This year’s edition of 'The World's 50 Best Restaurants' by publishing group William Reed Business Media was released on Wednesday night. The ranking is one of the most highly anticipated events of the culinary calendar.
The so-called Oscars of gastronomy have named Disfrutar in Barcelona as the top restaurant in the world, followed by Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo and Table in Paris. Where five of the top ten restaurants this year were in Europe (three of which were in Spain, one in France and one in Denmark), Latin America also performed well with Maido in Lima, Quintonil in Mexico City and Don Julio in Buenos Aires. Asia’s top performer was Gaggan in rank 9, based in Bangkok.
Only one restaurant made it into the list from the United States this year: Ranked sixth, Atomix in Manhattan's Koreatown serves modern Korean dishes and climbed up two spots since last year.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants was first launched 20 years ago by the British magazine Restaurant Magazine as an alternative to the Michelin stars system. The ranking has faced criticism in recent years for elitism, with claims of jurors favoring restaurant owners they know, and for featuring mostly restaurants in Europe and a couple of metropolises around the world.
