The World's 50 Best was held at the Freemason's Hall in London
So Sienna Miller didn’t show up (it was rumoured she’d be attending) but who needs A-list Hollywood stars when you’ve got A-list international chefs?
Now in its ninth year, there were more big names than ever before at the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards. Ferran and Heston and Joel Robuchon came. There was Redzepi, Achatz and Blanc. Henderson, Arzak and Boulud were there. Heck, we even had Ek.
Of course there’s always someone who spoils the party. This year it was Giles Coren, who put the boot in, in The Times, describing our list of the world’s greatest restaurants as “complete bunkum”.
Well, try telling all those assembled on the night that the list is complete claptrap; or the newspapers far and wide that reported the results. Of course such a list can never be perfect; or definitive. Nobody can eat in all of the world’s greatest restaurants. That’s why we employ a system in which we collate the votes of over 800 restaurant experts from all over the world. It might not be perfect but we think it’s the best system there is.
Yes, there will always be the odd anomaly. And Ramsay falling off of the list was one of them. Why that happened, I can’t say. I suspect there’s a feeling that those super-chefs with large empires of restaurants are spreading themselves too thin, an accusation that Ramsay would deny, with some justification. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay remains a fine restaurant. And it’s not the only anomaly. The absence of Spain’s Can Fabes, in my opinion, is another. Perhaps these peculiarities will correct themselves next year.
Whatever, they shouldn’t overshadow the many positive stories that emerged from the 2009 list: the establishment of Noma’s international reputation as a groundbreaking force in gastronomy; the continued extraordinary culinary endeavour evident in northern Spain; and the emergence of so much exciting young talent – this year there are nine new entries on the list.
As Jay Rayner pointed out in The Guardian, “What really matters is that once a year, for a few days, people talk about restaurants of ambition as if they matter.” Which he, and we at Restaurant, think they do.
