Gault Millau

Gault et Millau [ɡo e mijo] is an influential French restaurant guide. It was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965.

Points system

Gault Millau rates on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 highest. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed. The points are awarded based on the quality of the food, with comments about service, price or the atmosphere of the restaurant given separately. Based on this rating, high ranking restaurants may display one to five toques. Gault Millau does not accept payment for listing restaurants.

Under its original authors and for many years after they left, Gault Millau never awarded a score of 20 points, under the argument that perfection is unachievable. In 2004, two restaurants, both of chef Marc Veyrat, the Maison de Marc Veyrat (or L'Auberge de l'Eridan) in Veyrier-du-Lac near Annecy and La Ferme de Mon Père ("My Father's Farm") in Megève, received this score. To some, this reflects a fall of standards in the guide after it changed from employing a permanent editorial and tasting staff to using local agents.

Millau

Millau (Occitan: Milhau) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the French Midi-Pyrenees region in southern France. It is 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the Aveyron prefecture headquarters in Rodez. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers. It is surrounded by the landscapes of Gorges du Tarn, Causse du Larzac and Causse Noir. It is part of the former province of Rouergue where they also communicate through a form of Occitan language: the Rouergat dialect. Its inhabitants are called Millavois and Millavoises. The territory of the municipality is part of the Regional Natural Park of Grands Causses.

History

The town dates back nearly 3000 years when it was situated on the hills above the Granède, before situating on the left bank of the Tarn on the alluvial plain in the second or first century B.C. The plain gave the town its Gallic name of Condatomagus (Contado meaning confluence and magus for the market). The site of Condatomagus was identified in the 19th century by Dieudonne du Rey and was close to the major earthenware centre in the Roman Empire, La Graufesenque. This is where luxury ceramics such as red terra sigillata were made. Despite major new development in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the centre of the old Roman and medieval town on the opposite (left) bank of the Tarn remains poorly excavated, and the newly renovated Maison du Peuple, almost on the site of the old Roman forum, saw no archaeology before major mechanical excavation for recent new very deep foundations. The local museum sits almost adjacent to this site.