Critics say world's best restaurant is French - but in California
By Michael Paterson
(Filed: 29/04/2003)
telegraph.co.uk
A British-dominated panel of food critics has decreed that the best place to eat in the world is the French Laundry, a French restaurant run by Americans in California.
Eleven of the top 50 restaurants are in Britain, up from five last year, according to the Restaurant magazine poll of 300 chefs and restaurant reviewers.
The French Laundry opened in 1994 in a two-storey 1890s steam laundry in Yountville, Napa Valley. Thom Hetherington, of Restaurant, said: "The stunning location in the hills of the Napa Valley was a big plus factor. But their cuisine was deemed better than any restaurant in France because, while they had a French-trained chef, they were not restricted by the more conservative tastes of many French clientele." There is a two-month waiting list for customers to pay around £80 a head plus wine.
Britain's highest-rated restaurant, at five, was Gordon Ramsay's establishment bearing his name in Chelsea, west London. According to the magazine, it only slipped from second in last year's inaugural list because of the exceptional standard of those above it. Mr Hetherington said the poll was dominated by British tastes, although voters were based around the world.
The top 10 were: 1 French Laundry, California; 2 El Bulli (last year's No 1), north of Barcelona; 3 Le Louis XV, Monaco; 4 Jean Georges, New York; 5 Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London; 6 L'Arpege, Paris; 7 Comme chez Soi, Brussels; 8 Rockpool, Sydney; 9 L'Ambroisie, Paris; 10 Gramercy Tavern, New York.
The Merchant House, in Ludlow, Shrops, was 14th and was awarded the prize for Outstanding Value restaurant. Other British entries were: Gidleigh Park, Dartmoor, Devon (19); Nobu, London (26); Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire (29); The Ivy, London (31); the Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye (32); Ramsay's Petrus, London (33); The Square, London (43); River Cafe, London (47); and St John, London (49). |
