Michelin Restaurants - The Best of The Best

Michelin stars are a well-known concept - everyone has heard of this prestigious reward. The Michelin stars became a worldwide-known symbol of luxury, delicious food, and renowned restaurants.

Everything started in the 1900s in the early days of car travel. To encourage clients to buy more cars, the owners of the Michelin Tire Company released a guide for French motorists called the Michelin Guide. This marketing trick was supposed to increase the number of cars, but in the end, it became the whole brand after releasing the guides for more countries and translating them into English.

The Michelin stars were first introduced in 1926, but their concept became more polished in 1936, and this judging system is still used today.

Since then, the Michelin stars have been the ultimate sign of extraordinary cuisine and glamorous dining experience.

Michelin Restaurant Menu Characteristics

When Less Makes More

So let's look at the menus of the Michelin star restaurants. At first glance, we can see that the menus are straightforward, with the only graphic element being the restaurant logo and a decorative element at the top of the page. The menu doesn't feel boring, though, thanks to the fonts - the resonance between multiple font styles and colors makes the menu attractive to the eye.

For example, let's see The French Laundry. The stylish name of the restaurant and the small detail on the down-left of the page make it coherent with the brand identity. Still, except for these two images, the menu does not contain any other kind of visual decorations. What makes the menu appealing is the variety of colors and styles of the fonts.

Instead of listing all of the allergens, you can use menu icons. If you want to find out more about menu icons, check out our article!

Restaurant's Menu Symbols - Design and Meaning

Consistency Works Wonders

In your restaurant, there can be several menus at once. A main menu, a drinks menu, a seasonal menu - you could use a few types of menu carts. When you have multiple menus, consistency between them is crucial. For example, look at the Ultraviolet menus. The restaurant Ultraviolet is based in Shanghai, where the competition is stringent. Ultraviolet composes its menus in a very eye-catching way - playing with color, adding elements of both the English and Chinese languages and cultures,  and adding elements of music to their design. They offer a few possible sets, and - every menu follows the same basic design principles. This adds consistency and a sense of familiarity to the menus.

While all your menus don't have to look exactly the same, like in Ultraviolet, it's good if they have a similar vibe. A uniform font style or similar artwork and colors give the additional menus a sense of brand affiliation.

Food Images? It Depends

In many restaurants, the desire to have food images on the menu is irresistible. Let's take a look at the Michelin restaurants, though. We can see a repeatable pattern here - food images on the menu are strictly connected with the country's culture, where the restaurant's cuisine comes from, and the overall cuisine trend that the restaurant follows.

Considering The French Laundry and Ultraviolet we can see that images are rare. In French or fusion cuisine, images of food on the menu are uncommon. But let's see the menu of Kikunoi, a traditional Japanese restaurant. Asian menus are traditionally based on photos of the food, so including them in a Japanese restaurant looks natural and does not interfere with the restaurant's trend.

More Examples of Michelin Restaurant Menus - Inspire Yourself!