THIS Is The World’s Number One Restaurant

Photo Credit: Francesc Guillaumet

The top players in haute cuisine came together in  Las Vegas last night to celebrate the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024. The awards ceremony, hosted at Wynn Las Vegas, honors the very best gastronomic talent from 26 territories across five continents. But who was named number one?

That title goes to Barcelona’s Disfrutar. Disfrutar, which is run by the skilled chef trio of Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, succeeds the 2023 winner, Central in Lima, which now enjoys an elevated position in the Best of the Best hall of fame.

Ranked at No.2 in the 2023 list, Disfrutar is famed for modern techniques and beautiful ingredients, resulting in an experience that subverts traditional fine dining in a completely surprising way. The tasting menu showcases a Mediterranean identity with avant-garde flavours to deliver daring contemporary food that is truly thought-provoking. Disfrutar is followed in the ranking by Asador Etxebarri (No.2) in Atxondo and Table by Bruno Verjus (No.3) in Paris.

Photo Credit: Disfrutar

New York’s Atomix, from husband and wife team Junghyun ‘JP’ and Ellia Park is named The Best Restaurant in North America for the second year in a row. Rising two places to No.6, the Korean counter-dining spot sailed in to the top 10 last year after rising 25 places to claim the Highest Climber Award 2023 and has continued to impress the 50 Best voters thanks to its original menu and warm hospitality.

After being pre-announced in May, the Resy One To Watch Award 2024 was presented on stage to the team from Kato, Los Angeles, by legendary chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, part of the ‘Best of the Best’ group of former No.1 restaurants. The award recognizes a rising-star restaurant that is making waves in the gastronomic scene worthy of international acclaim. Chef and co-owner Jon Yao harnesses contemporary flavours from traditional Taiwanese family dishes to reimagine fine dining with a Southern Californian accent at Kato.

Re-entering the list at No.46 is the second US restaurant to place in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, SingleThread, in Healdsburg. Led by husband-and-wife team Kyle and Katina Connaughton – a chef and farmer respectively – the destination dining spot in Northern Californian wine country combines Kyle’s unique Japanese cuisine with fresh ingredients grown on Katina’s smallholding and pays tribute to ancient Japanese ryokans, or inns.

Photo Credit: World’s 50 Best Restaurants

Three US restaurants also placed on the extended 51-100 list, which was announced on 22nd May; Le Bernadin in New York (No.71), new entry Smyth in Chicago (No.90) and New York’s Cosme at No.99.

In the night’s other awards, Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura, the chef-owner of Maido in Lima, wins the Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award 2024, the only award to be voted for by his peers, in light of his dedication to putting Peru onto the world culinary stage, evidenced by Maido’s position as No.1 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2023.

Australian chef and restaurateur Neil Perry – whose restaurant portfolio has included the legendary Rockpool Bar & Grill, Rosetta and Spice Temple, as well as his latest venture, Margaret – has enjoyed a career spanning more than 45 years and is now rewarded with the Woodford Reserve Icon Award. Perry is arguably his country’s most influential chef and is known for his visionary interpretations of Modern Australian and Asian cuisines.

Nina Métayer is named The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2024, sponsored by Sosa. Métayer’s sculptural creations have garnered attention the world over and her beautiful work is inspiring a new generation of pastry chefs.

Restaurants from four new cities have entered or re-entered the list, with La Colombe in Cape Town (No.49), Otequein Rio de Janeiro (No.37), and Mingles in Seoul (No.44), showing the awards’ ever-expanding international footprint in recognising the best restaurants across the globe.

Based in Hong Kong, chef Vicky Cheng’s Wing (No.20) is recognized with the Highest New Entry Award 2024, and The Chairman (No.26) – also in Hong Kong – bags the Highest Climber Award 2024, sponsored by Highstreet World. The Chairman moves up 24 spots from the 2023 list and was also recognised as The Best Restaurant in Hong Kong by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024.

The Beronia World’s Best Sommelier Award is presented to Pablo Rivero, sommelier and owner of Don Julio, Buenos Aires. Previously recognized as Latin America’s Best Sommelier 2022 as part of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, Rivero is known for his championing of the region’s wine and his thoughtful pairings with local produce.

Berlin’s Nobelhart & Schmutzig (No.43) is announced as the winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award, in recognition of its unerring advocacy for better agricultural policies and the voices of producers. Its ‘brutally local’ ethos is testament to its personal relationships with farmers and growers, allowing the team to offer a truly regional and seasonal menu.

The evening also celebrated those honored with pre-announced special awards. These included: Champions of Change winners Jessica Rosval and Caroline Caporossi – founders of Roots in Modena, a social enterprise restaurant that hosts a training programme for migrant women – and João Diamante of Diamantes Na Cozinha in Rio de Janeiro, founder of a culinary initiative which creates opportunities for young people in vulnerable situations; Janaína Torres, winner of The World’s Best Female Chef Award and Plénitude in Paris, which was presented with the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award.

Alongside the awards ceremony, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants events program in Las Vegas also included #50BestTalks, the annual thought leadership event. Under this year’s theme of Treasure Hunt: The Quest for Culinary Gold speakers included Kwame Onwuachi of New York’s Tatiana, winner of the Resy One To Watch Award 2023, on bringing bodega culture to the Lincoln Center, and a Q&A with Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison Park on plant-based fine dining.

 THE BEST OF THE BEST

Photo Credit: World’s 50 Best

Those in the elite group of No.1 ranked restaurants (listed below) have delivered on their exemplary reputations time and again and will be forever honored as iconic dining destinations in the Best of the Best hall of fame. The chefs and restaurateurs who have led these restaurants to the pinnacle of the list have expressed their desire to invest in the future of the sector and ‘give back’ to the food world through new projects and innovation. The following restaurants have been named No.1 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants since the list’s inception and were therefore not eligible for voting in 2024:

· El Bulli (2002, 2006-2009)

· The French Laundry (2003-2004)

· The Fat Duck (2005)

· Noma – original location (2010-2012, 2014)

· El Celler de Can Roca (2013, 2015)

· Osteria Francescana (2016, 2018)

· Eleven Madison Park (2017)

· Mirazur (2019)

· Noma – current location (2021)

· Geranium (2022)

· Central (2023)

 

1-50 LIST

Photo Credit: Atomix

 

1

Disfrutar

Barcelona

2

Asador Etxebarri

Atxondo

3

Table by Bruno Verjus

Paris

4

Diverxo

Madrid

5

Maido

Lima

6

Atomix

New York

7

Quintonil

Mexico City

8

Alchemist

Copenhagen

9

Gaggan

Bangkok

10

Don Julio

Buenos Aires

11

Septime

Paris

12

Lido 84

Gardone Riviera

13

Trèsind Studio

Dubai

14

Quique Dacosta

Dénia

15

Sézanne

Tokyo

16

Kjolle

Lima

17

Kol

London

18

Plénitude

Paris

19

Reale

Castel di Sangro

20

Wing

Hong Kong

21

Florilège

Tokyo

22

Steirereck

Vienna

23

Sühring

Bangkok

24

Odette

Singapore

25

El Chato

Bogotá

26

The Chairman

Hong Kong

27

A Casa do Porco

São Paolo

28

Elkano

Getaria

29

Boragó

Santiago

30

Restaurant Tim Raue

Berlin

31

Belcanto

Lisbon

32

Den

Tokyo

33

Pujol

Mexico City

34

Rosetta

Mexico City

35

Frantzén

Stockholm

36

The Jane

Antwerp

37

Oteque

Rio de Janeiro

38

Sorn

Bangkok

39

Piazza Duomo

Alba

40

Le Du

Bangkok

41

Mayta

Lima

42

Ikoyi

London

43

Nobelhart & Schmutzig

Berlin

44

Mingles

Seoul

45

Arpège

Paris

46

SingleThread

Healdsburg

47

Schloss Schauenstein

Fürstenau

48

Hiša Franko

Kobarid

49

La Colombe

Cape Town

50

Uliassi

Senigallia