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News
El Celler de Can Roca renamed World’s Best Restaurant
El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, northeastern Spain, has toppled Noma off the top spot to be voted the World’s Best Restaurant for the second time.
Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca
Run by brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi, the Catalonian restaurant was pushed back to second place last year by René Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen, but regained the crown at a ceremony at the Guildhall in London last night.
The restaurant was back at number one due to Roca brothers’ desire to feed their imaginations via initiatives like El Somni, a multi-sensory experience that explored the interaction between food, music and art launched in 2013.
A year later, the entire team embarked on a tour across America’s southern states and parts of Latin America in search of inspiration for their dishes.
Scallop carpaccio from Central in Peru
A family affair, oldest brother Joan is the restaurant’s head chef, while middle brother Josep is head sommelier and younger brother Jordi head pastry chef.
Joan and Josep opened El Celler de Can Roca in 1986, which won its first Michelin star in 1995, second in 2002 and third in 2009.
Among the dishes on its tasting menu are Iberian suckling pig and charcoal-grilled king prawn with ink rocks, fried legs, head juice and king prawn essence.
Noma slipped down to third place this year, having been overtaken by modern Italian restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena run by Massimo Bottura.
Meanwhile, Virgilio Martinez, who runs Lima London in the capital, scooped fourth place with his Peruvian flagship Central in Lima, which shines a light on flavours from the Amazon and the Andes.
White Rabbit in Moscow
Elsewhere, Mugaritz in San Sebastian moved down two to six, while Eleven Madison Park in New York and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London retained their positions in fifth and seventh place respectively.
Staying in the UK, Brett Graham’s The Ledbury slid seven places to number 20, while Heston’s The Fat Duck failed to make the top 50.
The Clove Club in Shoreditch made with wider list in 55th place, while Hedone in Chiswick came 60th and nose to tail venue St. John 92nd.
In terms of countries, Spain beat France and the US with seven entries in the top 50, including Albert Adrià’s tapas bar Tickets in Barcelona, a new entry this year.
Lyon born, New York based Daniel Boulud picked up a lifetime achievement award, while Sydney’s Sepia was named One to Watch and Rabbit in Moscow won the Highest Climber award as a new entry to the list in 23rd place.
The rankings are compiled by aggregating the votes of 27 regional panels. In each regional panel the 36 members pick seven restaurants, including three from outside his or her region.