Danish cuisine reigns supreme, according to the some of the planet’s most prominent eaters.
S. Pellegrino’s annual “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list was released on Monday at a celebrity-chef-studded event in London, England, marking the ninth edition of the much buzzed-about (and hotly debated) catalogue of the international culinary landscape.
The No. 1 spot goes to Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. The restaurant, helmed by chef René Redzepi, ranked No. 3 in 2009. The Guardian newspaper’s restaurant critic Jay Rayner — better known to U.S. food fans as a judge on “Top Chef Masters” — agrees with the judges’ decision.
Writes Rayner on The Guardian’s food blog, “Is that the right result? Allowing for the fact that I think the rankings are far less interesting than the list itself, I would say, yes. Redzepi, the 32-year-old chef at Noma, pursues a regional, seasonal agenda that is right on the cutting edge: if it isn’t available in the Nordic region, he won’t cook with it. The result is a very idiosyncratic style of food that speaks to concerns about the way a global food culture turns our eating experiences a uniform beige.”
Noma’s ascension to the top slot ends the reign of a culinary titan.
After four consecutive years ranked as the World’s Best Restaurant, Spanish restaurant El Bulli takes a seat at No. 2. However, that won’t make it any easier to snag a table. Only 8,000 reservations are accepted every year, out of a reported million requests.
