World's Best Restaurants

Published: 7th May 2011

The San Pellagrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Award
has surpassed Michelin Star rating as the beacon of the ‘culinary best’ and
this year judged by over 800 industry experts, Danish Noma Restaurant from
Copenhagen seized the top position again for the second year running.

The restaurant they claimed the ‘One to Watch‘ due
to its meteoric rise, is the two Michelin star Frantzén/Lindeberg restaurant of
Stockholm, Sweden. So does this confirm
the suggestion of a new trend to Nordic cuisine? Noma’s Chef Rene Redzepi is noted for his
foraging approach to using quality local ingredients, applying innovative
techniques and a new term ‘emotive’ that arouses memories. However Rene and
many of his contemporaries claim inspiration from the Spanish movement?

The Spanish movement was popularised by doyen Ferran
Adria and his El Bulli restaurant just north of Barcelona. El Bulli (The Bulldog) held number one
position for five years in the Worlds 50 Best Restaurant. However early last year, Ferran opted out of
nominations when he decided to voluntarily close his restaurant for two years
to simply revive his culinary direction. It has taken until July this year to
honour his reservations before actually closing. Yet the Spanish movement is not just about El
Bulli, in the past seven years, two other restaurants from the Basque region
have consistently been in the World’s Top 10: Mugaritz and Arzaks from the San
Sebastian food hotspot region. And in 2009 another Barcelona restaurant, El
Celler de Can Roca rocketed up 21 places to number 5 positions and this year
became the second best restaurant in the world. Proving the Spanish movement is still alive.

Sometimes you just have to indulge yourself and
this week I am off to Europe for a sensory journey around France, Italy and the
new food mecca; Spain. Spending a week
in both Barcelona and San Sebastian and I am going to indulge in some of these restaurants. I can’t believe I was able to get a booking
at Arzaks and at Ferran Adria’s new Tapas Bar Tickets & 41 °. So all I have to do now is
decide on either Mugaritz or El Celler de Can Roca.

In the next few weeks I will keep you posted on
these restaurants and my travels through this page and my blog at http://australiantropicalfoods.blogspot.com/