Spain’s Feran Adrià has once again triumphed to take top honours in the in the eighth annual listing of The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants with his legendary El Bulli Restaurant.
You have to take your hat off to this man, who upon accepting the highly prestigious award for the fourth year in a row, dedicated it to fellow chef and runner-up Heston Blumenthal.
Blumenthal had to close his restaurant, The Fat Duck, recently for two weeks following a food-poisoning scare. Adrià has this to say “I dedicate this prize to Heston Blumenthal. He has shown me what honesty means in this business…This prize is for you”
Western Cape triumphs
South Africa’s representation came in the form of Le Quartier Français, procuring 37th position, The Tasting Room is up 13 places from last year, clinching the much-coveted title:
Best Restaurant in Africa and the Middle East. Also Cape Town’s La Colombe took 38th position to make us very proud South Africans.
And the world’s 50 best restaurants 2009, according to San Pellegrino (2008 S.Pellegrino ranking in brackets) are:
1 El Bulli, Spain (1)
2 The Fat Duck, UK (2)
3 Noma, Denmark (10)
4 Mugaritz, Spain (4)
5 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (26)
6 Per Se, US (6)
7 Bras, France (7)
8 Arzak, Spain (8)
9 Pierre Gagnaire, France (3)
10 Alinea, US (21)
11 L’Astrance, France (11)
12 The French Laundry, US (5)
13 Osteria Francescana, Italy (new entry)
14 St. John, UK (16)
15 Le Bernardin, US (20)
16 Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville, Switzerland (27)
17 Tetsuya’s, Australia (9)
18 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (14)
19 Jean Georges, US (17)
20 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (new entry)
21 Chez Dominique, Finland (39)
22 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (43)
23 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany (35)
24 D.O.M., Brazil (40)
25 Vendome, Germany (34)
26 Hof van Cleve, Belgium (28)
27 Masa, US (re-entry)
28 Gambero Rosso, Italy (12)
29 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (42)
30 Steirereck, Austria (new entry)
31 Momofuku Ssam Bar, US (new entry)
32 Oaxen Skargardskrog, Sweden (48)
33 Martin Berasategui, Spain (29)
34 Nobu, UK (30)
35 Mirazur, France (new entry)
36 Hakkasan, UK (19)
37 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (50)
38 La Colombe, South Africa (re-entry)
39 Asador Etxbarri, Spain (44)
40 Le Chateaubriand, France (new entry)
41 Daniel, US (41)
42 Combal Zero, Italy (re-entry)
43 Le Louis XV, France (15)
44 Tantris, Germany (47)
45 Iggy’s, Singapore (new entry)
46 Quay, Australia (new entry)
47 Les Ambassadeurs, France (45)
48 Dal Pescatore, Italy (23)
49 Le Calandre, Italy ( 36)
50 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden (new entry)