The World's 50 Best Restaurants Have Been Announced for 2018

Chefs flew to Bilbao, Spain, from as far afield as Tokyo, Mexico and Shanghai for the awards, which are now in their sixteenth year. Dubbed the Oscars of the food world, the awards are judged by a panel of more than 1,000 chefs, industry experts and food critics who rank the world’s finest restaurants.

Chef Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, known for recreating classic Italian cuisine, received first place. Second place went to El Celler de Can Roca, Spain, and the third spot to Mirazur, France.

The UK’s Clove Club in Shoreditch, London, came in at number 33, making it the best restaurant in the UK. Other London locations to make the cut were Lyle’s at number 38, The Ledbury at 42 and Dinner by Heston at 45.

The awards have received criticism in the past about a lack of diversity, from race to gender to the price points of those on the list. London’s Clare Smyth, founder of Core in Notting Hill, was crowned the best female chef, although the necessity of an award that separates the genders has been questioned.

Smyth’s restaurant didn’t make the top 50, and only five of the restaurants that did are run by women chefs and only two of those are run with male and female co-head chefs. While this is three more than last year, the lack of gender diversity in the awards is provoking criticism.

‘We still have a real lack of women recognised at the top of the industry,’ Smyth said. She opened her restaurant in 2017 and recently catered for the Royal wedding reception, serving ‘posh burgers’ and pork belly with candy floss.

‘We have to do something about that, we’re not going to change it by ignoring it … to separate [male and female chefs] for me is strange, but we don’t see enough women coming through at the top.

‘I would love to see very soon that we don’t need gender-specific awards because women will have recognition and there will be a balance in the industry. Hopefully we’ll see plenty of women on the 50 Best list and there won’t be a need for that award.’

Sustainability was also a much-discussed topic at the ceremony. Gaggan Anand (of Gaggan, Bangkok) and Eneko Atxa (of Azurmendi, Spain) discussed reducing poverty through sustainable agriculture, and Dan Barber (of New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns) spoke about how growing vegetables could reduce waste and tempt customers away from more meat-based diets.

He said: ‘In the last two decades the best chefs have turned fine dining on its head. We’re no longer serving steak and foie gras, we’re serving vegetables and foraged and fermented things. We’re about sense of place – that thing that can only come from that forest in that country.’