Auberge Chez Guth

A Michelin-recognised creative kitchen in an Alsatian farmhouse inn; with very limited hours

Auberge Chez Guth earns a Michelin Plate (2024) in one of the least obvious settings for serious creative cooking in France: a converted farmhouse in the upper reaches of Steige, a village deep in the Villé valley of Alsace. The dining room is open just four days a week for lunch and two evenings a week, with service windows as narrow as 90 minutes. If your schedule doesn't align, you don't eat here; so if you're planning a visit, build your itinerary around the kitchen's hours, not the other way around.

For food-focused travellers driving through Alsace or based in Strasbourg for a few days, this is one of the most credible arguments for leaving the city. The nearest Michelin-recognised peer in the region, Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, operates in a very different register, urban, formal, built for business dining. Chez Guth is the opposite: rural, intimate, shaped by its specific geography. That contrast is worth understanding before you book.

The Space

The setting is a stone farmhouse inn at the top of the village, positioned above the rolling pasture and forested hillsides of the Villé valley. Inside, the room reads as a traditional Alsatian auberge, low ceilings, rural texture, the kind of space that absorbs sound rather than amplifying it. A terrace looks out over the valley and is used for pre-dinner drinks and coffee, which extends the meal comfortably beyond the table. The spatial experience is defined by scale: this is a small room in a small village, the cooking is calibrated to that context. Don't arrive expecting a sleek dining room; the farmhouse character is part of the proposition, it works because the food justifies the detour.

The Cooking

Chef Yannick Guth runs a creative menu built around hyper-local sourcing, herbs and flowers picked personally, fish drawn from the nearby lake (pike, zander, whitefish), and a wider palate of Alsatian ingredients. The Michelin description references dishes like whitefish in seaweed with chickpea rouille, cromesquis of pheasant with mountain lovage, parsley, mushrooms. These aren't decorative flourishes; they reflect a kitchen that uses local knowledge as a technical ingredient. The approach is labelled creative for good reason: combinations can surprise, the ambition pushes past what you'd expect from a village inn.

The lakeside fish element is particularly worth noting. The Villé valley sits near a cluster of small Vosges lakes, cooking with pike and zander isn't common at this level of technique outside the region. If you eat regularly at urban creative tasting menus in Paris or Lyon, the ingredient sourcing here will feel genuinely different rather than decoratively rustic. For context on what high-end French cooking can look like when it's rooted in a specific landscape, compare the approach to Mirazur in Menton or Bras in Laguiole, both chefs work from a strong sense of place, Guth is operating in that tradition at a smaller, more accessible scale.

Why This Venue Matters to Steige

Steige is not a dining destination. It has no hotel cluster, no second restaurant pulling visitors, no infrastructure around culinary tourism. What it has is this farmhouse kitchen, that's the entire argument for the village appearing on any serious traveller's map of Alsace. For the Villé valley specifically, there's nothing comparable. If creative cooking in rural Alsace is something you want to experience, this is where you go. See our full Steige restaurants guide for broader context, our Steige hotels guide if you're planning an overnight stay.

Regional Context

Alsace has a strong tradition of destination dining rooted in rural auberges. The most famous example in the region is Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern, which operates at a three-star level in a similarly pastoral setting. Chez Guth is not in that conversation technically, but it shares the format: a farmhouse inn, a chef with strong local identity, a kitchen that takes the terroir seriously. For visitors building a route through eastern France, pairing Chez Guth with a visit to Assiette Champenoise in Reims or Flocons de Sel in Megève gives a useful cross-section of what serious French regional cooking looks like outside Paris. Also worth considering on an extended France circuit: Troisgros in Ouches, Auberge du Vieux Puits in Fontjoncouse, or AM par Alexandre Mazzia in Marseille for a different register of French creative cooking.

Practical Details

Reservations: Booking is rated easy, call or visit to arrange, but confirm well in advance if travelling specifically for this meal, as the narrow service windows mean available slots go quickly. Hours: Wednesday lunch (12–1:15 PM) and dinner (7–8:30 PM); Thursday and Friday lunch (12–1:30 PM); Friday dinner (7–8:30 PM); Saturday lunch and dinner; Sunday lunch only. Monday and Tuesday closed. Price range: €€€, mid-to-upper tier for the region, given the Michelin recognition and sourcing quality, it represents fair value. Dress: No formal dress code listed; rural auberge setting suggests smart-casual is appropriate and comfortable. Getting there: Steige is in the Villé valley of the Bas-Rhin department, a car is necessary; Strasbourg is the nearest major city and the logical base. Consult our Steige experiences guide for what else to do in the valley, our Steige bars guide and Steige wineries guide for pre- or post-dinner options.