Chinese food was always considered one of the greatest cuisines in the world, so hard to understand this. Not a single restaurant n NY.
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The article covers most of the reasons I first thought of before I read it. I do think America has vastly under-emphasized teaching Chinese history as a part of āWorld Historyā, so the understanding of the cultural diversity within the country, and its food, is largely ignored. While I could never consider myself an expert, I was fortunate to spend about 3 weeks in China with an education sponsored group trip, and we were fortunate to have a lot of exposure to the various cultural cuisine, including Mongolian, Nepalese and Muslim influences along with the more traditional ones. Frankly Iām not surprised San Francisco is the one to have a one star.
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I donāt think āMichelinā criteria are particularly relevant to Chinese food. Certainly they arenāt even slightly helpful in the UK. It is a guide the influence of which is now far too pervasive; it has its own consistencies but they are not very interesting.
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Michelin grading is inconsistent between cities and countries. Hong Kong has some āchallengingā Michelin-starred Chinese restaurants.
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Iām curious what you mean by that? Challenging to a palate accustomed to western cuisines?
We finally got pretty good Cantonese here in MĆ©rida. Chinese couple own the joint but itās Mexican chefs. Hot & Sour soup really well done, spicy beef solid too.
Not getting a star anytime soon though.
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Just FYI, neither of these dishes is Cantonese.
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They look the same.
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Exactly. I donāt see Tang Court getting 3 stars in the US.
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The thread came up because I was looking for a really special Chinese restaurant in Manhattan with table cloths, incredible food and service. Love Wuās, but sophisticated it aināt.
So if I may drift my own thread, apart from Victorās noodle shop, where else should I be looking?
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Sophisticated (or clean), we aināt.
The article linked in the OP is over a year old and FWIW Michelin is now listing a one-star for a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan, Ying Tao in Hellās Kitchen (in addition to Mr. Jiuās in SF, the āoneā discussed in the article). I know nothing about it other than that, but there it is.
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Honest question, do you mean euphemistically or literally?
I donāt think any of these are Michelin starred and itās been several years since I left the city but here are a few āniceā Chinese restaurants on my list of places to try or try again. Maybe @Victor_Hong or another one of the locals can chime in on these places.
- Hutong - Northern Chinese in Midtown East
- Jiang Nan - The one in Chinatown, food veers more northern Chinese
- Chinese Tuxedo - Banquet style dishes by non-Chinese executive chef
- Potluck Club (or its sister restaurant Phoenix Palace) - Cantonese American food by a bunch of friends that grew up in Chinatown
- Cafe China - Szechuan
- Din Tai Fung - Taiwanese soup dumpling chain
But I wouldnāt say any of these are necessarily Michelin level in terms of experience.
I havenāt thought too deeply about it but for me, Chinese food (in general) is best done family-style and itās hard for me to visualize that in a āMichelinā setting. In Asia (China, HK, SG, probably Taiwan, etc.), you have the private rooms with the big round tables and a small army of staff waiting on you. Not sure the economics of that would work in New York. Korean and Japanese cuisine lends itself more to the Michelin experience, I think. Just some off the cuff musings for the sake of exploring this topic.
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HK and Macau also have some great Michelin starred Chinese (broad term as cuisine multi-dimensional) restaurants like The Eight (Macau 3 star), Jade Dragon (Macau 3 star), Lung King Heen (HK 3 star). None of these restaurants are family style with lots of 2 person seatings. Yet to enjoy a decent authentic Chinese meal in US/ Europe so can see why. If you try any of those aforementioned 3 restaurants then itās not hard to see why so few Chinese Michelin overseas. In fact The Eight enjoys one of largest wine lists in the world or it certainly did as it is housed in the Grand Lisboa which enjoys over 17,800 different wine labels. Lots of old wines mispriced versus secondary retail so itās a veritable feast. Their wine list is >640 pages long
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I doubt my favorite szechuan beef fat sour w/ pickled mustard greens & vermicelli noodles, or ma po tofu, or spicy clay pot chicken could get Michelin starred. Michelin guideās obsessed prix fixe/tasting menus are too often tiresome and forced, and even sometimes sucky. Iāll take a few family style plates and pots of tasty wok made Chinese food with amigos any day of the week instead.
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So my local place has more official plastic menus now and pulled Cantonese off the name: now Hot & Spicy Chinese. Food still very good.
Front of house shared with us news that the boat carrying their spices has left from China and after slow traverse of Panama Canal will arrive in Progresso, MX. Then thru Estatal Cobre and should arrive to restaurant in 4-5 months.
Promises a new menu then.
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Your local Chinese restaurant in Mexico reads WB? 
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I donāt find Michelin very reliable outside of France, and definitely not in the US
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