While it is a privilege for most restaurant owners to get rated by Michelin Guide, a series of guide books in France which awards stars for excellence to a select few establishments, Véronique Jacquet of Bourges, a small city in central France knew something was not right.
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Jacquet's small restaurant in Bourges is a modest, lunch-only bistro with 20 tables and serves mostly local workers. Apart from a part time cook, Jacquet is the only other worker who serves customers and also pours out beer at the bar.
The plastic covered tables with a bread basket serve a lunch buffet which costs about $13.25.
On February 9, the Michelin Guides released its 2017 rankings and an online map of starred restaurants in which the small restaurant — Le Bouche à Oreille also received a star.
According to the New York Times, Jacquet said. "I laughed out loud. It was impossible that this could happen to me. I run a small working-class brasserie, nothing to do with a gourmet restaurant."
The star was actually meant for a restaurant with the same name located about 100 miles away in Boutervilliers, southwest of Paris. Besides having the same name, both the restaurants are located on a street with similar names. While Jacquet's is on a street called route de la Chapelle, the Michelin-starred restaurant is on rue de la Chapelle.
According to Michelin, the misunderstanding was a result of the technical glitch.
"Of course we don't like to make mistakes," a spokeswoman for Michelin said. "To err is human. The most important thing for us is that neither restaurant was negatively affected," she added.
After the mix-up, both the restaurants received calls from friends.
"One of my customers called me to ask if I had opened a second restaurant in Bourges," said Aymeric Dreux, the chef and co-owner of Le Bouche à Oreille in Boutervilliers —which has two rooms and a terrace and serves artistically plated dishes at a cost of $29.65- $55.06. Michelin later called up Dreux to clear the misunderstanding.
Local, national and international media also showed up at the restaurants to cover it. Jacquet called this mix-up a 'spectacular advertising.'
Dreux has meanwhile invited Jacquet and her cook to have dinner at his restaurant. The two owners plan to keep in touch.
