Fifty-seven new restaurants were added to the 2018 MICHELIN Guide France, which now has a grand total of 621 Michelin-starred restaurants, an increase from the 616 included in 2017. The big news for this year is the addition of two new three-starred restaurants—Christophe Bacquié and La Maison des Bois - Marc Veyrat.
Housed in the Hotel du Castellet, Christophe Bacquié's eponymous restaurant prepares a number of signature dishes, such as his modern aioli, vegetables from local market gardeners and Mediterranean octopus.
"A real ode to the produce found in his region, Christophe Bacquié now offers very high-flying cuisine: vibrant with emotions, each dish creates a memory; a testimony to his creative talent, his perfect technical skills and maturity," comments Michael Ellis, International Director of the MICHELIN Guides.
La Maison des Bois - Marc Veyrat operates out of a chalet in Manigod. Run by Marc Veyrat, the kitchen embraces and elevates local wild produce.
"As a passionate botanist, Marc Veyrat enhances the Savoyard herbs and flowers he gathers from the wild, and combines creativity, authenticity and refinement to offer customers an unforgettable experience," says Ellis.
The 2018 selection also adds five new two-star restaurants and 50 new one-star restaurants. In this year's tastings, inspectors noticed an increasing focus on offering quality food at even more reasonable prices, with shorter menus incorporating local produce.
The MICHELIN Guide 2018 selection also revealed how Paris attracts chefs from around the world. For example Pertinence, where Ryunosuke Naito and his wife Kwen Liew offer French cuisine using Japanese techniques; MONTEE, the restaurant of chef Takayuki Nameura previously in Kobe, Japan; Alan Geaam, where self-taught chef Alan Geaam gives his dishes a touch of Lebanon - his home country; Copenhagen, the Danish gourmet restaurant headed by chef Andreas Moller on the Champs Elysees located on the first floor of the Maison du Danemark; Mavrommatis, where Andréas Mavrommatis offers delicious Greek / Mediterranean cuisine in the heart of Paris’ 5th arrondissement, and Comice designed by Canadian chef Noam Gedalof and his companion Etheliya Hananova who is front of house and sommelier.
As the inspectors travelled all over France, they also noticed that chefs and their teams are increasingly focusing on offering quality food at even more reasonable prices, with short menus using the produce local producers are able to offer them. This is the approach taken in several newly starred restaurants such as L'Auberge de la Tour in Marcoles in Cantal, where chef Renaud Darmanin offers a gastronomic menu for 22 euros, Le Marcq, in Marcqen-Baroeul near Lille where chef Abdelker BELFATMI serves a menu at 38 euros, Intuition in Saint Lo and La Merise in Laubach, Alsace.
Finally in Corsica, two restaurants receive one star this year: U Santa Marina, in Porto-Vecchio, a restaurant where you can enjoy delicious Mediterranean cuisine, and La Table de la Ferme in Sartene in the Domaine de Murtoli.
The new MICHELIN Guide France 2018 selection brings together 4,300 hotels and guest houses, and 2,800 restaurants which have a total of 621 Michelin Stars consisting of:
- 28 three starred restaurants (2 new ones)
- 85 two starred restaurants (5 new ones)
- 508 one star restaurants (50 new ones)
