Ene of France’s most famous chefs, Guy Savoy, has lost his third star. The decision was made after “numerous visits by our inspectors throughout the year,” said Gwendal Poullennec, head of the Michelin restaurant guide, on Monday evening of the AFP news agency. Guy Savoy has not only been awarded three stars without interruption since 2002, but has also been named the best chef in the world by La Liste six times in a row.
“So far I’ve only had the best moments of my career. We lost the game this year, but next year we’ll win again,” said Savoy. In addition to the “Restaurant Guy Savoy” on the Parisian banks of the Seine, Christopher Coutanceau’s restaurant in La Rochelle also lost its third star. It is the first time since 2020 that Michelin has demoted three-star restaurants.
The founder of “La Liste” was surprised. “Neither guest comments nor restaurant reviews indicated that the quality of the Guy Savoy restaurant had deteriorated,” said Philippe Faure.
In the world of fine dining, this is a thunderbolt. Two decades ago, three-star chef Bernard Loiseau took his own life amid rumors he could have lost his third star. In 2019, top chef Marc Veyrat unsuccessfully asked the court to find out the reasons for the withdrawal of his third star.
Coutanceau did not initially react to the star loss. He had only received the third star shortly before the corona pandemic and had to close the restaurant shortly afterwards due to the lockdown.
Michelin will be presenting its new edition of the restaurant guide next week in Strasbourg. 20 chefs who had a star in the previous edition will lose it this year. The rating in the Michelin Guide is based on incognito visits by its inspectors.
The restaurant guide is an invention of the tire company Michelin, which wanted to use this to encourage its customers to drive off their tires when visiting out-of-the-way restaurants.