Post by Stuart Gregor

From June this year, New Zealand, yep New Zealand, will have a globally recognised Michelin Guide to its finest restaurants, aligning itself with most of Europe, Asia and America’s greatest eating and drinking locations. And yet Australia has no Michelin Guide – and I’m struggling to understand why. I would love to couch this in another way, soften the blow or argue with caveats aplenty but I can’t. This is a MASSIVE miss for Australia. An air swing of the highest calibre. I mean don’t get me wrong, New Zealand is great. I spend a lot of time there and have eaten in many of their best restaurants, some of which are truly very good indeed. But the eating and drinking across the ditch simply does not hold a candle to what is on offer in Australia – honestly its not even close – it’s like a reversal of our relative stature in Rugby Union. So a little context. Markets like ours and the Kiwis have to pay for the Michelin Guide to send its reviewers to review. The standards remain the same, the stars are intended to be aligned globally and NZ said yep we will cough up and the Aussies said nope. And it’s a bloody travesty – even if it does cost $4-8million a year. You see high end restaurants in Australia are doing it tough. This year alone we’ve seen the closure of two of our six three-hat restaurants (hats are only awarded in NSW and VIC) – QUAY and Oncore by Clare Smyth, and my contention is if these restaurants each had three MICHELIN stars (ie globally renowned recognition rather than a hat given by a local newspaper group) those restaurants MIGHT not have closed at all. And there aren’t even any hats in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth or Hobart - all of which have several restaurants that are the equal or superior to ANYTHING on offer in NZ. Super-luxe-rich-high end dining people (call them what you will) will travel miles and spend miles higher to eat in what the world recognises (rightly or wrongly) as the finest culinary establishments across the globe. And in June, Vaughan Mabee’s Amisfield in Queenstown might just pick up two or three Michelin stars, which would be great for them and yes it is a terrific restaurant, but by no objective measure in the world is that restaurant remotely as good as Peter Gilmore’s QUAY - RIP. But rich Americans will never know that because Pete never earned his Michelin stars. Sure he had three hats for 18 years but imagine if he’d held three Michelin stars for even half as long – he would, quite deservedly, be recognised as one of the great culinary icons of the world. Australia is one of the world’s great food and drink destinations but we are too easily forgotten and ignored. We already don’t get a fair look in at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants or Bars, because the organisers won’t allow us into the Asian lists (what about that football tournament on now??), so missing out on Michelin is a miss for the ages. And as for our Kiwi mates - surely 24 consecutive Bledisloe Cups is enough for bragging rights . . .