Elite Traveler has announced the annual list of the Top 100 Restaurants in the World with Chicago’s renowned Alinea taking the top spot for the fifth consecutive year. Spanish restaurant Azurmendi was runner-up and New York’s Eleven Madison Park came in third place.
The list is compiled through a poll of Elite Traveler readers who voted for their favourite restaurants, chefs, young chefs and which culinary maestro deserves the lifetime Elite Traveler achievement award.
Alinea’s Head Chef Grant Achatz said: ‘It is an amazing honour to be selected as the best restaurant in the world five years running by Elite Traveler. Alinea strives every day to produce the best possible experience and it is incredibly rewarding to be recognized by the dining public as doing so.’
Eneko Atxa of Azurmendi, added: ‘We know the importance of this acknowledgement as its relevance helps us to continue growing and for more people to know us. We feel honoured, grateful and motivated to continue working hard’.
Thomas Keller received the Lifetime Achievement award while the Chef of the year award was given to Gordon Ramsay.
Young Chef of the year went to Esben Bang Home Head Chef of Maeemo – the Nordic’s highest ranking restaurant with Curtis Duffy in second place and new entry Mirazur’s Mauro Colagreco in third place.
The USA topped the list overall with a staggering 21 restaurants on the list, followed by France with 15 and Spain with eight. By city, New York came top of the list with ten restaurants featured, Paris had eight in second followed by London with five.
There are 13 new globe-spanning entries on the 2016 list, including Sepia in Australia, Quintonil in Mexico, T’ang Court in China and Restaurant Locavore in Bali.
The highest new entry on this year’s countdown is Grace in Chicago, which ranks at number 40.
To read the full list of winners in the Elite 100 Restaurants 2016, click here.