These are the world’s best restaurants for 2019

Mirazur in Menton, France, is the No. 1 restaurant in the world.

This is the first time chef Mauro Colagreco and his sunny Provencal dining room have clinched the top spot; previously the restaurant was No. 3. This is also the first time France has gotten the No. 1 spot since the awards began 18 years ago.

That’s in part because executives behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list made a profound change to the rules this year, decreeing that no previous winner can be No. 1 again—or even be ranked on the list.

Previous winners have now been relegated to a “Best of the Best” category. That includes Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura’s modernist restaurant in Modena, which has won the award twice; Eleven Madison Park, which took the top spot in 2017; El Cellar de Can Roca; and the original Noma.

But the 2.0 version of Noma, which is set in a different location in Copenhagen with a new menu format, is eligible for the top spot and in fact skyrocketed to the No. 2 place on the list.

William Drew, group editor of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, says the criteria they used, which included location and menu concept, was not just to allow Noma, one of the world’s highest-profile dining spots, to be in contention. “The aim is to have an objective set of criteria that prevails over time,” he says.

Leading up to the announcement, which took place in Singapore on the evening of June 25 before an audience, Noma was an insider favourite to clinch the top spot.

The Best of the Best is a convenient landing place for some formerly top-ranked restaurants that have been falling on the list, like the Fat Duck in Bray, England, which last year came in at No. 74.

Nonetheless, chef/owner Heston Blumenthal is sanguine about the experience: “If you get on the list, lap it up, bathe in the warmth of it, but just do your work. Nothing is permanent.”

Mirazur sits at the foot of a mountain and is housed in a 1930s building looking out over the sea, just inside France’s border with Italy.

The Argentine-born chef draws inspiration from the region, serving vegetables from his own gardens and other local produce to create colourful Mediterranean dishes. Colagreco’s signature creation is oyster with tapioca, shallot cream and pear. The lunch menu costs 160 euros ($A260), while the full menu is 260 euros.

“What a great year. Three Michelin stars and No. 1 all in the same year,” said Colagreco while accepting the award. “It’s a year I shall remember forever. I don’t have words to explain. I own the sky!”

He says the next step after basking in the awards is to expand his “little” five-acre gardens into something greater. “We are fantastic producers, winemakers—we are a little paradise. Our vision is to share and to try to give love and to live happily with our work. It is a simple vision, but it is a vision of life.”

This was a year that saw more dramatic movement in the list than usual. Besides Noma, Atelier Crenn in San Francisco entered the list at No. 35, and The Chairman, a Cantonese spot with dishes like flowery crab with aged Chinese wine, was another new entry at No. 41. The host city, Singapore, cracked the top 20: The elegant Odette moved up to No. 18.

Among the notable demotions on the list was Attica in Melbourne, which fell an astonishing 64 spots, to No. 84 from 20.

Also eyebrow-raising were perennial favourites Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain, to No. 53 from 31, and D.O.M. in Sao Paulo, which fell to No. 54 from 30.

Here are the winners (with last year’s place in parentheses):

1. Mirazur, Menton, France (3)

2. Noma, Copenhagen - NEW ENTRY

3. Asador Etxebarri, Axpe, Spain (10)

4. Gaggan, Bangkok (5)

5. Geranium, Copenhagen (19)

6. Central, Lima (6)

7. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain (9)

8. Arpège, Paris (8)

9. Disfrutar, Barcelona (18)

10. Maido, Lima (7)

11. Den, Tokyo (17)

12. Pujol, Mexico City (13)

13. White Rabbit, Moscow (15)

14. Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain (43)

15. Septime, Paris (40)

16. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Paris (21)

17. Steirereck, Vienna (14)

18. Odette, Singapore (28)

19. Twins Garden, Moscow (72)

20. Tickets, Barcelona (32)

21. Frantzén, Stockholm (65)

22. Narisawa, Tokyo (22)

23. Cosme, New York (25)

24. Quintonil, Mexico City (11)

25. Pavillon Ledoyen, Paris (29)

26. Boragó, Santiago (27)

27. The Clove Club, London (33)

28. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, U.S. (12)

29. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy (16)

30. Elkano, Getaria, Spain (77)

31. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy (23)

32.  Nerua, Bilbao, Spain (57)

33. Lyle’s, London (38)

34. Don Julio, Buenos Aires (55)

35. Atelier Crenn, San Francisco - NEW ENTRY

36. Le Bernardin, New York (26)

37. Alinea, Chicago (34)

38. Hiša Franko, Kobarid, Slovenia (48)

39. A Casa do Porco, Sao Paulo (79)

40. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin (37)

41. The Chairman, Hong Kong - NEW ENTRY

42. Belcanto, Lisbon (75)

43. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem, Belgium (63)

44. The Test Kitchen, Cape Town (50)

45. Sühring, Bangkok (54)

46. De Librije, Zwolle, Netherlands (51)

47. Benu, San Francisco (53)

48. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai (24)

49. Leo, Bogota (99)

50. Schloss Schauenstein, Fürstenau, Switzerland (47)

​51. ​​​​​​Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy (36)

52. Mikla, Istanbul (44)

53. Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain (31)

54. D.O.M., Sao Paulo (30)

55. Maaemo, Oslo (35)

56.  Relae, Copenhagen (71)

57.   Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin (88)

58. Sud 777, Mexico City (64)

59. Burnt Ends, Singapore (61)

60. Indian Accent, New Delhi (90)

61. Uliassi, Senigallia, Italy - NEW ENTRY

62. Nihonryori  RyuGin, Tokyo (41)

63. Florilège, Tokyo (59)

64. The Ledbury, London (42)

65. Selfie, Moscow (70)

66. Core by Clare Smyth, London (66) - NEW ENTRY

67. Astrid y Gastón, Lima (39)

68. Fäviken, Järpen, Sweden (67)

69. Nahm, Bangkok (49)

70. Saison, San Francisco (46)

71. SingleThread, Healdsburg, California (91)

72. Aqua, Wolfsburg, Germany (73)

73. Maní, Sao Paulo (87)

74. Lasai, Rio de Janeiro (100)

75. DiverXo, Madrid (96)

76. Momofuku Ko, New York (62)

77. Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, New York (69)

78.  Lido 84, Gardone Riviera, Italy - NEW ENTRY

79. Mingles, Seoul (78)

80. Estela, New York (83)

81. Quique Dacosta, Denia, Spain (68)

82. Enigma, Barcelona (95)

83. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London (45)

84. Attica, Melbourne (20)

85. Amass, Copenhagen - RE-ENTRY

86. Tegui, Buenos Aires (60)

87. Martin Berasategui, Lasarte-Oria, Spain (76)

88. Lung King Heen, Hong Kong (80)

89. 108, Copenhagen (98)

90. Alo, Toronto (94)

91. Sushi Saito, Tokyo - RE-ENTRY

92. Harvest, St. Petersburg, Russia - NEW ENTRY

93. La Cime, Osaka, Japan - NEW ENTRY

94. Aponiente, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - NEW ENTRY

95. Gaa, Bangkok - NEW ENTRY

96. Belon, Hong Kong - NEW ENTRY

97. Vendôme, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany (66)

98.  Anne-Sophie Pic, Valence, France - RE-ENTRY

99. The Jane, Antwerp, Belgium (89)

100. Oteque, Rio de Janeiro - NEW ENTRY

101. Brae, Birregurra, Australia (58)

102. Amber, Hong Kong (56)

103. Jade Dragon, Macao - NEW ENTRY

104. Cococo, St. Petersburg, Russia - NEW ENTRY

105.  Kadeau, Copenhagen - RE-ENTRY

106. Restaurant David Toutain, Paris - NEW ENTRY

107. Il Ristorante Luca Fantin, Tokyo - NEW ENTRY

108. L’Astrance, Paris (52)

109. Alcade, Guadalajara, Mexico - NEW ENTRY

110. Neolokal, Istanbul - NEW ENTRY

111. Chambre Séparée, Ghent, Belgium - NEW ENTRY

112. St. John, London (84)

113. Vea, Hong Kong - NEW ENTRY

114.  La Colombe, Cape Town - RE-ENTRY

115. Per Se, New York (81)

116. St. Hubertus, San Cassiano, Italy - NEW ENTRY

117.  Epicure, Paris - RE-ENTRY

118. Ernst, Berlin - NEW ENTRY

119. Atomix, New York - NEW ENTRY

120. Sugalabo, Tokyo - NEW ENTRY