Nanterre (AFP)
Chef Marc Veyrat has decided to sue the Michelin Guide for "the exact reasons for the downgrading" of his restaurant La Maison des Bois, which was removed in January its third star, announced his lawyer on Monday at AFP .
In its 110th edition, published in early 2019, the famous guide had removed this star, obtained a year earlier, the Savoyard leader, "without any notification or prior warning," said in a statement his advice Emmanuel Ravanas.
"For decades, Marc Veyrat has been accustomed to his cuisine being graded, evaluated, compared and he knows well that one does not own his stars for life (...) He assumes everything, provided that the criticism is rigorous ", continues the lawyer.
He has sought "amiably" to know "the objective reasons for this decision which affects him personally and professionally" and affects "above all the unwavering commitment of his teams in the service of mountain cuisine", but he does not received only "approximate answers", he laments.
And to take for example the fact that the chef was criticized for having served cheddar while according to his advice, Marc Veyrat "since its inception works passionately with Savoyard products".
Not receiving the invoices or meeting notes from the Red Guide inspectors as he had requested, the chef asked last July not to appear in the guide. In vain.
"Marc Veyrat is a talented chef (...), a major figure in French gastronomy, we are saddened by the suffering, the situation he is going through, but we will continue to recommend his restaurant," he said. Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, after this announcement.
Marc Veyrat therefore attacks the Michelin Guide "so that all the light is shed on the exact reasons" for this downgrading, concludes the council.
The interim hearing (urgent procedure) before the TGI Nanterre is scheduled for 27 November.
© 2019 AFP