Chefs starry-eyes over Michelin rating

The Michelin Guide handed out new stars to 68 restaurants in France on Monday at a ceremony that celebrated emerging young talents and proposed food as a tonic for the world's worries.

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France - The Michelin Guide handed out new stars to 68 restaurants in France on Monday at a ceremony that celebrated emerging young talents and proposed food as a tonic for the world's worries.

Two restaurants joined the highest and most coveted three-star category in Michelin's 2025 France guide, namely Christopher Coutanceau in western La Rochelle and seafood specialist Le Coquillage in northern Brittany.

"The world is worried, the tensions, crises, war at the gates of Europe," Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec said on stage at the ceremony in the eastern city of Metz.

"And in the middle of all that, men and women continue to cook, welcome people, pass on knowledge and to create beauty," he told a crowd of 600 chefs.

The famous red bible for gastronomes still makes and breaks reputations, despite increasing competition from rival food lists and the rise of social media influencers.