Italian restaurant Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana has been named The World’s Best Restaurant 2016.
The winning restaurant, located in the small town of Modena, Italy, was listed at No.3 in 2013 and 2014 and stepped up to No.2 in last year’s ranking.
The list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, along with special awards, was announced on stage at the annual celebration of global gastronomy, hosted at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on 13 June.
Featuring restaurants from 23 countries spread across six continents, the list provides an annual snapshot of the greatest gastronomic experiences across the globe.
This year, the awards were hosted in New York for the first time as 50 Best begins a global tour of gastronomic destinations.
Chef-owner of the winning restaurant, Massimo Bottura, is known for his twists on traditional Italian culinary ingredients.
His Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano sees the region’s cheese served in forms and textures most diners will never have previously experienced.
His menu also includes classics such as tagliatelle with hand-chopped ragu and risotto cooked with veal jus.
Four Italian restaurants made the top 50: Le Calandre in Rubano sits at No.39, Piazzo Duomo in Alba climbs 10 places to the No.17 spot and Combal Zero in Rivoli also makes a re-entry to the list at No.46.
Spain has three restaurants in the top 10 including last year’s No.1 El Celler de Can Roca (now at No.2), Asador Etxebarri at No.10 and Mugaritz at No.7.
Barcelona’s Tickets by Albert Adrià – 2015’s World’s Best Pastry Chef – also rises 13 places to No.29.
Three chefs from French restaurants took home individual awards, with pâtissier Pierre Hermé claiming the 2016 World’s Best Pastry Chef Award, sponsored by Cacao Barry.
Alain Passard, who celebrates 30 years of his globally acclaimed Paris restaurant, Arpège (No.19), took the 2016 Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award.
French-born chef Dominique Crenn, based in San Francisco, was recognised as The World’s Best Female Chef while Mirazur in Menton moved into the top 10 at No.6.
Six USA restaurants made the list, including former ‘One to Watch’ winner Saison (No.27) in San Francisco, which is one of four new entries to the list (along with four re-entries).
New York’s Estela (No.44) is also a newcomer, while Alinea in Chicago climbed 11 places on the list to No.15.
2016 also sees the introduction of a new addition to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants portfolio: The Ferrari Trento Art of Hospitality Award.
In its inaugural year this was presented to Eleven Madison Park in New York, in recognition of the work of its front-of-house team.
South America celebrated five restaurants from across the continent on the list.
A new entry in 2015, Maido from Peru took the ‘Highest Climber Award’, sponsored by Lavazza, having risen 31 places to No.13.
Fellow Lima restaurant Central held its position at No.4. Meanwhile, three Mexican restaurants also moved up the ranking.
Six restaurants from Asia feature on the list this year.
Narisawa in Tokyo remained at No.8., while Restaurant André in Singapore (No.32) and Amber in Hong Kong (No.20) were both high risers, climbing 14 and 18 places respectively.
Scandinavia has five restaurants on this list, including Former No.1 Noma, which now sits at No.5, as fellow Danish restaurant Geranium made a high re-entry at No.28.
Another re-entry is Netherlands’ De Librije at No.38.
Last year’s winner of the ‘Sustainable Restaurant Award’, Copenhagen’s Relae, reclaimed the title for 2016 and also climbed five places to No.40, while Sweden’s Fäviken sits close by at No.41.
The Clove Club in the UK won the ‘Highest New Entry Award’, sponsored by John Paul, after entering the list at No.26 and Brett Graham’s The Ledbury in London also climbed six places to No.14.
William Drew, Group Editor of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants commented: “It has been a hugely exciting year with the launch of the global tour and our first awards event in New York.
“It is fantastic to have such a variety of culinary talent celebrated here tonight. As the appetite for reaching new gastronomic heights continues to grow we feel privileged to play a part in this journey of discovery and are proud to bring together this unique community of extraordinary visionaries within the industry.”
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants will continue its global tour in 2017, landing in Melbourne, Australia to present the next edition of the list and awards.
Ahead of the global awards ceremony announcing the top 50 best restaurants, numbers 51-100 were announced last week and included two Dubai restaurant.
Zuma Dubai, making the top 100 list for the fifth consecutive year, was ranked highest in the MENA region, placed at joint number 89 in the world along with new entrant, Benu in San Francisco.
La Petite Maison, re-entered the list for the first time since 2014 when it was ranked at No.81.
The French restaurant came in at number 99 in the 2016 edition, which marks its fourth time on the list.
No restaurant in the Middle East ever broken into the top 50 of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants List.
Now in its 14th year, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, is created from the votes of The Diners Club World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, an influential group of almost 1,000 international leaders in the restaurant community.
The Academy comprises 27 separate regions around the world, each of which has 36 members, including a chairperson, and each member can cast seven votes.
Of those seven, at least three votes must recognise restaurants outside of the academy member’s own region.
The panel in each region is made up of food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and highly regarded ‘gastronomes’.
Members list their choices in order of preference, based on their best restaurant experiences of the previous 18 months.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is independently adjudicated by professional services consultancy Deloitte
