Daniel Humm's New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park has been awarded three Michelin stars, the first vegan restaurant to get the top rating.
Last night, the new Michelin Guide stars were awarded in New York and one of the 73 restaurants made dining history. Daniel Humm's Eleven Madison Park became the first vegan restaurant to be awarded the Guide's coveted three star rating.
The Swiss chef shook up New York's fine dining scene when he reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic last year with an entirely plant-based menu."We have always acted with sensitivity to the impact we have on our environment, but it has become increasingly clear that the current food system is simply not sustainable in many ways," said the top chef.
The fact that Eleven Madison Park has maintained its three stars, which it has held since 2011, since introducing its vegan menu has caused a sensation. The restaurant's shift to plant-based dishes has been controversial, with a New York Times review saying the "acclaimed restaurant does strange things to vegetables" and that a beetroot tasted "like Lemon Pledge and smells like a burning joint".
Michelin inspectors added 19 new starred restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan in 2022. "New York's culinary landscape is definitely on the rise again, getting bigger and bigger, offering more and more innovative offerings and ready to take on new challenges and become even more successful," said Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of Michelin Guides. Seventy three restaurants in total received stars.
