I went to the first Michelin Awards Ceremony in Scotland - it was wonderful, but something bothered me

I’ve never seen Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum looking as beautiful, all lit in pink, with star logos projected on the marble floors and vaulted ceiling.

The Michelin man - aka some poor person in a presumably very hot inflatable suit and no obvious breathing holes - was there to meet and greet on the red carpet.

There was a buzz of excitement.

As we waited for the evening event to begin, the chefs nervously milled around, drinking Heidsieck Champagne or whisky cocktails, while peering at Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dali.

At 6pm, there was no food - yet - and I felt that it was ironic that I had to sneakily eat a squashed banana out of my bag.

Just before the ceremony started downstairs in the main hall, the organ player piped up with a surreal rendition of Sweet Caroline, and we were told to leave our glasses and head down to our seats.

“But what will we drink down there?” said one distraught chef.

It was to be a great night for Scotland, new stars-wise, as two of the best Edinburgh restaurants - Avery and Lyla - bagged awards.

However, for a moment, it looked like there was a no show.

Owner of Lyla, Stuart Ralston, who also looks after the Capital’s other top venues, including Aizle and Noto, quickly made it to the stage, but Rodney Wages, of Stockbridge eatery, Avery, was AWOL.

“This has never happened before,” said the award host, Amanda Stretton, but then he appeared, just in time, to put on his white jacket and take a star trophy.

I was happy to see another Scottish mention, for Jasmine Sherry, who won the Michelin Service Award, for Fish Shop in Ballater.

The Bib Gourmands come later. There was a smattering of 36, including ones for Edinburgh’s Skua and Ardfern, and Glasgow’s GaGa, as well as their newbie, Margo. According to the journalist who was sitting next to me, loads of the chefs at the event had been spotted eating at Margo the night before.

Until the night itself, I was also totally oblivious to the fact that those who retain their stars don’t find out until after the event.

I was put right by Tyler King, the young chef at Edinburgh’s Michelin-starred Condita. He took over from former head chef Conor Toomey, and was hoping they’d manage to keep their award.

As we got the coach to the after-party at The Old Fruitmarket, everyone was scrolling on their phones, to find out if they’d kept or lost their stars.

There were a few deep sighs. King retained his, which is a relief.

Overall, it was a really wonderful night, except for one thing.

Perhaps it was naive of me to assume otherwise, but I was struck by the absence of women.

I know that it’s a male-dominated profession, but it’s not until a large swathe from the top tier of kitchens are in a single space that you think, wow, this really is bro-tastic. (And very white, too).

Apart from a few notable and familiar exceptions, like Claire Smyth, Julie Lin from GaGa and Lorna McNee of Glasgow’s Cail Bruich, the room was absolutely packed with suited, booted, quiffed and tattooed dudes.

The disparity was at its most stark when all of the 22 new star winning restaurants were represented by blokes, except for one woman - Emily Roux, from Caractere, who won with her husband, Diego Ferrari, for their London venue.

And, as the daughter of Michel Roux Jr and granddaughter of Albert Roux, she is total cheffing royalty.

To presumably counter this disparity, later on in the ceremony, Michelin played a short film about women and cheffing, which featured interviews with the likes of Smyth, McNee and Adejoke Bakare.

Their contributions were great.

McNee told a story about how her dad had told her that nobody would want to marry her, because of the cooking-related burns on her arms, and Smyth bigged up Gordon Ramsay for his support and said something about not having kids and getting a dog instead.

However, the general underlying Michelin message seemed to be, come on girls, believe in yourselves and you can do it.

Perhaps I was hangry, but it bugged me. I’m sure they didn’t mean for it to be disingenuous, but I do wonder why we’re still stuck at this point in the conversation, with the onus on women to do something about sexism. This is a systemic problem, rather than a self esteem one.

It isn’t sustainable for Michelin either. You can’t give almost all the stars to boys every year, then show a wee film afterwards.

Are there really so few talented women working in kitchens, or are they regarded differently?

I wonder how many of this award’s inspectors are men, though they are anonymous, so we can only guess. If I was to hedge a bet, I’d say most.

Although I might have brushed this kind of thing off years ago, the global swing to the right makes me feel more nervous than usual. I remember discussing this same subject nearly twenty years ago, and things seem to have deteriorated.

Anyway, next time the awards ceremony comes to Scotland, I’ll be there. What a night.

It’s a total coup for us, and I’m very happy for the well-deserved winners.

I just hope that one day we’ll see a few more women going up on stage.

www.guide.michelin.com