The British magazine Restaurant has been creating a run-down of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, since 2002. It’s a list that has been sponsored for many years by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna and is voted for by the Diner’s Club World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy. These days it’s as prestigious as the Michelin Guide for restaurants to get themselves included in the list. Here are the twenty highest ranked restaurants in Europe, in order of appearance.
Not merely the best in Europe but also the best restaurant in the world, El Celler de Can Roca is run by the groundbreaking culinary innovators, the Roca brothers in Girona, Catalonia. Opened originally in 1986, in recent years El Celler de Can Roca has never been far away from the top spot. They have also acquired three Michelin stars for their modern interpretations of Catalan cuisine.
To some food writers Mugaritz is the most notable food phenomenon anywhere in the world. Opened in 1998 in Errenteria, Spain and making waves for over a decade now, chef Andoni Luis Aduriz provides no menu and delivers curious innovations like edible cutlery in his presentation of contemporary Basque cuisine.
In Menton, on the Cote d’Azur looking out into the Mediterranean sits Mirazur. Chef Mauro Colagreco was born in Argentina and instills something of his homeland into contemporary French cooking and has two Michelin stars for his work. The finest restaurant in France, according to the Restaurant list, has an organic garden attached that provides inspiration and produce for the dishes.
Heinz Reitbauer took over his family’s restaurant in 2005 and has turned it into the finest in Austria, with two Michelin stars. Trained under culinary giants like Joël Robuchon and Anton Mosimann, Reitbauer’s menu is heavily influenced by the flavors and produce of the Styrian region of the country, where his parents set up a farm in the 90s to keep the restaurant stocked with ingredients.
Another exceptional restaurant in the Basque Country, Arzak is run by two generations of the same family. In 1897, the Arzak family set up a tavern in San Sebastián. The original owner’s grandson Juan Mari Arzak turned it into a three star Michelin rated restaurant, and today it’s he and his daughter Elena Arzak Espina who share the kitchen duties.
Staying in the Basque Country, Azurmendi is where modern technology meets traditional cuisine. And by modern technology we mean things like ultrasound scans to judge the texture of the food. It may sound odd but it’s an approach that has brought three Michelin stars to the restaurant, which sits on a hillside in a steel and glass building that reuses rainwater and is heated using geothermal energy.
