Italy’s Osteria Francescana claimed the top spot at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony on Tuesday. Extensively praised for joyful use of local ingredients in dishes including “Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano”. It was the second time in three years the restaurant, it has headed the list. Osteria has been serving modern Italian fare in Modena, in Italy’s northern gastronomic heartland.
Organisers said Osteria Francescana combines “nods to tradition with fierce modernity, philosophical conceptions with old-fashioned flavour, warmth with daring”.
Flamboyant chef Massimo Bottura described the feeling of pride “My heart has held up despite it all, I think it’s a strong heart … after all these years number two, number one, number one, number two,” he told a news conference in Bilbao, Spain, where this year’s event was held.
With Osteria topping the list, the second spot was filled by El Celler de Can Roca, owned by the brother trio in Catalonia, and Mirazur, run by an Argentinian-Italian bagged the third position. The poll was conducted between more than 1,000 chefs, food critic and global experts from the industry.
Last year’s winner, Eleven Madison Park in New York, slipped to number four, but its caviar cheesecake and sturgeon kept it the best restaurant in North America. Kolkata-born chef Gaggan Anand’s eponymous restaurant in Bangkok, where the menu is made of emojis, was at number five, the only Asian entry in top 10.