What are strategies to identify restaurants where you will learn as much as possible?
How do I identify restaurants that offer excellent training/education? I considered looking at the number of chefs that learned at a certain restaurant and afterwards achieved a Michelin star or won prices etc. However, I could not find any database for this kind of information. Does such a database exist? If yes, would it be a good approach? I don't know many people in the culinary world who could recommend a suitable restaurant to me. As an alternative, is there some kind of forum with this kind of expertise? Maybe the chat of this site? Or is there a ranking of restaurants with regard to their educational quality? If it matters, I am interested in restaurants in Europe, especially in Germany.
TLDR: What are strategies to identify restaurants where you will learn as much as possible?
Edit Based on the advice from the comments some additional information: I don't have experience as a chef until now and my goal is to learn as much as possible within two or three years. I don't necessarily need a formal degree, but ideally I would also obtain one.
Best Answer
There is a forum: eGullet, which is an online message board for culinary professionals.
Try their Culinary Classifieds for staging advertisements, and Restaurant Life to ask about advice on how to find a good stage.
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Answer 2
There are probably lists of restaurants that accept interns, but those will be in the hand of culinary schools.
Those restaurants will have agreements with the culinary schools that covers the curriculum and maybe costs associated with the internship.
If you go with the culinary school way, you will already be "trained" in some way, you will have a base education where you will be useful in some ways to the restaurant; the risks to the restaurants are minimal. Depending on the laws (germany?) you might be paid or not.
If you go the "independent" way, without any basic education or training, you might/will be hired as a dishwasher or a kitchen runner or busboy; as an employee, you will/should be paid.
It will be your responsibility to learn by watching, by asking questions and eventually by asking the chef/owner for increased responsibility in the restaurant, this is a medium/long term endeavour.
You will probably try the restaurant dish at your home (or at the restaurant in your own time if the owner is cool with that)
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You need to identify what kind of restaurant or cooking you want to work for, either high end restaurants (for example michelin star), less formal bistro/diner or even small catering companies or even a large hotel kitchen.
Go through the list of restaurants in your area, look at the menus/website, get a peek inside the restaurant (seating area), see if it looks like a place people enjoy, or a place you'd like to work for.
If you see a place that you'd like to apply, call the restaurant and see if they would have an opening for a person like you; keep it clear and open about your goals.
Good luck.
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