2018 World’s Best Restaurants

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The World’s 50 Best By San Pellegrino 2018

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Article Written: September 2018

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

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The San Pellegrino World’s 50 best restaurants is an annual list released in June of every year and are produced by the United Kingdom media company William Reed Business Media. The list first began in 2002 and also awards a series of special prizes for individuals as well as restaurants, including the ‘One To Watch award,’ and the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ as well as the ‘Chefs' Choice Award.’ A group of 26 panels established to make the ranking composed of 1,000 food experts, chefs, and critics were behind the list. The World's 50 Best Restaurants list has been criticized and described by the French food writer and critic François-Régis Gaudry that the ranking lacks reliability, while the Spanish chef Martín Berasategui spoke of "rigged" ranking, manipulated by an "important international food company" in order to "cause damage" to the Michelin Guide. In a recent Eater article, they talk about how San Pellegrino has favoritism toward expensive restaurants, and that the judges are sexist, favoring more male chefs and lacking female representation, as well as being overly Eurocentric. San Fransisco Chef Dominique Crenn slammed the 50 Best for gender inequality, criticized the female chef award as “stupid,” and accused the organization of treating women like “sport.”

Some people prefer to use the Elite Travelers list though it does have some identical restaurants to that of San Pellegrino, while the Michelin Guide caters more to Europe with 27,000 restaurants versus 2,500 restaurants everywhere else in the world and Michelin practically ignores most of Africa and the Middle East, all of Australia, and most of South America. There are many ranking media groups to choose from in individual countries or cities through such as Yelp, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor to name a few. These groups will cater more to your local area where reservations to dine will be quicker than a three-month wait, and the restaurants will not hurt your wallet too much.

Remember that if you happen to be in the neighborhood of one of these top listed restaurants, you will need to book reservations three to five months ahead of time, as it is very rare to dine as a walk-in. 

Here are the world’s 50 best restaurants for 2018:

#50
The Test Kitchen
Cape Town, South Africa

Modern eclectic and Nouvelle Latin cuisine

I’m glad to see that they made the top 50. When I dined with them in 2013 they were in the high 90s on the top 100 list of several publications. Chef Luke Dale-Roberts is British born, trained in Switzerland, and worked in many Asian countries before opening in Cape Town. The Test Kitchen ranks #2 on my list of Top 100 best restaurant experiences on Wine Dine And Play, while on The Elite Travelers List it ranks at #46 this year.

2018 World's Best Restaurants / The Test Kitchen / Pickled Fish Ceviche

#49
Nahm
Bangkok, Thailand

For the last five years, Nahm has consistently ranked in the top 10 restaurants in Asia in the annual San Pellegrino and Aqua Panna list. In 2017, Nahm was awarded one star by the Michelin Guide, putting it among the top restaurants in Asia. Nahm emphasizes the strong, fresh flavors of traditional Thai cuisine, headed by chef Pim Techamuanvivit.

#48
Hiša Franko
Kobarid, Slovenia

Pronounced Hi-sha Franko, the restaurant is located in the stunning surrounds of the Soça Valley, Chef Ana Ros put Slovenia on the gastronomic map after being voted The World’s Best Female Chef and starred in an episode of Chef’s Table.

#47
Schloss Schauenstein
Fürstenau, Switzerland

Rated with 3 Michelin Stars and 19 Gault and Millau points

Swiss chef Andreas Caminada fell in love with fine dining at the age of 20. He took over the then-empty castle in Fürstenau in 2003 when he was only 26 years old and created his restaurant.

#46
Saison
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Rated as one of the most expensive restaurants in the United States on Fridays or Saturdays the tasting menu is $398 per person. So a meal for two, after-tax and 20 percent tip, will cost you $1,025. With one of the finest wine cellars in the US, along with an 80s rock-classic soundtrack while you dine Chef Joshua Skenes delivers on this contemporary American cuisine.

#45
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
London, England with a second location in Melbourne, Australia

Chef Ashley Palmer-Watts continues the concept focus created by Heston of serving historical British dishes from as far back as the 14th Century. The rate at #15 on the elite Travelers list of top 100 world restaurants for 2018.

#44
Mikla
Istanbul, Turkey

Chef-owner Mehmet Gürs prepares New Anatolian style of cuisine which can be defined as the food of modern Istanbul but the cuisine also covers the wider region of Anatolia, which also includes parts of Syria, Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Iran, and Iraq, moving away from the fusion of European cuisine with Turkish. 

#43
Azurmendi
Larrabetzu, Spain

Basque Chef Eneko Atxa leads the charge as a sustainable greenhouse and rooftop garden coursed restaurant featuring New Basque cuisine. 

#42
The Ledbury
London, England

This restaurant features modern British food with an emphasis on wild game and seasonal vegetables, with an Antipodean or Australian / New Zealand twist led by Chef Brett Graham. The Ledbury is listed at #35 on the Elite Travelers list.

#41
Nihonryori RyuGin
Tokyo, Japan

Traditional Japanese cuisine, by Chef Seiji Yamamoto who changes his menu constantly to reflect the produce of each season. This includes grilled ayu (sweetfish) in summer; matsutake mushrooms with Wagyu beef from Kagawa in early autumn; matsubagani crabs and wild torafugu blowfish in the winter months. They scored the #25 slot on the elite Travelers list for 2018.

#40
Septime
Paris, France

Chef Bertrand Grebaut has been recognized by the L’Astrance’s Pascal Barbot as the future of French cooking, breaking the traditions of kitchens operated by the chefs under Alain Passard or Joël Robuchon. 

#39
Astrid y Gastón
Lima, Peru

One day I hope to visit Peru as over the years I have fallen in love with Peruvian Cuisine and read in detail about Chef Gastón Acurio known as Peru’s gastronomic ambassador. 

#38
Lyle's
London, England

Chef James Lowe who formally worked under Heston Blumenthal opened this space to focus on modern British cuisine with micro-seasonal à la carte lunches and set dinner menus

#37
Restaurant Tim Raue
Berlin, Germany

Chef Tim Raue brings Asian cuisine to Berlin serving up a fusion of flavors inspired by Japan, Thailand, and China that release energy to the body instead of stressing it, so there are no supplements such as bread, pasta or rice. Refined sugar, dairy products, and gluten are also not on his menu.

#36
Reale
Castel Di Sangro, Italy

Chef Niko Romito’s concept is to use innovative techniques to enhance the intrinsic flavors of often underrated ingredients from the Castel di Sangro region in a former Casadonna monastery.

#35
Maaemo
Oslo, Norway

Following the traditions of contemporary Nordic cuisine Chef, Esben Holmboe Bang named his restaurant ‘Maaemo’ after an ancient Norse name for “Mother Earth.” The menu is based almost entirely on ingredients sourced from the surrounding region. Maaemo is listed at #39 on the elite Travelers list for 2018 best restaurants.

#34
Alinea
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Highly creative New American molecular gastronomy tasting menus on the cutting edge of modern food led by Chef-owner Grant Achatz and Executive Chef Mike Bagale. With three Michelin stars, the rate at the #1 slot on the elite Travelers 2018 list and the #1 slot on my list of Top 100 best restaurant experiences on Wine Dine And Play.

2018 World's Best Restaurants / Alinea / 60-plate garnish

#33
The Clove Club
London, England

Scottish chef Isaac McHale leads the Clove Club’s interpretation of ‘modern British’ with fresh produce from all over the island reinvented in creations that put forward natural flavors and playfully mingle with tradition.

#32
Tickets
Barcelona, Spain

Chef Albert Adrià of El Bulli takes tapas to the cutting edge. Within a circus-themed space, five small plate bars and open kitchens surround the perimeter of the restaurant, each highlighting a different preparation method. Tickets carry on El Bulli’s trailblazing, science-y cooking in a theatrical setting.

#31
Arzak
San Sebastian, Spain

Chef Elena Arzak is the daughter of Juan Mari Arzak, one of the founding fathers of contemporary Spanish cookery. Her focus is on the concepts of Modern Basque cuisine with artistic offerings that are divided between multiple tasting menus and an à la carte option.

#30
D.O.M.
São Paulo, Brazil

Listed at # 14 on the Elite Travelers top 100 list of 2018 Chef and former punk rock DJ Alex Atala opened D.O.M. in 1999, fusing fine dining with wild and natural ingredients from the Amazon basin including golden ants.

#29
Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen
Paris, France

This is one of Paris's oldest and most prestigious restaurants, and when Chef Yannick Alléno took the helm in 2014 he introduced boundary-pushing modern French cuisine that got everyone in the restaurant world's attention.

#28
Odette
Singapore

Offering modern French cuisine, Chef and co-owner Julien Royer established himself as the region’s rising star, before opening Odette in late 2015 at the Grand National Gallery Singapore making his restaurant a choice destination and worth a detour. 

#27
Boragó
Santiago, Chile

Boragó deals in territory rather than technique, according to Chef Rodolfo Guzmán. They source native Chilean products used by the Mapuche indigenous people, from around the Andes, and the Pacific coast.

#26
Le Bernardin
New York City, New York, USA

Established in Paris nearly 50 years ago by a brother and sister Gilbert and Maguy Le Coze, Le Bernardin expanded to New York in 1986. New York chef Eric Ripert has run the kitchen for more than 20 years, following the passing of Gilbert offering French and seafood-centric tasting menus.

#25
Cosme
New York City, New York, USA

Founded by Mexican chef Enrique Olvera and his business partners Santiago Perez and Santiago Gomez, Cosme has been run by young cook Daniela Soto-Innes since it opened in 2014. The menu takes some inspiration from Olvera’s flagship Pujol in Mexico City, but many of the dishes were created by Soto-Innes, including her signature duck carnitas.

#24
Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet
Shanghai, China

Founded in 2012, Chef Paul Pairet’s Ultraviolet is considered by many to be the most avant-garde restaurant experience in the world. It costs $900 a person and there are only 10 seats, making it the most expensive restaurant tasting menu in the world, but it's unlike any other dining experience in the world as well. 

#23
Le Calandre
Rubano, Italy

Brothers Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo inherited the Paduan restaurant from their parents and have spent the last decade and a half perfecting it to create contemporary modern Italian restaurant destination.

#22
Narisawa
Tokyo, Japan

Chef Yoshihiro Narisawa defines his food as “innovative Satoyama,” the word “Satoyama” representing a border zone between mountain foothills and flat land where people live sustainably with nature

#21
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée
Paris, France

A legendary leader in classic French haute cuisine, Chef Alain Ducasse overhauled his landmark fine-dining destination in the luxe Parisian hotel of the same name in 2014 prioritizing sustainability, health and wellness-hinged plates focused on vegetables, fish and cereals.

#20
Attica
Melbourne / Ripponlea, Australia

Chef Ben Shewry’s Attica is reminiscent of a restaurant in an old-style town with local shops and stores away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, only it is rated in the top 10 best restaurants in Australia, #69 on the Elite Travels list top 100, and #13 on my list of Top 100 best restaurant experiences on Wine Dine And Play. The focus of the menu is on organic and natural elements of Earth.

2018 World's Best Restaurants / Attica / Spanner Crab

#19
Geranium
Copenhagen, Denmark

Chef Rasmus Kofoed’s introduces a progressive tasting menu with 17-plus inspired, artistic courses composed of organic and wild Scandinavian ingredients.

#18
Disfrutar
Barcelona, Spain

Former culinary team members at the legendary El Bulli, Chef’s Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch offer Avant-garde Spanish cuisine in this new restaurant concept. 

#17
Den
Tokyo, Japan

Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa breaks from impersonal traditions of high-end kaiseki cuisine and offers an elevated, deeply personal take on Japanese home cooking. He draws on diverse influences, both home-grown and gleaned on overseas trips, but always based around prime ingredients from the ocean, pasture, and forest.

#16
Piazza Duomo
Alba, Italy

Chef Enrico Crippa offers a taste of Piemonte establishing him among Italy’s most creative chefs. Diners can select from the à la carte options, or choose from three tasting menus, one of which focuses specifically on the local Langhe region, while the others are more wide-ranging but still distinctively Italian.

#15
White Rabbit
Moscow, Russia

Chef Vladimir Mukhin is in the vanguard of a new wave of young Russian culinary talents, appearing in the 2017 series of Chef’s Table, offering modern Russian cuisine

#14
Steirereck
Vienna, Austria

Family-owned for generations, with a bias towards Austria’s rural Styrian region, the restaurant which is housed in a monolithic cube is now under the guidance of Chef Heinz Reitbauer and has become a byword for cutting-edge cooking.

#13
Pujol
Mexico City, Mexico

Celebrity Chef Enrique Olvera proves that rustic Mexican flavors deserve as much attention as any other haute cuisine in the world. And Pujol has been his pedestal to make that point via a tasting menu of refined and elegant plates built from indigenous ingredients that pay tribute to Mexico’s rich culinary history, defining Mexican haute cuisine.

#12
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Pocantaco Hills, New York, USA

30 miles north of Manhattan, Chef Dan Barber’s farmstead restaurant is set within an enchanting barn on an 80-acre estate shared with non-profit educational space Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, where the chef builds a 30-course tasting menu centered on produce that is often pulled from the earth mere hours before hitting your plate. 

#11
Quintonil
Mexico City, Mexico

Quintonil is the name of a green Mexican herb and Chef Jorge Vallejo’s menu is based on local produce and showcases the best of Mexico. There’s an à la carte option, as well as the tasting menu for the true Quintonil experience.

#10
Asador Etxebarri
Axpe, Spain

Chef Victor Arguinzoniz offers Spanish wood-fired barbecue with the intrinsic natural flavors of premiere local products and delicately urges each ingredient to show its true potential. 

#9
Mugaritz
San Sebastián, Spain

Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz offers over 20 courses, several of them, if the weather is calm, served in the gardens around the restaurant. They are listed as Techno-emotional Spanish cuisine which is the proffered name to molecular gastronomy by some culinary masters in the Catalonia region. 

#8
L’Arpege
Paris, France

Alain Passard needs little introduction. He has retained his three Michelin stars at Arpège offering contemporary French cuisine for more than two decades during times of great personal and culinary change, staying on top of the ‘culinary club,’

#7
Maido
Lima, Peru

Peru meets Japan offering Nikkei style cuisine with an emphasis on seafood and in 2017 was rated the best Latin American Restaurant. 

#6
Central
Lima, Peru

Peruvian Cuisine shines through once again with Chefs Virgilio Martínez and Pía León’s flagship restaurant is a shrine to everything that is Peruvian, including many ingredients that are seldom served elsewhere.

#5
Gaggan
Bangkok, Thailand

Chef-owner Gaggan Anand offers progressive Indian cuisine with a twist of Thai rated the best restaurant in Asia four years in a row as of 2018. The chef offers an El Bulli-influenced style to his food with a menu of 25 or more courses of rapid-fire small bites, many of which are eaten with the hands.

#4
Eleven Madison Park
New York City, New York, USA

Listed as a New York twist on modern European cuisine Chef-owner Daniel Humm with plating that takes on a more minimalist, almost Nordic aesthetic

#3
Mirazur
Menton, France

Chef patron Mauro Colagreco offers Mediterranean cuisine with a dining room offering a panoramic view overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on the border with Italy. 

#2
El Celler de Can Roca
Girona, Spain

Chef Joan Roca offers complex creations inspired by the Rocas’ childhood memories with local ingredients and contemporary Catalan cuisine favorites with global highlights. 

#1
Osteria Francescana
Modena, Italy

Osteria Francescana remains a small, discreet restaurant in the relatively modest Italian town of Modena and delivers one of the very finest dining experiences in the world, combining nods to tradition with fierce modernity, philosophical conceptions with old-fashioned flavor, helmed by Chef Massimo Bottura.

Other noteworthy 100 Best articles and restaurants similar to San Pellegrino’s World 50 Best:

This is a list of restaurants I have dined at and written a review article about that are also listed on the “best of” lists for the Elite Traveler Magazine, the San Pellegrino 50 or 100 best of the world, and the prestigious Michelin 1-3 star guide rating. Included are articles on country and city lists of their top selected restaurants.

Some of the restaurants in this section are also on the Wine Dine and Play’s Top 100 page

LTI Top London Restaurants A luxury travel listing of their best-rated restaurants, London, UK 

Alinea Highly creative New American molecular gastronomy tasting menus in Chicago, Illinois

Aubergine Restaurant Innovative East meets West in Cape Town, South Africa

Attica Innovative and eclectic tasting menu restaurant in Ripponlea, Australia

La Colombe Country-Style local ingredients w/French flair in Cape Town, South Africa

La TABLE de Joël Robuchon Haute French restaurant in Paris, France (Now L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon)

McCrady’s Tavern Acclaimed high-concept inspired farm-to-table tavern in Charleston, South Carolina 

Quay Restaurant Quintessential modern Australian cuisine in Sydney, Australia

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud Impeccably prepared French and Irish fine dining in Dublin, Ireland

Tetsuya’s Eclectic French-Asian tasting menu restaurant in Sydney, Australia

The French Laundry French-American fine dining restaurant in Yountville, California 

The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français African-French tasting menu in Franschhoek, SA

The Test Kitchen Modern eclectic and Nouvelle Latin cuisine in Cape Town, South Africa

Vue de Monde Elegant modern Australian with molecular gastronomic dining in Melbourne, Australia

Wine Dine And Play’s Top 100 Best Restaurants A list focused on travels and the best dining experiences around the world.

Zuma Contemporary Japanese restaurant, sushi, and cocktail mixology in Dubai, UAE

See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary”

“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, 

But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)

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