This year, Tallinn-based restaurant 180° by Matthias Diether retained its two Michelin stars, while the restaurant's sommelier Kevin Lilleleht was also given an individual award.

The fact that the restaurant did not receive a third star did not disappoint owner Sten Sarap. He pointed out that retaining two stars is a sign of having maintained world-class standards. Nonetheless, they are still aiming for three stars in the future.

"It's always worth striving for something," Sarap said. "Two is a very good result. We can't go back."

The restaurant will not be told by the evaluators why it missed out on receiving a third star. However, Sarap thinks that Estonia is simply a country with too short a history of being given Michelin stars for an establishment to be awarded a third. This is, after all only the fourth year when Michelin stars have been given to Estonian restaurants.

"We didn't get two right away, although I don't think we've changed that much in the two years since we got the first and then the second. Maybe it's unusual to give out three or two [stars] straight away."

Michelin's reviewers are anonymous and their identities are not revealed to restaurant-goers, Sarap noted.

"If we had all Estonians and then one guy called Jeanne-Luc came, it would be suspicious, but we have quite a few people from all over the world. They might come alone or as a two, it doesn't matter, they pay their bill. It's not like you throw them a voucher and now you get a free [star]," he said.

Restaurant 180° by Matthias Diether opened in 2019.

"My goal was to make it the number one restaurant," said Sarap. "If you look at it that way, that you want to make the best restaurant, it's kind of easy to take all the best things. If you want to do mediocre, then you're going to get bogged down and give up on quality."

According to Sarap, the awarding of Michel stars provides a boost for the tourism industry. "People have even come to Estonia from Japan and America just to eat here. We've had quite a few Swedes who say it's cheaper for them to come by plane from Stockholm to Tallinn, spend a weekend here, eat in a two star Michelin restaurant and go back, than to do that in Sweden," he said.

Despite having two Michelin stars, running a restaurant is not especially lucrative, Sarap pointed out.

"If I were to think about wanting to make a fortune now, it would have to be at the expense of quality or labor, for example, because it's just so expensive to do these things in Estonia," he said. "If you don't even have a full restaurant, it's a mess. It's been a difficult last year with all these taxes and things," Sarap admitted.

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