Paris (AFP)

Chef Alexandre Mazzia, with his daring cuisine, was awarded three Michelin stars on Monday for his restaurant AM in Marseille, in a new selection in France, maintained despite the closure of restaurants and criticism on the relevance of the list in the midst of Covid .

A 44-year-old former basketball player, Alexandre Mazzia is the only chef to be promoted in the 2021 guide to this highest gastronomic distinction, bringing the number of three-star chefs in France to 30.

And, unlike in previous years, none of the three-star chefs has been demoted in this selection, which is as "serious and rigorous" as the other years, assures Michelin.

The guide explains that the inspectors made as many visits as usual to assess the tables during the brief reopening of the restaurants between the two confinements.

Smoked-chocolate, raspberry-harissa eel: Alexandre Mazzia, 44, who was born and spent 15 years in the Congo, is the master of explosive mixtures of products "from here and from the end of the world", in plates that make explode the colors.

He uses more than 200 spices, the "backbone" of his cuisine.

"It's a table that transports you, it is very unique and stands out in many ways," commented Gwendal Poullennec, director of the Michelin guide, to AFP.

- "indigestible" context -

For the gastronomic critic Gilles Pudlowski who before the announcement cited in his blog Alexandre Mazzia among the possible 3rd star winners, the distinction of this one allows the red guide "to show that he is well in his time with a Brin esprit Fooding ", this guide which promotes young, uninhibited and trendy cuisine and was 100% endorsed in 2020 by Michelin.

Maintaining the selection as if nothing had happened, however, raised many criticisms and questions about the way in which closed tables could be evaluated.

The most famous gastronomic guide is the only one to make his selection for the Covid era "according to the same criteria since always" while his competitors have chosen to cancel their winners, like the British ranking 50 Best, or to readjust to the pandemic by rewarding the resistant, innovative or united actions of chefs such as Gault and Millau or La Liste.

"Rarely has a year been so indigestible. Six months of seeing restaurants closed because of viruses, six others of living them in the feverishness of health contingencies," wrote in a column the food critic of Figaro Emmanuel Rubin, estimating that "this strange vintage" risked questioning the very need for the red guide, criticized for "the opacity of the method and the conditions of inspections".

The inspectors worked "hard" and revised their schedule by canceling their summer vacation when restaurants briefly reopened in France between the two confinements and reinforcements from neighboring European countries and Asia were dispatched to France , assured Gwendal Poullennec.

If the selection is less extensive than in previous years, each restaurant promoted fully deserves it, he emphasizes.

Marsan in Paris, by chef Hélène Darroze, who sublimates products from the South-West in gourmet and modern dishes, and La Merise by Cédric Deckert in Alsace, with traditional cuisine with refined sauces, are promoted to two stars.

54 new addresses were awarded their first star and 33 establishments were awarded a "green" star, introduced last year, for their eco-responsible approach.

Some demotions concern restaurants that have closed or changed concept.

"This year, the chefs have really not been unworthy (...). It is time to highlight all these talents, to encourage professionals and to keep the restaurant clientele mobilized" while waiting for 'a reopening, concludes Mr. Poullennec.

© 2021 AFP