Marc Veyrat, the French chef famed for incorporating Alpine plants into his cuisine, is happy to welcome almost anyone to his new €450-a-head restaurant. There is, however, an exception. Veyrat says he does not want to see inspectors from the Michelin Guide enter the establishment in Megève in the Alps.
“I don’t want to be in [the Michelin Guide] and I am prepared to put up a sign outside [saying]: ‘Michelin Guide banned’,” he told Le Parisien newspaper.
Veyrat, 74, has yet to forgive the world’s most influential culinary guide for downgrading his previous Alpine restaurant, La Maison des Bois, from the maximum three-star rating to two in 2019.
The chef said that at the time Michelin’s inspectors had told him they did not like the cheddar in his soufflé or the texture of his scallops. Veyrat was appalled, saying he had used beaufort, tome and reblochon cheese, not cheddar, and monkfish liver rather than scallops. He sued Michelin, asking for it to be ordered to pay him damages and to reveal its criteria upon which his restaurant was judged. His claim was thrown out.
Veyrat was so despondent that he abandoned La Maison des Bois, which has now been taken over by Elise, his daughter.
Advertisement
Now he has opened Le Restaurant Marc Veyrat in Megève, which promises “high definition cuisine”. He cooks three evenings a week, and his wife, Christine Heckler Veyrat, cooks on Sunday lunchtimes.
He said: “People said I was mad to reopen a gastronomic restaurant, and that at my age, I should be enjoying myself. But I have the greatest job in the world.”
He said that despite the cost of the meal — €450 not including drinks — he made no profitbecause he had 15 employees and seating for just 18 diners. Nevertheless, he said: “I’m having great fun in the kitchen.”
His restaurant is earning plaudits as Le Point magazine praised his meadowsweet emulsion on lobster tartelette.
The danger for him is that despite his warnings, Michelin inspectors will turn up anyway. Since they are always anonymous, it could be difficult for him to spot them. Legal experts say that if Michelin wants to include his restaurant in its guide, it can, and he would be hard pushed to stop it.
Advertisement
Alain Senderens, a chef at the Lucas Carton restaurant in Paris, renounced his three Michelin stars in 2005, saying he wanted to produce a simpler cuisine.
Antoine Westermann abandoned his three-star Buerehiesel restaurant in Strasbourg in 2006 to take over a cheaper Parisian establishment.
Olivier Roellinger shut his three-star restaurant in Brittany in 2008, saying the pursuit of Michelin’s plaudits had worn him out and Sébastien Bras asked for his Suquet restaurant in central France to be withdrawn from the guide in 2017, saying it was too much pressure. Two years later, however, the guide put him back, with two stars.
Benedetto Rullo, joint owner of the Giglio restaurant in Lucca, Italy, which has one Michelin star, asked last year to be withdrawn from the guide, saying its demands had become a “burden”.
