In an Australian first, mystery diners will scrutinise South Australian restaurants for the next few months to decide which are deemed Michelin-star worthy.

But the move also comes at a mystery price.

South Australia will become the first Australian state to feature in the world-famous Michelin Guide, state Tourism Minister Emily Bourke announced this week.

The project is a joint venture with the Malinauskas government’s tourism commission and Michelin. But the cost to the government – and the state’s taxpayers – to bring the guide Down Under remains commercial in confidence.

In the most recent bid from the guide to include Australia, Michelin reportedly asked Tourism Australia for $17.33 million over five years.

Tourism New Zealand paid $6.3 million to secure Michelin in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, according to the New Zealand Herald.

“This is something that South Australia is really proud to back, because, as we’ve seen, it goes beyond the benefits of the plate,” Bourke said.

“As a state, we already know that we do this well. But now we get to have an extra symbol that shows that and has an opportunity to tell that to 63 million people who use the Michelin website every single year.

“We know that up to two jobs are created from every time a Michelin guide is put into a community through the chain of opportunities that come with this guide being announced here in South Australia.”

Bustling Africola in Adelaide’s East Terrace. Photo: Andre Castellucci/SA Tourism

Michelin inspectors are on the ground now. They will judge restaurants in Adelaide and across SA’s regions for their potential inclusion in the guide book’s 2027 edition.

The full list of those who make the cut won’t be released until October. However, regions such as the Barossa, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and Kangaroo Island are expected to feature.

Michelin guide international director Gwendal Poullennec said South Australia offered an impressive diversity of culinary expressions in one destination.

“The strength of its identity lies in the freedom chefs enjoy defining their own voice, guided by outstanding produce, a strong relationship to the land and a confident openness to global influences,” he said.

“Our inspectors were struck by the authenticity and personality of the region’s dining culture, and we are delighted to spotlight South Australia on the Michelin guide stage.”

Bourke said judging was independent and neither the restaurants nor the government knew which ones were being visited or chosen.

She was flanked by leading SA chefs Duncan Welgemoed, Scott Huggins, Jake Kellie and Kane Pollard, for the announcement at Tasting Australia’s Town Square in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Welgemoed owns East Terrace’s Africola, and earned himself a Michelin star when he was 21, working as head chef of The Goose in Oxfordshire, UK.

He said the listing would open up immense opportunities for chefs, and having the program in SA would stop the “brain drain” of hospitality talent leaving the state.

Asked for his message to other Australian states, Welgemoed said “catch us if you can”.

Republished from InDaily