TheFork Awards 2026 vote for France's best new restaurant ends
Voting closes 19 October among 85 newly opened restaurants picked by chefs with 100 Michelin stars combined, with the winner revealed in Bordeaux on 30 November.
Voting for TheFork Awards 2026 closes on 19 October, with the French public choosing the country's best new restaurant from 85 nominees selected by chefs holding a combined 100 Michelin stars.
TheFork, the European restaurant-booking platform, opened its seventh annual Awards this autumn by asking around 85 established chefs — among them Guy Savoy, Christian Le Squer, Nina Métayer, Glenn Viel and Yoann Conte — to each nominate one newcomer. Eligible restaurants are those that opened, or changed hands under a new concept, since January 2024.
For the established tables these newcomers are measured against, see our list of the best restaurants in Paris.
Eighty-five chefs, one newcomer each: TheFork turns France's most guarded Rolodexes into a single ballot.
Inside the TheFork Awards 2026 list
The nominees run from Paris bistros to regional newcomers. In the capital, Almas, Bolan, Ébène, Eskal and Patsy are all in the running; outside it, nominees stretch to Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Lille and Biarritz.
Smaller towns feature too. In the Pas-de-Calais alone, three restaurants made the list: Iodaline in Arras, led by chef Alexandre Nowak; Orizon in Boulogne-sur-Mer, led by Emmanuel Pillot; and Pluriel in Saint-Omer, led by Yohann Cornet. Each was put forward by an established sponsor, including three-Michelin-starred chef Georges Blanc.
Voting happens on TheFork Awards' own site: visitors browse the nominee list, pick a restaurant and confirm the choice by email, which the organiser then uses to validate the vote. The window opened in early September and runs until 19 October, giving diners roughly six weeks to settle on «the best new restaurant in France».
The prize carries real weight for a young kitchen. TheFork frames the contest as a way to put newcomers in front of the diners who ultimately decide whether they survive their first two years in business.
Past TheFork Awards winners turned heads
The format has a track record. TheFork has nominated 430 restaurants since the Awards launched in 2019 and crowned 36 winners — and of those winners, 35 have since been awarded a Michelin star, according to the platform's own tally.
TheFork runs an identical format elsewhere in Europe. In Italy, the 2026 Awards named 48 finalists for the country's best new restaurant this September, using the same chef-nomination model before a public vote.
The 2026 winner will be announced on 30 November at the Opéra national de Bordeaux — a grander stage than the usual trade dinner, and one more sign of how far the contest has travelled from its first edition.
