Restaurant Magazine Picks the World´s Top-10 Finest Eateries
The Fat Duck, an English restaurant was crowned the best restaurant in the world by “Restaurant” magazine in London. What makes this intriguing is that The Fat Duck booted perennial favorite Thomas Keller and his restaurant French Laundry from the top spot. But Keller now has two restaurant in the top ten, French Laundry is in the third spot and his New York restaurant Per Se is seventh on the list.
The Fat Duck´s menu is definitely experimental, with offerings such as mango and fir puree, snail porridge, and smoked bacon and egg ice cream but there are also more traditional offerings like saddle of venison and sole Veronique.
The Fat Duck isn´t Britain´s only place for experimental foods, last year Leeds-based Anthony´s Restaurant won the price for best British restaurant. Both restaurants speak to a growing trend of what I call “alchemy food” which involves a high level of science and artistry combining strange flavors and techniques for increasingly avant-garde results.
A top chef whose restaurant has just been voted the best in the world has admitted he likes dining out...at one of his biggest rivals, writes Colin Birch. Heston Blumenthal, already a three-star Michelin winner, was stunned to learn his Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, has been crowned the world´s best by a panel of 600 international chefs and critics.
He said: "There are so many very good chefs in the world I cannot believe my name is even in the running for the top. It is fantastic for Britain." The chef, who avoids the TV exposure courted by many of his contemporaries, was quick to praise the Roux brothers who first put England on the global gastronomic map.
And he confessed he eats as often as he can at Michel Roux´s Waterside Inn, just down the road from the Fat Duck in Bray. But he happily enjoys an Indian takeaway once a week at home with wife Suzanna in Marlow. The Waterside, a favorite haunt of royalty and celebrities, was 19th on the list of the world´s best eateries in awards organized by Restaurant magazine.
It means the so-called showbiz village, once dubbed Hollywood on Thames, can now boast two of the best restaurants in the world. The Fat Duck, which also won the Best in Europe accolade, offers a lunchtime menu at £37.50, a la carte at £67.50 and a tasting menu (chef´s specials) at £97.50 per head.
Blumenthal, 38, has made his name with dishes that sound like an error...smoked bacon and egg ice cream or green tea and lime mousse dipped in liquid nitrogen. He said: "I like to experiment with different tastes and flavors of sweet and savory and show they have no boundaries. People expect ice cream to be sweet, but the Victorians ate it savory."
