2005 Best Restaurants in the World

[Matthew Grant]

Marlena, are we to understand that you don't like the awards? I couldn't help noticing your smiling face on page 33 of this weeks Restaurant magazine with your nominated 5 restaurants!!!!

[marlena spieler]

Marlena, are we to understand that you don't like the awards? I couldn't help noticing your smiling face on page 33 of this weeks Restaurant magazine with your nominated 5 restaurants!!!!

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i didn't see it in the magazine, had no idea it was there. was there a photo of me too? i wasn't at the awards. i did scribble out a list of my five faves, and it would have been if i remember correctly, (you'll know cause you have the mag) something like, probably l'arpege.....mmmmm i'm going blank about the others. i might have included slanted door, and maybe... well, i would have meant whatever it was on my list at the time i submitted them.

so its not that i don't like those awards or other awards, and in fact i like the magazine very much, but like all awards there is good and bad to them, and points that dirk wheelan brings up that are so refreshing and worth thinking about. i like the fact that he is not afraid to speak his mind, and being very intelligent, his mind has something good to offer, things for me to think about.

back to the awards, and perhaps one of the things i may have sounded tetchy about: the whole london versus paris restaurant thing for instance. i'll take paris any day. and get my skin ripped off for saying it if i'm in a gathering of british foodies. its just that its a completely different heritage and i think it will take britain awhile to settle into comfort at the dining table. ditto for the usa. france has been sitting at the table, enjoying the multi-coarsed sensuality of eating and drinking for so long, its part of their dna. italy too. so i prefer that. but this is a bit of a holdback, though, as it is harder for them to break with traditions and know which traditions to break with and which to stick with. i think this is the hardest thing for french and italian restaurants to do well.

anyhow, awards, all awards are basically a popularity contest and usually quite flawed whether it is for restaurants, radio or television or books.......

big self congratulatory party with lots of canapes and drinks,

well i love the canapes and drinks part any way. otherwise....

marlena

[Matthew Grant]

Your nominations were(apparently):

Manresa

Commander's Place

The Fat Duck

Per Se

L'Arpege

[marlena spieler]

Your nominations were(apparently):

Manresa

Commander's Place

The Fat Duck

Per Se

L'Arpege

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Ah, yes, thank you.

Yummy. happy with my choices. maybe i should have added west, in vancouver, david hawksworth's place. i should have included that though not sure which of the list would have to have vacated to make room.

marlena

ps i'd like to see an awards night for like, cheap places, hideaways, tapas bars in la boqueria market, taquerias of divine-deliciousness, bhel puri houses of crisp-salt-crunch-sourness, turkish kebabs of perfection. you know, awards like this.

well i like both: upmarket perfection and funky perfection.

[Andy Lynes]

maybe i should have added west,  in vancouver, david hawksworth's place. i should have included that though not sure which of the list would have to have vacated to make room.

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Maybe left off the fat Duck as it was sure to make it into the Top 50 anyway? I voted for West so maybe our combined votes would have got it into the list!

[chow guy]

This list seems oddly lopsided. What's up with the flagrant dis of La Belle France? Could it be a "political" issue?

[Andy Lynes]

Or are you saying that a fickle public, for reasons of intellectual novelty rather than essential enjoyment, will convince itself that the next new trend is what is really the best, whilst at the same time throwing out those of the current lot who bring more trend than substance ?

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Exactly that. I think right now is a fascinating time to dine out. We are living through a period of particularly rapid change and experimentation in restaurants, the pace of which has been accelerated by the internet and cheap air travel. There is a worldwide avant garde movement, that is reflected in the list, that is as important, and irrelevent, as nouvelle cuisine. Something will eventually come of it, but I don't think we are quite there yet. In five or ten years time, we will know if any of it has true meaning.

In addition, I think the magazine will refine the way in which it compiles the list and it will have more credibility and be genuinely global in scope. I hope to see the best restaurants in China, Japan and Thailand on future lists. Why there is nothing from Canada is a mystery and I'm sure the good people of New Zealand will be frustrated not to be included. I think its just a matter of asking enough people in enough countries, although I am sure that is easier said than done.

[malcolmjolley]

Well put, Andy (and not just because you stuck up for my home and native land).

I particularly like your point about the emergence of a market through "the internet and cheap travel". Reminds me of Jeremiah Towers' observation on how cheap refrigerated air freight in the 80s changed restaurant menus as chefs could source the world for ingredients. Perhaps the effect will be a strengthening of the cult of the "authentic", with the farm-restaurant ascending over the laboratories.

[MobyP]

Your nominations were(apparently):

Manresa

Commander's Place

The Fat Duck

Per Se

L'Arpege

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Ah, yes, thank you.

Yummy. happy with my choices. maybe i should have added west, in vancouver, david hawksworth's place. i should have included that though not sure which of the list would have to have vacated to make room.

marlena

ps i'd like to see an awards night for like, cheap places, hideaways, tapas bars in la boqueria market, taquerias of divine-deliciousness, bhel puri houses of crisp-salt-crunch-sourness, turkish kebabs of perfection. you know, awards like this.

well i like both: upmarket perfection and funky perfection.

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Marlena - do you regularly eat and travel so broadly?

[Brithack]

... well, i would have meant whatever it was on my list at the time i submitted them.

EXACTLY! That's why these things don't really matter. A subjective opinion is - well - subjective. And subject to change. Unless you're dense and/or bloody minded and/or psychotically reactionary.

[Suzi Edwards]

you're right it is a parallel universe

that must be the only explanation for HAVING EXACTLY THE SAME DEBATE AS LAST YEAR AAARGGHHHH!

sorry, feel better now.

cheers

gary

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I'm with Gary. Profound sense of deja vu in this corner.

Or am I mistaking deja vu for ennui?

[Andy Lynes]

Suffereing from dispair, disaffection, languor, lassitude and lethargy? Don't exert yourselves in new stimulating debate, simply click here for last years thread! Enjoy.

[jamiemaw]

Is there anything more parochial (or hilarious) than lists such as these? In this case it blithely ignores four-fifths or more of the world's population--with several continents paid only fleeting lip service--while propagating the smug and self-aware ignorance of western, media-centric cities. Rather reminds of the last days of Empire or that stirring rugby anthem, "All Pommies Are Wankers".

That being said, I noted that in today's Times, that the winner, a Mr. Heston Blumenthal (apparently named after a service station on the M4), of Bray, England (apparently an exurb of London, England), indulges his "usual Monday night relaxation with Indian takeaway with his wife, Suzanna, in Marlow."

Alas, and although it now furnishes the national cuisine of England, that sub-continent was also seen to be missing from the result. For non-English readers, by the way, the term 'Indian Takeaway' does not refer to the Raj.

Can we focus on the real news now--Pope Benedict's secret wives?

Jamie

Edited April 19, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[marlena spieler]

Dear Moby P: yes. i eat as broadly as i can and ditto for travelling. the two usually go together but not always.

and brithack: yes. you're so right, exactly as i said: its subjective, and yes, i would have meant it at the moment, and looking back did, with a small change.

but yes, so much not there, so much.

so if i put on my list, like, a little trattoria which no name on an island that you have to row to and wade in the water to get ashore what kind of chance would it have. who else would be going there?

maybe we should just forget the awards and just throw big parties with lots of yummy canapes and free booze?

?

marlena

[jamiemaw]

Dear Moby P: yes. i eat as broadly as i can and ditto for travelling. the two usually go together but not always.

maybe we should just forget the awards and just throw big parties with lots of yummy canapes and free booze?

?

marlena

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What the world (and these awards) needs now is more eating out abroad.

[tanabutler]

If someone has an actual copy of the magazine, can you please PM me?

Thanks so much.

[sadistick]

How a place like MASA can get on this list, ahead of someone like Susur (who isnt even present) is totally beyond me. Sounds like some shady shit.

[Dirk Wheelan]

I'm with Gary. Profound sense of deja vu in this corner.

Or am I mistaking deja vu for ennui?

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I wasn't here last year, so for me this thread has been relevant and intriguing.

I suppose if it does bore the pants off you, you could just not read it.

Edited April 21, 2005 by Andy Lynes (log)

[culinary bear]

My brain hurts, having had an unlubricated bumming at the stoves for 15 hours today, but cogent thoughts are trying to penetrate the veil of fug, I promise.

You know, I can't quite help finding a parallel between the awards and Classic FM's annual top 300 favourite pieces of classical music, broadcast over Easter weekend - you know roughly what's going to be on there, the only thing that changes is the order, and then not my much.

Perhaps we need something along the lines of Peel's Festive Fifty?

I wouldn't go so far to say that the list is a a triumph of style over substance, but it does rather appear to be puzzling in parts with 'fashion' playing a large role. I realise this is not entirely out of tune with the restaurant world, but the Wolsely in the list of the top 50 restaurants in the world? Come off it.

[culinary bear]

so if i put on my list, like, a little trattoria which no name on an island that you have to row to and wade in the water to get ashore what kind of chance would it have. who else would be going there?

I refer the honourable lady to the Altnaharrie Inn in Ullapool, or more recently, the Three Chimneys on Skye.

[marlena spieler]

so if i put on my list, like, a little trattoria which no name on an island that you have to row to and wade in the water to get ashore what kind of chance would it have. who else would be going there?

I refer the honourable lady to the Altnaharrie Inn in Ullapool, or more recently, the Three Chimneys on Skye.

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thanks very much for the suggestions--they are so well known, nothing like my little trattoria/bistro/taqueria by the side of a dirt road along the shore with the sea lapping at it.......

in any event, when i'm up at the Lochaber highland games (on the Road to the Isles) this summer i'll head over to the Three Chimneys on Skye, but titillate me with a few words about what they serve?

As for as the Altnaharrie, I think i'll give that a miss for purely personal reasons, as en route there a long long time ago my family had a catastrophic car crash--brother in law was working there. So neither i nor husband wish to return to those memories.....

but thanks for the suggestion. this proves how subjective these things can be.........

[Suzi Edwards]

I wasn't here last year, so for me this thread has been relevant and intriguing.

I suppose if it does bore the pants off you, you could just not read it.

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I look forward to your contribution next year.

[Dirk Wheelan]

And I look forward to yours.

[Andy Lynes]

I'd like to elevate the debate at this point by starting a competition to see who has eaten at the most "Best Restaurants". I'll start with 13 (in 3 countries). Any advance on 13?

[eje]

Oh, dammit!

Our London friends have been promising to take us to the fat duck for about 2 years now. I finally thought we were going to get there when we visited this summer. Now with all this publicity, we've got a snowball's chance.

Erik