Marc Veyrat’s La Maison des Bois lost its third star after, he says, an inspector suspected cheddar in a souffle

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The celebrity French chef Marc Veyrat is suing the Michelin Guide after inspectors stripped his restaurant of its coveted third star, claiming they had botched their evaluation, in particular over a cheese souffle.

“I’ve been dishonoured, I saw my team in tears ... to have them call you one evening without warning, without anything written down, without anything, to say ‘that’s it, it’s over’,” Veyrat told France Inter radio on Tuesday.

'They said we used cheddar!': chef demands removal from Michelin Guide Read more

Veyrat’s La Maison des Bois restaurant in the French Alps was demoted to two stars from the maximum three in January, a year after he secured the industry’s highest accolade.

He said the move had plunged him into depression, and later demanded – in vain - he be removed from the vaunted red guides.

He claims the downgrade came after a Michelin inspector mistakenly thought he had adulterated a cheese souffle with English cheddar, instead of using France’s reblochon, beaufort and tomme varieties.

“I put saffron in it, and the gentleman who came thought it was cheddar because it was yellow. That’s what you call knowledge of a place? It’s just crazy,” Veyrat told France Inter.

His lawyer, Emmanuel Ravanas, told AFP Veyrat hoped the court would force Michelin to hand over documents “to clarify the exact reasons” justifying its decision. He said a court hearing had been set for 27 November in Nanterre, west of Paris.

“For decades, Marc Veyrat has been used to having his cooking graded, evaluated and compared, and he knows quite well that you don’t own a star for life … He accepts it all, as long as the criticism is accurate,” Ravanas said.

Veyrat, 69, made his name with his so-called “botanical” cooking, employing the wild herbs gathered around his restaurants in his native Haute Savoie region.

This year, the chef, who is instantly recognisable in France for his signature wide-brimmed black Savoyard hat and smoke-tinted glasses, had tried to get Michelin to hand over the inspector notes or the bills proving they had indeed dined at his establishment.

He also claimed a new generation of editors at the guide were trying to make their names by attacking the pillars of French cuisine.

But in a statement, Michelin said it “understands the disappointment for Mr Veyrat, whose talent no one contests, even if we regret his unreasonable persistence with his accusations”.

It added: “Our first duty is to tell consumers why we have changed our recommendation. We will carefully study his demands and respond calmly.”

Veyrat’s third star for La Maison du Bois in 2018 capped a comeback after he was forced to give up cooking a decade ago following a serious skiing accident. He had previously won three stars for two other restaurants.

The intense strains of reaching cooking’s highest spheres – and the financial effects of losing Michelin stars – have been highlighted in recent years by the suicides of several top chefs.

The French chef Bernard Loiseau shot himself in 2003 after a newspaper hinted his restaurant was about to lose its three-star status. And Benoît Violier killed himself in 2016, just months after his Swiss restaurant was named the best in the world in the La Liste ranking.