Every line below is quoted as published, with its source. Lines from the two earlier books are the speaker's own words from their first person profile; lines from The Luxury of Attention are as the book records them.
In my opinion, each table is a single judge. Therefore, in a restaurant like Piazza Duomo, with just 11 tables serving lunch and dinner, we are theoretically judged 22 times each day.
Enrico Crippa, Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy)
The chef of Piazza Duomo on the stakes of every service.
Every morning I wake up and on my way to Le Bernardin I think about what I need to do as a chef. I'm not thinking about maintaining the awards. I believe that if we work hard and focus on what we do best, the awards will follow.
Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin (New York, United States)
On the stars, and on not thinking about them.
There can never be a perfect dish, but there can be perfect moments as judgment of food will always be subjective.
Emmanuel Stroobant, Saint Pierre and Shoukouwa (Singapore)
The chef of Saint Pierre on what perfection can mean.
The perfect dish is always perfect until someone else makes it even better.
Joachim Wissler, then chef of Vendôme at Schloss Bensberg (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany)
On a standard that keeps moving.
Every plate can always be improved so we must never get complacent and think that we have achieved perfection.
José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen and the José Andrés Group (Washington, DC, United States)
On the danger of arriving.
There is the perfect balance, perfect temperature, and perfect technique, but a dish is never perfect because of variations in climate, season and environment.
Nicolai Nørregaard, Kadeau Copenhagen and Kadeau Bornholm (Denmark)
On why the same dish is never the same.
Creating the perfect dish is a struggle because perfection is intimately tied to a snapshot or a moment in time.
Jonnie Boer, De Librije (Zwolle, The Netherlands)
On perfection as a moment, not a recipe.
I don't think the perfect dish exists because perfection calls for obsession, which has a negative feeling.
Virgilio Martínez, chef and owner of Central (Lima, Peru)
On keeping the pursuit healthy.
Our motto is that we cannot change great things every day, but we can change small things, and at the end of the year, 365 small changes add up to something transformative.
Eneko Atxa, Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Spain)
The chef of Azurmendi on how a restaurant improves.
Failure means learning and learning means progression.
Matthew Orlando, then chef and owner of Amass (Copenhagen, Denmark); Amass closed in 2022, and Orlando opened ESSE Copenhagen in October 2025
On what a failed dish is for.
With regard to failure, I have long stood by the phrase, you learn from your mistakes.
Guy Savoy, Restaurant Guy Savoy (Paris, France)
On the oldest rule in the kitchen.
I learned that we must experiment and foster risk-taking, which involves cycling through mistakes and failures quickly until you find things that work and that will drive business and brand loyalty.
Nicholas Yarnell, then General Manager of Six Senses Douro Valley (Portugal)
On running a hotel as a series of experiments.
We never criticize such decisions, and whenever mistakes are made we treat them as learning opportunities.
Alexander van Gastel, then General Manager of Pulitzer Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
On what happens when an empowered colleague gets it wrong.
You learn from your mistakes, and that's exactly what I did.
Michael Ziemer, then General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Taipei (Taiwan)
On an early mistake of his own.
Negative feedback is the breakfast of champions.
Gerrit Graef, then General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh's general manager on complaints.
I don't think chefs can ever achieve perfection, since every three Michelin star cook has his or her own unique, signature style.
Kevin Fehling, The Table (Hamburg, Germany)
The chef of The Table in Hamburg on why there is no single standard.
It's the nature of our job to always be under constant criticism, but you always have to filter that criticism before you internalize it.
Georgianna Hiliadaki and Nikos Roussos, Funky Gourmet (Athens, Greece); Funky Gourmet closed in 2019, and the pair’s group now runs ventures including OPSO in London
The chefs of Funky Gourmet on reading reviews.
When I first received a bad review or was criticized in some way, I used to react with nervousness, but now the criticism itself, and the frequency of that criticism has changed.
Albert Adrià, then chef of Tickets and the elBarri group, Barcelona
On what changes with experience.
We take constructive comments at heart and will always consider what people offer us as feedback.
Richard Ekkebus, Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental (Hong Kong)
The chef of Amber on feedback.
I perfectly admit that there are a million things I don't know, and that's why as a kid I made a promise to myself to learn something new every single day.
Cristina Bowerman, Glass Hostaria (Rome, Italy)
On a promise that still holds.
I try to instill in my team that they remain humble and always continue learning.
Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin (New York, United States)
On humility as a working practice.
If you don't listen, you don't learn, and if you don't learn, you cannot evolve as a leader.
Luc Delafosse, then Managing Director of Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills (United States)
On the chain from listening to leading.
Unless the recipe is perfect, I believe that certain dishes need to evolve because the world has evolved.
Ricardo Costa, The Yeatman (Porto, Portugal)
The chef of The Yeatman on why a dish changes.