I started writing about food in 2010 when I founded my website. Before that, I had been taking a serious interest in restaurants and gastronomy for more than a decade and many people had said to me that I “really ought to do something with all that knowledge". When the New York based photographer Dana Lixenberg, whom I met in 2009, became the umpteenth person to say so, unwittingly she gave me the final push and before I knew it, I had started ElizabethOnFood.com.
Restaurant reviews feature prominently on my website and occasionally I write for the American food and restaurant website www.eater.com about the restaurant scenes in London, Amsterdam and Berlin. During my travels I mainly focus on Michelin starred restaurants in Europe and the United States. I don't consider myself to be a so-called "star chaser" but with a website like this it's inevitable that you end up with a ridiculous number of Michelin starred restaurants under your belt. In the last 15 years or so, I have visited 70+ three-star restaurants in Europe and the United States, a number of which multiple times, and I've sat at the table of almost all two-star restaurants in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands, and a good number in France, Spain and Belgium. I've stopped counting the one-star restaurants. Obviously good food is not just about Michelin stars, so on my website you will find reviews of other interesting restaurants as well, and on my (Instagram (30k followers) account you will find anything from Michelin stars to fast food, and from caviar to burger.
I review restaurants according to the following principles:
➤ Apart from hospitable gestures of a symbolic nature and importance (e.g. a glass of champagne or a cup of coffee/tea), I do not knowingly accept, nor do I seek, any subsidy, in any form, from anybody, as I wish to avoid any potential conflicts of interests
➤ I always pay for all the costs involved with my restaurant visits, including all travel expenses
➤ I do not vote for any restaurant list. I never have and I don't intend to either
➤ I do not review restaurants by invitation
➤ If I do get recognised in a restaurant, I will mention this in my review
If there are exceptional circumstances surrounding a restaurant meal, which cause me to diverge from these principles, I will provide an explicit disclosure in my review.
I rate restaurants on a 100-point scale* (inspired by the Robert Parker rating system):
- Extraordinary (96-100)
- Outstanding (93-95)
- Very good to Excellent (89-92)
- Above average to Good (86-88)
- Below average to Average (80-85)
- Avoid (anything below 80)
*60 points are awarded just for switching on the lights and serving me food
ElizabethOnFood is currently getting some 35,000 unique visitors per month, with visitors coming from more than 100 countries. My main audience are readers/followers from the United Kingdom, followed by the United States, the Netherlands and Germany.
There's no comment section on this website, but please feel free to contact me through Twitter (@ElizabethOnFood), Facebook (ElizabethOnFood) or with this contact form.
