Written by Stephanie Curtis who has written for multiple food publications from Food & Wine to Michelin
Photos by Isabelle Bachelard
On the evening of March 18, in the Centre-Val de Loire city of Tours, anticipation rippled through the air of the convention center’s amphitheater packed to the brim with some 2000 guests. The occasion was the annual Michelin France ceremony, a two-hour live show as carefully choreographed as the Academy Awards, honoring actors of a different sort, the top chefs of the world of French gastronomy.
The event traditionally precedes the publication of the year’s annually revised red guide to restaurants in France, and announces the latest winners of the still very coveted Michelin stars, numbered from one to the ultimate three-star rating. This year 62 chefs were awarded new stars, with only two among them achieving the holy grail, triple-star status: Jerome Banctel of Paris’s Le Gabriel, and Fabien Ferré, of La Table de Castellet in Provence. While Banctel’s ascension had been predicted by many, Fabien Ferré’s unprecedentedly rapid rise from zero to three stars after just a year at the helm of the establishment since the departure in 2023 of its founder, chef Christophe Bacquie, was a surprise. At 35 years old, Ferré is the youngest member of the very select club of three-Michelin-star chefs.
Eight establishments attained two Michelin stars, and 52 received their first star. Although there were no new three or two-star winners in the Nouvelle Aquitaine, three restaurants of the region won their first star: Cueillette in Altillac, Nacre in Arès, and Le Petit Léon, in Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère.
On a less happy note, 28 restaurants lost stars this year, including La Bouitte, in the Savoie region, retrograded from three to two stars.
On the evening preceding the awards ceremony, a gala “Diner des Chefs 2024” for some 400 chefs and guests was hosted in the Chateau de Chambord, whose magnificent facade was illuminated for the occasion in the flamboyant red of the Michelin guide.
Michelin 2024 in a few figures:
639 – the total number of stars in this year’s guide including the 62 newcomers, up from 630 stars in 2023 with only 44 newcomers that year.
30 – the total number of three-star restaurants in France, including this year’s two newcomers, minus the one restaurant that lost its third star.
30 – also the number of establishments directed by chefs of less than 40 years old to win new stars this year.
392 – the number of Bib Gourmand restaurants noted not by stars, but by the smiling face of the roly-poly Michelin mascot, Bibendum, indicating a particularly interesting quality-price ratio, most priced at about 40 euros for a meal. Of this total, 56 are new this year in this category, a springboard to the stars.
9 – the number of establishments awarded with the relatively new etoile verte, a ”green “star, recompensing chefs who excel in sustainable gastronomy.
7- the sadly slim number of addresses among this year’s 62 winners to be directed or co-directed by women chefs.
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