Mirazur Becomes First French Restaurant to Top 50 Best List

A breathtaking view of the French Riviera, homegrown quality produce from an impressive three-level vegetable garden and a unique ocean-inspired cuisine have elevated French restaurant Mirazur as the chart-topper on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, hosted at Singapore this year. While the sports and acting industry are often associated with competitive spirit, one must not forget this race of the culinary ventures judged by the expansive panel of 1000 culinary experts. 

Headed by Argentinian-Italian chef Mauro Colagreco, Mirazur’s number 1 position on the list makes it the only French restaurant to ever accomplish the same. The achievement came at a fortunate time with the restaurant completing 10 years in the industry, as well as achieving its third Michelin star this  and also their award of the third Michelin star this year. Their salt-crusted beetroot with caviar cream and eggs with smoked eel, hazelnuts and a brioche of potatoes with melting egg and white truffle were announced star dishes.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Betterave cuite en croûte de sel, sauce au caviar. Ce plat, coup de coeur résume la philosophie du chef sur sa vision de la cuisine « un plat simple », avec le respect du produit. Cette betterave possède 2 cycles végétatifs, soit 2 ans sur terre et pouvant peser jusqu’à 5 kg. Nous la cuisons en croute de sel, Savez-vous pourquoi ? #maurocolagreco #gaultetmillau #lesgrandestablesdumonde #50bestrestaurants #michelin #beetroot #food #cook #relaischateaux

A post shared by Restaurant Mirazur (@restaurantmirazur) on Mar 12, 2019 at 12:18pm PDT

Probably the butt of the industry’s buzz all year-round, Noma was highly anticipated as the winner, especially with the new venue in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the anticipation was proven wrong, positioned second, Noma did not trail too far from the top. Spain’s Asador Extebarri followed suit in third place. 

Asia’s top-runner, Gaggan in Bangkok, Thailand has been voted no.1 in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for four years consecutively. Unfortunately, Indian-born head chef Gaggan Anand has pledged to shut down shop in 2020 for other pursuits. Nevertheless, the restaurant swansong did not disappoint, with the restaurant finishing strong at 4th place on the World’s list. 

While Mirazur’s accomplishment is undoubtedly commendable, to say it overtook last year’s winner Osteria Francescana would be inaccurate as this year’s list has excluded all the previous winners. Do not fret for the former-winners as these restaurants will be evaluated at a different league with a program called ‘Best of the Best’. Under this program, one will find celebrated ventures competing for the title, including New York’s Madison Park, California’s French Laundry, London’s The Fat Duck and of course, Italy’s Osteria Francescana.

In an astonishing turn of events, this year’s list saw a decline of mentions from the UK, limiting it to half of last year’s output with only two restaurants - Lyle’s on Shoreditch High Street and Clove Club on Old Street coming in at 33rd and 27th place respectively. While the UK failed to keep up their tally, Moscow stunned with their outstanding performance, doubling their count. 

Spain dominated as the country with the highest number of mentions on the list- a whopping seven restaurants. In fact, three spots in the top 10 - Asador Extebarri (3), Mugaritz (7) and Disfrutar (9)- belong to Spain. The striking record of Spain was followed by USA and France with six and five restaurants respectively.

See the official website for more