The other new three-star spot is La Table du Castellet in Le Castellet in southern France, where chef Fabien Ferré runs the kitchen.
“I’m not so good at speeches, I’m better in the kitchen,” he said at the awards ceremony this week, surrounded by the other three-star restaurant chefs. At 35 years old, he is the youngest in the category.
His inspired cooking features on menus such as “Expression Marine” which might include a dish like mackerel with aloe vera, celery and kiwi.
Ferré took over the restaurant from mentor Christophe Bacquié, who earned three stars for the establishment in 2018. The restaurant closed in 2022, and Ferré reopened it in 2023. In so swiftly earning the top ranking, the young chef has pulled off a notable feat.
The stars were announced on Monday, March 18 at a live event in Tours, a city on the lower reaches of the Loire River in central France that is famous for its creamy pork spread, rillettes.
France is the home of the Michelin guide and the country with the world’s most Michelin stars. This year was marked by an increasing focus on regions outside the French capital, according to Gwendal Poullennec, international director of Guide Michelin, who spoke at the introduction of the event.
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The ceremony came as economies have slowed worldwide and consumers are still struggling with higher living costs.
Ferré says he has witnessed first-hand the importance of earning three Michelin stars for the hotel-restaurant’s business. “From one day to the next the phone started ringing off the hook,” he says.
As of now, he says, they still have availability for the Olympics. “But who knows. Maybe in a couple of days that might not be the case.”
This year there are eight new two-star restaurants, a notable number that is double last year’s count. Among them is one of France’s most famous spots, Le Jules Verne on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Another new two-star restaurant is Les Grandes Alpes in the resort town of Courchevel in the Alps; on stage, chef Sylvestre Wahid described his journey from arriving in France as a child from Pakistan without speaking French to now having two Michelin stars.
This year there are 52 new one-star restaurants in the country. One of them is Le Tout-Paris in the Cheval Blanc hotel, which features a modern brasserie menu with dishes like blue lobster in a bergamot infused sauce. Another new one star is Espadon Restaurant at the Ritz Paris, headed by its first female chef, Eugénie Béziat.
“I follow my inspiration, it’s who I am,” she said, accepting her award. It’s not the first time Béziat has headed a one-star kitchen; previously she had one at La Flibuste in Villeneuve-Loubet in Provence, southeast France. Outside Paris, new one-stars included Alpage in Courchevel.
Ahead of this year’s announcement, the Michelin guide announced bad news for some restaurants. The publication downgraded René et Maxime Meilleur from three stars to two; the restaurant is run by the eponymous father-and-son team in the Savoie region of eastern France.
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Last year, the same thing happened to one of the country’s most famous chefs, Guy Savoy, for his restaurant in Paris, while Christopher Coutanceau’s fine-dining seafood restaurant in La Rochelle, western France, also met the same fate.
Altogether, 28 restaurants were downgraded this year, including another notable dining room, Auberge du Cheval Blanc in Lembach, Haut-Rhin, northeast France, which dropped to one star from two. Twenty-six establishments lost their one-star status.
When Paris hosts the Olympics this summer, the country’s gastronomic heritage will be highlighted. Alain Ducasse, whose French-based restaurant empire has the most Michelin stars of any on earth, will prepare a dinner for about 100 visiting heads of state. The meal is scheduled for July 25, the day before the opening ceremony, to be served under the Louvre Pyramid.
Among the special awards given out were eight to pastry chefs, for a category called “Passion Desserts”. One of the winners was Aurora Storari from Hemicycle in Paris; her specialities include roasted Jerusalem artichoke soufflé.
This is the third year in a row Michelin has held its award ceremony outside Paris; last year, chefs celebrated at an event in Strasbourg, eastern France, and the year before in Cognac, southwest France.
The Michelin guide has been around since 1900; in 1926 it began awarding stars.
France’s three-Michelin-star restaurants. An asterisk (*) denotes a new selection.
Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen, Paris, 8 arrondissement
AM par Alexandre Mazzia, Marseille
Arpège, Paris, 7 arrondissement
Assiette Champenoise, Tinqueux, Grand Est
Auberge du Vieux Puits, Fontjoncouse, Occitanie
Epicure, Paris, 8 arrondissement
Flocons de Sel, Megève, Haute-Savoie
Georges Blanc, Vonnas, AinKei, Paris, 1st arrondissement
La Marine, L’Herbaudière on Ile de Noirmoutier
L’Ambroisie, Paris, 4 arrondissement
L’Oustau de Baumanière, Les Baux-de-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur *
La Table du Castellet, Le Castellet, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
La Vague d’Or – Cheval Blanc-St. Tropez, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
La Villa Madie, Cassis, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
Le 1947 – Cheval Blanc, Courchevel, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Le Cinq, Paris, 8th arrondissement
Le Clos des Sens, Annecy-le-Vieux, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes *
Le Gabriel, Paris, 8 arrondissement
Le Louis XV – Alain Ducasse à l’Hôtel de Paris, Monaco
Le Petit Nice, Marseille
Le Pré Catelan, Paris, 16 arrondissement
Les Prés d’Eugénie – Michel Guérard, Eugénie-les-Bains, Nouvelle Acquitaine
Maison Lameloise, Chagny, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Mirazur, Menton, Alpes-Maritimes
Pic, Valence, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, 8 arrondissement
Plenitude, Cheval Blanc, 1 arrondissement
Régis et Jacques Marcon, Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Troisgros – Le Bois sans Feuilles, Ouches, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
