Think you know everything about the Michelin Guide? Think Again. Here are12 facts about the Michelin Guide that even the most accolade-obsessed might not know:
1 - Bibendum is white because when Michelin was founded in 1900, tyres weren’t black.
Despite it having been founded in 1900, the Guide's Michelin’s star-rating system for restaurants didn’t start until 1926; the first 26 editions of the guide showed petrol stations, hotels and restaurants, but it only started sending in inspectors later. An original guide from 1900 was sold for 20,000 euros.
3-star accreditation began in 1931, each star meaning the following (which remains the same to this day): one star means the food is good, two means it is worth a detour, and three stars means it is exceptional.
2 - A number of chefs have relinquished their Michelin stars over the years
This includes the late Joel Robuchon, in 1996, who returned his three stars for his eponymous restaurant in Paris, claiming he was worried about his health, trying to keep up with the guide’s standards. Sebastien Bras cited similar reasons when he asked for his Aveyron restaurant to be removed from the 2018 guide, and in 2019, Marc Veyrat tried to return his two stars after his third star was taken away – but the guide’s international director Gwendal Poullennec told him that they weren’t his to give back, as stars are given to the restaurant, not the chef.
3 - London restaurant Bibendum is located in the Michelin House, the company’s first UK headquarters and tyre depot.
Originally converted into a restaurant in 1986 by Sir Terence Conran and Lord Paul Hamlyn after the company relocated its headquarters, it had Simon Hopkinson in the kitchen – and forged the careers of many a prominent chef, including Phil Howard, Henry Harris and Bruce Poole. Claude Bosi took over the kitchen in 2016.
4 - The Michelin Guide was put on hold during WWII
But in 1945, the British Army requested a reprint of the 1939 edition, as it was deemed the best map and guide to France.
5 - Notoriously tough-skinned Gordon Ramsay cried when his New York restaurant lost its second star in 2013.
The chef once held a total of 16 Michelin stars for his restaurants, making him one of the chefs with the most stars in history after Joel Robuchon, who had 31 Michelin stars when he passed away, and Alain Ducasse, who has 21.
6 - L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, Paul Bocuse’s restaurant in Lyon, France, was the longest standing three Michelin-starred restaurant in the world.
It first earned three stars in 1965, and kept its three stars until the guide made the controversial decision to demote the restaurant in 2020, two years after the chef passed away.
7 - A roadside restaurant was once accidentally awarded a Michelin star
In 2017,
