Italy’s Osteria Francescana tops list of world’s 50 best restaurants while Spain’s El Celler de Can Roca is at No. 2 and New York’s Eleven Madison Park is at No. 3
Italy’s Osteria Francescana was crowned world’s best restaurant of 2016 at an awards ceremony in New York, the first Italian establishment to win the annual accolade.
As for the top three winners, Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy took the top spot from last year’s No. 1 restaurant — El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain. Eleven Madison Park is perched at the third spot.
Italian cuisine is the sum of flavours distilled by centuries of history, you cannot change it. You have to evolve it, because the flavour of lasagne is just perfect,’ Bottura told in an interview.
3 Cheers for @massimobottura of #OsteriaFrancescana No.1 @TheWorlds50Best ! An honor to have you visit us today! pic.twitter.com/PbRfig6eNB
— Le Bernardin (@LeBernardinNY) June 15, 2016
Peru’s Central and Denmark’s Noma came in fourth and fifth, while the bête noire of Italian food, French cuisine, appeared at sixth position in the guise of Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur. The restaurants on the 2016 list were picked by a total of almost 1000 members of the industry, including restaurateurs, chefs, writers and gourmets. The group is divided into 27 regional panels, each with 36 members. They are asked to choose their seven “best restaurant experiences”-it is not a laurel based on food alone. The ceremony took place at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan-the first time it has taken place outside of London since its founding in 2002. Three French chefs won individual honors, with Alain Passard of Arpege given a lifetime achievement award; French-born Dominique Crenn named best female chef and Pierre Herme best pastry chef.
Congratulations to @PierreHerme, The World’s Best Pastry Chef, sponsored by @CacaoBarry_ENG. #Worlds50Best pic.twitter.com/wJpONCXGW8
— The World’s 50 Best (@TheWorlds50Best) June 17, 2016
The “Chef’s Choice Award,” voted on by other chefs on the 50 best list, was awarded to Joan Roca of El Celler de Can Roca. This year’s lifetime achievement award went to Chef Alain Passard of Michelin three-star restaurant L’Arpege in Paris.
More than half of the restaurants in the top 50 are in Europe. Six are in the United States; six in South America and five in Asia.
This year’s awards ceremony, widely viewed as the Oscars of fine dining, took place in New York — moving away from London for the first time as part of efforts to make the event “truly global.”
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants award will be presented in Melbourne in 2017.
Below is 2016’s complete list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants:
1. Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy)
2. El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain)
3. Eleven Madison Park(New York City)
4. Central (Lima)
5. Noma (Copenhagen)
6. Mirazur (Menton, France)
7. Mugaritz (San Sebastian, Spain)
8. Narisawa (Tokyo, Japan)
9. Steirereck (Vienna)
10. Asador Etxebarri (Biscay, Spain)
11. D.O.M. (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
12. Quintonil (Mexico City)
13. Maido (Lima) — Highest riser
14. Ledbury (London)
15. Alinea (Chicago)
16. Azurmendi (Near Bilbao, Spain)
17. Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy)
18. White Rabbit (Moscow)
19. Arpege (Paris)
20. Amber (Hong Kong)
21. Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain)
22. The Test Kitchen (Cape Town, South Africa)
23. Gaggan (Bangkok)
24. Le Bernardin (New York City)
25. Pujol (Mexico City)
26. Clove Club (London) — Highest new entry
27. Saison (San Francisco)
28. Geranium (Copenhagen, Denmark)
29. Tickets (Barcelona)
30. Astrid y Gaston (Lima)
31. Nihonryori RyuGin (Tokyo)
32. Restaurant Andre (Singapore)
33. Attica (Melbourne, Australia)
34. Restaurant Tim Raue (Berlin, Germany)
35. Vendome (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany)
36. Borago (Santiago)
37. Nahm (Bangkok)
38. De Librije (Zwolle, Netherlands)
39. Le Calandre (Padua, Italy)
40. Relae (Copenhagen)
41. Faviken (Jarpen, Sweden)
42. Ultraviolet (Shanghai, China)
43. Biko (Mexico City)
44. Estela (New York)
45. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (London)
46. Combal.Zero (Rivoli, Italy)
47. Schloss Schauenstein (Furstenau, Switzerland)
48. Blue Hill at Stone Barns (New York)
49. Quique Dacosta (Denia, Spain)
50. Septime (Paris)