The Pula restaurant Valsabbion, Dubrovnik restaurant Gil's and the restaurant Le Mandrać from Volosko have received three out of possible four, and 17 out of possible 20 points in the Austrian issue of the culinary guide Gault Millau for 2010. They share the first place among the Croatian restaurants in the guide.
The criteria used to assess cuisine by this eminent Austrian culinary guide are freshness and quality of the food, especially seasonal food, the preservation of the taste of the ingredients, creativity and harmony in the preparation, quality of soups and sauces, precision and duration of cooking and imagination in the creation of new compositions. Its culinary inspectors visit the facilities anonymously and several times before making their final decision, which refers exclusively to the cuisine, that is the quality of the ingredients and food, not the equipment or service of the restaurants.
The points range from 12 to 20, they are equivalent to French school grades, and on top of them, restaurants receive chef hats, at least one and four at most. It is almost impossible to receive 20 points, and in the 28 years the guide has been published, the maximum number of points was given out only twice.
According to the scoring system, 19 is the highest grade for the world’s best restaurants, and 17 and 18, that is 3 chef hats, is given for the highest level of creativity and originality with the best possible preparation of meals, 15 and 16 is given for a high level in culinary skills with creativity and quality, 13 and 14 is given for very good cuisine offering more than an everyday experience, and 12 and 12.5 for good cuisine as can be expected in good restaurants for a wide clientele.
The restaurant Le Mandrać received as many as 19 points last year for its dish “Nova fritaja”.
Gault Millau is one of the most influential world gourmet guides. It is published in Vienna with a circulation of around 30,000, and for the past several years it contains a ten-page feature with the list of the best restaurants in Istria, part of Dalmatia, in the continent and some of the islands. The guide’s beginnings go back to 1969, when Henry Gault, Christian Millau and André Gayot founded “Le Nouveau Guide”, a monthly publication on wine and food, which actually was a reaction to the, as Gayot puts it, the conservative conception and assessment of cuisine.
The founders of the magazine termed their philosophy “Nouvelle cuisine”, according to which in cuisine, apart from the final result in the preparation of the food, creativity and boldness of the chef is important as well, and his desire to create something new. With time, this philosophy has turned into a movement, supported by the journalists Gault and Millau.
Hotel Valsabbion
www.valsabbion.hr
Restaurant Le Mandrać
www.lemandrac.com
Restaurant Gil's
www.gilsdubrovnik.com
Gault Millau
www.gaultmillau.at