Michelin Guide

The Michelin Guide or Michelin Red Guide is a guide book about restaurants and hotels, published by the Michelin company. Michelin's main activity is tyre manufacturing, but they also publish a range of maps and tourist guides, which are broadly colour coded. When Michelin Guide is used alone it invariably refers to the annually published restaurant and hotel guides, with red covers.

Related Topics:
Guide book - Restaurant - Hotels - Michelin - Tyre - Map

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In 1900, André Michelin published the first edition of a guide to help wealthy, gastronomically-oriented individuals choose hotels and restaurants while travelling by the then newly available motor car. The guide is the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide. Its restaurant ratings (one to three Michelin stars) are probably the most famous and influential gastronomic ratings in the world. The guide lists, in several volumes, restaurants in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Benelux, Switzerland, UK and Ireland, and a selection of large European cities. Each guide is generally only available in the language of the country for which it is published. Although hotels appear in the guide, including some without restaurants, it is generally perceived as a restaurant guide.

Related Topics:
1900 - Gastronomically - Hotel - Europe - Stars - France - Italy - Spain - Portugal - Germany - Benelux - Switzerland - UK - Ireland

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The Michelin Guide has historically had many more listings than its rival guides, relying on condensed summaries and symbols to describe each establishment in as little as two lines. Restaurants rated with a star were allowed to describe three signature dishes. Recently, however, very short summaries (2-3 lines) have been added for many establishments, for example 9,000 in France.

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The Red Guide uses anonymous inspections and does not charge for entries; conversely a majority of restaurant and hotel guides are little more than advertising opportunities for their clients.

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The guide awards stars (1 to 3) to a small minority of restaurants of special gastronomical quality. Stars are awarded sparingly; for instance, in the UK and Ireland 2004 guide, out of 5,500 entries, there are 98 with one star, 11 with two stars, and only 3 with three stars. Michelin stars are taken very seriously in the restaurant business, where the addition or loss of a star can mean a difference in turnover of millions of euros. Some three star restaurants are able to charge hundreds of euros for a meal on the strength of their reputation.

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In February, 2003, a prominent French chef, Bernard Loiseau, committed suicide when his widely-admired restaurant Côte d'Or in Saulieu, Burgundy, was rumoured to be in danger of a downgrade by Michelin from three to two stars. However, most news reports attributed this suicide to a downgrade by the rival Gault Millau guide, the Michelin guide having stated he would not be downgraded.

Related Topics:
February - 2003 - Bernard Loiseau - Suicide - Saulieu - Burgundy - Gault Millau

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