Michelin reveals 62 newly starred French restaurants

TOURS

The Michelin Guide unveiled its annual list of the best French restaurants on March 18, praising the "cultural dynamism" of a new generation of chefs, though again honoring only a handful of women.

After a long period of resting on the laurels of its gastronomic reputation, France has seen a flourishing of new establishments in the last decade or so, absorbing international ideas and with a greater focus on sustainability.

Two restaurants achieved the highest pinnacle of three stars at the annual ceremony, this year held in the Loire Valley city of Tours: Le Gabriel in Paris and La Table du Castellet in the southern Provence region.

A total of 62 restaurants were awarded at least one star, most joining the Michelin ranks for the first time, including 23 that have been open for less than a year.

Among the innovative restaurants earning a star were Nhome in Paris, where there is only one table for 20 guests in a vaulted cellar opposite the Louvre, and Espadon at the Ritz, where chef Eugenie Beziat has brought daring African fusion dishes into the historic hotel.

Reflecting the continued male dominance of the industry, Beziat was one of just six women chefs being awarded a star.

"There are too few women at the head of kitchens despite their being more and more numerous in culinary schools and restaurant teams," said Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec on the stage.

"It's a reality we deplore," he said, but added he was still hopeful thanks to "strong initiatives to promote talented young women."

La Table du Castellet, which focuses on locally-sourced seafood and vegetables, went straight to the top ranking in its first year under Fabien Ferre. At just 35, he is currently the youngest chef in France with three stars.

"It's an enormous challenge every day and I'm so glad to be able to experience this moment with my colleagues," Ferre told AFP.

The Michelin Guide celebrated his "perfectly executed creative dishes" and "deep and punchy sauces."

He worked under the restaurant's previous head chef, Christophe Bacquie, who told AFP: "I predicted the best for him, it happened faster than I thought."

Le Gabriel, a highly exclusive eatery near the Champs-Elysees in Paris, is led by chef Jerome Banctel, who was praised for his technical excellence in reworking classics from his native Brittany.

There are now 30 restaurants with three stars in France, 75 with two, and 534 with one.

"French gastronomy is no longer stuck in the past," Poullennec told AFP before the ceremony.

The 2024 crop marks "the emergence of a whole generation that we could feel coming up," he added.

Many of those rewarded put a focus on sustainable, locally-sourced cuisine.

"There is a very clear emphasis on the 'terroirs,' the local agricultural fabric," said Poullennec.

Michelin announced demotions two weeks ago, done in advance to avoid any bitter taste at the ceremony.

There was also an outcry when the Michelin downgraded some restaurants in 2021 at the height of the industry's nightmarish Covid-19 slump.

In order to remain respected by readers, such incidents are "difficult but necessary," said Poullennec.

A total of 28 lost a star this year, including one three-star establishment.

The annual ceremony has become a touring affair around France since the Covid-19 pandemic, with the last two held in Strasbourg and Cognac.

That reflects the spread of France's best restaurants beyond Paris, with regional eateries accounting for most of the new stars in recent years.

Some 40 small municipalities and villages find themselves with a Michelin-starred restaurant in the new edition.

Among top chefs, the Michelin Guide is as feared and criticized as it is respected.

Its anonymous reviewers can make or break reputations, with very tangible impacts on the fragile bottom lines of restaurants.

Their final report sticks to five criteria: the quality of the ingredients, the culinary technique, the harmony of the flavours, the emotion which the chef is seeking to convey through their menu, and the restaurant's consistency over time. The latter requires multiple visits.

Michelin does not say how many it employs, part of the strict secrecy it maintains to ensure they are never recognised by a restaurant and given preferential treatment.

The guide does reveal that its inspectors currently include 25 different nationalities, and men and women of all ages, operating across the 45 destinations covered by Michelin.

As director of the Michelin Guide for the past five years, Poullennec has the power to make the most hardened kitchen masters tremble in their chef's hat.

But that is the power of the Michelin Guide rather than the man himself, he insists.

Poullennec's motto, according to team members, is "On the move," which he applies to himself as much as the famous red guidebook he has helped spread around the world.

Tyre-manufacturing brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin launched their first guide in 1900 to encourage motorists to discover restaurants around France.

It has since expanded to 45 destinations around the world, and will this year launch a similar guide for hotels, the best receiving keys instead of stars.