Chef Guy Savoy, often touted as the world's best chef, has lost one of his three Michelin stars for his Monnaie de Paris restaurant. The restaurant had held its three-star status for the last 20 years since it was awarded in 2002, but the latest edition of the Michelin Guide France downgraded it to two stars.
Chef Savoy was informed of the demotion in a private discussion with the Michelin Guides' international director, Gwendal Poullennec, along with chef Christopher Coutanceau, whose marine-themed restaurant in La Rochelle is also being demoted.
The Michelin Group has confirmed that the rating is subject to yearly reassessment and that it is in the process of contacting other restaurants that will have stars removed. The Michelin Guide aims to provide reliable recommendations to gourmets and readers to help guide them in their choices. The ratings are not permanent, and they are reevaluated annually by inspection teams.
High-end restaurants that lost Michelin stars
Gordon Ramsay at the London, the flagship restaurant of renowned chef Gordon Ramsay located in a luxurious Manhattan hotel, was stripped of its two Michelin stars in 2013. Michael Ellis, the director of the Michelin guide, cited the restaurant's inconsistent meals as the reason for the demotion, stating that consistency is a significant factor in their ratings.
Michelin inspectors evaluate a restaurant based on objective factors such as food quality, service, atmosphere, and overall experience, not on the identity of the head chef. However, an exception happened five years back.
In 2014, Mitsuhiro Araki established The Araki London, a Japanese restaurant that was awarded two Michelin stars in 2016, followed by another star in 2018, making it the first Japanese restaurant in the UK to receive a prestigious three-star rating. However, when Araki announced his departure as head chef, Michelin downgraded the restaurant to a two-star rating, sparking controversy.
In 2019, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco was downgraded to two stars in the Michelin Guide, causing controversy in the food world.
In 2020, Michelin stripped the three-Michelin-starred L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges in France of its stars after the restaurant's founder, the legendary chef Paul Bocuse, passed away.
Also in 2020, the Michelin Guide for Switzerland announced that it was revoking the two stars it had previously awarded to the restaurant Le Chat-Botté in Geneva, citing changes in the restaurant's cuisine and service.
In the same year, Michelin removed a star from French chef Sébastien Bras's restaurant Le Suquet, after Bras requested that his restaurant be removed from the guide, citing the pressure and stress that came with maintaining a Michelin-starred establishment.
Michelin star from India
India has seven Michelin Star chefs, and the most prominent of them all is Chef Vikas Khanna. He, along with the first Indian woman to get the Michelin star - Chef Garima Arora, is hosting Masterchef India at the moment along with Chef Ranveer Brar. The other people on the prestigious list are Chef Vineet Bhatia, Chef Atul Kochhar, Chef Srijith Gopinathan, Chef Sriram Aylur and Chef Alfred Prasad.
