In the most awaited gastronomic event of the year, the Michelin guide awards, all the restaurants of the "Senatoriu Passage" were accompanied by success. Under the leadership of chef Andrias Kubilius restaurant Located in the historic Old Town Palace, Nineteen18 has earned the most coveted accolade in the world of gastronomy, the Michelin star. Another restaurant located in the arcade, 14Horses, whose kitchen is created by Justinas Misius, twice nominated as the best chef of Lithuania, won the Michelin Bib Gourmand rating for its exceptional price-quality ratio. The latest restaurant of the Old Town Passage group, Red Brick, created by Icelandic chef Arnór Ingi Bjarkason, has also been a success, having been awarded a Green Michelin star for its special contribution to sustainable gastronomy.
Michelin star winner restaurant Nineteen18 chef Andrius Kubilius is happy that Lithuania has finally joined the global "Michelin" guide family, which brings a lot of gastronomic tourism. Along with that comes high-quality international evaluations that allow us to compare with other restaurants in the surrounding countries and around the world.
"Congratulations to colleagues who today earned a Michelin star and entered the 3 best-rated restaurants in the world. This is an important assessment of our work, obliging us not to disappoint expectations and to reach new heights. Today, emotions are rushing over the edges, I am especially grateful to my team, which creates together, takes care of guests and helps to tell about Lithuania. After the long stagnation of the Soviet era, we looked to our neighbors for a long time, copying their gastronomic stylistics and ideas. But now we are creating our own gastronomic history, which has a lot of respect for tradition, products grown on our land and great flavors that connect Lithuania to the world," says chef Andrius Kubilius, who won the first Michelin star.
Justin Misius, whose restaurant "14Horses" will now be awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand rating, is also happy with the rating, which reflects the restaurant's goal of creating a friendly, warm gastronomic experience and a good price-quality ratio.
"We are a restaurant where we welcome our guests as close friends and serve them the same food that reflects how we feel and understand the world around us. The best way to show it on a plate is to season everything with seasonal products grown in Lithuania. We change and move together with nature, it is our greatest inspiration and engine to create. It is extremely gratifying that the Michelin inspectors also appreciated this creative effort of our team, it is a great incentive to move forward", said Justin Misius.
However, perhaps the most pleasant and expected rating of the Michelin guide for the entire group of restaurants in the Senators Passage is the Green Star awarded to the Red Brick restaurant for its special efforts to foster sustainability in gastronomy.
"We were pleasantly surprised and overjoyed when filling out the Michelin guide questionnaire, we found a single question: 'How does your restaurant contribute to sustainability'," says Niels Peter Pretzmann, the founder of "Senators Passage", a standard bearer of sustainability ideas.
"This responsible approach takes food culture to a new level. It is no longer enough to simply aim for good flavors and great techniques. We must think about the land on which the products we make grow, treat animals with respect, responsibly assess how much garbage we leave, and thus create a new gastronomy of the future. Senators' Arcade and the farm "Farmers Circle" have always been guided by higher goals, and I am glad that along the way we meet more and more fellow travelers who believe in the principles of sustainable food. I really hope that the arrival of the Michelin guide will also contribute to the creation of better, cleaner food," says Niels Peter Pretzmann.
In a restaurant Arnór Ingi Bjarkason, the Icelandic chef behind Red Brick, always had the goal of achieving the Green Star, this dream is also recorded in his sustainability manifesto, which can be found on the restaurant's website. The Icelander, who feels a close connection with nature, says that his dream came true when he came to work at "Red Brick", the only organic restaurant in Lithuania, located on the organic farm "Farmers Circle".
"Seeing growing products through the kitchen window, waiting for each new vegetable, being able to pick mushrooms in the nearby forest, feeling the change of nature is a wonderful gift for every chef. This unique Michelin rating, of which there are only 500 in the world, is the greatest incentive to work towards a better world where man and nature are in harmony."
