Our history - Gault&Millau

The Gault&Millau adventure began in the 60s, as part of the Paris-Presse editorial team. Henri Gault exercised his talents as a "grand reporter", and Christian Millau was responsible for the magazine pages, as deputy editor-in-chief. In 1961, editorial director Pierre Charpy entrusted Henri Gault with a weekly column entitled "Week-end et promenades". In his old jalopy, he began to explore the Paris region, hunting out the best places to eat and eat out. Responsible for the magazine pages, Millau reread the strolls of the man who was to become his favorite dining companion every week.

Henri Gault on the left and Christian Millau on the right

Every Friday, they would share their favorites with intrigued readers: castles with caved-in roofs, country walks... But it was the discovery of restaurants that most excited the public, eager to get off the beaten track. It was an immediate success, meeting the expectations of readers with new values: consumer habits and lifestyles had changed. The French were discovering farniente, weekends and leisure activities. May 68 was in the offing, and the trend was towards the birth of a new consumer society. Post-war hunger and overindulgence had subsided. Tastes were becoming more refined, and the public was already looking for something more natural and real.

Gault&Millau's impertinence and independence

At the time, haute cuisine was set in stone and had not changed since before the war. The three Michelin stars were the guarantors of the French tradition inherited from the 19th century and of a regional cuisine that was a little "old-fashioned". The trend was towards copiously garnished dishes, heavy, rich sauces and opulent, bourgeois restaurants. Like the cuisine it represented, French gastronomic criticism was somewhat "purring". While the same restaurants were constantly mentioned, and haute cuisine was almost sacred, Gault had no hesitation in saying that such and such a well-known restaurant was "infamous" and that Tante Ursule's navarin was delicious. In this way, the Friday columns dealt a serious blow to the sacrosanct French gastronomic tradition. An independence and impertinence that appealed to readers. The success of both the restaurants and the Friday columns continued to grow. All it took was for Gault to find a new table, and the restaurant would be fully booked the very next day. On the media front, the daily Paris-Presse was on a roll: Gault now wrote a page a day, followed by a special Paris weekend column...a formula that has become commonplace today.

1962, the first guide to Paris

On the strength of these successes, a selection of the Friday columns published under the title "A Voir et à manger par Christian Bourgois", literary director of Editions Julliard, took bookstores by storm.The idea of a guide to Paris that would cover the capital's restaurants, boutiques, artisans, wine merchants, charming hotels and walks in a modern, journalistic style was soon born. Without hesitation, Christian Bourgois financed the project: a little monster with two heads and two stomachs was born: Gault&Millau. In 1962, the first Julliard guide to Paris appeared on bookseller shelves, and the Guide craze was born. 1500 copies a week were sold.

1969, the birth of a new Guide

Little by little, Gault et Millau became financially independent. A small team of non-conformist epicureans was formed: two of Gault's sisters-in-law, Marie and Nicole, an old friend of Millau's, Yves Bidault, the only professional journalist on the team, and a regimental comrade André Gayot, for the financial and administrative side, and finally Jean-Luc Rudder, an art critic, and Roger, the cyclist who was always in the know. At first, they all settled into three maid's rooms on rue Montmartre. Then they moved into a back store not far from Place Maubert: "It was a huge mess there, with visitors sitting on crates of Bordeaux wine. Yet it was there, among the dirty glasses and on the corners of the table, that the Nouveau Guide was born in March 1969," recalls Christian Millau. Too much butter, too much cream, and the best dishes are worthless. True talent is to be simple, and that's what's most complicated. "

In 1969, a national magazine appeared: the Nouveau Guide. That same year, the guide's notes and commentaries were limited to Paris and the surrounding area. With its freedom of tone, unusual discoveries and good tips, the Guide Julliard (the guide was then named after the publisher) competed with the Michelin. The only reference guide at the time, it included only four 3-star restaurants in Paris, and 7 in the provinces.

The Nouvelle Cuisine

Determined to shake off the ultra-bourgeois, anachronistic image of French gastronomy, Gault et Millau scoured the whole of France in search of novelties: hotels, restaurants, boutiques, artisans, wine merchants - their curiosity knew no bounds. Miles of experiments and fork-lifts later, the two discovered what was to become Nouvelle Cuisine, at Paul Bocuse's restaurant. Captivated by a simple salad of green beans and tomatoes, they found novelty in their plates. Then they met the Troisgros brothers in Roanne, who served them frogs with herbs. Nothing was prepared the day before, everything was made "à la minute". With forgotten flavors, simplicity and lightness, La Nouvelle Cuisine was born. It was an innovative concept that would be widely publicized in the Gault&Millau pages, and become a huge success.

The first Gault&Millau guide in 1972

In 1972, the first Gault Millau guide to France was published, and set new standards in gastronomy. Travelling the length and breadth of the country in search of restaurants they deemed worthy of consideration, their criteria were not the richness of location, crockery or cleanliness - values advocated by Michelin - but taste, presentation and the imagination of the chef. In complete independence, Gault et Millau pay their own bills and rate restaurants without taking into account the opinions of other guides.

Alain Ducasse , Joel Robuchon, Guy Savoy, Marc Veyrat, Pierre Gagnaire and others...

Over the years, the French have discovered the talents of tomorrow: such as Lenôtre, who became the star of the pastry world. In the kitchens of Paris and the provinces, they unearthed Alain Senderens, Joël Robuchon, Guy Savoy, Marc Veyrat, Pierre Gagnaire and Michel Rostang, names whose reputation is well established. As the discoverer of Nouvelle Cuisine, Gault Millau played a pioneering role. His appearance brought French gastronomy out of its lethargy and invented a new way of life.

Nouvelle Cuisine: Gault et Millau invent the formula

The Nouvelle Cuisine discovered by Gault and Millau arrived at the same time as a new, more refined lifestyle. While the two companions coined the phrase, it was the cooks themselves who mobilized to take power in the kitchens. The movement was launched by young cooks, aged between 30 and 40, who wanted to modernize cooking and meet the new aspirations of consumers. In a seminal article published in 1973, Henri Gault and Christian Millau defined the 10 commandments of Nouvelle Cuisine. Among their recommendations were shorter cooking times, the use of market products to eliminate the need for sauce stocks prepared the day before, and less choice on menus. Gault et Millau banish heavy, overly rich sauces, emphasize the principles of dietetics and the creativity of chefs when it comes to accompaniments. In the pages of the magazine, the contours of a new gastronomy are defined: light, simple but always refined...principles that are still relevant today!

The 10 commandments of nouvelle cuisine

Enunciated by Christian Millau and Henri Gault, these commandments were intended to illustrate the guiding principles of all chefs who wanted to embrace the modern values of cuisine in the 70s.Criteria which, for the most part, are still relevant today: such as enhancing the value of the product, the importance of correct cooking, seasoning and the elimination of unnecessary sauces...

"Thou shalt not overcook. "

"Thou shalt use fresh, quality produce. "

"Thou shalt lighten thy menu. "

" Thou shalt not be systematically modernist. "

" But thou shalt seek out what new techniques bring. "

"Thou shalt avoid marinating, beating, fermenting and so on. "

"Thou shalt eliminate rich sauces. "

"Thou shalt not ignore dietetics. "

" Thou shalt not fake your presentations. "

" Thou shalt be inventive. "

The first SPECIAL VINS issue in 1978

It was Christian Millau who first came up with the idea, finding the early autumn recovery a little sluggish. With the grape harvest just around the corner, he came up with the idea of bringing his food columnists together around the vineyards, to showcase French wines. The first "exceptional" issue was published in September 1978, costing 5 francs and featuring the headlines "Paris, la valse folle des prix au restaurant" and "Tout sur le vin en 80 pages et les 500 adresses du vrai connaisseur"!

Since then, the formula has set the standard, and in the space of 32 years, all the arts de vivre magazines and newsmagazines have adopted it... without, however, emphasizing high-level expertise!

The first Wine Guide in 1984

Another first! Once again, it was Gault Millau who launched the idea of the wine guide, publishing its first edition in September 1984: "Le guide des vins de France. Le 1er guide pratique : 1 500 vins en direct sélectionnés pour leur excellent rapport qualité/ prix" It was 600 pages long and sold for 89 francs... Under the responsibility of Henri Gault and Christian Millau, the tasters were Fernand Woutaz, Joseph Gryn and the late Philippe des Roys-du-Rouvre. In the meantime, the idea has caught on, and many tasting journalists have come to understand and learn on the benches of Gault&Millau, before moving on to the world of the magazine press, keen to add a little glamour to its economic, financial or political pages with a few pages on wines.... The reason why, every year, the grape harvest is accompanied by so many SPECIAL VINS issues on newsstands across France...

Discovering talent, revealing trends, for over 40 years now, the experts at Gault&Millau have been perpetuating these values with ever greater conviction and vigor. Teams of investigators criss-cross the roads of France throughout the year, following selected restaurants and discovering new ones. Country inns, city bistros, bed & breakfasts, charming hotels, great creative tables, friendly wines, great wines of emotion, terroir wines... Gault Millau is on a perennial quest for the best products, the best wines, the best wines.the best products, the best addresses, the ones that deliver tasteful, pleasurable cuisine at every price point, so that we can offer consumers the best, every time!

Gault&Millau and the international scene

The international success of the Gault&Millau guides and magazine earned the two authors a place on the cover of the American Time magazine in 1980, a privilege granted since 1923 to only forty-two Frenchmen.

On October 30, the 2012 edition is the first "connected" edition, thanks to tags that activate a mobile application. In 2012, Gault&Millau launches a gastronomic guide in Hungary. 2013 sees the launch of a new edition in Australia, followed by Poland in 2014 and Canada in 2015.