The IENS Guide: the grotesque Dutch equivalent of the Michelin Guide.

You can probably judge one country's food culture (and standards) by its restaurant guides. France has the Michelin guide, Italy has the Gambero Rosso, Holland has IENS, the "independent and reliable" restaurant guide.
The logo looks elegant and authoritative but, as the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover. Literally.
Quickly browse through its pages and you'll find out that the yutz who wrote the guide can't tell the difference between eating and stuffing junk down your throat.
Of course, everything is subjective. But this guide crosses the line of ridicule.
They give a 1 to 10 mark to food, service and decor. Let's stick to food, since service doesn't even exist here.
The "independent and reliable" IENS guide gives a 7.5 out of 10 mark to.... Burger King!
KFC gets a 7 out of 10.
De Kas, a fine restaurant opened by a Michelin starred chef, gets 7.8. And La Rive, the only 2 Michelin stars restaurant in Amsterdam, gets 8.5.
So there's only 0.3 points between De Kas and Burger King, and only 1 point between Burger King and La Rive.
Interesting.
But this pathetic imitation of a guide is filled with tons of hilarious gems: Small World, a decent take-away place on Binnen Oranjestraat 14 serves sandwiches, quiches and salads that are probably considered exquisite by Dutch standards but they're just that: sandwiches, quiches and salads. It's not even technically a restaurant. But who cares, right?
Their score? 8.5 out of 10. Just like La Rive.

Comments

[pepe]

Iens isn't the Dutch Michelin. It is a site where readers can give votes for restaurants they visited. If two restaurants get the same votes, it only means the visitors where equally satisfied, not that both restaurants where equal in quality. It all depends on expactations, price and so on.

www.lekker.nl is comparable with Michelin.

[Morris Young]

If a man comes to your front door and says he is conducting a survey And asks you to show him your bum, do not show him your bum. This is a scam. He only wants to see your bum. I wish I had got this yesterday. I feel so stupid and cheap. -The Bum http://www.widgetmate.coma

[larble]

haha maybe it's backwards and the 10 is bad and 1 is good? who knows