World's 50 Best Restaurants Revolution
How a list changed Fine Dining Forever
History of the World’s 50 Best restaurants Since 2002
Here is a history summary from W50 themselves.
It began in 2001 when a group of editors at Restaurant Magazine - Chandos Elletson, Chris Maillard and David Lancaster - began to think of how to boost sales. The 50 Best idea was more of an editorial idea than a grand project, but it was refreshing at the time as the fine dining world had been dominated by the Michelin Guide for decades where France and Japan (two big markets for Michelin tires) dominated the idea of fine dining. W50B introduced a more casual approach to fine dining that has endured until today. The first winner was ElBulli and the next 10 winners (who often repeated) over 21 years were an All Star procession of great restaurants at each point in time: ElBulli, French Laundry, Fat Duck, Noma, Can Roca, Osteria Francescana, Eleven Madison Park, Mirazur, Geranium, Central and Disfrutar. In this post we will review the myriad complaints as well as the actions W50B has taken over the years to transform from a lsit to an admirable, global gastronomic resource for travelers.
I am not affiliated with W50 Best in any way so, who am I to attempt a definitive history of W50 Best?
The photo above was taken on April 28th, 2016 at the Testing Kitchen in Capetown where I completed dining at all 50 on the list that year (one day before Kevin Chan completed his 50 best conquest 🤣). I was a Judge on the UK panel for several years thanks to the beloved Richard Vines (R.I.P) and I went on to eat at all W50Best restaurants that had been on the lists from 2005 - 2020. Here Richard and I visited Gustu in La Paz on the way to World’s 50 Best Latin America awards in Lima in 2013
I got a hilarious mention in the New Yorkers Who’s to Judge? article and a more “fawning” piece from Delicious. My company (Mofilm) was hired by Diners Club to film a trio of W50B favorites and produced: the 2nd most viewed video about Can Roca and Astrid & Gaston and the most viewed video for Narisawa. Despite no affiliation with W50B, I am grateful they sent me an invitation for this year’s event in Turin 🇮🇹
In the beginning
In 2002 W50B ElBulli was the inaugural winner. The first list list was designed to provide a fresh, more accessible approach to fine dining forgoing chandeliers and tablecloths. The list debuted with a grand top 3 led by ElBulli, Gordon Ramsey (in his prime) and The French laundry (in it’s prime). It was satisfyingly distributed among Spain, UK and USA. Further down, the list got a bit random but that was understandable as a small London team relied on a small group of international correspondents to construct a novel, new list that included Australia’s Rockpool at #4 and Uk’s the Ivy at #8, and only two entries from Latin America. The lone Japanese restaurant on the list was Jiro in at #22. It was not perfect but it was a pretty good first shot and it immediately caught the world’s attention.
In 2003 W50B the French Laundry won 1st spot and the first awards ceremony was launched. The ceremony was hosted by Roger Moore (does anyone have a photo?) at his son’s Mayfair restaurant Hush. Interest accelerated after that strong beginning. The founders had no idea what they had spawned as the list went on to change fine dining forever. Read on.
In 2004 W50B French Laundry repeated as #1 - The list flourished because the chefs showed up
This would have a major impact on the fine dining world because the chefs had not previously met each other before. As such, as word got out - more and more chefs attended the awards at their own expense with all 50 chefs attending in most years.
Brett Martin in GQ made this observation in an excellent article a few years later:
Because the chefs came, the list mattered, and because the list mattered the chefs came.
The founders could not have predicted what this would become.
St John restaurant (ranked 34th) ) but to many it was in a class of its own as a legendary after party flourished where they feasted on the first of the new season's gulls' eggs, asparagus, sea urchin, pigs' head pie and tripe with lentils.
2004 -2007 - Joe Warwick as Editor - The birth of the Academy
In 2004 W50B French Laundry repeated as #1 and the list began to get more logical and stable with new restaurants reducing from 42% in 2003 to 12% in 2012. In 2007 the top 5 were the same as in 2006 and in the same order. Even after Joe stepped down in 2007, the top 2 of El Bulli and Fat Duck remained the same from 2005 to 2009. In 2004, Fat Duck was the highest new entry ever going straight in at #2.
In 2005 W50B Fat Duck claimed top spot in it’s 2nd year on the list.
In 2006 W50B ElBulli returned to #1 for the 2nd time after 4 years in the top 3 and Fat Duck dropped back to #2. Joe and his team debuted a new Academy with over 500 journalists, gourmets and chefs, from around the world. This structure launched requiring 7 votes from each voter with 3 from outside your home region. The academy has since grown and now it is 10 votes instead of 7 but generally speaking the Academy has endured (with tweaks) for 19 years. Here is what the Academy looks like today. This is the most enduring legacy of the groups most famous editor. He also wrote a memorable book called “Where Chefs Eat” that was based on a paper passed out to ElBulli guests for local recommendations before or after visiting ElBulli.
I asked Joe if there had been an overt, overlooking of France in the same way that the world had looked down it’s nose at English food and he said the opposite. France debuted with 7 entries, peaked at 14 in 2004 (28% of the list) and then declined to a single entry last year with Plenitude.
Here is a video of Joe discussing W50B - In his own words
In 2007 W50B ElBulli claimed top spot for the 3rd time and Fat Duck remained at #2. W50B was featured in this still relevant retrospective written by Nick Lander for the Financial Times.
In 2008 W50B ElBulli claimed top spot for the 4th time and fat Duck remained at #2.
In 2009 W50B ElBulli claimed top spot for the 5th time and fat Duck remained at #2 for the 5th time. In 2009 they launched the World’s 50 Best Bars with Milk & Honey London taking top prize.
In 2010 W50B saw Noma replace Fat Duck at #1 as Ferran Disciple Rene Redzepi beat the master to #1. ElBulli closed in 2010 and was followed by 5 years where Noma and Can Roca were top 2.
In 2011 W50B featured Noma claiming #1 for the 2nd time and Can Roca moved into 2nd place. W50B announced The World’s Best Female Chef Award with Anne Sophie Pic taking home the Inaugural prize. This was in response to withering criticism about how few / no women chefs were on the list which reflected that the industry was male dominated and the awards reflect the industry. Six years later - Time Magazine complained about the same issue. More to come on this subject.
In 2012 W50B saw Noma repeat #1 for the 3rd time with Can Roca repeating #2 for the 2nd time. The list was conquered by Kevin Chan - Fine Dining Explorer as the 1st to complete this feat.
In 2013 W50B saw Can Roca unseat Noma to become #1 for the 1st time. legend has it, their website received two and a half million hits in twenty-four hours. This year the group, launched both Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants (Astrid & Gaston #1) and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants (Narisawa #1) - An impressive year for the group from a logistics point of view!
In 2014 W50B saw Noma reclaim the #1 spot with Can Roca dropping back to #2. W50B was written up in this excellent article by Tim Wu in the New Yorker.
In 2015 W50B saw Can Roca reclaim the #1 spot with Noma dropping to #3. Osteria Francescana muscled it’s way tpo #2 creating the last two restaurant dynasty prior to the Best of the Best. Deloitte was appointed to audit their results. In the world of restaurant lists this is unprecedented. This should receive more credit especially when compared to the murky machinations of Michelin inspectors.
In 2016 W50B saw Osteria Francecana claim top spot for the 1st time as Can Roca claimed 2nd spot for the 4th time. The group introduced a major change this year as the awards left London for New York and began a world tour to major cities. This would have profound impact on fine dining as the chefs who had already become close friends would now began sharing dining experiences around the world. It is here that the explosion of fusion ingredients began to “seep into” menus everywhere. Some bemoan this homogenization and others point out that with the rise of Instagram this was inevitable - all local ideas became global. The awards became even more fun for the chefs and their entourages. Cities included: New York, Melbourne, Singapore, Bilbao, Antwerp, Valencia and Las Vegas.
Another complaint was that every time W50B went to a city - that cities restaurants moved up the next year as the voters had the opportunity to go - and vote. That strikes me as yet another :So What” moment - and a good reason to keep rotating cities. One wonders - when will Tokyo be selected? 2027 for the 25th anniversary?
W50B confronted further controversy as the voters for the U.S. and Canada (for example) consisted of 73 men and 35 women. So, new guidelines were introduced ensuring 1/2 the voting body of the academy to be women. While this could not overcome the lack of women chefs at the top of fine dining awards, it did “exonerate” W50 from having responsibility for the problem that most fine dining is dominated by men.
Will Drew commented:
This is a case, I think, of us reflecting society on the whole. You can be mad at the restaurant industry, perhaps, but not at us.
In 2017 W50B saw Eleven Madison Park crash the party to become the 2nd ever North American #1 with Francescana falling back to #2.
In 2018 W50B saw Francescana reclaim #1 while Can Roca claimed #2 for the 5th time. The last 2 restaurant dynasties ended in 2018 as a new era was about to begin.
In 2019 W50B saw Mirazur claim top spot as the the first ever French restaurant winner. This was a bit bittersweet as the chef is Argentinian. Supposedly every Latin American voter that visited France went to multiple different French restaurants but everyone went to and voted for Mirazur! The wait goes on for the 1st French Chef to win top spot. Noma 2.0 stormed back in at #2 - the first to do that since Fat Duck in 2004.
Another major innovation sent tremors around the fine dining world. W50B retired past winners into a new category called the Best of the Best clearing the way for other restaurants to share in the limelight of first place. Until 2019, only 7 restaurants had been #1 in 17 years - In the next 17 years there will be 17 new #1’s!
Even this brought controversy well reported by Time Magazine - some chefs complained they lost the ability to compete. Other chefs commented they were happy to avoid sliding down the list after the big win. Objectively, this was a great idea to unblock the top of the list and bring a stream of exciting new “news” each year. The year it was announced, the freewheeling Academy nominated a record 40% of the list with newbies when the previous new entry average had been between 12 and 20%
In 2019 W50B also launched their Discovery program which reviews and lists restaurants that got at least 50 votes from the 1700 academy members around the world. This might be thought of like Michelin’s “recommended” listings that have no stars. This looks like an important and useful program whith the potential to provide further advantages to Michelin because it is global and searchable. Maybe it’s me? But It seems like an underutilised resource. Maybe it’s under-marketed? After 6 years, it should be more used and commented on - Maybe they need a 50 Best Discovery program to market the feature because - to me - it seems overlooked despite the usefulness it provides.
In 2019 W50B also launched rankings for 51- to 100 in advance of 1 - 50. This innovation is great fun because you can work out who fell off last years 1-50 list and who jumped from 51-100 onto the main list!
In summary 2019 was a massive year fore W50B with Best of the Best, Discovery and 51 - 100 all leading to a diversification of candidates and winners. Maybe Will Drew - Head of content was ready for the 2020 Covid break? Here is Paul Grinberg who first conquered 1-100:
In 2020 W50B got Covid !@#$%^&*() and Will Drew got a year off.
In 2021 W50B welcomed Noma 2.0 to #1 and neighbour Geranium claimed #2 in a Nordic sweep
In 2022 W50B crowned Geranium as #1 and Central as #2 with Stanley Tucci as host!
W50B also launched The world’s 50 Best for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with 3 Fils at #1 and chain restaurant Zuma at #2. Last year the voting was more logical with Ofali Bros and Tresind Studio in at 1 and 2 and with Zuma dropping to #19
In 2023 W50 Central was voted #1 and Disfrutar duly moved up to #2.
The group launched The World’s 50 Best Hotels where Capella Bangkok won first place on the inaugural list with this moderately cringeworthy blurb:
The Capella’s team of personable Capella Culturists ease the stress, whether by organizing a bespoke, guided shopping spree through the city’s legendary malls or a private meditation session with the head monk of a 250-year-old temple. Itineraries can be created for you around food, art, culture and gardens, while the hotel’s spacious Living Room hosts classes and demonstrations in local specialties like the art of weaving Thai flower garlands.
In 2024 W50B welcomed the next in line - Disfrutar to #1. Asador Etxebarri - a huge foodie favorite stepped into the #2 slot. Will AE be crowned #1 in 2025 as has every #1 since Best of the Best was implemented?
In 2025 W50B launched North America’s 50 Best Restaurants
This should come as a surprise to no-one (What took you so long?) and why might this be important? Looking back from today it is interesting to review regional perfomance since 2002:
Europe debuted on the 2002 list with 29 entries peaked in 2008 with 40 (80%)
Since then Europe declined to 24 in 2024 (48%) which makes sense as other regions grew
Asia and Lat Am both grew to 12 (24%)
The surprise is North America declined from 12 (24%) in 2002 to two (4%) in 2024
The question is - are North American restaurants REALLY that inferior? At he risk of getting lynched - I would say yes so I launched a poll on a private fine dining group asking:
USA is the least interesting of the the 4 major restaurant regions: 87%
USA restaurants are better than their rankings: 13%
And things will get worse as two of the best North American restaurants - Somni and Vespertine - are in flaming LA and Cesar is in New York where European travel is down 12% YTD with the Trump slump. So yes - it is a perfect moment to launch a North American list.
So that concludes a 22 year retrospective of W50B. Below are a few further thoughts and a summary
Comped Meals and Junkets
I have always admired Will Drew but this comment is slightly misleading:
Besides, he continued, even if 50 Best voters were comped meals, no one knew that they were 50 Best voters. “Freebies are allowed because you have to remain anonymous,” Drew said.
Because voters hint, say or even have printed business cards about their role at W50B. They are also present at the awards with the chefs every year and one way or another with the stakes so high - everyone knows one way or another who is who. BUT - and this is a big one - voters can aspire to get free Dom Perignon, lobster and caviar bumps and a voter can promise to use one of their 10 votes for 100 restaurants and no-one will ever know who you actually voted for. Under these circumstances - the voter will logically vote for their 10 actual favorites regardless of bounty received and promises made. Chefs may conclude well…let’s go all out for these folks just in case. I don’t think it affects the outcome.
Junkets are another story because many voters don’t have the means to travel internationally. In this case, paying for trips, may mean a restaurant can be one of the voters short list if the voter wouln’t have otherwise visited. But they still need to love it and the restaurant will never know as the obligatory Instagram reel doesn’t tell you anything about voting intentions.
The Academy is now also requiring proof of visit - like a dated receipt in their ongoing quest to improve transparency and combat fraud.
The world's 50 best's greatest success may be in the way it has captured the imaginations of chefs themselves. They speak convincingly of the sense of creative camaraderie they feel at the annual awards ceremony. “The amazing thing about 50 Best, and it transcends the single day of the ceremony, is that it has taken all of these like-minded people and created a community,” says Will Guidara of Eleven Madison Park
How to become the Best Restaurant in the World”:
Good food ambience and service is just the starting point for a good restaurant
A back story that stretches back generations helps a lot
Complicated dishes that you can’t make at home
You need different plates and plating for every dish 😱
You need a top PR agency to attract voters, influencers, journalists etc
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Good
A crisp and respected list with a clear and consistent point of view: Modern restaurants in (Generally) Metropolitan cities
A more casual departure from stuffy chandeliers, table clothes and coats and ties
Launched many great restaurants to fame and fortune
Brought the chefs together and created a community of partnerships and lasting friendships. For folks that spend their lives behind hot stoves. This has been a blessing
Utilized by fans and travelers - and provides annual entertainment for those who enjoy complaining
The Bad
Did the chef community spread and homogenize their menus? Think Japanese ingredients everywhere and luxury ingredients stacked high for Instagram?
Was there a decline in local cultural identity due to the above? Probably BUT this would have happened anyway as social media became pervasive. Maybe W50B (inadvertently) accelerated the process?
The rise of narrative as required listening - sometimes with show and tell items, booklets, swag etc…
“I don't always want to engage in a chef's philosophical musings about the meaning of kale But that doesn't mean it's not of value.” Mitchell Davis former North American chair
For those who take pleasure in complaining about W50 Best here is a definitive file of Articles complaining about W50 Best plus this gem from the boys over at Gastromondiale - I agree with questions asked in these articles but think W50B has listened and responded to most issues over many years.
The Ugly
There have been plenty of voters who seek free meals - that is rampant and mostly harmless. People have been giving out free meals for years. But using your role to cajole or threaten a chef is bad like “hire me as your PR and I will deliver voters for you” or “I can guarantee you getting on the list” - W50 has generally acted decisively to sanction this behaviour.
W50B Legacy: Jeffrey Merrihue, XtremeFoodies
W50 Best has changed Fine Dining for the better forever. While Michelin defined fine dining with a classical French flair for decades, W50B introduced a more relaxed form of fine dining that appeals to a younger more Metropolitan diner. While Michelin was focussed on Europe W50B went global from the start. Above I have catalogued most of the complaints about W50B that are often broadcast at maximum volume but, in almost every year since inception, W50B has responded to one complaint after another with changes to approach and innovative new propositions.
W50B Future: William Drew, Director of Content:
50 Best has long been more than a series of lists, it’s a media platform with content produced throughout the year on multiple channels, exploring food, drink and travel – and the people and teams behind the leading restaurants, bars and hotels across the globe.
One example beyond the rankings is 50 Best Discovery, a curated online guide featuring 3,700+ exceptional hospitality establishments from across the globe. Each venue has been selected after receiving a certain number of votes from the voting Academies that create the global and regional lists.
I hope to see some of you in Turin.
So that is as definitive a history as I could produce - I hope the chefs, journalists, foodies and the general public enjoys this ahead of next weeks announcements and - if not - maybe W50B can make this required reading for new employees! Below the paywall are recommendations for W50B to continue improving in the future as well as my prediction for who this year’s new #1 will be.
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