By Yen Feng
Religion & Culture Reporter
zengyan@sph.com.sg

 

A PARADE of penguins and peacocks came to feast on Wednesday at this year's launch of The Miele Guide, an Asia-based restaurant guide.

The fashion, strictly black-tie for men and bejeweled gowns for women, suited the event fine. Regrettably, the food was far less stellar.

Which is sort of a downer, especially when The Miele Guide is trying to establish itself as a credible Asian alternative to restaurant-guide stars like the American Zagats and the French Michelin.

Now in its second edition, the annual handbook is backed by some of Asia's best-known restauranteurs and critics.

Among whom is Mr Aun Koh, director of the guide’s publisher Ate Media and the "hubby"-half of Singapore’s top food blog, Chubby Hubby.

Mr Koh told me at the event's after-party, held at Fullerton Hotel's Post Bar: "Zagats is more of a local guide; and Michelin's focus is on fine dining. With Miele, we're trying for the in-between."

That may explain the "in-between" food I tasted at the launch party, held in the hotel's ritzy Grand Ballroom.

The first course was a shrimp-artichoke veloute from Mr Takashi Kimura of the Saga Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

The veloute, a velvety white sauce, was rightfully flavorful but lacked restraint and drowned the artichokes.

Served a la dollop in a martini glass, the dish might have been better served as amuse-bouche, rather than starter.

The seared cod with seafood ragout that followed came from Mr Rahul Akerkar of Mumbai restaurant, Indigo.

Buttery flesh, crispy skin, a sweet-and-sour side.

It was okay. Or as my Uncle Bernie in Paris would say: "It was correct."

Two locally based chefs came next: Mr Diego Martinelli of Fullerton dressed up a grilled pork cheek with kai lan, pumpkin puree and ginger.

Ms Janice Wong of Holland Village's 2am:dessertbar, plated a colorful mix of guava, lemongrass and yuzu.

Altogether, the fare was fine, but uninspired. None of the above chefs made it into the guide's top 20.

Those who did were of expected pedigree.

Celebrated French chef Joel Robuchon took three honours: the first, third and 20th spots with his restaurants in Hong Kong, Macau and Tokyo.

His protégé Andre Chiang of Jaan par Andre at the Swissotel placed fourth.

Joining Mr Chiang from Singapore, Iggy's took home the silver. The fifth and seventh spots went to Les Amis and Gunther’s respectively.

The dinner might have made more of an impression had these chefs put on their aprons instead of tuxes for the evening.

But a meal of sub-20 standard is the least of what critics may question regarding The Miele Guide's judgement.

To compile the guide, Miele, a kitchen appliances giant in Germany, asked a team of 85 journalists in Asia to nominate which restaurants they thought were the best in their respective countries.

Ordinary, everyday customers were then invited to vote online among the 1,054 restaurants shortlisted.

A separate jury of 1,500 industry professionals cast their votes as well.

The guide's ambition to present to its readers a middle ground between specialist and general tasters is well-intentioned: Michelin is often criticized for serving an audience out of touch with the hoi polloi, while Zagats' reviews lack the authority of the industry’s tastemakers.

But there is a point to assembling a team of travelling experts, or having locals critique their city's restaurants.

The Miele Guide claims to be "Asia's first authoritative and independent" guide, but because its 450 shortlisted restaurants span 16 countries in Asia, only about 25 restaurants were personally visited by its writers.

Content for the other 425 restaurants was pulled together from reviews published elsewhere. That explains why none of them were scored.

As for being an authority in Asia, its take on restaurants in Japan – as one of the region's top culinary nations – comes up short.

Only three Japanese restaurants made it to the top 25.

The bias is understandable. When Michelin tried to give their famous stars to Tokyo's chefs last year, many were unimpressed, despite the French guide hiring a team of Japanese restauranteurs to serve as judges.

As a result, many excellent but tiny, two-table-type restaurants tucked away in Tokyo remain undiscovered – at least, by eager guide-toting tourists.

In a world where paperback guides are losing readers to the Internet, and consumers are increasingly wary of having taste dictated to them, one wonders how relevant The Miele Guide will be to today's everyday food enthusiasts.

For now, I think not at all.

Without a more persuasive survey methodology, or dedication to independent detective work, the guide's supporters will likely leave, as the men and women did their dinner tables at its launch, wanting more.

Editor's note: Yen Feng is a graduate of culinary arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. He has dined at several top restaurants in New York, Paris and Singapore.

Correction: A previous version of this blog reported Chef Andre's first name as Adrian. Apologies.