The Pellegrino ’50 Best Restaurants in the World’ list has always been somewhat overshadowed by the Michelin star system. That is until this year. Why? Because after four years in the number one position Ferran Adriá’s El Bulli has dropped to second place and to add insult to injury he was de-crowned by a Dane.
The Pellegrino Awards are voted for by an 800–strong panel of international, industry professionals, making them vastly different from t
he secretive Michelin system of single anonymous judges. They can only allocate three votes to restaurants in the their own locations and two must be allocated to ones outside, and they must have eaten in them in the last 18 months. One could also argue that the Pellegrino Awards are more focussed on the food, as the Michelin reviewers must also take into account the quality of the table settings, crockery and cutlery and service when dishing out their ‘stars’.
he secretive Michelin system of single anonymous judges. They can only allocate three votes to restaurants in the their own locations and two must be allocated to ones outside, and they must have eaten in them in the last 18 months. One could also argue that the Pellegrino Awards are more focussed on the food, as the Michelin reviewers must also take into account the quality of the table settings, crockery and cutlery and service when dishing out their ‘stars’.
This year, four Spanish restaurants made the top ten list, but the biggest surprise of all was that the
number one position went to Noma in Copenhagen. Located in an old warehouse on the city’s waterfront, Noma is run by René Redzepi, who has quietly been toiling away at recreating Nordic classic dishes and re-introducing local ingredients, often foraged from the Danish countryside, to a new audience. Some of the produce that features on his menu includes elderberries, whey, and lovage
Some of the chefs that were left off this year’s list include Gordon ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Ramsay. In fact British haute cuisine, despite the hype that has surrounded it in the past years, fared badly with restaurants such as St. John slipping well-down in rank from previous years.
