VIENNA, March 12 — A vegetarian restaurant in Austria, a whimsically creative kitchen in Athens and the continued snub of Copenhagen restaurant Noma are among the interesting results out of the latest Michelin guide for Europe.

In the 33rd edition of the red guide’s “Main Cities of Europe 2014”, Greece gained a new two-starred restaurant for the Funky Gourmet in Athens, which serves avant-garde, playful cuisine where ice cream sandwiches are ‘smoked’, peas are cubed, and deconstructed pesto is served with a mortar and pestle.

Inspectors also handed out stars to four new restaurants in Austria including Tian, where vegetables are given the haute gastronomy treatment and the starring role.

A main dish, for instance, may include spinach ravioli with herbs and Perigord truffles.

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Meanwhile, despite having claimed the title of best restaurant in the world two times by critics, chefs and experts at Restaurant magazine, René Redzepi’s Copenhagen restaurant Noma failed to move up from its two-starred status.

Similarly, chef Rasmus Kofoed, who won the gold medal at the Bocuse d’Or in 2011, was unable to score a third star for his Copenhagen restaurant Geranium this year. The Bocuse d’Or is considered the Olympics of the food world.

However, the 33rd edition of the guide inducted more restaurants from Nordic countries, including three new restaurants from Denmark; two from Finland; two in Norway; and three in Sweden, cementing the region as an international culinary hot spot.

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That’s why the red guide has announced plans to publish a separate guide to Nordic countries next month.

The Nordic guide will cover Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

The only new three-starred restaurant in the 2014 edition of the Europe guide is Madrid eatery Diverxo, which had been announced in the Spain guide last winter.

Chef David Munoz has received critical acclaim for his unique fusion of Iberian and Asian flavors.

The “Main Cities of Europe” guide covers 44 cities in 20 countries and will be released March 13 for €23.90 (RM109). The guide is written in English.

The Nordic Countries guide goes on sale April 15. — AFP/Relaxnews