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BEST WORLD RESTAURANTS

Partly due to this current pandemic, my eating habits have dramatically changed.  First, no going out to Michelin 3-stars restaurants, as I haven't traveled in 2.5 years and there isn't even one 1-star in Hawaii.  Second, I am mostly consuming vegetables, and almost totally avoiding rice and bread.  However, the sensational result is that I have lost perhaps a dozen pounds.

I do have a trip planned for this coming fall, and if that falls apart because of COVID, certainly next year.  In the meantime the World's 50 Best Restaurants just announced their honorees for 2022.  A change recently occurred, and a #1 restaurant cannot repeat anymore.  Noma of Copenhagen was the Best last year.  About this restaurant:

  • I was in Copenhagen in 2010 and ate at Chef Rene Redzepi's restaurant.  He was at that time #3 to El Bulli of Spain and Fat Duck near London.
  • Seven years ago I stopped by again.  Denmark is very cold in the winter.  He had been #1 four of the past six years.  In this article I tried to explain the difference between the Michelin restaurants and those of the 50 Best:
There are two oracles of bestness in cuisine:  Michelin (yes, a tire company) and Pellegrino (sells water).  Michelin does not rank their restaurants, except for awarding 3, 2 and 1 stars.  Thus, the source I tend to follow is San Pellegrino from Italy.  In comparison, there are around 115 Michelin 3-Star restaurants (the latest are San Francisco's first:  Benu and Saison) and the Best 50 of Pellegrino actually goes up to a Best 100.   The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a list provided by Restaurant, a British magazine, where the more modern molecular gastronomy is favored.  It is here that Chef Rene obtained fame.

Read Wikipedia to learn how restaurants are selected, but here is some history:

  • The first year this list began was 2002:  #1 elBulli of Spain, #2 Gordon Ramsay of the UK and #3 The French Laundry of the USA.
  • The French Laundry went on to win in 2003 and 2004, but elBulli was #1 in 5 of the first 8 years.
  • Then, on came Noma in 2010, and they were #1 for 3 of the next 4 years.
  • In 2019 winners no longer qualified to make the list, as they were advanced to their Hall of Fame.
  • El Bulli was a restaurant near the town of Roses, Catalonia, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adria and driven by the culinary ideas of his brother Albert. 
  • They made molecular gastronomy popular.
  • Opened in 1964 and won a Michelin star in 1976, going up to 2, then 3 in 1997.
  • The average cost was $325.
  • By 2008 they had 42 chefs.
  • El Bulli is the local name of the French Bulldog, owned by the owners of the resort where the restaurant began.
  • However El Bulli closed in 2011 and became a cuisine creativity center in 2014.  Watch the documentary, El Bulli:  Cooking Progress, except Rotten Tomatoes only gave it 60/49 ratings.

So back to that 2022 article, the new #1 is Geranium (left), also in Copenhagen.  Their Summer Universe tasting menu goes for $440, where you may order a $2500 rare and uniques wine pairing.  No meats are used.  They open only 4 days/week and are located  on the 8th floor of Denmark's national soccer stadium.
I should mention something about this city, for there was nothing of particular noteworthiness before Rene, and only recently became known as the European Gastronomic Capital.  As Europe includes San Sebastian and Paris, good as saying #1 in the world.  This Danish capital has 13 Michelin stars (which doesn't mean much because Tokyo has 212 Michelin starred restaurants, a dozen with 3-stars, while Paris has 113 of them, 9 with 3-stars, and #3 Kyoto has 110 M-star restaurants, 7 with 3-stars) but what exactly is Scandinavian cuisine?  You've heard of smorgasbord, which the buffet-style of Sweden.  None of that at Noma.  A lot of natural local growth, featuring foraging and fermentation.  Even reindeer penis, deer brain and insects.

The 50 Best of 2022:

  • 1. Geranium, Copenhagen
  • 2. Central, Lima, Peru
  • 3. Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain
  • 4. Diverxo, Madrid
  • 5. Pujol, Mexico City
  • 6. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
  • 7. A Casa do Porco, São Paulo
  • 8. Lido 84, Gardone Riviera, Italy
  • 9. Quintonil, Mexico City
  • 10. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy
  • 11. Maido, Lima, Peru
  • 12. Uliassi, Senigallia, Italy
  • 13. Steirereck, Vienna
  • 14. Don Julio, Buenos Aires
  • 15. Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy
  • 16. Elkano, Getaria, Spain
  • 17. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin
  • 18. Alchemist, Copenhagen
  • 19. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy
  • 20. Den, Tokyo
  • 21. Mugaritz, San Sebastián, Spain
  • 22. Septime, Paris
  • 23. The Jane, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 24. The Chairman, Hong Kong
  • 25. Frantzén, Stockholm
  • 26. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin
  • 27. Hof van Cleve, Kruisem, Belgium
  • 28. Le Clarence, Paris
  • 29. St. Hubertus, San Cassiano, Italy
  • 30. Florilège, Tokyo
  • 31. Arpège, Paris
  • 32. Mayta, Lima, Peru
  • 33. Atomix, New York City
  • 34. Hiša Franko, Kobarid, Slovenia
  • 35. The Clove Club, London
  • 36. Odette, Singapore
  • 37. Fyn, Cape Town (Also won Best Restaurant in Africa 2022)
  • 38. Jordnær, Copenhagen
  • 39. Sorn, Bangkok
  • 40. Schloss Schauenstein, Fürstenau, Switzerland
  • 41. La Cime, Osaka, Japan
  • 42. Quique Dacosta, Dénia, Spain
  • 43. Boragó, Santiago, Chile
  • 44. Le Bernardin, New York City
  • 45. Narisawa, Tokyo
  • 46. Belcanto, Lisbon
  • 47. Oteque, Rio de Janeiro
  • 48. Leo, Bogotá, Colombia (Also won Best Female Chef 2022)
  • 49. Ikoyi, London
  • 50. SingleThread, Healdsburg, California

A few notes:

  • Copenhagen had 4, if you count Noma.  3 from the entire USA and Spain, but 3 from Tokyo and Paris.   
  • The highest rated restaurants in North America are located in Mexico City:  #5 Pujol and #9 Quintonil.
  • Italy had  #8 Lido 84 ,  #10 Le Calandre, #12 Uliassi, #15 Reale, and #19 Piazza Duomo, none in major cities.
  • Paris had three, but the highest rated was #22 Septime.
  • USA?  
    • Finally, #33 Atomix, New York City.  And this is a Korean restaurant.
    • Also too, #44 Bernardin of NYC, ending with #50 SingleThread, located in Healdsburg, 43 miles north of Yountville, where The French Laundry is still open.
    • What happened to French Laundry?  
      • It was #86 in 2018 and has since then missed the cut.  
      • Chef Thomas Keller won a third Michelin star here in 2007, and this has continued annually.  
      • He also has a 3-star restaurant, Per Se, in New York City, making him the only American cook with more than one 3-stars.
  • Also selected were numbers 51-100:

As we're going to Dubai on our upcoming fall trip, I looked into the best 50 restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa.  Dubai has 6 of the top 10.

Also announced were the 50 Best Restaurants in Asia.  We will have the following opportunities on this coming adventure:

  • #1  Den, Tokyo
  • #2  Sorn, Bangkok
  • #3  Florilege, Tokyo
  • #4  Le Du, Bangkok
  • #5  The Chairman, Hong Kong
  • #6  La Cime, Osaka
  • #7  Suhring, Bangkok
  • #8  Odettte, Singapore
  • #9  Neighborhood, Hong Kong
  • #10  Nusara, Bangkok
  • #11  Sazenka
  • #13  Ode, Tokyo
  • #14  Villa Aida, Wakayama
  • #15  Narisawa, Tokyo
  • I can go on and on, as there are 27 more restaurants in those cities above in the Top 50 of Asia.
Of course, I can list the Michelin 3-star restaurants too, but let me end with  Conde Nast Traveler article which was published this month of Best Restaurants according to people who eat for a living.  They provide an interactive map of restaurants, which range from roadside stalls to Michelin-starred.  Feel free to find those 144 restaurants, 79 from North America.

Seems like an insult to taint this article with what I'm eating at 15 Craigside, but some readers like to experience my life.  In order, lasagna, clams linguini (note that I do still eat pasta, but avoid rice and bread, although I do have garlic bread with pasta), salmon chazuke/tofu/sashimi, pork tonkatsu/sashimi and monthly luau. 

My first Blood Lily of the 2022 season and another 15C rainbow:

- 

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