In two weeks, the Michelin Guide will recognize the new stars of French restaurants. However, this Monday, some establishments were subject to a demotion.
15 days before its ceremony consecrating the new stars, Michelin has handed in its salty ratings, downgrading, among others, a three-star restaurant: that of René and Maxime Meilleur in Savoie (La Bouitte), announced the director of the red guide. “It’s surprising that this is the only restaurant to lose a third star,” explains Franck Pinay-Rabaroust, editor-in-chief of the culinary media “Bouillant(e)s”. “It’s a family house and few in France have three stars. Does that mean that excessive resources or foreign funds are needed to maintain three stars,” he continues. The expert sees this as “a bad signal sent to independent houses and it is a shame for the human and family dimension and for these committed and regular chefs”.
Read also :
MAP. “Bib Gourmand”: “careful” cuisine at an “affordable” price… in Occitanie, where the 52 restaurants awarded by the Michelin Guide are located
In total, 28 starred establishments were revised downwards on Monday, a three-star, a two-star (the Auberge du Cheval Blanc of chef Pascal Bastian, in Alsace) and 26 have lost their only star, including 12 due to a change of chef or a movement of team. Here is the map of the establishments concerned:
This year, the Michelin director even notes a “clear and significant decline in establishments with downward revisions, yet in a remarkable context due to recruitment difficulties and above all a year of serious inflation”.
From three to two stars:
- René and Maxime Meilleur, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville (Savoie).
From two to one star:
- Auberge du Cheval Blanc, Lembach (Bas-Rhin)
From one star to a simple recommendation:
- Nature, Armentières (North)
- Les Oliviers, Bandol (Var)
- Le Bénaton, Beaune (Côte-d’Or)
- Val d’Auge, Bondues (North)
- René’ Sens, La Cadière-d’Azur (Var)
- La Signoria, Calvi (Upper Corsica)
- The Barbican, Carcassonne (Aude)
- Hostellerie de la Celle Abbey, La Celle (Var)
- Courban Castle, Courban (Côte-d’Or)
- The 1825 – La Table, Gesté (Maine-et-Loire)
- La Table de la Mainaz, Gex (Ain)
- Le Chiquito, Méry-sur-Oise (Val-d’Oise)
- Roza Jin, Nantes (Loire-Atlantique)
- ERH*, Paris 1st arrondissement
- Auberge Nicolas Flamel*, Paris 2nd
- Ogata, Paris 3rd
- L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon – St-Germain, Paris 3rd
- ASPIC, Paris 7th
- La Condesa, Paris 9th
- The Sand Castle Dune, Porspoder (Finistère)
- Le Foch, Reims (Marne)
- Le Sérac, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie)
- At the Sousceyrac Lunch, Sousceyrac-en-Quercy (Lot)
- Buerehiesel, Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin)
- The Cenacle, Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)
Removing the selection:
- Custom-made, Paris (1st arrondissement). Chef Thierry Marx has left the restaurant.
- Les Loges, Lyon (Rhône), currently under renovation and will not open its doors in 2023.
- Le Sénéchal, Sauveterre-de-Rouergue (Aveyron), sold in early 2024.
In 2023, Michelin’s demotions caused an earthquake, notably with the loss of the third star for stars Guy Savoy in Paris and Christopher Coutanceau in La Rochelle.