The judges spoke and rendered their verdict for S.Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants on April 26 in London.
Chez Rene Redzepi wins top spot (best in the world) with his restaurant Noma in Copenhagen.
Following Noma are El Bulli at number 2 and The Fat Duck at Number 3.
So Top 3 is all European.
The best restaurant in North America award goes to Alinea (Chicago) whose chef Grant Achatz collected his prize a day after his birthday, icing on the cake.
Not one French establishment made it in the Top 10 as Lizzy Davies notes in Sacré bleu! French rue absence from world's top 10 restaurants (Guardian, April 28).
She quotes Francois Simon (Le Figaro) as stating:
couscous restaurant (or a sushi place, a [Vietnamese] pho cafe, a
trattoria …)? How silly to try to carve that in stone," he wrote,
adding, in a sideswipe at the list's UK origins: "And yet our friends,
who rarely cross their own borders, have just published this idiotic
classification."
Should we call for an end to all awards?
(* top illustration taken at the event by Fine Dining Explorer…thanks to Noma for dining room photo by Mads Damgaard).