The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a list produced by British magazine
Restaurant based on a poll of international chefs, restaurateurs,
gourmands and restaurant critics. In addition to the main ranking, the Chef's
Choice list is based on votes from the fifty head chefs from the restaurants on
the previous year's list. The top restaurants are often forerunners of
molecular gastronomy. Most of the restaurants serve haute cuisine.
The first place on the list has been dominated by elBulli and Noma. In 2002
and 2006–2009, elBulli was determined to be the world's best restaurant, winning
more times than any other restaurant. In 2010, Noma received the first place
award. It was maintained in 2011 and again in 2012. After defending its title
for the third time, chef Rene Redzepi said that 1,204 customers were
wait-listed for the evening, compared to 14 customers from two years before.
However, in 2013 El Celler De Can Roca took over the first position and Noma
regained it in 2014. Method
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is compiled from the votes of the "World’s
50 Best Restaurants Academy", a group of 27 panels established to make the
ranking. The world is divided into regions, with a chairperson in each
region appointed for their knowledge of their part of the restaurant world.
These chairs each selected a voting panel of 35 members, who cast a total of
5,859 votes. There is no list of nominees; each
member of the international voting panel votes for their own personal choice of 7
restaurants. To ensure that there are winners from many regions, judges are
encouraged to vote for up to three restaurants in their own region, with
the rest cast outside their home region. Nobody is allowed to vote for their own
restaurant, or one which they have an economic interest in, and voters must
have eaten in the restaurants they nominate within the past 18 months –
although it is not possible to ensure that they have.
The criteria are different from those of the Michelin Guide or other guides,
which has allowed restaurants like Momofuku Ssam Bar, Asador Etxebarri and
St. John to hold their own among the molecular or traditional cuisine of
restaurants like The Fat Duck to Les Ambassadeurs to The French Laundry.
The list has been criticised; writing in The Guardian in 2003 Matthew Fort
described the list as "humbug". The French food writer and critic
François-Régis Gaudry mentions the lack of reliability of this ranking, while
the Spanish chef Martín Berasategui spoke of "rigged" ranking, manipulated
by an "important international food company" in order to "cause damage" to
the Michelin guide. Best restaurants by year
Chef's Choice restaurants by year 2004: Tetsuya's, Sydney, Australia
2005: elBulli, Roses, Catalonia, Spain 2006: Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, France
2007: The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire, England
2008: Mugaritz, Errenteria, Gipuzkoa, Spain
2009: Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark 2010: The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire,
England 2011: Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
2012: Mugaritz, Errenteria, Gipuzkoa, Spain
2013: Alinea, Chicago, United States 2014: D.O.M., São Paulo, Brazil
Other 2012 awards La Grenouillere, France – "One to Watch"
award. Overall it placed at #81. Elena Arzak from the Arzak restaurant,
Spain – Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef.
Thomas Keller from the French Laundry, US – S. Pellegrino Lifetime Achievement
Award. See also
List of Michelin starred restaurants Lists of restaurants
References External links
Official site