World's Top 50 Restaurants 2007

[smokinjoe]

PS But yes, you do wanna find yourself a new webmaster... 

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Amen...Paul Bocuse, past lifetime achievement award winner, is described thus:

"Having put their fraternal bond to the ultimate test for four decades and come through with flying colours, the Roux brothers, Albert and Michel, can truly claim to be lifetime achievers..."

I love lists. Can't wait to read the blurb for each place. Noma has flown straight into my radar.

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This incorrectly posted copy has now been corrected and the person responsible shot by firing squad.

[smokinjoe]

"The average punter will read this list like this and accept it as gospel "

these kind of comments (and I only quote this as an example) sound horribly patrionising to average punters like myself...

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Are you suggesting that some egullet members are patronising elitist restaurant snobs? Are you insane pickle?

[kai-m]

Okay, lists are fun...but (with all due respect) "Zuni Cafe" in the top 100 *of the world* is plain ridiculous...how do these guys expect to be taken seroiusly in any way???

But what is this greek place named "48"? Never heard of it...

[Stephen W]

A survey of experts worldwide the names of whom are on the website...

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Any reason the UK & Ireland names are missing?

[beandork]

A survey of experts worldwide the names of whom are on the website...

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Any reason the UK & Ireland names are missing?

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yeah, they saw what happened to the webmaster a few posts back and have decided to lay low!

[Stephen W]

You can see the underlying if you "view source"

Tom Aikens, Hilary Armstrong, Craig Bancroft, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Georgina Campbell, Eric Chavot, Chris Chown, Daniel Clifford, Richard Corrigan, Terry Durack, Paul Flynn, Rose Gray, Trevor Gulliver, Henry Harris, Mark Hix, Philip Howard, Nick Lander, Giorgio Locatelli, Andy Lynes, Fay Maschler, John McKenna, Maureen Mills, Oliver Peyton, Claudio Pulze, Gordon Ramsay, Jay Rayner, Michel Roux Jr, Jennifer Sharpe, Alan Yau

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Thanks Jon. Looking through the list I misread John McKenna as Paul McKenna and suddenly it all started making sense.

Look into my eyes...You are all feeling sleepy...you will all vote for the following restaurants...

[paulbrussel]

The voting panel for the Benelux is very odd.

Are you expecting that a Belgium politician like Steve Stevaert is just the right one out of 651 to judge the 50 best restaurants in the world?

How come that for the Benelux section no one from the Netherlands or Luxemburg was involved?

Isn't it logic then that only one restaurant from Holland, i.e. Oud Sluis which is frequented by Belgiums since it is in the southern part of the Netherlands and close to Belgium, is the only one mentioned, but De Librije in the northern part isn't, and none from Luxemburg is?

So to be honest: I have my strong doubts about the Benelux voting panel which I can judge more or less; how can I trust other panels of whom I am not that much aware of the persons qualities in these field?

[Gary Marshall]

ahhh, the 50 restaurants thread, never fails to liven up a quiet afternoon once a year

[IanT]

"The average punter will read this list like this and accept it as gospel "

these kind of comments (and I only quote this as an example) sound horribly patrionising to average punters like myself...

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Are you suggesting that some egullet members are patronising elitist restaurant snobs? Are you insane pickle?

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In compiling a list of the world's best restaurants, a little bit of elitism would not have gone astray...

[IanT]

Tom Aikens, Hilary Armstrong, Craig Bancroft, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Georgina Campbell, Eric Chavot, Chris Chown, Daniel Clifford, Richard Corrigan, Terry Durack, Paul Flynn, Rose Gray, Trevor Gulliver, Henry Harris, Mark Hix, Philip Howard, Nick Lander, Giorgio Locatelli, Andy Lynes, Fay Maschler, John McKenna, Maureen Mills, Oliver Peyton, Claudio Pulze, Gordon Ramsay, Jay Rayner, Michel Roux Jr, Jennifer Sharpe, Alan Yau

An excellent panel it must be said. And they came up with Nobu as the best restaurant in London? Really?!? This just seems completely beyond my comprehension.

Edited April 25, 2007 by IanT (log)

[augustine]

Any reason the UK & Ireland names are missing?

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Something screwed up with the website (errr, this seems to be recurring theme) which means the window size ain't working properly.

You can see the underlying if you "view source"

Tom Aikens, Hilary Armstrong, Craig Bancroft, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Georgina Campbell, Eric Chavot, Chris Chown, Daniel Clifford, Richard Corrigan, Terry Durack, Paul Flynn, Rose Gray, Trevor Gulliver, Henry Harris, Mark Hix, Philip Howard, Nick Lander, Giorgio Locatelli, Andy Lynes, Fay Maschler, John McKenna, Maureen Mills, Oliver Peyton, Claudio Pulze, Gordon Ramsay, Jay Rayner, Michel Roux Jr, Jennifer Sharpe, Alan Yau

Good thing you managed to get rid of that joker Gary Marshall, anyhow!

John Mc Kenna and Georgina Campbell!!!!!!!! Not next year please. We have tried hard to peel ourselves away from the paddwhackery of Ballymaloe and blackberry picking. I suggest if you are going to need more Irish opinion than Flynn, Lindsay and Peyton (a perfect little trio to make us proud) you should try Cathal Armstrong, from Eve, Alexandria. Or even better a list of the 50 best people to pick the top fifty.

J

PS Andy... Freelancer having public hissy fit with potential employer on open forum... NOOOOO so not the way to add to credibility and get more paid work!

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It all works beautifully on a Mac but then doesn't everything. I will look into browser compatibility and get it fixed.

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[smokinjoe]

Tom Aikens, Hilary Armstrong, Craig Bancroft, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Georgina Campbell, Eric Chavot, Chris Chown, Daniel Clifford, Richard Corrigan, Terry Durack, Paul Flynn, Rose Gray, Trevor Gulliver, Henry Harris, Mark Hix, Philip Howard, Nick Lander, Giorgio Locatelli, Andy Lynes, Fay Maschler, John McKenna, Maureen Mills, Oliver Peyton, Claudio Pulze, Gordon Ramsay, Jay Rayner, Michel Roux Jr, Jennifer Sharpe, Alan Yau

An excellent panel it must be said. And they came up with Nobu as the best restaurant in London? Really?!? This just seems completely beyond my comprehension.

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Erm no.... their votes along with the votes of the other 21 voting panels put Nobu where it is... that's how the academy of voters works... I thought that was clear from the explantion on the website and my earlier posts. Apologies if it wasn't. Edited April 25, 2007 by smokinjoe (log)

[smokinjoe]

"The average punter will read this list like this and accept it as gospel "

these kind of comments (and I only quote this as an example) sound horribly patrionising to average punters like myself...

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Are you suggesting that some egullet members are patronising elitist restaurant snobs? Are you insane pickle?

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In compiling a list of the world's best restaurants, a little bit of elitism would not have gone astray...

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And actually doing a bit of research into how the awards are judged before posting unfounded bitchy comments as per your earlier post might not go amiss...

[fisherman]

Girls, girls, calm down, it's only a list in a magazine for fucks sake!

[insomniac]

Girls, girls, calm down, it's only a list in a magazine for fucks sake!

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I take grave exception to the posters' behaviour being likened to that of girls.... How fucking insulting.

[Scott]

Dear Andy

Sorry that your evening was such a bore. In the old days before you turned professional you seemed to get a lot more enthused. Perhaps you are becoming just another jaded hack

The free Champagne that I hope you enjoyed had to paid for in some way as did the rest of the event. Please feel free to suggest other ways to pay for everything other than sponsorship - I'm all ears.

Do let me know if you want me to withold your invite next year as I'd hate for you to have another tedious evening come 2008.

perhaps you could also spend some time making it all such a less cynical, self aggrandizing, marketing event?

maybe you and your voters could even look beyond Sydney when defining "australasia"?

[Scott]

Can anyone explain why Hakkasan is considered among the top-20 restaurants in the world? I concede that the room's very glam but, based on what comes out of the kitchen, it's not even in the top 20 near Tottenham Court Road.

Also, Nobu is the best restaurant in London, while Japan doesn't merit a single place in the top 100?

Edit: oh, and The River Cafe is only interesting because it's in Hammersmith. If it were in Tuscany it'd be anonymous. Why should that give it a ranking when the competition is international? Would A Salt & Battery in New York be considered a world-beater for accurately apeing the British chippie?

Warning: this list contains nuts.

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Disagree with a great deal of the list, it's about being controversial and publicising Restaurant Magazine - not that there is anything wrong that, but it is not a serious list. But I disagree strongly with your pejorative charcterisations of Hakkasan & River Cafe.

Nobu - well, you're spot on there.

[Scott]

We don't run this event just to throw a party for a load of hacks - it's about rewarding the chefs, restaurateurs and establishments that the voting panel have put onto the list and - in case of the lifetime achievment award - to big up someone who has inspired over the length of their career.

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Ha Ha, Joe. thanks. I needed that

[Scott]

"The average punter will read this list like this and accept it as gospel "

these kind of comments (and I only quote this as an example) sound horribly patrionising to average punters like myself...

←

Are you suggesting that some egullet members are patronising elitist restaurant snobs? Are you insane pickle?

←

In compiling a list of the world's best restaurants, a little bit of elitism would not have gone astray...

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And actually doing a bit of research into how the awards are judged before posting unfounded bitchy comments as per your earlier post might not go amiss...

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are you arguing that 'process' is more important than 'outcome'?

it sure sounds like it.

why then, does your magazine bother to even to publicise the results, if it is really about the process?

[offcentre]

ok, I'm not reading this thread any more.

[naebody]

Disagree with a great deal of the list, it's about being controversial and publicising Restaurant Magazine - not that there is anything wrong that, but it is not a serious list.  But I disagree strongly with your pejorative charcterisations of Hakkasan & River Cafe.

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I can't be arsed going through the list again, but perhaps someone can confirm: are there any other Chinese and Italian restaurants included that are not in China or Italy? I'm not saying that these are not good restaurants (except for Hakkasan, which I'm saying is a pretty mediocre restaurant). I'm asking: when the competition is borderless, what makes these places special or unique?

(Please note: this is an attempt to squeeze a rational argument out of The List, and should be viewed entirely apart from the tizzy slapfight that relates to The List's reason for being.)

Edited April 26, 2007 by naebody (log)

[Scott]

Disagree with a great deal of the list, it's about being controversial and publicising Restaurant Magazine - not that there is anything wrong that, but it is not a serious list.  But I disagree strongly with your pejorative charcterisations of Hakkasan & River Cafe.

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I can't be arsed going through the list again, but perhaps someone can confirm: are there any other Chinese and Italian restaurants included that are not in China or Italy? I'm not saying that these are not good restaurants (except for Hakkasan, which I'm saying is a pretty mediocre restaurant). I'm asking: when the competition is borderless, what makes these places special or unique?

(Please note: this is an attempt to squeeze a rational argument out of The List, and should be viewed entirely apart from the tizzy slapfight that relates to The List's reason for being.)

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Hi Naebody,

I am not saying I think either restaurant should necessarily be where they are (or not) but you've made some fairly pejorative characterisations that I disagree with.

Consider Hakkasan, there is something unique about it, an attempt at size, scale and proficiency which is a bit unusual. you'd not necessarily think there would be too many direct comparators - and for this reason, it can be hard to place. I neither think it is the 17th best restaurant in the world, but it is a remarkable place in it's own right. Sounds like you've had a bad experience there, and that is never good; but I would suggest that is more testament to perhaps, a perceived inconsistency rather than a direct comment on it's innate qualities. the best of Hakkasan is very good indeed.

The river cafe would still be unique in Tuscany or anywhere else in the world. What makes it unique? not sure exactly that there is anything that need necassrily make it unique, but it has something over some other competitors. It has not fallen for rash of, or trend in recent times of italian cuisine being adapted over to a more modern French haute template. Personally, and I am speaking for myself, though I know I am not alone, I don't believe this adaption has either been successful or is even appropriate. italian food for me, is a lovingly prepared, ingredient focused cuisine, one where technique is as much about correct preparation, than avante garde execution; where selection of produce matters as much anything else. where the whole, matters more than the parts. The River Cafe has not fallen foul of this movement, and that itself is a bit of a USP.

I'd much rather go to the River Cafe (or Theo Randall ) than Don Alfonso say.

But that is in itself, not really relevant to the list itself.

I do think, that one could argue that this does speak of the voters themselves, and the limited knowledge in some cases of the entire field. For example, name your favourite japanese restaurant: "erm, only know one of any note, um 'Nobu'?" Perhaps the same could be true of Italian & Chinese cuisine. selection through absence of alternatives?

I cannot believe that anything other than inherent bias, of the member constituency (a type we are all guilty of) has resulted in some of these choices.

that and a subjectivity on what constitutes 'best restaurant'.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Scott (log)

[Gavin Convery]

Ok so if we're being logical about this: the list appears to be compiled using a transparent voting mechanism, and at least from the UK point of view the panel members are a reasonable cross-section of well respected chefs/critics (pace Andy Lynes). So if you disagree with the list you are really disagreeing with the collective view of all these voters - I don't think we should blame Joe or his Magazine for this. They are entitled to use this as a means of publicising their magazine - as Alan Sugar would say " this isn't a fucking tea party, this is business".

Now you could argue that the selection of panel members is not reflective and I real can't argue about that for anywhere other than the UK (but Paulbrussel thinks the Benelux panel is maybe not so great). At the end of the day there will be some lowest common denominator restaurants who sneak in in odd places - to use a perhaps bizarre analogy - you may have voted for Tony Blair for PM but still end up with John Prescott as Deputy PM.

But, still given all that I still don't understand how Hakkasan made the top 20! Joe, I would love if you could reveal (without going into the details) how that happened.

[Gavin Convery]

One other point - a lot of chefs/critics from other regions are much more likely to have visited Europe (esp France) as part of their culinary journeys than e.g. China (IMHO) and therefore there will tend to be a European bias to the list and a bias away from the less popular regions.

[sunbeam]

It was a bit of a dull evening compared to previous years; stuffing all of us into cinema seating for what seemed like a lifetime and leaving us dangerously hungry and sober may have been a mistake. I went home and had to seriously raid the fridge, I may have managed 4 canapes at the event and those I had to knife fight a spanish journo for. Nice to see Terry Durack giving Melvyn Bragg's spare wig a well-deserved night out, though.

I suppose it's what happens when something grows big. The event has become more corporate and dull and controlled by suits and Joe's personality has been rather taken out of the mix, which is a shame.

I was surprised that Petersham nurseries won nothing - I suppose it's the antithesis of molec gastrom and therefore about as fashionable as cordon bleu to the judges.

S