Fine dining restaurants are the epitome of singular lavish gastronomy experiences. For some others however a total waste of time and money.
What do we define as good and quality food? On a relatively recent outing with a group of friends in an elegant restaurant, lively conversations weaved a whole web of endless answers. Good food, as Anthony Bourdain once stated, is often, most of the time simple food. Good raw materials and a cook’s ability to give soul to every recipe.
In times when image counts and lifestyle is reflected daily in choices, influencing universal values, good and quality food for many is synonymous with fine dining restaurants.
To easily understand the difference between a fine dining restaurant and an average restaurant, tavern, etc., it is enough to consider that a fine dining restaurant usually offers a refined, unique and for strong wallets experience of flavors and play of the senses. The decoration is lined with high quality materials, while many of them follow specific food rules, with which customers comply while there are many times that the philosophy of each store dictates an official dress code.
Fine dining restaurants are in many cases characterized as restaurants with white tablecloths, as dinnerware was traditionally placed on tables covered with white tablecloths. The tablecloths expressed the ultimate sense of luxury and unsurpassed gastronomic experience. The trend that determined the use of white tablecloths gradually faded, but the high level of service and luxurious atmosphere remained.
For the record, fine dining began in the 1780s, when healthy shops evolved into large “Parisian restaurants like Trois Frères and La Grande Taverne de Londres.” In France, César Ritz, a Swiss programmer, teamed up with the great French chef Auguste Escoffier at Monte Carlo’s Grand Hotel to lay the groundwork for the first restaurant to offer “luxury accommodation and gourmet food all under one roof”. In France, fine dining attracted people of the aristocratic class.
The first fine dining restaurants in the United States operated in New York City, such as Delmonico’s in the 19th century. The restaurant contained a cellar of 1,000 bottles and still remains in the same location today.
In Greece and according to the official data of the Michelin guide, in 2023, 31 restaurants were awarded, including 1 restaurant with 2 Michelin stars, 11 with 1 Michelin star, 5 of them with Bib Gourmand, 3 with Green star and 14 selected restaurants.
In international news, in 2023 (July 2023) France was the country with the most awarded restaurants in the world (625 in total).
The catering sector in Greece consists of 82,412 businesses, which employ 384,196 employees and is the 2nd most populous sector after retail.
Below you will find out the reasons why fine dining restaurants in a small country like Greece are not destined to succeed:
High raw material costs, the prices of which are passed on to the final consumer
High raw material prices are the average household’s almost daily nightmare. Especially for a business that has as its customer base about 1% of the population of a country of 11,000,000 people such as Greece with a specific gastronomic orientation and philosophy capable of affording enjoying creative degustation menus. Recent examples of international restaurants have highlighted the inability of these businesses to remain operational, alive in the consciousness of consumers as high-end businesses, pioneers of the international gastronomic arena.
Greek creative cuisine VS international cuisines
One of the most important reasons travelers visit Greece is its gastronomy. Authentic, multidimensional and holistic, the heart of Greek cuisine beats strongly in every corner of the planet. Internationally renowned Chefs are increasingly including Greek products in their menus, inspired by their culinary journeys. On the contrary, we propose Foies gras, Beluga caviar, miso, matcha, Black Angus etc.
Have we ever wondered if a traveler in Greece does not wish to visit another restaurant with fusion cuisine that he will most likely find in his homeland but explore flavors that he has been informed, read or experiences that relatives and friends have brought to him from their own trips to Greece? Should there be a shift in what our country really has to offer and how all this unexplored treasure will be properly promoted to ourselves?
When lifestyle dictates and rewards only… fine dining
Culinary art is defined by creation and inspiration. But above all, adrenaline secretion in a highly competitive environment where physical endurance, pressure for better results and psychological fluctuations star in the everyday life of a kitchen. It is worth mentioning the image that is projected as the established order of things by publications, food and leisure guides of amateurs and not professionals of the industry with the aim of profit and rewarding a portion of fine dining restaurant professionals with social media criteria and not necessarily based on performance or innovation.
It would be beneficial for the spotlight to turn to everyday kitchens establishments, and customers, visiting them to taste simple, well-cooked food, without sophistication.
Non-repeated customers
How often would you celebrate your wedding or birthday anniversary or even a promotion in a fine dining restaurant? The desire for unprecedented culinary thrills is not endless, especially when this translates into a multi-euro menu in your account. However, many fine dining restaurants, in order to attract consumers of middle economic strata, organize theme nights with wine tastings or at certain times of the year offer special menus for the general public.
During peak tourist seasons, the percentage of new customers who come to the ‘temples of taste’ to enjoy multi-star menus increases.
In conclusion, we would add that visiting a fine dining restaurant is not part of the everyday life of Greeks.
Staff expertise in a specific taste culture and background is required
The pattern of working life in a fine dining environment is not characterized by diversity and quality of life and requires specialization in a specific taste culture and techniques, limiting for many professionals who seek acquaintance with many cuisines until they mature professionally and settle on a specific one. Greek cuisine is susceptible to a lot of experimentation as long as the taste result remains unchanged while the same does not apply to French or Japanese cuisine, which have established specific recipes and principles around their gastronomy.
Lack of gastronomic culture
The intense pace set by everyone’s daily routine has set fast and junk food high in our preferences. As a result, we have turned our backs on quality food, but also by setting the family table, what was once full of all kinds of flavors, to a luxury, mainly for some special moments or celebrations.
It is also worth mentioning that our everyday life has stayed away from home cooking, and therefore from contact with quality raw material.
The above series of events, inevitably, lead to a lack of gastronomic culture, resulting in good food seeming unaffordable, financially unaffordable and a luxury for a few.
So, it is imperative that our good habits around the table and food return and so maybe something will change around our gastronomic philosophy.
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