Very recently, a restaurant in Manchester, in the north-west of England, won the city's first Michelin star in 40 years. We talk about the Michelin Guide and the effect of winning one of its prestigious stars. Yes, because this restaurant, Mana it's called, opened less than a year ago.最近，位于英格兰西北部的曼彻斯特有一家餐厅获得了该市四十年来的第一颗米其林星。我们今天要谈的，就是米其林指南以及获得这一权威星级后的影响。是的，这家名为 Mana 的餐厅开业还不到一年。

And as soon as it was awarded the star, it became fully booked for months ahead, well into the next year. Yeah, and good news also for Manchester, Richard. Once a restaurant in a town gets given a star, it elevates not just the restaurant's profile but that of the city too.一旦获得米其林星级，这家餐厅立刻变得一位难求，订位排到了好几个月之后，甚至延续到下一年。是啊，Richard，这对曼彻斯特来说也是个好消息。因为一旦一座城市有餐厅获得米其林星，不仅餐厅的声誉得到提升，整个城市的形象也会随之提高。

I mean, quite simply, people want to come to a place which has a Michelin-starred restaurant. Yeah, so it all seems a very positive thing, doesn't it? The most Michelin-starred chef, who was French, he claimed that the stars were financially transformative. Yes, indeed, because I think he said with one Michelin star you can get about 20% more business.很简单，人们总是想去有米其林星级餐厅的地方。是啊，这听起来一切都很正面，不是吗？拥有最多米其林星星的那位法国厨师就曾说过，米其林星对餐厅的经济效益有“颠覆性的作用”。没错，他说获得一颗星后，生意可以增长大约20%。

Two stars, 40% more business, and with three stars you'll do twice as much business. That's 100% improvement. So you'd think then all restaurants would want to get at least star, but that is not necessarily the case.拿到两颗星，生意增长40%；而三颗星的餐厅，营业额可以翻倍，也就是提升100%。听起来每家餐厅都该梦想至少拿到一颗星，但事实并非如此。

Gaining a star, surely that can only be a positive thing. Actually some restaurants return their stars and don't actually want to be in the Guide. That sounds very odd.获得米其林星，照理说应该是件好事吧？但实际上，有些餐厅选择“退星”，甚至不想再出现在米其林指南里。这听起来相当奇怪。

Why would they do that? Two main reasons, right? One is undesirable customer expectations. Ah, OK. The customers expect too much, do they? Well, as soon as you become a Michelin-starred restaurant, then customers have... they expect a certain style of food and formal dining.他们为什么要这么做呢？主要有两个原因。第一个是顾客的期望变得“难以招架”。哦？是顾客期望太高了吗？没错，一旦餐厅获得米其林星，顾客便会期待一种特定风格的菜肴和正式的用餐体验。

So restaurants that, especially those that serve very, very good but perhaps more simple food, they start to get loads of complaints from customers. Ah, the pressure. The pressure's really on, isn't it? For example, there was one chef, she had a restaurant in a garden centre and she said it changed the atmosphere.于是，那些原本提供非常美味但较为简朴菜肴的餐厅，就会突然收到一堆顾客投诉。啊，这压力确实不小，对吧？例如有一位女厨师，她的餐厅开在一个花园中心里，她说获得星级后，整个餐厅的氛围都变了。

Instead of people coming in and being surprised how good the food was, they came expecting something very special and they complained, for example, that there wasn't tablecloths on the wooden tables. They didn't like the rustic feel, they wanted something posher, did they? Yeah. The other thing is that the chefs are overwhelmed by the response.以前，顾客走进来时往往惊喜于食物的美味；但现在，他们带着极高的期望而来，然后抱怨木桌上没有铺桌布。原本的乡村风格不再被欣赏，他们反而希望环境更华丽。是的。另一方面，厨师们也被这种反应压得喘不过气来。

You talked about that restaurant in Manchester, completely full up. And then the thing is, Richard, you've got this star. Any minute now, any day, without anybody knowing, a judge can come into your restaurant and decide whether or not you should keep that star or not.你刚提到曼彻斯特那家餐厅——订位已经排满。而问题在于，Richard，一旦你有了这颗星，任何时候、任何一天，米其林评审员都可能悄悄走进你的餐厅，决定你是否还能保住这颗星。

So the pressure on the chefs to maintain that star is enormous. And if you lose that star... If you lose a star, you can actually have fewer customers than before. People think it's gone downhill.因此，厨师们为了维持这颗星所承受的压力极大。而一旦失去了星级……顾客甚至可能比以前还少，因为人们会认为餐厅“变差了”。

Now, an example of this, a restaurant in Dublin, right, lost its star and as a result, profits declined by 76% and eventually the restaurant was forced to close. Oh dear. So it's a double-edged sword, really.比如，有一家位于都柏林的餐厅在失去米其林星后，利润下滑了76%，最终被迫关门。真糟糕。看来这真是一把双刃剑啊。

So perhaps, Richard, you won't be surprised to hear that in fact, a few years ago, a celebrated French chef wanted to lose one of his three stars. But surely that is the industry's highest accolade. That's the right, the top.所以，Richard，也许你不会惊讶地听到，其实几年前有一位著名的法国厨师，主动要求摘掉他三颗星中的一颗。可那可是厨师界的最高荣誉啊。没错，顶级的象征。

He said he wanted to be allowed to cook excellent food, but away from the frenzy of star ratings and the anxiety over Michelin's anonymous food judges, it just wasn't worth the stress. It's interesting then, isn't it, that becoming the best in the business is one thing, but maintaining that is even more demanding.他说，他只想专注于烹饪美食，而不想再被星级排名的狂热和对匿名米其林评审的焦虑所折磨。这种压力，根本不值得。真是有趣——成为业界最优秀的人是一回事，但要持续保持在那个位置，却更艰难。