Gault et Millau () is a French

restaurant guide A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in a ...

. It was founded by two restaurant critics,

Henri Gault Henri Gault (, 4 November 1929 - 9 July 2000) was a French food journalist. He was co-founder of the Gault Millau guides with Christian Millau, and invented the phrase '' nouvelle cuisine''. He later stated that he regretted it. Biography Gau ...

and

Christian Millau Christian Dubois-Millot, pen name Christian Millau (, 30 December 1928 – 5 August 2017), was a French food critic and author. Born in Paris, he began his career as a journalist in the "interior policy" department of ''Le Monde'' newspaper. In 1 ...

in 1965.

Points system

Gault Millau rates restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants given below 10 points are rarely listed. The points are awarded based on the quality of the food, with comments about service, price or the atmosphere of the restaurant given separately. Based on this rating, high-ranking restaurants may display one to five

toque A toque ( or ) is a type of hat with a narrow brim or no brim at all. Toques were popular from the 13th to the 16th century in Europe, especially France. They were revived in the 1930s; nowadays, they are primarily known as the traditional hea ...

s. Gault Millau does not accept payment for listing restaurants. Under its original authors and for many years after they left, Gault Millau never awarded a score of 20 points, under the argument that perfection is beyond the limitations of a normal human being. In 2004, two restaurants, both of chef

Marc Veyrat Marc Veyrat (born 8 May 1950) is a French chef from the Haute-Savoie region, who specialises in molecular gastronomy and the use of mountain plants and herbs. Veyrat has obtained a total of nine Michelin Stars and is the first cook to get the pe ...

, the Maison de Marc Veyrat (or L'Auberge de l'Eridan) in

Veyrier-du-Lac Veyrier-du-Lac (, literally ''Veyrier of the Lake'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Savoie department The following is a li ...

near

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

and

La Ferme de Mon Père ''La Ferme de Mon Père'' ( French for "My Father's Farm") was a restaurant in Megève, France, owned by the French chef Marc Veyrat. It was famous for being one of two restaurants, both owned by Veyrat, to receive a perfect score (20/20) from the ...

("My Father's Farm") in

Megève Megève (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Co ...

, received this score. In 2010 and 2011, Sergio Herman's

Oud Sluis The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless String instrument, stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs, Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped ...

also received a score of 20/20. To some, this reflects a fall of standards in the guide after it changed from employing a permanent editorial and tasting staff to using local agents.

Differences from Michelin

There has been discussion about which guide is more important, the

Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

or the Gault Millau. In the 1970s the Michelin's continued conservative support of traditional

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

was challenged by the support of

nouvelle cuisine Nouvelle cuisine (; 'new cuisine') is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to ''cuisine classique'', an older form of ''haute cuisine'', nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and ...

by the Gault-Millau. Michelin is more popular and therefore more influential, while Gault Millau has been considered more food-focused due to the main system being based purely on the quality of the food. Gault Millau has guides for various other countries, including

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Roughly speaking 1* restaurants have an average score of 15,5. 2* restaurants have an average of 17,5 and 3* restaurants have an average score of 18,75 (the majority of Gault-Millau scored restaurants actually don't have any Michelin stars). However Michelin and Gault-Millau scores don't always show much agreement, 1* restaurants can score as low as 12 and as high as 18 on the Gault-Millau rating.

French Chef of the Year

* 1989

Joël Robuchon Joël Robuchon (, 7 April 1945 – 6 August 2018) was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the ''Meilleur Ouvrier de France'' (France's best worker) in cuisine in 197 ...

(Chef of the Century) * 1994

Roger Souvereyns Roger Souvereyns (December 2, 1938) is a Belgians, Belgian Michelin-starred chef and former restaurant owner. He received two Michelin stars in the period from 1985 to 1993 for his cooking skills in Scholteshof. Career Roger Souvereyns started ...

* 2001

Luigi Ciciriello Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...

* 2002 Nicolas Le Bec * 2003 Michel Troisgros * 2004

Jean-Paul Abadie Jean-Paul Abadie (born 18 February 1958) is a French chef. He was named "Chef of the Year" in 2004 by Gault et Millau and has two stars at the Guide Michelin since 2002. Training and career Jean-Paul Abadie was born in Lannemezan in the depa ...

* 2005 Arnaud Magnier * 2006 Thierry Marx * 2007

Anne-Sophie Pic Anne-Sophie Pic (, born 12 July 1969) is a French chef best known for regaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. She is the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars, and was named the Best Female ...

* 2008 Jean-Luc Rabanel * 2009

Léa Linster Léa Linster (born 27 April 1955) is a Luxembourgish chef, and a gold medal winner of the 1989 Bocuse d'Or, the first and to date only woman to accomplish this.Curtis, Stephanie. ''Food Arts'' (May, 2006)Women who wear toques/ref>World Gourmet Summ ...

* 2010 William Ledeuil * 2011

Édouard Loubet Édouard Loubet (born 25 September 1970 in Val-Thorens, Savoy) is a French master chef with 2 stars in the Michelin Guide. He obtained the grade of 18/20 from the Gault et Millau book, which elected him chef of the year in 2011. Biography Loub ...

* 2012 Michel Portos * 2013 Philippe Labbé * 2014 Arnaud Lallement * 2015 Yannick Alleno * 2016 Alexandre Gauthier * 2017 Alexandre Couillon * 2018 Jean Sulpice

Chef of the Century

On its 20th anniversary in 1990

Paul Bocuse Paul François Pierre Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nick ...

(restaurant « Paul Bocuse » in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, near Lyon),

Frédy Girardet Frédy Girardet (born 17 November 1936) is a Swiss chef who cooks in the French tradition. Often considered one of the greatest chefs of the 20th Century, his self-named restaurant Chez Girardet (now Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville) in Crissier, ...

(« Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville » in Crissier, Suisse),

(restaurant « Jamin » in Paris) were crowned « Chef of the Century » by Gault&Millau.

References

External links

The Gault Millau website for France

The Gault Millau website for Belgium & Luxembourg

The Gault Millau for Slovenia

The Gault Millau for Italy

The Gault Millau for Austria

The Gault Millau for Switzerland
{{Authority control Restaurant guides 1965 establishments in France