The star chef's highly-rated London restaurant moves up two places in this year's World's 50 Best Restaurants list.
Heston Blumenthal’s London restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is now the seventh best restaurant in the world, according to Restaurant’s magazine 2013 list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
The annual listing has just been released and Dinner moves up two spots from last year’s ninth place. Run by Ashley Palmer-Watts and James Petrie, the restaurant has been wowing diners since it opened in January 2011 at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Guide describes it as “not about delicate combinations or table theatrics, but gutsy dishes that will remain at the forefront of your memory bank for years to come”.
New number one
El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain is this year’s hottest destination, after it took the top spot from three-time number one Noma in Copenhagen. El Celler is run by the three Roca brothers – head chef Joan pioneered the use of sous-vide (vacuum packed food in a water bath) cooking, Jordi makes extraordinary pastries, and Josep is the front-of-house sommelier.
The guide calls the restaurant “truly uplifting, with the warmth of the family dynamic all-pervasive”. Signature dishes include Timbale of apple and duck liver with vanilla oil, and Iberian suckling pig with pepper sauce and garlic and quine terrine.
The top 10
Here’s the complete top 10:
1) El Celler de Can Roca – Girona, Spain
2) Noma – Copenhagen, Denmark
3) Osteria Francescana – Modena, Italy
4) Mugaritz – San Sebastian, Spain
5) Eleven Madison Park – New York, USA
6) D.O.M. – Sao Paulo, Brazil
7) Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – London, England
8) Arzak – San Sebastian, Spain
9) Steirereck – Vienna, Austria
10) Vendôme – Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
Other UK top 50 entries
Elsewhere, Notting Hill’s The Ledbury came in 13th place, up one place from last year. Meanwhile, the restaurant that started it all for Heston Blumenthal – The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire – was 33rd, although it has dropped 20 places since last year.
Have you eaten at any of these restaurants? Do you have a favourite restaurant somewhere in the world that isn't on this list? Or is it all just a load of hype? Let us know in the Comments box below.
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