Michel GUÉRARD
There are the talkative chefs, and then there are the chefs we listen to, because their words are golden, their experience immense, their success exemplary. Michel Guérard was one of these chefs, the one to whom, at the family reunions that regularly bring together the entire profession, the youngest would spontaneously turn, drinking in the words of the man who, even at over 90, had forgotten to be spoiled. Michel Guérard never lectured or moralized; he listened and advised, always with the benevolence and exacting standards that have always characterized him. His words had meaning, his voice counted.
Michel Guérard and Gault&Millau represent an entire history, that of the adventure of nouvelle cuisine that was born, in a way, in the Paris suburbs, in Asnières, at Pot-au-Feu, a small restaurant he bought in 1965.In 1972, in our first edition of the Guide France, we said that if he could leave his closet dining room, Michel Guérard would join the ranks of France's greatest restaurateurs.
Less than three years later, now working at the Hôtel Les Prés d'Eugénie, in Eugénie-les-Bains, Landes, he earned himself an 18/20, in this marvellous establishment he had created with his wife, Christine, and where he received the Tout-Paris.
The son of a butcher from Mantes-la-Jolie, he was described as an admirable virtuoso who revolutionized cooking by reconciling dietetics and great gastronomy. He was also a trailblazer, becoming one of the first great chefs to join forces with the food industry, believing that it was his duty to take an interest in consumer protection, while at the same time insisting that he had much to learn from the industry.
Michel Guérard died on August 19, 2024. He was the last of the founders (alongside Alain Chapel, the Troisgros brothers and Paul Bocuse) of the Nouvelle Cuisine so dear to Gault&Millau,
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Chef Michel Guérard, five Gault&Millau toques, has died
Michel Guérard, the emblematic figure of French cuisine and pioneer of nouvelle cuisine, has died at the age of 91. A chef with five toques, he left an indelible mark on gastronomic history and a priceless culinary legacy.Food products, kitchen equipment, tableware, service solutions...
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