Bringing Michelin mainstream

When dining at the now departed Bar Boulud in the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel in Knightsbridge, the main draw for me and my family was its Original DB Burger that put the Michelin star chef Daniel Boulud’s spin on the quintessential fast-food dish. 

Shredded oxtail and short ribs were braised with chopped truffle and mirepoix in red wine for four hours until tender, and then foie gras (questionable) was rolled up inside the braised meat before being left to set in the fridge ahead of it cooked to order. I can clearly recall this was all too much for me, and I’d have preferred a more classic take on the classic. I might well have been in the minority as it was lapped up by other diners. 

Boulud was ahead of the curve in elevating mainstream dishes by adding some Michelin stardust. Joining him was James Knappett, who opened Bubbledogs in 2012, which matched high-end hot dogs with grower Champagnes. If anything looked like a mismatched hotpotch destined to fall flat, it was this concept, but it was a roaring success.

We have been seeing the wind building up again in the sails of this trend over recent months. It’s an interesting one, because having a dig at Michelin, and the fine dining world it espouses, has been a popular activity for many years. But, unlike my experience with the DB Burger, when starred chefs put their take on mainstream dishes today, it seems everyone invariably swoons.

Consider the incredible story of chef Kieran O’Reilly, who trained in Michelin star kitchens and recently announced the opening of his own venture, Fjord in Lees, near Oldham, as a “really good butty shop with a fine-dining take on things”. He sold out his two weeks’ worth of stock in a mere 90 minutes as people flocked for his upmarket sandwiches. He immediately pivoted the business to a bookable sit-down sandwich dinner affair and expects it to be booked for six months in advance when he opens the reservations system.

Coqodoq sought to tap into the trend with its pop-up at Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat restaurant, in the City of London. The concept has been a massive success in New York City, with its bringing together of high-end fine dining and fast food through elevated fried chicken. The dishes include the signature chicken nuggets topped with Golden Daurenki caviar and a takeaway box that had social media sizzling.

Offering such dishes in the current climate sits well, because in times of stretched budgets, there is little willingness for people to take risks with food choices, and these mainstream dishes – polished by top chefs – are a great antidote. Arguably, the current move for seeking comfort in nostalgia fits into this narrative because it harks back to a time when we were less pressured by seemingly infinite choice. The dishes that are still around today from those past times are clearly proven winners, so restaurants at all ends of the market are latching onto this dynamic.

This has maybe reached its apotheosis with Corenucopia restaurant, where Michelin three-star chef Clare Smyth has created a whole menu full of nostalgic dishes but with her high-end spin on things. We are talking seafood vol-au-vents, toad-in-the-hole and a whole menu of potatoes – done nine ways, in fact – which must be the ultimate nostalgically comforting food. 

While the Michelin star chefs have adopted these classic dishes, there have been examples of the trend going the other way, with quick service restaurants (QSR) producing playful fine dining versions of their core dishes. Burger King had a Wagyu burger and currently has an Aberdeen Angus burger in its Gourmet Kings range, with meat sourced from British and Irish farmers, while Shake Shack introduced a French onion soup burger in a move its chief executive Rob Lynch called the “democratisation of fine dining”. 

While that might seem a little far-fetched on the back of a single limited time offer burger, it could just possibly be the harbinger of something way bigger – the democratisation of better food as both Michelin chefs and the major QSRs began to gradually move from their extremities into more of the centre ground.

Glynn Davis, editor, Retail Insider

This piece was originally published on Propel Info where Glynn Davis writes a regular Friday opinion piece. Retail Insider would like to thank Propel for allowing the reproduction of this column.