Central Peruvian restaurant is voted the best in the world – 06/20/2023 – Food

It took 20 years, but finally Latin America reached the top of world gastronomy. The Peruvian Central was elected the best restaurant in the world in the 2023 edition of the 50 Best, one of the most influential in the sector.

Brazil was represented with only one restaurant among the 50 best in the world in the 2022 awards: Casa do Porco, in São Paulo, was in 12th position (5 positions less than last year)

The São Paulo restaurant specializing in pork and located in the city center has been among the top 50 since 2019, the year in which it was also the only Brazilian on the list. The address dropped five positions compared to last year, when it reached 7th place, its best position.

This is Brazil’s worst performance in the World’s 100 Best Restaurants award since 2015, when the country was represented by two addresses: DOM, in 9th place, and Maní, in 41st.

It is the first time that Latin America has taken the top spot in the controversial ranking, which has been dominated for two decades by European restaurants — seven of them in total.

Outside the old continent, only the United States had two restaurants at the top: The French Laundry (2003 and 2004) and Eleven Madison Park (2017).

It was also one of the best years in Latin America in the ranking: the continent had 12 representatives among the 50 – two more than last year, pointing to a good Latin wave in world gastronomy.

In November, Rio de Janeiro will receive the Latin American version of the awards — it is the first time that a 50 Best ceremony takes place in Brazil.

“Latin America deserves first place for the research work carried out, sustainability and, above all, for the new look that the continent has proposed for the richness of the ancestral cuisine it has”, says chef Janaína Rueda, present at the celebration.

Central’s victory not only represents a change in the geopolitical paradigm of gastronomy — still Eurocentric — but it is the first restaurant co-directed by a female chef to reach the top.

It is also the first winner that has a cuisine focused on indigenous ingredients and with a non-European culinary tradition.

From algae to razor clams (similar to a shellfish) that live at sea level to dozens of native potatoes grown in the Andes at 4,200 meters, Central’s menu is a journey through the country’s biomes.

The altitude was the way that the chefs, Pía León and Virgilio Martinez, found to show all the biodiversity of a country that has become an international gastronomic destination and a power in the world with its cuisine.

Opened in 2013, in recent years the restaurant has been dedicated to researching ancestral ingredients and techniques, maintained by native communities prior to Spanish colonization.

Mater Iniciativa, a research center for the territory run by Malena Martinez, Virgílio’s sister, is located in the Andes, where the chefs also run the MIL restaurant (in Moray).

The research work they do there has influenced other chefs in Latin America, making more cooks seek to value what they have in their surroundings and give more prominence to local ingredients.

The list revealed this year in Valencia, Spain, shows how this change in the geopolitics of world gastronomy has altered the list of the 50 best: last year, 30 of the restaurants were European. This year, the number was 27.

The end of restrictions on visits to Asian countries also gradually shifted the positions on the list, giving restaurants in Bangkok and Hong Kong more prominence.

Dubai establishes itself as a gastronomic destination with two restaurants on the list — the only ones in the Middle East. Africa remains underrepresented, with no representatives on the list, as well as Oceania.

In more than two decades, however, 50 Best has established itself as an element of great influence in the sector, capable of bringing together in the same city chefs from Mexico, Hong Kong and Slovenia, as well as journalists and influencers from around the world.

Special awards were also announced at the 2023 ceremony. Among them, the South African Fyn, recognized as Sustainable Restaurant of the Year, the Spaniard Miguel Angel Millán, as the best Sommelier, and the Ecuadorian chef Pía Salazar, as the best pastry chef. The Art of Hospitality award (restaurant with the best hospitality) went to Alchemist, in Denmark.

Among the other individual awards granted by the 50 Best, Tatiana restaurant (New York), by chef Kwame Onwuachi, was chosen in the One to Watch category and chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, from Mugaritz, was recognized as Icon, applauded by the public on stage Spanish.

See below the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world and also the extended list of the awards, which goes from positions 51 to 100, released in early June.

50 best restaurants in the world

1 – Central (Lima)
2 – Enjoy (Barcelona)
3 – Diverxo (Madrid)
4 – Asador Etxebarri (San Sebastian)
5 – Alchemist (Copenhagen)
6 – Maid (Lima)
7 – Lido 84 (Gardone Riviera, Italy)
8 – Atomix (New York)
9 – Quintonil (Mexico City)
10 – Table by Bruno Verjus (Paris)
11 – Trèsind Studio (Dubai)
12 – The House of the Pig (São Paulo)
13 – Pujol (Mexico City)
14 – Odette (Singapore)
15 – Le Du (Bankoc)
16 – Reale (Castel di Sangro, Italy)
17 – Gaggan Anand (Bankoc)
18 – Steirereck (Vienna)
19 – Don Julio (Buenos Aires)
20 – Quique Dacosta (Valencia)
21 – Den (Tokyo)
22 – Elkano (Getaria, Spain)
23 – Kol (London)
24 – Septime (Paris)
25 – Belcanto (Lisbon)
26 – Schloss Schauenstein (Fürstenau, Switzerland)
27 – Florilege (Tokyo)
28 – Kjolle (Lima)
29 – Boragó (Santiago)
30 – Frantzén (Stockholm)
31 – Mugaritz (San Sebastian)
32 – Hiša Franko (Kobarid, Slovenia)
33 – El Chato (Bogota)
34 – Uliassi (Senigallia, Italy)
35 – Ikoyi (London)
36 – Plenitude (Paris)
37 – Sézanne (Tokyo)
38 – The Clove Club (London)
39 – The Jane (Antwerp, Belgium)
40 – Restaurant Tim Raue (Berlin)
41 – Le Calandre (Rubano, Italy)
42 – Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy)
43 – Leo (Bogota)
44 – Le Bernardin (New York)
45 – Nobelhart & Schmutzig (Berlin)
46 – Orfali Bros Bistro (Dubai)
47 – Mayta (Lima)
48 – La Grenouillère (La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil, France)
49 – Rosetta (Mexico City)
50 – The Chairman (Hong Kong)

Extended list, from 51st to 100th position

51 – Narisawa (Tokyo)
52 – Hof Van Cleve (Kruishoutem, Belgium)
53 – Brat (London)
54 – Alcalde (Guadalajara)
55 – Ernst (Berlin)
56 – Sorn (Bankoc)
57 – Jordnær (Copenhagen)
58 – Lasai (Rio de Janeiro)
59 – Merit (Lima)
60 – La Cime (Osaka)
61 – Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (New York)
62 – Arpege (Paris)
63 – Neolokal (Istanbul)
64 – Aponiente (El Puerto de Santa María, Spain)
65 – Burnt Ends (Singapore)
66 – Turk Fatih Tutak (Istanbul)
67 – Le Clarence (Paris)
68 – SingleThread (Healdsburg, United States)
69 – Zen (Singapore)
70 – Sud 777 (Mexico City)
71 – Core by Clare Smyth (London)
72 – Suhring (Bankoc)
73 – Cosme (New York)
74 – Nusara (Bankoc)
75 – Fyn (Cape Town)
76 – Oteque (Rio de Janeiro)
77 – Tantris (Munich)
78 – Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen (Paris)
79 – Nuema (Quito)
80 – Sel flakes (Megève, France)
81 – Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Spain)
82 – Enigma (Barcelona)
83 – Sazenka (Tokyo)
84 – Meta (Singapore)
85 – Enrico Bartolini (Milan)
86 – Lyle’s (London)
87 – Ossiano (Dubai)
88 – Potong (Bankoc)
89 – Mingles (Seoul)
90 – Wing (Hong Kong)
91 – Kadeau (Copenhagen)
92 – Neighborhood (Hong Kong)
93 – Kei (Paris)
94 – La Colombe (Cape Town)
95 – Keto (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France)
96 – Ricard Camarena Restaurant (Valencia)
97 – Labyrinth (Singapore)
98 – Saison (San Francisco)
99 – Fu He Hui (Shanghai)
100 – Maito (Panama City)