Bloomberg – There is not one best new restaurant in the world, but seven.
This was stated by La Liste, one of several companies that publish restaurant ratings that are increasingly used by diners who travel the world in search of culinary excellence.
Unlike other companies that hand out stars or crown the #1 restaurant in the world, La Liste compiles scores based on online reviews from casual restaurants and influencers, reviews from magazines and newspapers, and ratings from other guides and listings.. The 1,000-plus sources include online travel guides, food publisher Eater and the Meituan Dianping Black Pearl guide to China.
“We think that by adding these subjective selections, reviews and critiques, we get a slightly more objective rating,” says Hélène Petrini, general manager of La Liste.
The menu system assigns scores to restaurants in half-point increments up to 99.5, meaning many restaurants end up tied for the same numerical ranking.
Among the seven restaurants that received the maximum score of 99.5, two were repeat restaurants from last year: Le Bernardin in New York and Guy Savoy in Paris. (Earlier this year, this restaurant made headlines after losing its three Michelin stars.) Sushi Saito, from Tokyo, and La Vague d’Or, from Saint-Tropez, France, rose from second place to join the leading group. The remaining three are L’Enclume in the UK’s Lake District, Schwarzwaldstube in Germany’s Black Forest, and Lung King Heen in Hong Kong.
Petrini, who previously ran the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, says that while she respects the different methodologies used by different companies, she believes consumers benefit from having multiple sources of information and not necessarily just one declared, universally best restaurant in the world. “In the end, the consumer is not stupid,” he says. “No one restaurant is the best of a moment, day or year. The idea of best is a little more complex.
According to La Liste’s calculations, 17 restaurants received a second grade out of 99; Places 26, 98.5 and 31 achieved a score of 4 out of 98. La Liste publishes a list of the top 1,000 restaurants, but includes scores for more than that in its app.
“The surprising trend is the return of Asia,” Petrini says, reflecting a part of the world that has almost fully reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic. Of this year’s top 1,000 restaurants, 139 were in Japan and 76 were in mainland China, while 25 were Restaurants in Hong Kong, 14 in Macau and seven in Taiwan. The United States and France occupied 106 places each.
For Petrini, the number of stores, both high-end and low-end, that continue to close is notable. It shows the continuing impact of inflation and rising costs on restaurants, at a time when customers have less disposable incomesays Jörg Zybrik, editor and co-founder of La Liste. He says some of the high-profile restaurants that have announced their closures, such as Le Gavroche in London, Denis Epic in Belfast and Ernst in Berlin, not to mention the world-famous Noma, are “testament to the significant impact on fine dining establishments”. He says restaurants serving traditional, classic and local cuisine tend to fare better during these times. “The boom periods are more favorable to avant-garde gastronomy.” “The public today is looking for comfort food,” he adds.
La Liste is relatively new to the ratings scene, having compiled its first list in 2015. This year it entered the hotel rankings, with Italy’s Belmond Hotel Cipriani crowned the best hotel in the world. Michelin, for its part, began awarding stars in 1926 to restaurants included in its guide, with the aim of facilitating road travel and strengthening its tire business. British publisher William Reid has been preparing his list of the 50 best restaurants in the world since 2002. It has recently added the best hotels, as well as global and regional lists of the best bars.
Here is a sample of the restaurants that received the best menu scores in their countries:
Argentina: Don Julio
Australia: (Tie) Encore by Claire Smith and Vieux Du Monde
Belgium: Hof van Cleef
Brazil: Casa do Porco
Canada: Hello
Denmark: Geranium
India in Hindi dialect
Israel: OCD TLV
Italy: (draw) Da Vittorio and Lou Calander
Mexico: Quintonil
Norway: Maemo Maemo
Peru: Maido Maido
Singapore: Odette Odette
South Africa: La Colombe La Colombe
South Korea: (draw) Mingles, Musso, and Yeon
Spain: (draw) Martin Berasategui and Atreu
Türkiye: Turk Fatih Tutak
United Arab Emirates: Ossiano
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