Michelin stars

[Maciamo]

France's world famous Guide Michelin has been rating restaurants and hotels since 1900, making it the oldest such guide in Europe.

Michelin now rates restaurants in most of Europe and North America, and gives a maximum of 3 stars. In 2005, only 50 restaurants worldwide were awarded 3 stars (including 26 in France - 11 in Paris alone). Most restaurants never manage to get a single star. Stars are attributed in function to the quality of the food more than the luxury of the place. Luxury is rated with "forks and knives" (from 1 to 5), which correspond more to the international hotel stars (also 1 to 5).

I have found a nice statistical list of Michelin-starred restaurants. Here is the ranking for Europe in 2005.

3 stars :

1) France => 26
2) Germany => 6
3) Italy => 4
-) Spain => 4
5) Belgium => 3
-) United Kingdom => 3
7) Switzerland => 2
-) Netherlands => 2

(Note : the USA has 4 of them, all in New York)

2 stars :

1) France => 70
2) Italy => 23
3) Germany => 14
-) Switzerland => 14
5) Belgium => 12
6) United Kingdom => 10
-) Spain => 10
8) Netherlands => 7
9) Austria => 4
10) Luxembourg => 2
-) Ireland => 2
12) Denmark => 1
-) Sweden => 1
-) Norway => 1
-) Finland => 1
-) Portugal => 1

1 star :

1) France => 402
2) United Kingdom => 201
3) Italy => 197
4) Germany => 166
5) Spain => 91
6) Switzerland => 80
7) Belgium => 79
8) Netherlands => 64
9) Austria => 48
10) Luxembourg => 10
11) Denmark => 9
12) Sweden => 7
13) Portugal => 6
14) Norway => 4
15) Greece => 3
16) Finland => 2
17) Ireland => 1

Note that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are listed but have no star.

Britain doesn't fare bad at all, despite its reputation. It is 3rd for the total of stars after France and Italy, and 8th out of 16 in "stars per capita" (compared to the country's population). The countries with the highest density of starred restaurants are respectively Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Austria, the Netherlands then Italy. Who would have thought that the Dutch had more delicious restaurants per inhabitant than the Italians ?

You can find all the Michelin listed (starred of not) restaurants in Europe, with excellent maps and a short review for each on ViaMichelin (Go to "The Michelin guides", then Restaurants. You need to register, but it's free).

[Minty]

I know the Michelin stars restaurant guide. My husband introduced this to me. One time he took me to a 3 star restaurant in a park, he said to me you should be happy not many people have eaten in restaurants like this one. However the ground was sticky that night because it�fs in a park, and it was windy otherwise it would have been even better.