working in a kitchen for 40 years on Chinese foods? The idea makes no sense whatsoever.
“You get judged by someone who knows less than you. I’m not interested in the idea, and I’m not interested in restaurants that have got a Michelin star. It always upsets me when I have a friend of mine that maybe lost the star and they get so upset.”
D'Acampo launched his new restaurant Luciano in Alderley Edge in January.
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