Gault Millau best restaurants in Groningen 2024

Where in Groningen is the best place to enjoy a culinary surprise? 

The jury members of the Gault&Millau restaurant guide investigated this. Their conclusion: you're in the right place at eleven restaurants in the city. Very good. They are all included in the new Gault&Millau guide, which was presented on Monday, February 13 2024.

It has been a while since the Gault & Milau came out, but we would still like to take a moment to look at the most highly rated restaurants in our beautiful city.

Gault & Millau

The Gault & Millau restaurant guide can be compared to the Michelin guide.
The participating restaurants are awarded chef's hats by the Gault Milau and not stars as in the Michelin guide.

Personally, I sometimes wonder what it is like for chefs to be assessed this way every year. Does it give you pressure or motivation to always outdo yourself?

The big picture

Michelin and Gault&Millau – are often mentioned together in the same sentence. You would almost think it is the same, but no, it is really different. Gault&Millau, like Michelin, publishes a guide every year with the best restaurants, but does so with points instead of stars. Starting at 10 and then increasing to 20. Restaurants with less than 10 points are not included in the guide.
It is not only about the culinary experience but also about the atmosphere and hospitality.

A culinary holiday in the city of Groningen

What if you go to Groningen and really want to make a culinary trip of it?
Keep in mind that you want to stay in the city for at least two weeks, because Groningen has a total of 12 restaurants that perform at the top level that they have an honorable mention in the Gault Millau.

Outside the city of Groningen, in Hoogkerk, you can find excellent Noor with 16.5 points,

equal to the score of the Vlindertuin in Zuidlaren (but this is of course in Drenthe).

But which restaurants are the top restaurants in the center of Groningen according to Gault Millau?

• Vive La Vie 14.5
• De Haan 14.5
• Nassau 14.0
• Rooftop Merckt 14.0
• Bisque 13.5
• Blumé 13.5
• De Grote Frederik Bistro 13.5
• De Betere Tijden 13.0
• Niemeijer 13.0
• Voila 13.0
• Niemeijer 13.0
• CICCIs 12.0
• Café Lily 12.0

Our personal experience

Now that we write this down, we realize that we still have to visit many addresses. 

We personally visited 5 from the list of the 13 restaurants in total, or actually 14 with Noor there.
 

We personally have had many very good experiences with the Vive La Vie restaurant, where we have already visited many times. Jeroen and Lara are a great team and extremely ambitious (and extremely sweet and fun!).

I have also dined in the Brasserie van de Prinsenhof before, but never in Restaurant Nassau. 

We have already had the pleasure of dining at Blumé with good friends and we enjoyed it. Voila, we have certainly been there a number of times and this is excellent!

Café Lily was previously Eetwaar, where Pim and Marieke warmly welcome you and certainly provided us with an unforgettable evening every time. At Bisque we had delicious oysters beforehand and the courses afterwards were great.

Conclusion

Time to start scheduling your culinary holiday in Groningen!