Michelin Guide

Without doubt the most influential restaurant guide in the world is the Michelin Guide. Achieving a star or three can bring renown and success, and the loss can be devastating. Published since 1900 it has become the guide for restaurant excellence, although it is challenged by the more recent Gault Millau guide. Michelin is considered more conservative in stressing the continuation of haute cuisine, whereas Gault Millau was inspired by the emergence of nouvelle cuisine in the 1960s (the guide began in 1965). Lesser known and regarded is the Frommer's guide, and the now virtually defunct Zagat guide.