Rene Redzepi’s Noma reclaims world’s best restaurant title

By Mariam Digges

Photo courtesy of World's 50 Best
Photo courtesy of World's 50 Best
Rene Redzepi’s Noma reclaims the world’s best restaurant crown, snatching it back from Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca.

The Copenhagen restaurant, famous for its foraged Nordic cuisine, reclaimed the title it held for three consecutive years on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards.

Redzepi’s menu features dishes such as sea urchin toast, beef tartar and ants, but also simpler ones such a small plate of onions and fermented pears.

“It’s how I grew up – it was the way you ate in Macedonia,” Redzepi told MiNDFOOD last year.

“When you’re on a farm, you can’t have a chicken every week or there will be none left. I grew up on lentils and tomatoes. I think vegetables offer a diversity of flavour unparalleled by anything in the animal kingdom.”

The ceremony, which took place at London’s Guildhall and was attended by the world’s best chefs, tastemakers and food writers from around the globe, saw Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca, run by the three Roca brothers, slip into second place. Spain performed strongly again as a market, with seven Spanish restaurants making the list including Mugaritz at No. 6 and fellow San Sebastian establishment Arzak remaining at No. 8.

Addressing the crowd in his acceptance speech, Redzepi said: “Wood sorrel conquered caviar. The seal f&cker came out on top.”

The US had seven restaurants make the cut, including Eleven Madison Park, which moved up one spot from last year to number four, while France had five star contenders led by Mirazur in Mento.

Massimo Bottura’s avant-garde Italian restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena kept third place for a second year running.

Melbourne’s Attica, run by New Zealand-born chef Ben Shewry, was the only Australasian contender, coming in at number 32 – an 11-spot drop from last year. Sydney chef Tetsuya Wakuda’s Singapore restaurant scraped in at number 50, while Aussie chef David Thompson’s Nahm in Bangkok came in at number 13 and was also voted the best restaurant in Asia.

Peter Gilmore’s Quay again dropped from 49th to 60th place, while David Chang’s Sydney branch of his Momofuku stable (Seiobo) finished in 89th place, joining two more of his restaurants which made the 50-100 cut.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards is owned by Britain’s Restaurant magazine and sponsored by mineral water company S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna publisher. It is compiled by over 900 industry leaders and considered the Oscars of the restaurant industry.

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