The world’s newest top five restaurants

At the recent ‘Food Oscars’, the accolades went to both purists and experimenters. Raaj Sanghvi reports on global culinary trends and the world’s top five restaurants

We are more than just lists. We try and feed you in mind and in body,” announced William Drew, Group Editor of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants during his opening remarks at the historic Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian, Spain, last week. The audience was a select group of foodies, chefs, restaurateurs and culinary writers who had flown in from around the world to attend the annual weeklong celebration of the awards given to the world’s best restaurants. Popularly known as the “Food Oscars”, the awards rotate around glamorous global hotspots (London, New York and Melbourne in the past). The culinarily rich cities of San Sebastian and Bilbao in Spain’s Basque region were this year’s hosts. Apart from introducing the world to pintxos (a popular local snack and cousin of tapas) and

txakoli (local dry white wine), the region boasts of 31 Michelin stars, the highest density in the world.

The 50 Best Restaurants list is voted for by over 1,000 anonymous food connoisseurs from around the globe and the reputed consultancy firm, Deloitte, audits the voting process to ensure its credibility. In recent years the list has grown so significant that a high ranking has the power to change a restaurant’s fortunes, increasing turnover and bringing in media attention, often transforming chefs into international celebrities with pop star-level fan followings.

Apart from the rankings, the awards jamboree includes food tastings, demonstrations, workshops, seminars, discussions, food trails as well as after parties. But work gets done too: each year this congregation of “culinary nomads” huddles together to explore, debate and decipher global trends in gastronomy and haute cuisine.

The top trends this year are not limited to food but extend to its origins too. One: It is cool for restaurants to be environmentally conscious and responsible. To be relevant, establishments must focus on using recyclable and biodegradable materials, reduce their carbon footprint and work to minimise food waste. The list has a special award for the “World’s Most Sustainable Restaurant” and this year the accolade went to the three Michelin-star Azurmendi in Bilbao (rated #43). Two: The quality of food you eat depends on the quality of ingredients. With that simple logic: fresh ingredients mean better and more wholesome food. This year, Dan Barber, the veteran chef from the Michelin-starred Blue Hill in New York (rated #12), dedicated his seminar to talk about his passion for farming, sourcing the freshest biodynamic and organic ingredients and, as an offshoot, supporting local farming communities. “The culinary niche of the future is the ecological niche,” he said. Many others on the list have followed in his footsteps. Three: Europe is still the Mecca of fine dining, with 28 restaurants out of 50 on the list. Japan and North America offered credible challenges but the important top three spots went to restaurants in Italy, Spain and France.

A fourth trend and, in many ways, the over-arching take-away that unites the top five restaurants on this year’s list is quite simple: the food must be delicious. Everything else is secondary. A restaurant can stress on foraging for indigenous ingredients, use every scientific trick (or gimmick) and even proclaim its tasting menu as revolutionary. But if the food does not taste good, it is simply not worthy of the list.