Michelin fan has dined at all world's three-star restaurants

HE is the ultimate foodie, a globe- trotting gourmand who has pursued his quest for culinary perfection over three continents.

London businessman and writer Andy Hayler believes he is the first person on the planet to have eaten in all 68 restaurants awarded gastronomy's greatest accolade - three Michelin stars.

Last month he completed his marathon with a flourish in New York: paying £500 for the 20-course tasting menu at Per Se in the Time Warner building - the chunkiest single bill of all the venues he has visited.

He started his travels after a series of disappointing meals in supposedly top-class London restaurants. After reading a glowing review of Joël Robuchon's Jamin in Paris, he decided to give elite cuisine one last chance.

"I thought to myself, 'I know it will be disappointing so then I won't have to go again'," said Mr Hayler, 46, who lives in Chiswick. "But it backfired because it turned out to be the best meal I had ever eaten and got me hooked on high-end restaurants." Most of his targets - spread over 10 countries in Europe, North America and Asia - have been ticked off in the past four years, including 25 this year.

Mr Hayler, who can afford to pursue his hobby after selling a stake in IT firm Kalido, estimates he has spent about £15,000 on food and drink and the same again on travel and accommodation.

His wife Stella has travelled with him on many of his food forays. However, being an international food appreciator can be a tough job. Mr Hayler says he must work out in the gym five times a week to keep on top of the effects of his rich diet. All the restaurants are reviewed on his blog at andyhayler.com. He rates the best as the Louis XV in Monaco, Pic in Valence, southern France, and Schloss Berg in Saarland, western Germany - with the latter possibly stealing it as number one.

Of Britain's three-star venues - Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck in Bray, the Waterside Inn and Gordon Ramsay - he put only the Fat Duck in the higher echelons.

"I don't think Gordon Ramsay or the Waterside Inn have been three-star level for some time now and even at their peak they were only mid-range three-star. I don't think they are that inspiring. The last meals I had there were both pretty ordinary."

Another reputation that takes a knock is elBulli on the Costa Brava - labelled by some the best restaurant in the world. Mr Hayler said: "It is a very innovative and brilliantly marketed thing but I'm not really a mega-fan of molecular gastronomy. I call it Harry Potter food. A lot of it is about showing off techniques to other chefs."

Mr Hayler still rates France as the richest gastronomic society on earth: "We simply don't have the sheer depth of restaurant culture they have. In France even being a waiter in a three-star restaurant is a career people look up to.

"It is also to do with the ingredients. In the markets of France and Italy the quality of ingredients is dazzlingly better than somewhere like Borough Market." His quest becomes ever more challenging as more countries host Michelin-starred venues. The US guide was added in 2006 and the Japanese version last year.

And unlike some forms of "bagging" - such as climbing the world's 8,000m-plus peaks - it is a quest that is never quite over. A Hong Kong guide comes out next year and typically four or five restaurants are dropped and added to the list every year.

A moveable feast, you might say.