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Osteria Francescana voted world’s best restaurant

14 June 2016 By Lucy Shaw

Osteria Francescana, a tiny restaurant in Modena, northern Italy, scooped the top spot at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in New York last night.

Yes Massimo, you’ve won

The three Michelin-starred venue run by eccentric chef Massimo Bottura jumped up a place from number two last year to the coveted number one spot, pushing El Celler de Can Roca in Girona to second place.

Bottura, who trained under Alain Ducasse and Ferran Adrià, is known for darting between the tables at his 28-seater site and deconstructing his dishes for his diners.

Revisiting and reinventing the flavours of his childhood, Bottura’s creations are inspired by music, art, film and literature. Giving seasonal Italian ingredients a modern twist, each dish tells a story and takes its recipient on a journey.

Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano

Among his most famous plates is his Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano, an ethereal composition of Parmesan sauce, mousse, foam, crisp and air aged between 18 and 50 months and served at varying temperatures.

db’s Lucy Shaw was lucky enough to dine at Osteria Francescana back in 2012. Click here to read her review.

Rene Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen slid down to fifth place, while Central in Peru climbed to fourth and Eleven Madison Park in New York took third place.

Held at the Cipriani Wall Street last night, the list included restaurants from 23 countries spread across six continents.

Spain put in another strong performance this year with three restaurants in the top 10 – El Celler de Can Roca (2), Mugaritz (7) and Asador Etxebarri (10).

South America also had a great run, with Central in Lima at 4, D.O.M in São Paolo at 11, Maido from Peru the highest climber, up 31 places to 13, and Pujol in Mexico City at 25.

Three London restaurants made it into the top 50, with Brett Graham’s The Ledbury in Notting Hill holding firm at 14 and The Clove Club in Shoreditch this year’s highest new entry at 26; a fantastic result for head chef Isaac McHale and his team. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal meanwhile, slipped down to 45th place.

Proving you needed be running a stuffy, starched table cloth venture to prosper, Albert Adrià’s theatrical Barcelona tapas bar Tickets shot up 13 places to 29.

New York’s Eleven Madison Park won the inaugural Ferrari Trento Art of Hospitality award for elevating service to new heights, forging a unique sense of warmth and engaging and exciting its guests.

Alain Passard of the veggie-focused Arpège in Paris, which came 19^th on the list, was given a Lifetime Achievement award, while Pierre Hermé was voted Best Pastry Chef.

Meanwhile, French-born, San Francisco-based Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn received the Best Female Chef award. The 2017 edition of the awards will take place in Melbourne.

Enclosed is the full list from 1 to 50