The Danish establishment Geranium, led by chef Rasmus Kofoed in Copenhagen, was crowned “Best Restaurant in the World 2022” on Monday evening July 18 in London, during the 20th anniversary of the influential “50 Best Restaurants” ranking, which has this year again shunned the French chefs. This is the second consecutive year that a Danish restaurant has been crowned, “Geranium”, second in the “50 Best” last year, succeeding Noma.
The Peruvian restaurant Central, in Lima, comes second in this ranking of the 50 best restaurants in the world established by the British magazine specialized in Restaurant, the most coveted in the world gastronomy. Two Spanish tables follow, the Barcelona establishment Disfrutar (3rd) and the Madrid-based Diverxo (4th).
Colombian Leonor Espinosa also received the award for “best female chef in the world”, succeeding Peruvian Pía León. His restaurant Leo, in Bogota, ranks 48th. Like last year, only three French restaurants, all Parisian, were distinguished in the top 50: Septime, by Bertrand Grébaud, which moved up two places to settle in 22nd place, Le Clarence by Christophe Pelé, a newcomer (28th ), and Alain Passard’s Arpège, relegated to 31st position (-8 places).
Eight French restaurants in the top 100
Located in 41st place in 2021, Alléno Paris at the Pavillon Ledoyen, by Yannick Alléno, fell to 58th place. The second part of the top 100, unveiled upstream in early July, honored a total of five tricolor tables, including the Marseille AM of Alexandre Mazzia, gratifying him with the prize of “chef to follow”.
“50 Best” has been awarded since 2002 by 1,080 “independent experts” (chefs, specialist journalists, restaurant owners, etc.) who rate their experiences over the past 18 months under the aegis of the “Restaurant” magazine of the British press group William Reed . Distributed in 27 regions of the world, with 40 voters each, they can vote for 10 restaurants, including at least three outside their region.
The ceremony, originally scheduled in Moscow, was relocated to London in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. No Russian table was also on the list, in accordance with what the organizers had announced in March.
The legitimacy of this ranking, sponsored by several brands, is regularly contested, in particular by French chefs who accuse it of complacency and opacity. In response, its detractors, French, but also Japanese and American, launched in 2015 “La liste”, a ranking of 1,000 tables around the world.
