London has the third highest number of top 100 restaurants in the world – behind New York and Paris, according to private jet bible Elite Traveler, reports Codelia Mantsebo
The best restaurant in the world is Azurmendi in Spain — the ground-breaking restaurant of culinary wizard Eneko Atxa, according to an exclusive survey of the top 100 restaurants by Elite Traveler, in association with Grey Goose.
Azurmendi leads a line up that includes five restaurants in the UK, on a list based on responses from 6,000 readers of the magazine.
By city, New York dominates the list with ten restaurants listed, followed by Paris with eight. Chicago, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco and Tokyo tie in third place with three apiece. In New York, Eleven Madison Park, Per Se and Le Bernardin all made the top ten. In Paris, Restaurant Guy Savoy, Pierre Gagnaire and L’Arpège made top twenty.
The top restaurant in the UK, as voted by readers, is Heston Blumenthal’s the Fat Duck at Bray, which was ranked tenth in the world. His Dinner by Heston Blumenthal restaurant in Knightsbridge was the next best in Britain and headed the London charge, ranked number fifteen in the world. Gordon Ramsay’s flagship, the Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea ranks second in London and 22nd overall. Chef de patron Bret Graham’s The Ledbury in Notting Hill is the third and final London restaurant to make the list, placed 36th in the world. The Nottingham-based restaurant Sat Bains entered the list for the very first time, in 94th place.
The country with the most restaurants in the top 100 was the USA with 24 entries, followed by France with eighteen and Spain with eight restaurants.
Eneko Atxa’s Azurmendi won the top spot for the very first time, overtaking Grant Achatz’s Alinea. Atxa’s Azurmendi utilizes the magical Basque countryside in which they reside for produce, tradition and inspiration.
Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck makes the the world’s top new entry. The restaurant makes a welcome reappearance following last year’s stint in Melbourne. The restaurant’s Head Chef, Jonny Lake, described London as one of the hottest dining destinations in the world: “I think that London is one of the most exciting cities for gastronomy. There’s such a huge range of different cuisines and influences and novel ideas, and so many chefs are coming to open restaurants all the time.”
Thea Halsted, editor of Elite Traveler, told Spear’s that this year’s survey had drawn a record response. ‘This is a great indication that the appetite for fine dining of our global readership of private jet travellers is expanding as is their enthusiasm to share positive experiences with their peers,’ adds Halsted. ‘With a new restaurant gracing the number one spot, too, this is an exciting sixth year for the list.’
The Top 10 Restaurants in the Elite Traveler Top 100 Restaurants 2017 are:
- Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain
- Alinea, Chicago, USA
- Eleven Madison Park, New York, USA
- Restaurant De L’Hotel De Ville, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Per Se, New York, USA
- Robuchon au Dome, Macua, China
- Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
- The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena, California , USA
- Le Bernardin, New York, USA
- Fat Duck, Bray, UK
To read the full list of winners in the Elite 100 Restaurants 2017, click here.