With a tasting menu, it's necessary to trust the chef to provide a balanced, exciting menu, and to do so safely. We were asked before ordering if we had any allergies and, from there on, the chef was free to surprise us.
Last week, another Michelin-star restaurant, RiFF in Valencia, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. At least 29 of its diners, over a four-day period, suffered some form of food poisoning and one, unfortunately, has died. At the time of writing, the cause has not been confirmed and it's also not known if the woman died directly from food poisoning or from choking on her vomit. It's possible that morel mushrooms, which are only grown wild and prized by gourmets, were the origin of the problem. Needless to say, it's a worrying time for all concerned.
It's by no means only Michelin-star restaurants that fail in some way, but they're more likely to make the news. Occasionally, there’s a story about a group of people being ill after a celebration dinner, but thankfully that's not common. When someone returns home after a meal out in a local restaurant and is sick, it's likely that it won’t make the papers; only the family will know about it and the person will soon recover. Indeed, it's quite possible to become ill after a home-cooked meal if the raw ingredients aren't fresh or cooked properly.
Besides trusting the cook, we also need to trust the supplier and grower in the food chain. When one link fails, the reputation of the others can be called into question. Feeding people is a responsibility that's taken seriously by professionals in the food industry and if something unfortunate happens, as at RiFF restaurant, other restaurateurs may admit that it could have inadvertently happened to them, too, at some time. Whether RiFF's star will be tarnished by the event will depend on the findings and the way that the restaurant owner reacts. At the moment, he has shown deep concern and has closed the restaurant until the facts are known. It is a sobering lesson for all restaurateurs, clearly showing how much care needs to be taken when serving their diners.