‘El Bulli’ restaurant in Spain, run by Ferran Adrià and named as the top restaurant in the world for the past four years, has slipped to number two in the latest list, the new number one being the ‘Noma’ restaurant in Copenhagen.
The annual S. Pellegrino awards now place Noma in the top spot with Heston Blumenthal’s ‘Fat Duck’ in Bray, England, occupying third spot.
The rankings are based on the selections of 800 of the most influential food writers, critics and chefs from around the world, including restaurateurs Angela Hartnett, Oliver Peyton and Jay Rayner. Each judge nominates five restaurants each.
The head chef at Noma, René Redzepi, who has worked in the kitchen of Ferran Adrià, has been quietly impressing people with his food for years but in a less flamboyant manner than some of his contemporaries.
‘Noma’ is a small restaurant in a converted warehouse on the Copenhagen waterfront and serves modern interpretations of classic Nordic food. Head chef Redzepi refuses to use olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes or any other of the key Mediterranean ingredients that have come to dominate haute cuisine in recent decades and prefers to forage for many of his ingredients in the forests.
In the latest list, no Gordon Ramsay restaurants in the top 100. Here are the Top 50:
1 Noma, Denmark
2 El Bulli, Spain
3 The Fat Duck, UK
4 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain
5 Mugaritz, Spain
6 Osteria Francescana, Italy
7 Alinea ,USA
8 Daniel, USA
9 Arzak, Spain
10 Per Se, USA
11 Le Chateaubriand, France
12 La Colombe, South Africa
13 Pierre Gagnaire, France
14 Hotel de Ville, Switzerland
15 Le Bernardin, USA
16 L’Astrance, France
17 Hof van Cleve, Belgium
18 D.O.M., Brazil
19 Oud Sluis, Holland
20 Le Calandre, Italy
21 Steirereck, Austria
22 Vendome, Germany
23 Chez Dominique, Finland
24 Les Créations de Narisawa, Japan
25 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden
26 Momofuku Ssam Bar, USA
27 Quay, Australia
28 Iggy’s, Singapore
29 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France
30 Schloss Schauenstein, Switzerland
31 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa
32 The French Laundry, USA
33 Martin Berasategui, Spain
34 Aqua, Germany
35 Combal Zero, Italy
36 Dal Pescatore, Italy
37 De Librije, Netherlands
38 Tetsuya’s, Australia
39 Jaan par Andre, Singapore
40 Il Canto, Italy
41 Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee, France
42 Oaxen Krog, Sweden
43 St John, UK
44 La Maison Troisgros, France
45 wd~50, USA
46 Biko, Mexico
47 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany
48 Nihonryori RyuGin, Japan
49 Hibiscus, UK
50 Eleven Madison Park, USA