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The annual, and deeply flawed, World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was announced at a live event in Bilbao, northern Spain, this evening. Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, regained the top spot after having dropped to number two last year. (The restaurant held the accolade in 2016.) It means that last year’s winner, New York City’s Eleven Maddison Park, which drops three places to number four, can no longer call itself the “best restaurant in the world.”
In London, though, chef James Lowe’s Lyle’s, in Shoreditch, is 2018’s only London restaurant to place on the top 50 for the first time — in at number 38, and the second highest placed restaurant in the U.K.
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The highest, The Clove Club, also in Shoreditch, has fallen seven places — from number 26 to 33. Co-owner and front-of-house, Daniel Willis told Eater that “it feels fantastic to be in the 50 best list again! And the top restaurant in the U.K. again!”
There would be justifiable reason for disappointment on the other side of the city for Clare Smyth — the same organisation’s “best female chef” in the world — whose restaurant Core in Notting Hill, did not even place.
Mainstays of the list — The Ledbury, Brett Graham’s restaurant in Notting Hill, placed at number 42. It drops from number 27. While Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge (whose chef is Ashley Palmer-Watts) is in at number 45 — dropping from number 36.
The awards, though regularly criticised for their gender bias, Eurocentricity, tasting menu obsession, and privileging of expensive restaurants, remains hugely influential. But given the fact that there is no place for either the 2016 or 2018 “world’s best female chef” anywhere on the list (not for the first time), the awards body, and its decision-making processes, will likely face an inquest in the coming days.
Here’s the full list of the so-called 50 best restaurants in the world:
- Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy)
2. El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain)
3. Mirazur (Menton, France)
4. Eleven Madison Park (New York City)
5. Gaggan (Bangkok, Thailand)
6. Central (Lima, Peru)
7. Maido (Lima, Peru)
8. L’Arpege (Paris, France)
9. Mugaritz (Errenteria, Spain)
10. Asador Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain)
11. Quintonil (Mexico City, Mexico)
12. Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, New York, USA)
13. Pujol (Mexico City, Mexico)
14. Steirereck (Vienna, Austria)
15. White Rabbit (Moscow, Russia)
16. Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy)
17. Den (Tokyo, Japan)
18. Disfrutar (Barcelona, Spain)
19. Geranium (Copenhagen, Denmark)
20. Attica (Melbourne, Australia)
21. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée (Paris, France)
22. Narisawa (Tokyo, Japan)
23. Le Calandre (Rubano, Italy)
24. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (Shanghai, China)
25. Cosme (New York City, USA)
26. Le Bernardin (New York City, USA)
27. Boragó (Santiago, Chile)
28. Odette (Singapore)
29. Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen (Paris, France)
30. D.O.M. (São Paulo, Brazil)
31. Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain)
32. Tickets (Barcelona, Spain)
33. The Clove Club (London, UK)
34. Alinea (Chicago, USA)
35. Maaemo (Oslo, Norway)
36. Reale (Castel Di Sangro, Italy)
37. Restaurant Tim Raue (Berlin, Germany)
38. Lyle’s (London, UK)
39. Astrid y Gastón (Lima, Peru)
40. Septime (Paris, France)
41. Nihonryori RyuGin (Tokyo, Japan)
42. The Ledbury (London, UK)
43. Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Spain)
44. Mikla (Istanbul, Turkey)
45. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (London, UK)
46. Saison (San Francisco, USA)
47. Schloss Schauenstein (Fürstenau, Switzerland)
48. Hiša Franko (Kobarid, Slovenia)
49. Nahm (Bangkok, Thailand)
50. The Test Kitchen (Cape Town, South Africa)
Best Female Chef: Clare Smyth (Core by Clare Smyth, London)
Chef’s Choice Award: Dan Barber (Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, New York)
Best Pastry Chef: Cédric Grolet
Lifetime Achievement Award: Gastón Acurio
Art of Hospitality Award: Geranium (Copenhagen, Denmark)
One to Watch: Single Thread (Healdsburg, California)
BBVA Scholarship Winner: Jessie Liu (Taipei)
Sustainable Restaurant Award: Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Spain)
Highest New Entry: Disfrutar (Barcelona, Spain)
Highest Climber Award: Den (Tokyo, Japan)