The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a list produced by the UK media company William Reed, which originally appeared in the British magazine Restaurant in 2002. The list and awards are no longer directly related to Restaurant, though they are owned by the same media company. [1] [2]
In addition to the main 1–50 ranking, the organisation awards a series of special prizes for individuals and restaurants, including the One To Watch Award, the Icon Award, the Best Female Chef Award [3] and the Chefs' Choice Award, the latter based on votes from the fifty head chefs from the restaurants on the previous year's list. In specific regions the organisation also pre-announces a 51–100 list, showcasing more venues in the area. [4] Often working as a barometer of global gastronomic trends, the list showcases a variety of cuisines from all over the world. [5]
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list first appeared as a feature in the British magazine Restaurant in 2002. Shortly afterwards, an awards night was established to celebrate the release of the list. [6] The results are published via the World’s 50 Best Restaurants social media channels and on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants website on the awards night.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is the result of a poll of over 1,000 independent experts, who each cast votes for establishments where they have enjoyed their best restaurant experiences. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy is gender-balanced and contains 27 regions around the world. Each region has a chairperson (Academy Chair), and that chairperson assembles 40 people (including themselves) to vote. This panel is an equal mix of leading chefs and restaurateurs in that region, food journalists and critics, and well-travelled gourmets. Under usual circumstances, at least 25% of the panellists from each region change each year. [7] [8]
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ voting process and results are subject to independent adjudication by Deloitte.
There are no criteria for voting. The organisation allows the 1,080 voters to make up their own minds, and collates their votes to create the list. [6]
Since 2013, William Reed has also published regional restaurant lists Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, and launched Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants in February 2022. [2]
A rule introduced in 2019 disqualifies previous winners from competing. Noma qualified again in 2021 because it closed in 2016 and reopened in a new location and concept. [9]
In 2019, the Best of the Best category was created, a hall of fame for restaurants that have reached the pinnacle of the No.1 position in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. With the creation of this list, No.1 winners are no longer eligible to be voted on new editions of the list.
The new iteration of Noma was eligible for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 list due to three key changes from the original restaurant: its location, concept and ownership. As such, it was considered a new restaurant and eligible for the No.1 position in 2021. The previous version of Noma topped the 50 Best list on four occasions, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
The following restaurants have been named No.1 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants since the list’s inception and were therefore no longer eligible for voting:
Thomas Aloysius Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant was a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World; the voting process has since been changed to disallow previous winners from being considered.
Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. Claridge's Hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group.
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Daniel Boulud is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, and Dubai. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant Daniel, opened in New York City in 1993, which currently holds two Michelin stars.
Noma is a three-Michelin-star restaurant run by chef René Redzepi, and co-founded by Claus Meyer, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of the two Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food). Opened in 2003, the restaurant is known for its focus on foraging, invention and interpretation of New Nordic Cuisine. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021 it was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine.
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New Nordic Cuisine is a culinary movement which has been developed in the Nordic countries, and Scandinavia in particular, since the mid-2000s. New Nordic Cuisine was propelled and inspired by new ideas introduced in a manifesto written by food activist and entrepreneur Claus Meyer and a number of Scandinavian chefs in 2004 in Copenhagen. New Nordic Cuisine has been used to promote local, natural and seasonal produce as a foundation for new dishes both at restaurants and in the home. As a result, a number of restaurants, particularly restaurants in Denmark, have introduced local ingredients, some often new to the usual palate, in combination with traditional foods prepared in new ways. One notable chef who helped popularize New Nordic cuisine is Rene Redzepi, the former head chef of Noma.
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