Lithuania might soon get its first Michelin star – a hallmark of culinary excellence. The country is negotiating with Michelin inspectors to visit its restaurants, LRT.lt has found out.
Lithuania has already concluded an agreement with Michelin, according to Evalda Šiškauskienė, president of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association (LVRA).
“As far as I know, such an agreement has been signed, but it is not public,” she told LRT.lt.
The visit of Michelin inspectors could cost Lithuania around 500,000 euros, although the final sum is not known, Šiškauskienė said.
“State institutions pay money to Michelin, [...] then a contract is signed with the country, and Michelin inspectors come to assess the country’s restaurants,” she explained.
According to Dovilė Seliukė, a representative of the national tourism promotion agency Lithuania Travel, the information about Lithuania’s contract with Michelin is confidential, but “the processes are ongoing”.
“The processes have been started, but I can neither confirm nor deny that the contract has already been signed,” she told LRT.lt.
Lithuania has already tried to invite Michelin inspectors to visit the country before the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, Lithuanian tourism agencies negotiated with Latvia and Estonia for Michelin inspectors to visit all three Baltic states, claiming that it would have been cheaper. However, no agreement was reached.
Lithuania’s potential
It is not known when the Michelin assessors might come to inspect Lithuanian restaurants, as no advance notice is given.
But fine dining restaurants try to perform their best every day and are always prepared for such an assessment, according to Deivydas Praspaliauskas, the chef of Amandus restaurant in Vilnius.
“Restaurants like ours treat every guest as very important. Every day is like an exam, and you want to achieve the best possible result,” he told LRT.lt.
According to him, several restaurants in Lithuania could receive a Michelin star after the inspectors’ visit.
“Sometimes, Michelin inspections are a lottery, and it all depends on the luck of the day. [...] However, there is more than one restaurant in Lithuania that could get a Michelin star,” the chef said.
Estonia was the first Baltic country to be visited by Michelin inspectors. In 2022, two Tallinn restaurants – NOA Chef's Hall and 180 by Matthias Diether – were each awarded a Michelin star. In 2023, the latter received its second Michelin star.
Small red guide
The Michelin Guide dates back to when the French brothers André and Édouard Michelin founded a tyre company. To sell more of their products, the brothers wanted to encourage people to travel and in 1900 published a small red guide for travellers, including maps, information on how to change a tyre, where to refuel etc.
In 1920, an updated Michelin guide included for the first time a list of hotels and restaurants in Paris. As the Michelin Guide’s gastronomy section grew in popularity, the brothers hired mystery diners – the so-called inspectors – to visit and review the restaurants anonymously.
In 1926, the guide began to award stars to fine dining establishments, initially marking them only with a single star. Five years later, a hierarchy of zero, one, two, and three stars was introduced, and in 1936, the criteria for the starred rankings were published.
According to the Michelin Guide, one Michelin star is awarded to restaurants “using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavours are prepared to a consistently high standard”.
Two Michelin stars are awarded “when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired”.
Finally, three Michelin stars – the highest award – are given “for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics”.
There are currently 16,605 restaurants in the Michelin Guide worldwide, including 2,814 restaurants with one Michelin star, 489 with two, and 138 with three stars.
France, Japan, Italy, and Germany have the highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants.
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