The 2024 Gault&Millau awards took place last night, January 31, 2024, marking the guide’s third edition in the country, continuing its history of celebrating the most innovative flavours and talents in global gastronomy.
And the official winner of Restaurant of the Year / Best in the UAE is Burj Al Arab’s, Al Muntaha. Serving a French and Italian cuisine, the name of the restaurant translates to ‘to the top,’ and is led by chef Saverio Sbaragli, who helped land the fine dining establishment an impressive 17.5/20 score.
While some of you reading this may be unfamiliar with the prestigious guide, here’s some background on its history, and where it stands in relation to The Michelin Star, to which it is often compared.
2022 was a bumper year for the gastronomy industry in the Gulf. The biggest in its history, in fact. While most restaurants across the region’s major cities already had some sort of accolade affixed to a wall adjacent to their entrance (“Highly Commended Pan-Asian Restaurant Under AED250”), this was a year was when the level stepped up a notch. When the big boys came to play.
The long-awaited arrival of several international food critique brands caused a bit of a flutter. With the Michelin Guide in Dubai finally allowing restaurants to (correctly) crow about the number of ‘stars’ they have, and ‘50 Best Restaurants’ taking on the task of trying to rank places across the vast MENA region into a list – but it was actually the arrival of another standout brand earlier this year that has made restaurant chefs check (and recheck) their seasoning.
Recognisable by its trademark yellow colour scheme, Gault&Millau is an exacting fine-dining guide that has been holding the loftiest of tables in France to account since the 1960s. Set up by food writers Henri Gault and Christian Millau as a counter-point to the traditional, old-fashioned restaurant guides at the time, they championed the development of ‘nouvelle cuisine’ and created a rating system that was more weighted to the quality of the food, rather than the luxury of a restaurant’s surroundings. Today the critique brand operates in 15 countries including France, Italy, Japan and now the UAE.
Gault&Millau has been holding the loftiest of tables to account since the 1960s
While there is no doubting that diners widely discuss restaurants in terms of whether it has a ‘star’, for many chefs in the industry a Gault&Millau ‘toque’ (or chef’s hat), holds greater significance.
“I have grown up with Gault&Millau,” says Gregoire Berger, the Chef de Cuisine at Ossiano restaurant at Atlantis, The Palm. “Since my very first apprenticeship in Brittany, it has been a goal and dream to part of the guide. It’s a sign that you are part of the very best, not only in France, but worldwide.” Not only was Ossiano awarded three-toque status (the highest in the country), but Berger was also anointed Chef of the Year in the inaugural edition of the UAE guide, an achievement that he is “very proud”.
Considering the influence and power food guides can have, it is no surprise that the world of restaurant critique is often shrouded in secrecy. The Michelin brand is renowned for its travelling band of invisible reviewers, and while Gault&Millau’s equivalents operate with the same anonymity, a point of difference is that its meticulous standards are upheld by a public, in-market ‘Chief Investigator’ figure.
“The quality of food and cooking will always be the main part of any Gault&Millau review, but the attention to smaller details is also important,” explains Paul Clifford, the brand’s chief investigator for the UAE. While scrutinising the taste, texture and provenance of the ingredients, some of the finer points that the brand’s training instructs its investigators to look out for is whether the tables are set up the same for everyone; if the menu is created by a chef who actually works in the kitchen; whether the soap dispensers in the bathrooms are full; and even to check if the waiting staff wear matching socks.
“As you can imagine, when it comes to restaurants, everyone has an opinion,” says Clifford. “What has been fantastic in the months since the first ratings were released, is how many people have thanked us for giving honest, fair critique and giving them something to work towards. That can only be good for the industry as a whole.”
This is something backed up by Berger who admits that when you are focused on the craft, it is sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees. “I think the transparency of the way Gault&Millau reviews restaurants is very useful,” he explains. “Sometimes there are aspects of the dining experience that we’re not aware of, or we’re not necessarily looking at, so their feedback is an integral part of helping us to achieve new heights.” Heights that the industry (and diners) in the region will need to start getting accustomed to.
gaultmillauae.com
Taking place at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, the 2024 Gault&Millau awards will feature 12 categories in the awards part of the evening, divided into two sections: People and Venue. And this year also features an additional category: Breakthrough Restaurant of the Year. This category was rightfully launched in order to celebrate restaurants which have opened in the past six months while positively impacting the fine dining scene.
Gault&Millau’s unbiased, independent review of the eateries they visit gives readers a much more intimate window into each restaurant rather than brief descriptions often found in other guides.
To discover every restaurant that made it in to the guide, click here. To follow the official Gualt&Millau UAE Instagram account here.