Boulogne-Billancourt – March 14, 2013
Poland wins its first MICHELIN star in the MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe 2013.
The 32nd edition of the MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe features a selection of hotels and restaurants in 44 European cities.
Once again this year, the MICHELIN guide inspectors have travelled through 20 countries looking for the best hotels and restaurants in all styles and sizes and for all budgets. For its 32nd edition, the MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe offers a selection of 3,728 establishments, made up of 2,154 restaurants and 1,574 hotels.
This year’s selection includes a number of newly honoured restaurants. These reflect a European culinary scene that is both traditional and inventive and which offers enormous variety to diners, who have a greater understanding and appreciation of cuisine and wines.
Illustrating the dynamism of European cuisine, the 2013 edition of the MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe includes 9 new two star and 50 new one star restaurants, making a total of 412 starred restaurants (309 one star restaurants, 80 two star restaurants and 15 three star restaurants). That’s nearly 10% more starred restaurants than in 2012, when the guide listed 376 starred establishments.
The new edition of the guide features four important new distinctions. For the first time, a star has been awarded to a restaurant in Warsaw (Poland) – Atelier Amaro – where Michelin inspectors were enchanted by the chef’s preparation of local products, his innovative cooking style and original combinations of ingredients. In the Nordic countries, Geranium in Copenhagen was awarded a second star just one year after obtaining its first. In Sweden, Stockholm has two new one-star restaurants, Gastrologik and Ekstedt. Sjömagasinet, one of the most well-known restaurants in Gothenburg, regained its star while Bhoga was included for the first time in the “Rising Star” category.
New stars were also awarded to restaurants in Athens and Vienna.
For readers who want to eat well at a reasonable price, the Michelin inspectors – all of them are fulltime employees and former hospitality professionals who work anonymously – have discovered 54 new Bib Gourmand restaurants, bringing the total to 265 in the 2013 edition of the guide. The Bib Gourmand pictogram shows the head of Bibendum, the Michelin Man, licking his lips. Named after a shortened version of Bibendum, it was created in 1997 and is awarded to restaurants that represent excellent value for money. Year after year, the Bib Gourmand selection has proved increasingly popular with the public, who are always pleased with a good deal, as well as with restaurant operators who find it is good for business.
Written in English, the MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe targets business customers and tourists visiting the leading European cities. They may want to find accommodation near a convention centre or a tourist attraction, a restaurant in which they can entertain their customers or sample local gourmet cooking, or a reasonably-priced hotel near the city centre.
The guide is filled with valuable information, including street maps of each city showing the exact location of recommended hotels and restaurants; key words which define each establishment’s style, and useful tourist information.
Given free of charge to motorists more than 100 years ago, the little 400-page red guide contained useful information about where motorists could find fuel, accommodation or a meal. Since then, the MICHELIN guide has become an international benchmark in hospitality and dining. Today, its 24 editions cover 23 countries and feature more than 45,000 hotels and restaurants. The purpose of the guide is to make traveling easier and more enjoyable for readers. The guide has always supported the Michelin Group’s mission, which is expressed in its corporate slogan “A Better Way Forward.”
Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart) – Austria (Vienna, Salzburg) – Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp) – Denmark (Copenhagen) – Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia) – Finland (Helsinki) – France (Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Toulouse) – United Kingdom (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow) – Greece (Athens) – Hungary (Budapest) – Italy (Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence) – Ireland (Dublin) – Luxembourg (Luxembourg) – Norway (Oslo) – Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague) – Poland (Warsaw, Krakow) – Portugal (Lisbon) – Czech Republic (Prague) – Sweden (Stockholm, Goteborg) – Switzerland (Bern, Geneva, Zurich).
Available in sales outlets beginning March 14th, the 2013 MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe is priced at €23.90. Versions are also available for smartphones and digital tablets. The 32nd edition of the 2013 MICHELIN guide Main Cities of Europe covers 44 cities in 20 European countries and features 1,574 hotels and 2,154 restaurants, of which:
309 one star restaurants (50 new)
80 two star restaurants (9 new)
15 three star restaurants
265 bib gourmand restaurants (54 new)
