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20th Jun 2018

2018’s best restaurant has been revealed

Rory Cashin

Michelin-starred restaurants Ireland

Definitely worth the trip.

For the second year in its history, Osteria Francescana from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region has claimed the top spot on the world’s best restaurant rankings.

The same restaurant was voted as No.1 on this ranking system two years ago, but was dethroned last year by New York’s Eleven Madison Park, which dropped the No.4 this year.

El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia took the No. 2 spot, Mirazur in Southern France came in at No. 3, with Gaggan in Bangkok, Thailand filling out the top five.

According to food expert website Eater, there has been some controversy about the ranking, as only five of the top fifty restaurants have a female head-chef.

However, the top female chef award was given to Clare Smyth from Northern Ireland, despite the fact that her restaurant – Core by Clare Smyth, which can be found in London – was not included on the top fifty restaurants. At the ceremony, Smyth said:

“We still have a real lack of women recognised at the top of the industry. We have to do something about that, we’re not going to change it by ignoring it … to separate [male and female chefs] for me is strange, but we don’t see enough women coming through at the top.”

“I would love to see very soon that we don’t need gender-specific awards because women will have recognition and there will be a balance in the industry. Hopefully we’ll see plenty of women on the 50 Best list and there won’t be a need for that award,.”

While there were no Irish restaurants to be found in the top fifty, there were four restaurants from the UK on the list, so if you were looking to make an even shorter trip to try out some of the best places in the world to eat, then you can check out the following London outlets: The Clove Club (33rd), Lyle’s (38th), The Ledbury (42nd) and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (45th).

Fans of Netflix show Master Of None may recognise the overall winning restaurant, as Aziz Ansari’s character visited Osteria Francescana in the early episodes of that show’s second season.

Here is a short interview with the restaurant’s head chef, Massimo Bottura:

You can check out the full top fifty right here.