“Being branded the number one restaurant in the world is actually very humbling”. Heston Blumenthal

It must be. Being number one is never easy. In my opinion, number two is slightly better off – you can always visualize who or what you are after and that something or someone sets a pace.

Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, England was nominated no.1 in 2005 according to S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. 2006 through 2009 it took a 2nd place on the favorites’ list, this year being outcooked by a few more.

Please don’t take it I am in favor of The Fat Duck versus any other on the list – I did refer to the owner and the chef of the place since it was his quote I came across. It did make me wonder what are those awards about and who is no 1.

Let’s see the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards. The Fat Duck is among the top 10, however it gave its way to 4 other restaurants and now is a holder of a proud no 5 spot.

Here comes the full list, 2011:

Rank	Position	Restaurant	Country	Awards
1	—	Noma	Denmark	The S.Pellegrino Best Restaurant in the World. The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Europe
2	Up 2	El Celler De Can Roca	Spain
3	Up 2	Mugaritz	Spain
4	Up 2	Osteria Francescana	Italy	The Chefs’ Choice sponsored by Electrolux
5	Down 2	The Fat Duck	UK
6	Up 1	Alinea	USA	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In North America
7	Up 11	D.O.M	Brazil	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In South America
8	Up 1	Arzak	Spain
9	Up 2	Le Chateaubriand	France
10	—	Per Se	USA
11	Down 3	Daniel	USA
12	Up 12	Les Creations de Narisawa	Japan	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In Asia
13	Up 3	L’Astrance	France
14	Up 15	L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon	France
15	Up 2	Hof van Cleve	Belgium
16	Down 3	Pierre Gagnaire	France
17	Up 2	Oud Sluis	Netherlands
18	Down 3	Le Bernardin	USA
19	Re-Entry	L’Arpege	France
20	Up 28	Nihonryori RyuGin	Japan	Highest Climber Sponsored by Lavazza
21	Up 1	Vendome	Germany
22	Down 1	Steirereck	Austria
23	Up 7	Schloss Schauenstein	Switzerland
24	Up 26	Eleven Madison Park	USA
25	Up 9	Aqua	Germany
26	Up 1	Quay	Australia	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In Australasia
27	Up 1	Iggy’s	Singapore
28	Up 7	Combal Zero	Italy
29	Up 4	Martin Berasategui	Spain
30	Re-Entry	Bras	France
31	Up 15	Biko	Mexico
32	Down 12	Le Calandre	Italy
33	Re-Entry	Cracco	Italy
34	New Entry	The Ledbury	UK	Highest New Entry Sponsored by Silestone
35	Down 12	Chez Dominique	Finland
36	Down 5	Le Quartier Francais	South Africa	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In The Middle East and Africa
37	New Entry	Amber	Hong Kong
38	Down 2	Dal Pescatore	Italy
39	Up 1	Il Canto	Italy
40	Down 14	Momofuku Ssam Bar	USA
41	Up 2	St John	UK
42	New Entry	Astrid Y Gaston	Peru
43	Up 6	Hibiscus	UK
44	—	Maison Troisgros	France
45	Down 4	Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee	France
46	Down 9	De Librije	Netherlands
47	Down 33	Restaurant de l’Hotel De Ville	Switzerland
48	New Entry	Varvary	Russia
49	New Entry	Pujol	Mexico
50	Re-Entry	Asador Etxebarri	Spain

It is far more than tempting to compliment the vacations with some exclusive culinary experiences. This may be a good hint for where to start, however bare in mind to make the reservations a while in advance!

For those interested in more details how this list is born every year:

How we do it

The list of the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants (and the award ceremony organised to celebrate its annual unveiling) is organised and compiled by Restaurant Magazine. None of the employees of any of the sponsors associated with the awards, including the headline one, votes or has any influence over the results.

The list is created from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, an influential group of over 800 international leaders in the restaurant industry, each selected for their expert opinion of the international restaurant scene. The Academy comprises 27 separate regions around the world. Each region has its own panel of 31 members including a chairperson to head it up. The panel is made up of food critics, chefs, restaurateurs and highly regarded ‘gastronomes’ each of whom has seven votes. Of the seven votes, at least three of which must be used to recognise restaurants outside of their region. At least 10 panellists from each region change each year.

The results are published online as soon as they have been announced to the assembled chefs and academy members in April.

Some regions span more than one country. The decision as to how the world is divided up is left to the regional chairs and is debated and reassessed annually. The divisions are designed to fairly represent the global restaurant scene at the current time.

The main rules of voting are:

Voting is strictly confidential before the awards announcement
Panellists may vote for up to 4 restaurants within their region
At least 3 votes must be for restaurants located outside of their region
Voters must have eaten in the restaurants they nominate in the last 18 months
Voters are not permitted to vote for restaurants they own or have an interest in
Nominations must be made for the restaurant, not for the restaurateur or the chef
Panellists submit their 7 choices in order of preference (this information is used to decide on positions in the event of a tie)

Other than this there are “no rules”.

This is what makes the S. Pellegrino World 50 Best Restaurants unique and not comparable to any other guide or ranking of restaurants.

These criteria are designed to allow our panellists to vote far and wide. They could vote for a small, unknown restaurant in a secluded region, or select the best-known restaurants in the world – it is their opinion and the experiences they have had that matters.

This method means that restaurants cannot apply to be on the list, and cannot be nominated, and no external influences (from Restaurant magazine or our sponsors) can influence the list. It also means that every restaurant in the world is eligible, unless the restaurant is closed at the time of going to print in mid April, or we receive notice that it will be closing in the near future after the results are published.

There are no criteria that a restaurant has to meet. They certainly do not have to sell a certain product. They do not need to have been open a certain number of years and they do not need to have won any other culinary accolades.