Top Chef to Asia: Try Harder
Affluent diners around the world use it as a checklist of places to eat and restaurants vie for a spot on it. Now, the 2011 rankings are out: The San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was released yesterday, and the Danish eatery Noma, known for its strong emphasis on local ingredients, reigned supreme for the second year in a row.
Four Asian restaurants made the top 50; it was the region’s best showing on the list in its short nine-year history. But aspiring eateries in Asia, take note: To crack this list, you’re going to have to try a bit harder. At least, that’s what the man behind the list’s highest-ranked Asian restaurant said.
“I don’t think there are too few Asian restaurants on the list,” said Yoshihiro Narisawa, chef of Les Creations des Narisawa, a Tokyo restaurant that was tops in Asia and ranked No. 12 overall. “In Asia, there aren’t enough original, truly unique, dining experiences,” he said in a phone interview from London through a translator. (The list’s organizers flew the chefs of the top 50 restaurants there for an award ceremony on Monday.)