Listed buildings (Venues) Last
week's S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards caused the usual
global anticipation among the world's top restaurateurs. While
sections of the press were fixated by Gordon Ramsay's absence from the
list Heston Blumenthal retained second place with The Fat Duck and
British restaurant St John achieved 14th position. Nobu also made the
list at 34.
Abigail Parkin (28 Apr'09)
Pedigree
The awards, which were held at London's Freemasons’ Hall, receive votes from the 800-plus chefs, restaurant critics and industry insiders who comprise the Nespresso World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy. This is the eighth year of the poll which is organised and compiled by Restaurant Magazine.
Developments
Japan
and Singapore make their debut on this year's list as does Austria. The
poll also saw Thomas Keller as the only restaurateur with two winning
restaurants. They were his New York restaurant Per Se which scored sixth position while The French Laundry achieved 12th placing.
Winners' summary
For the fourth year in a row Ferran Adrià has been voted winner of S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards for El Bulli in Catalonia, Spain. Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck overcame recent health scares to retains second place while Copenhagen’s Noma restaurant ranked third. Noma, which rose seven places, also takes this year’s Chef’s Choice Award which is voted for by the event's winning head chefs who are then asked to vote for their personal favourites.
2009’s highest climber is Spanish restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca, which rises 21 places to fifth place. Spain also has more restaurants in the top reaches of the list than any other country.
Albert Adria & Ferran Adria top the list
Family business, Bras, headed by chef Michel Bras is the highest placed French restaurant at 7. France’s culinary heritage and mastery continues to draw in a wealth of admirers from across the globe as it ties with the USA to score the highest number of restaurants on the list, each has 8 establishments in the top 50.
The highest new entry is Italian restaurant Osteria Francescana, led by chef Massimo Bottura, which found itself at position 13.
The
growing influence of Japanese chefs on the global restaurant scene has
also been recognised by the voters in the Nespresso Worlds 50 Best
Restaurants Academy with Les Créations de Narisawa in Tokyo securing a new entry at 20.
The Acqua Panna Best Continental Awardsare
designed for the highest-ranking restaurant in Europe, Asia, The Middle
East and Africa, The Americas, and Australasia.
(Above) Heston Blumenthal & Carlo Cracco
This
year those awards went to El Bulli (Europe), Les Créations de Narisawa
(Asia), Per Se (North America), Tetsuya’s (Australasia) D.O.M. (South
America), and Le Quartier Français (The Middle East and Africa).
The Lifetime Achievement award went to JoëlRobuchon.
50 Best restaurants ranked :
1 El Bulli (=) www.elbulli.com (pictured right)
2 The Fat Duck UK (=) www.fatduck.co.uk
3 Noma Denmark (▲7) www.noma.dk
4 Mugaritz Spain (=) www.mugaritz.com
5 El Celler de Can Roca Spain (▲21) www.cellercanroca.com
6 Per Se USA (=) www.perseny.com
7 Bras France (=) www. michel-bras.com
8 Arzak Spain (=) www.arzak.es
9 Pierre Gagnaire France (▼6) www.pierre-gagnaire.com
10 Alinea USA (▲11) www.alinea-restaurant.com
11 L’Astrance France (=) www.lastrance.abemadi.com
12 The French Laundry USA (▼7) www.frenchlaundry.com
13 Osteria Francescana Italy (New Entry) www.osteriafrancescana.it
14 St John UK (▲2) www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk
15 Le Bernardin USA (▲5) www.le-bernardin.com
16 Restaurant de l’HÔtel de Ville (▲11) www.philippe-rochat.ch
17 Tetsuya’s Australia (▼8) www. tetsuyas.com
18 L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon France (▼4) www.joel-robuchon.com
19
Jean Georges USA (▼2)
www.jean-georges.com
20 Les Créations de Narisawa Japan (New Entry)
www.narisawa-yoshihiro.com
(Above) Mugaritz which scored fourth place
21 Chez Dominique Finland (▲18) www.chezdominique.fi
22 Ristorante Cracco Italy (▲21) www.ristorantecracco.it
23 Die Schwarzwaldstube Germany (▲12) www.traube-tonbach.de
24 D.O.M. Brazil (▲16)
25 Vendôme Germany (▲9)
26 Hof van Cleve Belgium (▲2)
27 Masa USA (Re-entry) www.masanyc.com
28 Gambero Rosso Italy (▼16) Tel +39 (0)56570 1021
29 Oud Sluis Netherlands (▲13) www.oudsluis.nl
30 Steirereck Austria (New Entry) www.steirereck.at
31 Momofuku Ssäm Bar USA (New Entry) www.momofuku.com
32 Oaxen Skärgårdskrog Sweden (▲16) www.oaxenkrog.se
33 Martin Berasategui Spain (▼4) www.martinberasategui.com
34 Nobu UK (▼4) www.noburestaurants.com
35 Mirazur France (New Entry) www.mirazur.fr
36 Hakkasan UK (▼17) www.hakkasan.com
37 Le Quartier Français South Africa (▲13) www.lequartier.co.za
38 La Colombe South Africa (Re-entry) www.constantia-uitsig.com
39 Asador Etxebarri Spain (▲5) www.asadoretxebarri.com
40 Le Chateaubriand France (New Entry) tel +33 (0)1 43574595
41 Daniel USA (=) www.danielnyc.com
42 Combal Zero Italy (Re-entry) www.combal.org
43 Le Louis XV France (▼28) www.alain-ducasse.com
44 Tantris Germany (▲3) www.tantris.de
45 Iggy’s Singapore (New Entry) www.iggys.com.sg
46 Quay Australia (New Entry) www.quay.com.au
47 Les Ambassadeurs France (▼2) www.crillon.com
48 Dal Pescatore Italy (▼25) www.dalpescatore.com
49 Le Calandre Italy (▼13) www.calandre.com
50 Mathias Dahlgren Sweden (New Entry) www.mathiasdahlgren.com
RK _________________________________________