Here's to wishful thinking that I can dine at these places. I guess the nearest I can get to would be Iggy's in Singapore. My aim for this year, is to dine there vs. wishing I dined there! The list was subject to loads of controversy as a certain loud mouthed Brit chef known as Gordon Ramsay failed to make the list. So what do you all think? Does he deserve this snub?
The world's 50 best restaurants 2009 (and 2008 ranking in brackets)
1 El Bulli, Spain (1)
2 The Fat Duck, UK (2)
3 Noma, Denmark (10)
4 Mugaritz, Spain (4)
5 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (26)
6 Per Se, US (6)
7 Bras, France (7)
8 Arzak, Spain (8)
9 Pierre Gagnaire, France (3)
10 Alinea, US (21)
11 L'Astrance, France (11)
12 The French Laundry, US (5)
13 Osteria Francescana, Italy (new entry)
14 St. John, UK (16)
15 Le Bernardin, US (20)
16 Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville, Switzerland (27)
17 Tetsuya's, Australia (9)
18 L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (14)
19 Jean Georges, US (17)
20 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (new entry)
21 Chez Dominique, Finland (39)
22 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (43)
23 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany (35)
24 D.O.M., Brazil (40)
25 Vendome, Germany (34)
26 Hof van Cleve, Belgium (28)
27 Masa, US (re-entry)
28 Gambero Rosso, Italy (12)
29 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (42)
30 Steirereck, Austria (new entry)
31 Momofuku Ssam Bar, US (new entry)
32 Oaxen Skargardskrog, Sweden (48)
33 Martin Berasategui, Spain (29)
34 Nobu, UK (30)
35 Mirazur, France (new entry)
36 Hakkasan, UK (19)
37 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (5)
38 La Colombe, South Africa (re-entry)
39 Asador Etxbarri, Spain (44)
40 Le Chateaubriand, France (new entry)
41 Daniel, US (41)
42 Combal Zero, Italy (re-entry)
43 Le Louis XV, France (15)
44 Tantris, Germany (47)
45 Iggy's, Singapore (new entry)
46 Quay, Australia (new entry)
47 Les Ambassadeurs, France (45)
48 Dal Pescatore, Italy (23)
49 Le Calandre, Italy ( 36)
50 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden (new entry)
Source: S. Pellegrino
The world's 50 best restaurants 2009 (and 2008 ranking in brackets)
1 El Bulli, Spain (1)
2 The Fat Duck, UK (2)
3 Noma, Denmark (10)
4 Mugaritz, Spain (4)
5 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (26)
6 Per Se, US (6)
7 Bras, France (7)
8 Arzak, Spain (8)
9 Pierre Gagnaire, France (3)
10 Alinea, US (21)
11 L'Astrance, France (11)
12 The French Laundry, US (5)
13 Osteria Francescana, Italy (new entry)
14 St. John, UK (16)
15 Le Bernardin, US (20)
16 Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville, Switzerland (27)
17 Tetsuya's, Australia (9)
18 L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (14)
19 Jean Georges, US (17)
20 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (new entry)
21 Chez Dominique, Finland (39)
22 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (43)
23 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany (35)
24 D.O.M., Brazil (40)
25 Vendome, Germany (34)
26 Hof van Cleve, Belgium (28)
27 Masa, US (re-entry)
28 Gambero Rosso, Italy (12)
29 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (42)
30 Steirereck, Austria (new entry)
31 Momofuku Ssam Bar, US (new entry)
32 Oaxen Skargardskrog, Sweden (48)
33 Martin Berasategui, Spain (29)
34 Nobu, UK (30)
35 Mirazur, France (new entry)
36 Hakkasan, UK (19)
37 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (5)
38 La Colombe, South Africa (re-entry)
39 Asador Etxbarri, Spain (44)
40 Le Chateaubriand, France (new entry)
41 Daniel, US (41)
42 Combal Zero, Italy (re-entry)
43 Le Louis XV, France (15)
44 Tantris, Germany (47)
45 Iggy's, Singapore (new entry)
46 Quay, Australia (new entry)
47 Les Ambassadeurs, France (45)
48 Dal Pescatore, Italy (23)
49 Le Calandre, Italy ( 36)
50 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden (new entry)
Source: S. Pellegrino
The whole Top 50's list is basically big ego'ed chefs giving each other a pat on their back. In fact the system is flawed such that they should rename the awards 'the world's 50 best restaurants according to western journalist'.
ReplyDeleteI speak solely re: the UK restaurants, none of them would be in my top 10 choice of restaurants to dine at. I mean, Nobu (Japanese restaurant) and Hakkasan (Chinese) on the list but no mention of any restaurants from Japan, HK or China?
As far as the potty mouth one goes, his demotion is about time. He never ever cooks in his own restaurants and his 'fast food' outlets churns out all the same mechanical food. Plus I don't think the recent scandal about him using premade food helped him one bit.
i cannot imagine how "great" the food can be if i think back abt my nobu meal which is still there in the top 50!
ReplyDeleteyeah looks like iggy is the nearest 1 hor..
o.O
ReplyDeleteO.O
O.o
mmm, doesn't matter he make the mark or not and doesn't matter if the list is accurate or not, i still want to dine at those places! :) we can dream
ReplyDeletewoah, talk about iggy's! i was hoping to do lunch there one day cos it's more affordable than the dinner. S$75++ for a 5 course meal, i think. am really tempted! but weekdays only..sigh...
ReplyDeleteThe list is a little bit of a cockup...e.g. The Fat Duck, UK (2) had reviews completed followed by 100s of people getting ill - vomitting, etc after eating there. In fact if you google it you'll find that they were closed for a short 2 weeks clean up!
ReplyDeletewill include iggy's on my coming spore trip! this is the only place that i can afford after all haha
ReplyDeletehelo Boo! never ate at ramseys .. to broke as a student so can't comment:P IGGYS ! at least i can eat at Iggys...
ReplyDeletewow, Singapore got a representative too! heh. ahh.. gordon ramsay must be fuming mad! heh
ReplyDeleteahh, closest would be Singapore, and when are we going to have one from Malaysia.....
ReplyDeleteBoyyy, am glad to know that some german restaurants are in the list coz i´m quite skeptical over the fine dining scene here! some of the list are pretty tempting and am particular fond of the first spot! am surprise Gordon Ramsey is not in the list coz I´ve been to one of his restaurant in London and found the food good, and the restaurant was very well managed.
ReplyDeletelianne: The german restaurant scene is stronger than ever - outside of France, they probably have some of the strongest restaurants in the world (schloss berg, christian bau etc.) although a lot of them are in remote areas of the country.
ReplyDeleteOn ramsay, I have been to a few of his restaurants and while the food is good the problem is that it is too mechanical. Dining at Ramsay's is like going to McD's - you eat the same food, done with the same precision. There is not much room for the chef cooking there (and I can assure you it is not the foul mouth one himself) to inject a bit of their own personality/ creativity into the cooking.
looks like the one most within my reach is Iggy's! Gotta try that...I'm surprised Gordon Ramsay's places did not make it in..
ReplyDeleteI note quite a few restaurants in the UK. But I guess they should be expensive right? Will try to check the location and pricing out, thanks for the information!
ReplyDeleteOops, in my recent Singapore foray, I chose OSO , perhaps should have gone to Iggy's, instead!
ReplyDelete50 restaurants, 50 years, one a year!
Yes, very western centric.
ReplyDeleteaiyo, surely this kind of list is very subjective. wonder what were their criteria for selection.
ReplyDeleteAiyah, Malaysian restaurants dun have ah? Very western selections tho. Hmm, maybe its worlds best 50 western/european restaurants instead. Maybe we can get them to try restaurants in this part of the world, besides Singapore.
ReplyDeleteGordon Ramsay's should definitely be in the list. But Iggy's should rank higher! I love the food at both restaurants, but there is a certain elegance about Iggy's food that makes me return again and again.
ReplyDeletegenuineness - I often find lists like all these so subjective. Even the Michelin HK guide was so dissapointing. If Iggys is there, Mozaic at Bali should also be in the list as Chris Salans' food is excellent.
ReplyDeleteJoe - yeah, when we going to Iggys? Road trip down south soon???
ai wei - how come you're lost for words??
rokh - yeah, these are definitely dream lists. Hopefully I can make mine come true this year. Yikes, I have abt 7 more months to make it come true! Time to save some monies.
psssst Nic, we go for lunchie one day. You just take off??? I also want to try Jaan and that place in Dempsey Road with the cocktails.
Nate - yeah, that was never explained what happened. Weird rite, how it was swept under the carpet.
kampungboycitygal - wow, can't wait to read abt that!
ciki - so was I! I only could afford chinese food whenever I visited London during my holidays - my luxe meal was roast duck in Bayswater!
brad - you can imagine him swearing away like Hell's Kitchen!
KY - nearest contender will be Sage I guess or maybe when Cilantro opens up again end of this year.
ReplyDeleteLianne - seems german fine dining is the next big thing after Spain. So excellent place to be in now.
genuineness - sad to hear that as once that personal touch is not there, it ain't the same somehow.
alexandra - nice to see you at the Fried Chillies award. Yeah, Iggys it is. Want to compare it with the other grand dames in Spore also.
sugar bean - I would think they'll be pricy places but it is relatively cheaper now with the sterling dropping.
Julian - by the 50 years, these restaurants won't be so good though.
Sngtey - yup, no one tells us the proportion of the voting committee so I guess there's the sway already of votes.
fbb - yeah, definitely subjective stuff but sometimes nice as a guide or a reference I find.
Adly - I think they are beginning to take notice of this part of the world. Slowly but surely I guess.
Egg - can't comment yet since not been Iggys. Must make it soon down to Spore.
Well, I have two of the top 10, and 4 of the top 50 within a stone's throw (ok, up to an hour's drive away) and they are all really worth it (along with many others that do not make it on the list).
ReplyDeleteIt is Western centric, no malaysoa, india, etc.
Gen.i.nue.ness:
Sorry, but Germany is Not the Top outside France (though I love eating there!)
After France, it is Spain, although the Micehlin guide is very very sparse on stars in Spain, and within Spain the biggest food destination is the Basque Country...so now you guess why I have so many just on my doorstep.
BTW, you can't imagine the number of French cars parked outside all sorts of restaurants this side of the "border" at the weekends!!!
while we're on this topic, can anyone comment on malaysia's best restaurant (boolicious mentioned sage and cilantro)? traditionally, the world's most recognized voting accolades are dominated by french, italian and more recently spanish cuisine. just wondering if there's any good success story on chefs (of any nationality) interpreting malaysian cuisine in fine dining. the closest we've observed so far is zak pelaccio's fatty crab.
ReplyDeletebtw, you can also vote on asia's best restaurants with miele guide: http://mieleguide.com/welcome?b=%2F :-) people power!
I wanted to try The French Laundry in CA. I love it's stone house style with country garden consists of seasonal herbs and vintage rose. If the place looks cozy, I wanted to try how delicious the food were.
ReplyDeleteCheap Outdoor Fans
What an amazing list you've got there. Almost all of the restaurants are irresistible and the recommendation would be to go for flights to Cape Town and start of this delicious food spree at the La Colombe.
ReplyDeleteyou have a great collection of restaurant but i love these 3 and these have a great taste.1 The Fat Duck, UK 2 Ristorante Cracco, Italy
ReplyDelete3 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany.
Alhadi Travel UK
Wonderful post. I appreciate because I am a foodie. Love to see the list of restaurants. I went in The Fat Duck restaurant for the party of 100 clients had booked Umrah packages in just 2 days.
ReplyDeleteFind Low Price Umrah Packages from United Kingdoms' top travel agency, Umrah Experts. We offer Umrah packages at lowest and most affordable prices. Choose from our Inexpensive Umrah package, 4 Star Umrah Packages or 5 Star Umrah Package.
ReplyDeleteFood and travel are my interests but before any other visit, I want to perform Umrah and I looking for Hajj Umrah vaccination Birmingham.
ReplyDeletenice blog
ReplyDeletesufi travels
good job
ReplyDeleteplaese visit sufi travels for travel around the world we have reliable and trust worthy agents & company
#manila #flight #cheap #uk #travel #london
Feast for the senses! As I curate my Umrah packages, these culinary gems are now at the top of my must-visit list. Thanks for the mouthwatering recommendations, San Pellegrino!
ReplyDeleteYour wish list of the world's best restaurants is truly inspiring! It's fascinating to see such a diverse range of culinary experiences represented. I'm particularly intrigued by the unique dishes and ambiance that each restaurant offers. Exploring the world's best dining spots is a dream for many of us, and your list provides great inspiration. Thanks for sharing your food journey—I'm looking forward to following along and seeing which of these incredible places you get to visit next!"
ReplyDeleteEpicforce Tech